Compared to the meetings happening at UA High School and the Manchester School for Gifted Youth, the cultural clash as students studying under Charles Xavier went to spend some time at Titans Academy was far less drastic.

But even if they were all from the same country, the radical culture differences that had sprung up on each coast, especially in terms of hero societies, still meant there were many barriers to be overcome.

On the West Coast, the percentage of the populace with Quirks was higher, and heroes themselves were more celebrated. On the East Coast, Quirkless people outnumbered those with powers, and there was still much fear and suspicion towards those with gifts greater than what was considered 'normal'.

Among the Manchester students who came to Titans, there were five particular ones who truly were the most out of place. Some called them the 'Strangest Hero Students of all'.

Their names were already legendary, to those who knew about the East Coast's hero scene. Scott Summers. Hank McCoy. Jean Grey. Bobby Drake. Warren Kenneth Worthington III.

But these were not the famous heroes, many of whom taught at the Manchester School. When Hank McCoy, known to many as Beast, was working on a dangerous time experiment, it brought him and his friends' younger selves into the present from the past. These five truly were the original class taught by Professor Charles Xavier, but from an earlier point in their timeline. And until they could find a way to safely return them to their proper place in time...

...they still needed an education.


Many wonder exactly how Titans Academy's main building is shaped like a capital T. It truly makes no engineering sense, but it stands regardless, a defiance to the norms many expect of the world.

On this day, the first weekend of the school exchange, someone was sitting on top of the tower, legs over the edge, as he looked out at the Pacific Ocean. "..."

"Hey." The voice from above startled him, and he looked up to see a girl was floating in the air, looking at him curiously. "Should I be worried, Slim?"

Scott Summers frowned. "No. And I've told you, call me Scott. I don't know why Bobby told you about that..." That embarrassing nickname was something the teenager would rather not be reminded of.

Many people knew Scott Summers as the tall, confident, and radical leader of many X-Men teams throughout their history. This boy was above average height, that was sure, and he wore ruby-quartz glasses, but he had yet to fill out his lanky, gangly frame. The baggy, hand-me-down clothes a size too large for him didn't help that impression.

[SCOTT SUMMERS/CYCLOPS! HIS QUIRK: CONCUSSIVE BLASTS! SCOTT'S EYES ARE ACTUALLY GATEWAYS TO A DIMENSION OF PURE FORCE...YEAH RIGHT! BUT STILL, THOSE AREN'T LASERS HE'S SHOOTING OUT OF HIS HEAD! THEY'RE PHYSICAL FORCE, AND LET ME TELL YOU, THEY FREAKING HURT! ANYONE ELSE WITH SCOTT'S QUIRK CAN TURN THEM ON OR OFF AT WILL, BUT THANKS TO A HEAD INJURY HE GOT AS A KID, SCOTT'S STUCK WITH THE 'ON' SWITCH!]

The girl landed next to him, deciding to mimic his way of sitting on the ledge. "Are you...okay?" she asked.

Scott didn't know how to answer that. He took a ragged breath and decided to go with, "...no." Then, after a few seconds, he added, "I don't think anyone really gets me."

"What about your friends? They're from the past too, right?"

"They are...but I'm..." He didn't know the right thing to say. Scott didn't want to insult anyone, but he still... "They're all adjusting pretty easily. Of course they are. They'll...fit in anywhere. It was like that before, too."

She nodded. "But you can't, right?" He made a sound that passed as agreement. "I'm kind of in that boat as well."

Unable to help himself, Scott looked at her skeptically. "I don't think you are." After all, how could she? Sitting next to him was Kara Zor-El. She was easy to recognize, with her long blonde hair and piercing gaze, even when she wasn't wearing the Kryptonian-inspired supersuit she used as a hero costume. Like her cousin's, it had the House of El's shield, a red cape, and a blue body.

[KARA ZOR-EL/SUPERGIRL! THIS GIRL DOESN'T HAVE A QUIRK, AND SHE DOESN'T NEED ONE! IN CASE YOU'VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK, KARA'S THE COUSIN TO THE ONE AND ONLY MAN OF STEEL, SUPERMAN, A FELLOW KRYPTONIAN! THAT MEANS SHE'S GOT ALL THE SAME POWERS HE DOES, AND I'M NOT GOING TO BORE YOU BY LISTING THEM ALL!]

The popular girl didn't reply to his accusation at first. She just stared at the horizon. Scott wondered, with her alien eyes, just how far she could see. "We have more in common than you think. I'm not like Kal, I wasn't sent here as a baby. My family and I tried to escape the destruction of our planet with Argo City, which existed outside of the time stream. When we left, I wasn't that much younger than I am now, and Kal was just a baby."

"..." That was a lot of stuff Scott didn't know. Well, of course he didn't, he thought. Just a month ago, from his perspective, Superman was a relatively new hero, and Supergirl hadn't come to Earth. There was so much to get used to, so many new things to try and learn...he hated it. He just wanted to go back home. "Do you miss it? Argo City?"

It looked like she had to think a little before giving an answer. "Yes. I don't hate it on Earth, and I'm coming to see why my cousin loves it so much. But it's not my planet. It's not my culture. I don't enjoy that everyone expects me to give up everything Kryptonian about me, to just assimilate into this world."

There wasn't really anything Scott felt like he could say to that. He understood every word. After all, in a way, wasn't that what he was going through? Everyone wanted him to leave his world, the past, behind, and acclimate to the present. Everyone wanted him to hide the parts of him that weren't 'normal'. He had to pretend to be social, pretend to think like everyone else, pretend he was okay.

No words were really needed. Scott and Kara just enjoyed silence, as two people who felt lost in a world they didn't understand.


A huge, hulking, beefy teenager was digging through the Titans Academy library. "Fascinating," the young Hank McCoy pondered, reaching up to the highest shelf to grab a book on time travel science written by a 'Rip Hunter'.

But in between one second and the next, the book disappeared from his grasp, and a breeze was the only other sign of what had happened.

With a small sigh, Hank called out, "Bartholomew, I do require that book!" There was no response. Putting on a cheery smile, he added, "If you'd rather I not study temporal physics, I could always use your help to study the Speed Force! I'm sure your connection to it would make for a fantastic case study. Or maybe even an experiment or two..."

In a flash, there was suddenly another teenager standing next to him, one with unruly brown hair and a pouty expression. "Here," Bart replied, holding out the heavy book. "Just be careful! It's my future you'd be messing with."

Taking what he'd asked for, Hank merely told him, "I appreciate the assistance. If you'd like to observe my experiments, making sure I don't disrupt the timeline, I do still require a lab assistant." It was a genuine offer. Many students who'd tried helping Hank before refused to speak to him afterwards, but Impulse seemed to have a stronger stomach.

"Crash!" the speedster said with a smile. "Lemme know when you're getting started, and I'll be there before you know it!" Then he was gone. Hank smiled. If things worked out, soon they'd be back in their proper time, and his future blue-furred self wouldn't be required.


"Breathe in," she said to herself, trying to remain calm. "Breathe out..." She had been repeating the mantra to herself, trying to help her focus, trying to help her tune out everything else.

"...the test on Friday, no way I'll pass..."

"...so cute! But she'll never give me a chance..."

"...I...hmm. No, that's not right. I'm pretty sure there are three n's in Wednesday..."

She'd gone to the most remote part of the campus, a park whose limits stretched to the shores of the island. But it wasn't far enough. Why? Why was she such a strong telepath? And why did they take the mental blocks away?!

[JEAN GRAY/MARVEL GIRL! HER QUIRK: OMEGA-LEVEL TELEPATHY AND TELEKINESIS! THIS GIRL IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST PSYCHIC'S ON THE PLANET, AND THAT'S NOT AN EXAGGERATION!]

Ever since the red-headed girl had been sent to the future, she'd tried to keep moving forward. Even when she learned about what her future was destined to be. Even when they took away the inhibitors that kept her power in control. Even when losing control meant not having room in her head to just think for herself.

"...re you okay? Jean?" The voice grounded her, just a little, and she used it as an anchor to force herself to not listen to the hundreds of voices in her head, and look at who was addressing her. Judging by the generic Superman shirt, leather jacket, and blue jeans, that meant he was...there were so many other students to try and remember, but she knew it was in there somewhere.

Then, she realized something. Jean wasn't getting anything out of him. If she looked at him, if she focused on the presence of his mind, she didn't read anything at all. "Why...why can't I...?" It was only as she tried to think of an answer for that, that Jean remembered who this was.

Conner Kent ran a hand through his short black hair, looking a bit embarrassed. "Why can't you read my mind, you mean? You can thank Cadmus for that. It's actually why I came to see you. Scott told me you were having issues with hearing everyone's thoughts.I just wondered...if focusing on me could help you at all?"

[CONNER KENT/SUPERBOY! HIS QUIRK: TACTILE TELEKINESIS! WHAT'S THAT? HOW DOES SUPERMAN'S CLONE HAVE A QUIRK? THE ANSWER'S SIMPLE: HE'S ONLY HALF-KRYPTONIAN, AND THE OTHER HALF IS HUMAN! THEY COULDN'T REPLICATE ALL OF SUPERMAN'S POWERS, SO INSTEAD THEY GAVE CONNOR A QUIRK THAT LETS HIM TELEKINETICALLY MOVE ANYTHING HE TOUCHES, WHICH LOOKS JUST LIKE SUPER-STRENGTH!]

Frowning, Jean told him, "Tell Scott he should worry about himself." It was frustrating. Scott was always looking out on her, when he should be doing something about his own problems. Then there was...everything she knew about their future together. Jean hated everything she'd learned about that destiny. Well...that wasn't really true. Marrying Scott would probably be great, if it felt like her own choice. But that wasn't what this was about. Conner was there, and he was trying to help her. "I appreciate it, Superboy. Do you think we could talk?"

It felt so good, not being forced to read his mind. Everyone got made at her, once they realized what she'd been doing, but she couldn't help it. What had once been something she could use at will was now this omnipresent influx of thoughts. "How are you doing? With being...'here'?" Whether he meant the Bay Area or the future, Jean didn't know.

"It's...a lot." Jean decided to focus on the latter. After all, so far at least, Titans wasn't too terrible a school. Far less formal than Professor Xavier's. "Dying, the Phoenix Force, dying again, being cloned, coming back, dying again..." It was only after she'd said it out loud that she realized what she'd said, and who she was saying it to. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a clone! I just...haven't heard good things about Madeline specifically." Really, who becomes a villain and calls herself 'The Goblin Queen'?

As far as she could tell, without having access to his thoughts, Connor didn't seem to mind. "No harm taken. I'm aware it can be...hard for people. Learning they were cloned without their consent, I mean. Doesn't really matter if the one who did it was a villain with a ruby in his forehead or the government."

For just a second, at the allusion to him, Jean couldn't help looking around for any sign of the pale villain. From what she'd heard, Mister Sinister enjoyed making grand entrances at times like that. Seeing and feeling no trace of him, Jean focused on Connor again. By now, she's managed to slowly push out everyone else's thoughts from her head, she'd managed to completely close off her telepathy. For a little while, at least. "So then does...Superman?" Jean didn't know the Man of Steel very well, at least not yet, but the idea of him rejecting Connor because of his origin...it didn't sit right with her.

"He's better about it now," Connor said, his voice frank. "Clark wants me to be part of his family."

"But at first?" Jean asked.

The half-Kryptonian shrugged. "He couldn't look at me. I tried not to take it too hard. We're past it." He looked up in the sky, at the clouds, and the birds flying through the air. "You can't really complain to someone for not appreciating being cloned like that." He paused for a second. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes," Jean admitted. "You...helped a lot."

"Good." Conner started heading back the way he came. "If you want to talk again, let me know."

Once he was gone, Jean couldn't help thinking about her. Madeline Pryor. Created...why? To marry Scott? Have his child?

What had she been like, when she was alive? Was she hated for being what she was made to become? Had there ever been a hope that she could escape her origin, and become something new?

Jean liked to hope so.


"Again!"

This was the eighth time Bobby Drake had asked it of her. She wanted to refuse. But... "One more time, and then you'll do what I wanted?"

Grinning like a schoolboy, Bobby nodded. "Yeah, of course, I'll put in a good word for you with Warren!"

The teenage girl he was speaking to didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Mary was a bit tall, that was true, and she caught her share of looks, but that wasn't what Bobby was interested in.

No, he was interested in something else. "Shazam!" Mary called out, and despite the sky being completely clear of clouds, there was an immediate thunderclap as a bolt of lightning fell from above and hit her.

It was so bright that it blinded Bobby for a few seconds, and when he could see her again, Mary had completely changed. Now as tall as her adopted brother, Mary Batson was wearing the magical costume, adorned with a lightning bolt, that showed her connection to the wizard Shazam. Now, she was Sergeant Marvel. Looking over at Bobby again, she asked, "Now are you satisfied?"

"One more time?" he asked, but the glare he got in return led to the teen raising up his hands in a mock surrender. "Fine, fine. You're just lucky he's straight, or he'd already be with me."


The richest student on the campus of Titans Academy sat by himself in the cafeteria, studying. It was so rare to find some peace and quiet in this rowdy school, and he was savoring it.

*SLAM*

Said peace was interrupted by someone dropping their tray of food on the table, and sitting down across from him. "Yo, Kenneth," said the ginger, freckled teen girl sitting with her legs astride the table's seat. With a mouthful of fries, she managed to ask, "Or wait, do you prefer Warren? Worthington? The Third?"

When she first sat down, Warren had hoped she would just go away. He didn't enjoy how people tended to flock to him. Of course, not only did his mutation help him stand out, but his perfectly quaffed blond hair and amazingly good looks were issues too. But it quickly became clear the newcomer would just keep jabbering on unless he said something. "Warren is fine, or Angel." He pulled his wings out a little more from his back, as though showing them off.

[WARREN KENNETH WORTHINGTON III/ANGEL! HIS QUIRK: WINGS! HE CAN FLY! THAT'S IT!]

"Gotcha, Warren it is," she said. Looking over his book at her a little further, Warren realized he wasn't the only one who was likely to get a lot of stares. The red-headed teen was wearing a jean-jacket with rainbow shoulder pads and lots of pins on the pockets. Several of them were flags with strange colors. Warren...wasn't extremely familiar with the queer community, aside from helping Bobby with his self-discovery, but he was pretty sure that her pins had some meaning in that department. "Kinda sucks, doesn't it?" she asked, loading up a spoon with peas.

The question seemed to come from nowhere. It took a few seconds for Warren to even think about how to answer it. "What do you mean?"

"Our powers," she replied. "I mean, your wings look cool, but tons of people can fly, just with like...their minds or whatever." Judging by how she said it, the girl didn't mean it as an insult.

That didn't really stop Warren from feeling offended. "My mutationdoes more than let me fly." He was pretty sure that was true. He hadn't really...figured out what those other things were, but he would. "May I ask who you are, and why you think we are in...similar boats, at it were?"

She tried to answer with her mouth full and almost choked, but after managing to swallow it back down and drinking some apple juice to make sure it stayed down, she extended a hand and a grin. "The name's Casey Brinke. Not a mutant though. I'm from Dannyland."

[CASEY BRINKE/SPACE CASE! THIS WEIRDO DOESN'T HAVE A QUIRK, BECAUSE SHE'S A COMIC CHARACTER! CREATED FROM THE PAGES OF DANNY COMICS, CASEY CAN TIME TRAVEL BY DRIVING VEHICLES FAST ENOUGH, AND SHOOT ENERGY BLASTS FROM HER HANDS! DON'T LOOK AT ME, I'M JUST TELLING YOU WHAT HER FILE SAYS, YO!]

Perhaps it was being over twenty years in the future, but Warren felt as though he was missing something. "Dannyland?"

"Yep." Having cleaned her tray, the strange girl leaned back and started really talking nonsense. "So, there's this street that's alive, named Danny the Street. They're genderfluid and just the nicest person you'll ever meet who is a sapient piece of land. But then they became a planet named Danny the World, and then a brick, and now they're Dannyland, an extradimensional amusement park. I was originally a comic character that Danny created, but they made me real." Casey took a sip of her apple juice. "If I drive my ambulance fast enough, I can travel in time."

Deciding to completely ignore most of the complete insanity she'd said, Warren was actually really intrigued by her power. "If that's true...can you take me and my friends home?" The sooner Warren could get back to his correct time, the sooner he could prevent his future self from making such terrible decisions. Really, Archangel? Awful name, awful color scheme.

Casey frowned, and Warren got the sense that this wasn't the first time someone had asked her that. "I mean...I'd love to, but we already tested that. I'm not really great at controlling where I end up, and the only place I can for sure go to and from is here. Sorry." Warren sighed. As to be expected...Casey did say their powers were both useless. It sounded as though she'd been right. "Want some of my apple juice?" she offered.

"I...appreciate the idea," he told her. "But no, no thank you." Still, perhaps this 'Casey Brinke' wasn't so bad to have around. Strange, to be sure, but not unpleasant.

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring loudly, and a voice from the intercom announced, "Attention all students, a villain has breached the school's perimeter! Be alert for a woman with black hair and a domino mask. If you see her, tell a staff member!"

Warren looked around, worried the villain might be somewhere nearby, but Casey was all smiles. "Oh man! That's my girlfriend, I better go let them know she's not here to attack, she's just coming to see me. Bye, Warren!" She ran away, waving goodbye with one hand, and Warren only allowed himself to stare for a few seconds before getting back to studying. Perhaps Casey Brinke...was a bit too much, after all.