Rahne Sinclair and Jonathan Proudstar were watching their students take recess in the yard.

"That girl, Illyana, does she seem off to you?"

"In what way?"

"Well for one thing, she's a student but she's practically old enough to teach here. Look at our headmistress."

"The whole school dynamic has changed since Xavier died. The teachers are younger, the students are older. You're starting to sound all get-off-my-lawny," Thunderbird laughed.

"That's not really what I mean. She's got an awfully good handle on her powers for someone enrolled in this school. And the powers! Have you ever seen a mutation like that?"

"Rahne, I'm a bulletproof bloodhound, you're a werewolf, and we both went to school with much weirder folks than us. I reckon there's a lot of mutations I've never seen."

"But this power, the energies, the shapes, the... the scents! Don't tell me you haven't picked up on them too. It gives me the willies," Rahne shivered. "Like the witches my mam used to tell me stories about."

"She may give you 'the willies,' but she's still one of our students. Does that responsibility intimidate you?"

"Of course not. But I'm a woman of faith. Such things we're taught to be wary of."

"And does Kurt not also share your faith? His mutation doesn't find much favor in your teachings either."

"That's different!"

"It isn't!" Jonathan laughed again, this time humorlessly. "We're all mutants, aren't we? If we start judging one another we'll be no better than the humans. So try to keep those thoughts to yourself."

For her part, Illyana was quickly making friends around the school. She spent a lot of time with Kitty when the young headmistress wasn't busy (which wasn't often), but word of her heroics in the Danger Room travelled fast. She gravitated towards the unlikely group of Sam and Roberto. The three enjoyed wandering the expanse of woods behind the mansion when they weren't in class.

"I hope you don't mind me hanging out with you," Illyana said one day.

"Why would we? You're pretty cool," Sam shrugged.

"Well, I realize that I'm a fair bit older than you. I wouldn't want to cramp your style."

"You don't act that much older," Bobby said.

"Compared to like, Blink and Shadowcat," Sam continued.

"Well, I had sort of a nontraditional upbringing. I didn't get to do anything like this. This… place, these woods, all the students. I just want to be a part of it all."

"I'm from farm country," Sam said. "Big, open, flat. You'd have to drive a pretty good distance to find big stands of trees like this."

Roberto lifted his hand and illuminated the thicket.

"This is all very different for me too. This time last year, I was still down in Brazil with my family. I wasn't mutant yet… but there's a lot to do here. And we're gonna do it all."

Two more weeks passed, and the students continued their training. The staff looked to the upcoming Open House at the end of the month. But Kitty never had her conversation with Scott she had warned Emma about.

Not that she didn't want to, mind you. With every passing lesson she felt less like a leader and more like a sidekick. Before too long she would reach a breaking point...

Amara and Alison were getting to the bottom of the young girl's powers. Her pyrokinesis was the product of magma generated below the surface of her skin. The trick was bringing it out without triggering an "eruption," as had happened in Boston.

When Dazzler wasn't working with Amara, she stopped by to lend Blink a hand as well. Clarice had become Jubilee and Rogue's main instructor during training days. Sure enough, Anna's power copying extended to Alison's light projection powers as well.

Rogue's powers seemed to work best with energy-based mutants. Testing with Wolfsbane and Thunderbird had resulted in more feelings of faintness and nausea, while Alison's were much more reduced. Jubilee, perhaps because of her youth, proved to be the most receptive to the process.

Today they were continuing to allow Jubilee and Rogue to maintain contact for longer periods of time. It seemed that the more contact she made, the more power Anna absorbed from her. They were trying for a full 15 seconds.

It was certainly a strange procedure for the girls. Jubilee could actually feel a dull tingle traveling from her neck and shoulders down her arms to where her hands met Anna's.

The white streak in Rogue's hair - a peculiar mark she had carried since birth - was filling in jet black.

"How are you feeling, Anna?"

"I'm great! Let's keep it going!" Her usual southern twang had largely disappeared. She froze in horror.

"Haha, what the heck is going on?"

"You must have absorbed some of Jubilee's brain too," N'Ezhno theorized. The Wakandan was a strict pacifist, and had opted out of most of the school's usual training methods. He found Anna's plight quite interesting, though, and often accompanied Jubilee and Rogue to their sessions.

Jubilee frowned.

"You're messing with me. I don't actually sound like that. Do I?"

"That... actually might be what happened, Nez," Blink realized.

"I'm in Hell!" Rogue said cheerfully.

"But like, only one element of her personality."

N'Ezhno looked nervous. "Of course. I would never insinuate that you were so single-mindedly joyful."

"I think we should probably avoid any longer periods of contact. She might actually turn into you if we let you do it for too long."

The next day, Illyana, Sam, and Bobby were surveying a clearing in the woods. They knew, vaguely, that Emma and Kitty intended on building a new dorm somewhere in the area, and were now imagining what it would look like.

"Maybe when we're X-Men, Miss Frost will put our headquarters out here," Bobby tried imagining a large common area with a pool and an arcade.

"I'm just hoping for some more comfortable mattresses," Illyana commented. "I think they're the only things they didn't update since -"

She stopped in her tracks. A powerful sensation overcame her. The breath caught in her throat, and she stumbled.

"Whoa, you okay?" Sam asked.

"Oh no," Illyana whispered. "I'm in deep shit."

The front doors of the mansion swung open wide, and a tall, dark-skinned woman strode through them. A mane of snow-white hair flowed behind her. She looked around. The sound of a gum bubble popping drew her attention to Jubilee, who was otherwise paralyzed in the woman's blue eyed gaze.

"Child. Where are your teachers?"

Jubilee swallowed her gum instinctively.

"Um, I can go get one. How did you get in here?"

"I know my way around this place. Go - now."

A few minutes later Kurt came inside to meet the "scary lady" Jubilee had announced the arrival of. But then he saw who it was.

A basketball dropped to the floor as trembling three-fingered hands made the sign of the cross over his body.

"Stay your hand, Nightcrawler. I am no spirit," the woman said. For Ororo Munroe knew his name.

"I'm real."

NEXT: How many mutants is one mutant too many?

_Cerebro Files [Thunderbird]

_Civilian Name: Jonathan Proudstar

_Mutant Ability: Superhuman Strength and Durability, Tracking

_While the school has closed, the mutants remain. I have faith that, should the worst occur, the new heroes, these 'Avengers,' will come to the aid of any in need, mutant or otherwise. But there must always be contingencies. That is why I selected Jonathan to lead a small band of mutants off the radar of the authorities to keep watch over what threats may skip through the cracks.

[ADMN_X/0921-2012]