Arrrhh... this has been written for ages, but my stupid document uploader hasn't been working! I was getting so annoyed lol. Seems to be back to normal now though, so on with the story!
(Just a little note... I corrected the line break error. Teach me to rush things, I start breaking up the scenes in all the wrong places lol, anyhoo thanks to Iblaze for pointing that one out!)
"And so at the culmination of years of hard work, a rough draft of the Human Genome was finally completed in the year 2000. A posse ad esse, as our Latin speaking friends would say, from possibility to actuality, that will be all for today," Hank said, folding his book shut.
The class blearily got to their feet, a little overwhelmed by the complex terminology used in their biology lessons. Bobby was looking down at his notes with a bemused expression, Kitty looked half asleep and Rogue had frown lines on her forehead from concentration. Jack wasn't too interested in the Human Genome, but she was interested in one part of the lesson.
"Who speaks Latin?" she asked Hank as the rest of the class left around her.
"It was the language of Ancient Rome," he explained, "It is only used for scientific names nowadays, and by those living at the Vatican."
"And by you," Jack said.
"It is my scholarly side," Hank said with a smile, "I learnt Latin at college, and can't help slipping into it sometimes. I suppose you might call it showing off."
Jack grinned as the blue furred professor smiled with amusement.
"Would you teach me?" Jack asked, "I like languages, and words."
"Why certainly," Hank said. He looked thrilled that someone had shown an interest.
"Thanks," Jack said with a smile.
"Do you have any previous experience with Latin?" Hank asked.
"A posse ad esse," Jack repeated with perfect intonation and accent, "from possibility to actuality."
Hank laughed.
"It's a good start," he said, "your pronunciation is very good, perfect in fact."
He walked round the front of his desk and stood leaning against it.
"So, what did you think of your first Biology lesson?" he asked.
"I don't have much interest in genetics, but I could follow it fair enough," she said with a shrug.
"You didn't seem to be making many notes," Hank said. It had been three days since Jack's first lesson, and all the teachers has commented that she never wrote much, if anything, down.
"I've got a good memory," she said.
"Well, you are a young woman, perfectly capable of making your own decisions and judgements, so I won't question you – you know how you learn best. Now, I have a little spare time tomorrow evening, come and find me down here if you are still interested in learning a little Latin."
"I'll see you then," Jack said, before disappearing out of the class.
Rogue walked with Kitty through the corridors of the school. She had once been jealous of the girl, because Bobby liked her, and Bobby could touch her. Rogue had feared that, however unintentionally, Kitty might steal her boyfriend away. When Rogue took the cure and touch no longer was an issue, she put her prejudices aside and got to know her a little better. She was glad she did, because Kitty was a nice girl, and she soon learned that any fears she had had about her intentions with Bobby were misplaced. Kitty had eyes for someone else.
"Seriously, I don't know how I'm going to pass any of my classes this year," Kitty said with a giggle, "Between Peter and Professor Worthington I'm distracted all the time!"
"Maybe you should make the first move," Rogue said, "You know, drop a few hints. See if he's interested."
"You can drop hints til your head hurts and they still don't get it!" Kitty said, "Stupid boys…"
Rogue laughed but her amusement was disrupted by a sharp pain shooting through her forehead. It was over as soon as it started, but Rogue put her hand to her head, soothing it against the ripples of smaller pains it had left in its wake.
"You ok?" Kitty asked. Her voice sounded oddly melodic, richer and more layered. Rogue pressed her hands over her ears and removed them again.
"Rogue?" Kitty's voice sounded normal again.
"Yeah, fine," Rogue said with a very fake smile, "Just got a bit of a headache, that's all, made my ears go funny."
"Ok…" Kitty didn't sound entirely convinced, but she accepted it and carried on with the conversation.
Storm sat outside the President's office, nervously smoothing her white hair and crisp business suit. She wondered as she waited, about what security matters the President wished to discuss, and where exactly she came into it.
"Miss Munroe?" a secretary poked her head round a door, "The President will see you now."
Storm stood up and brushed herself down one last time, before walking into the office. The President was sat behind his desk, looking through some papers. As she walked in he looked up and smiled at her.
"Miss Munroe," he said, standing to shake her hand, "Thank you so much for your time."
"You're welcome Mr. President," Storm said.
"I understand Henry told you what I wanted to talk to you about today?"
"Security matters was as specific as he got, sir," Storm said. The President nodded.
"Before I say anything else, I just want to assure you that you have no reason to feel obliged to do what I am going to ask, and if you want me to 'get lost' then tell me so, Lord knows you've done enough for this country already," the President said.
Storm began to feel uneasy.
"What are you proposing?" she asked, trying to keep a level voice.
"I know of your school, both sides of it," the President said, "It acts as a safe house for Mutant children on the run, where they can get an education and the life skills required for them to survive in society, and as a training facility for them to use and control their powers.
"Now, I've seen you in action against Magneto, dressed in your fancy outfits, saving the world. To me you are superheroes, but the rest of the world barely knows of your existence.
"What I am proposing is that you go public, you and the other 'X-men'. I thought it might help alleviate tensions between the Mutant and Non-Mutant societies, by showing that not all Mutants are like Magneto, and also might discourage any opportunists like Magneto from taking a stab at world domination, or whatever it is they are after these days…
"In no way would I want this to compromise the safety and anonymity of the school, so everything would be done under strict identity control – disguises, fake identities, and Henry led me to believe you already have codenames…" The President added with a small smile.
"Codenames are good fun for the kids, but they don't protect your identity," Storm said.
"Perhaps not, but the government can," the President said.
"To a certain extent, yes, but the Government can't stop people putting two and two together. Some of us are not quite so inconspicuous."
"Yes, I know the case would not be so simple for some, particularly for young Mr. Worthington and Dr. McCoy, but my take on it was to have those that are more conspicuous make no attempt to hide their identity and become a sort of 'Spokesperson' for the group."
"I can't imagine Warren would be too happy about that," Storm said with a brief laugh.
"Well, all I can ask of you is to think about it. Talk to your colleagues and see how they feel, let me know either way."
"I will certainly do that," Storm said with a smile.
Jack was lounging around outside in the sun, listening to the CD Kitty had lent her on a portable CD player Rogue had let her borrow. Her friends were sat a little way away under the shade of a tree. Bobby and Rogue were snuggling up together, which gave Kitty an excuse to be familiar with Peter. Above the sound of her music, Jack could just about hear Kitty trying to get him to speak to her in Russian. Jack pressed random buttons on the CD player until she found the volume control and turned it down so she could listen better.
It was idyllic, lying on the grass, listening to her friends chatter away to a backdrop of some famous composer while the sun shone down and a light summer breeze blew, carrying with it the scent of flowers.
She was just thinking how perfect things were when a shadow fell across her.
"Do you mind?" she demanded, sitting up on her elbows, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked up at the person stood over her, "you're blocking my sun!"
"Well pardon me," Warren said with an amused smile, "Where would you like me to stand, your majesty?"
Jack gave him a strange look but she covered it quickly with a smile.
"Well, you could move about a metre in that direction," she said pointing, "Or, you know, you could just sit down."
Warren thought about it for a moment then decided to sit down with her.
"You know, ultra violet radiation is very bad for your skin, so perhaps it was a good thing that I blocked your sunlight."
Jack was lying back down on the grass, soaking up the rays again, her CD player lying forgotten by her side.
"If it feels this nice how can it possibly be bad," she said.
"Was it much colder where you used to live then?" Warren knew as soon as the words came out of his mouth that he had probably just killed the conversation, asking her about herself.
"Yeah," Jack said vaguely.
Over by the tree Kitty watched with amazement, nudging Rogue to make her look too.
"How does she do that?" Kitty asked, "Seriously, I'm going to have to ask her for lessons!"
"Lessons on how to be a teacher's pet?" Bobby asked, irritated that Rogue's attention had been taken away from him.
Rogue and Kitty both rolled their eyes.
"Boys!" they exclaimed together.
"So, where did you live before you came here?" Jack asked, directing the conversation away from her.
Warren didn't miss this, but he didn't mind. If she had reason not to talk about her past then he wouldn't push her. She'd tell someone when she was ready, and that someone probably wasn't going to be him anyway.
"My Father owns a pharmaceutical company over in San Fransisco," Warren said, "I spent most of my childhood there."
"Your Dad owns a pharmaceutical company? Wow," Jack said, "That must make you pretty rich."
"Well, yes," Warren said, "Worthington Industries, you must have heard of it."
He waited for that brief pause, followed by the inevitable 'Oh, yes, the place that invented the cure. So your Father invented the cure because of you! It's your fault that the cure exists!' and so on.
"Nope," Jack said, "never heard of it."
Warren could barely disguise his surprise. Part of him was delighted that someone existed that didn't link him straight back to the dreaded cure, but another part of him knew she'd find out sooner or later, and that he'd rather she found out from him.
"You must have," Warren said, "It was all over the news about six months ago, for inventing the Cure."
"Not American, remember?" Jack said, looking over at him.
He had a distant and sad sort of look on his face with a hint of shame. Jack sat up a little taller.
"I had to leave my home," she said, "Because I wasn't safe there."
Warren looked round at her. She met his gaze directly but didn't say anything else. Eventually he looked away.
He thought he had a rough deal, with a billionaire Father who hated his mutation so much that he spearheaded research into a cure. But it was his mutation that he had hated, not Warren himself. In a roundabout sort of way, it was through love for his son that Warren Worthington Senior had done what he had done. That love was misguided, but it was still love none the less.
So many kids here had been rejected by their parents – some just thrown out, some locked away, some even physically abused as horrified parents tried to beat their X-gene out of them. Bobby Drake's parents hadn't spoken to him since his younger brother had tried to get him and a couple of other students arrested. One of the younger boys had been found locked in a cupboard living off scraps posted under the door by his younger sister. This kind of abuse was commonplace in families with mutant children, and now Jack was admitting she was just another on the long list of runaways who had run because they didn't feel safe in their own homes.
At least Warren's Father had made sure he was well cared for, and had never forbidden him to do anything, though the power of disappointment was often more heartbreaking than anger.
Overhead a cloud passed in front of the sun.
"Damn it," Jack cursed, "Who's blocking my sun now?"
"It's a cloud," Warren said with a dry smile, "and somehow I don't think that's going to listen to you if you tell it to move a metre in that direction or sit down."
Jack laughed, shoving him playfully.
"I don't believe her!" Kitty said, torn between amused and indignant, "She is flirting with Professor Worthington! He's totally going for it as well."
Rogue laughed at her friend.
"You know," Kitty said, turning to Rogue, "Maybe I should start wearing boys clothes and not brushing my hair properly – then he might smile at me like that."
"Kitty, you're going to fail English Lit as it is, without any more distractions!" Rogue said, biting back more laughter.
Peter was silently getting very annoyed that so much of Kitty's attention was directed at the young Professor. It was about time she paid more attention to him, he decided.
"Kitty?" he said.
"Yeah?" Kitty asked in reply.
As she turned round to face him he caught her lips in a kiss. Kitty's eyes widened in surprise but she soon melted into it. Bobby and Rogue shared a look before both bursting out laughing.
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