Author's Note: Special thanks to Jess (FF.N user authorofdoomearth) for coming up with a credible way for Rogue to end up with Ms. Marvel's powers, which I have adapted with her permission.

Welcome to Mutant High

It was a thoroughly ordinary summer afternoon at Xavier's school. It was a Saturday, so the students – and teachers – were free to do whatever they wanted. The basketball courts and swimming pool were full and the library was empty. Even those seeking peace and quiet also sought the warmth of the sun on a day like this.

Peter was among those on the basketball court when Professor Xavier sought him. In fact, he had just stunned his opponents and delighted his teammates by springing off the ground and slamming the ball into the hoop for a slam dunk.

"Piotr!" Xavier called from just outside the court.

Peter disappointed his teammates by tagging in a substitute – a much smaller boy with blue hair – but he assured them, "I'll be back!" before stepping off the court. "What can I do for you, Professor?" he asked, then glanced up at the young man standing next to Xavier.

"Piotr, this is Jean-Paul. He's going to be a new student here."

Jean-Paul smiled warmly at Peter as they shook hands. "Hi," he greeted demurely.

Peter blinked. Am I imagining things, or—?

"I wondered if you would like to show Jean-Paul around the school," Xavier explained.

"Of course!" Peter answered eagerly – a bit too eagerly, he silently chastised himself.

Xavier smiled as he turned to leave. "I'm sure you'll find you have a great deal in common," he suggested innocently.

Jean-Paul kept smiling at Peter, and Peter found himself reflexively smiling back as he enthusiastically began, "Welcome to Mutant High."

xxxx

At that moment, two recent graduates of "Mutant High" were on a rooftop somewhere in New York City.

Bobby and Rogue had been training with the X-Men for weeks, but they had still been on very few missions, so both of them couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

"Keep your eyes open," Wolverine advised simply. As far as teachers went, Wolverine was hardly the least intimidating, but he had shown a surprising amount of patience with them so far. They felt safe with him nearby.

"The S.H.I.E.L.D. transport is arriving," Storm announced over the radio.

Wolverine grunted in reply, and they waited as the eerily noiseless vehicle landed on the roof. Two figures exited; a man and a woman, they could tell from a distance.

"Where the hell is Summers?" Nick Fury demanded as they approached.

Wolverine narrowed his eyes. "Nice to see you too, General. Who's the pretty lady?"

"This is Colonel Carol Danvers," Fury introduced the woman in military fatigues. "She's been working on the Magneto case for months, and she's the one who recently uncovered this particular wrinkle of the investigation. Colonel Danvers, this is Wolverine. Possibly the most dangerous teddy bear alive."

Wolverine shrugged casually. "This is Iceman and Rogue, but I'm sure you already knew that."

Fury smiled.

"So what the hell do you need, Nick?"

"I'll let Colonel Danvers explain," Fury answered.

The blonde nodded in acknowledgement. "Over the past few weeks, we've been noticing some very suspicious activities on the part of Mr. Warren Worthington. I believe you know of him?"

Logan glanced at Bobby and Rogue, both of whom shrugged helplessly. "Doesn't ring any bells," Wolverine admitted.

Danvers raised an eyebrow. "You know a lot of pretty boys with wings?"

"Oh, that bastard!" Wolverine recognized cheerfully. "He was hired muscle for Frost, wasn't he?"

Fury choked a laugh, and Danvers smiled. "Worthington is far too financially secure to be hired muscle for anyone, Wolverine. He's the heir of a Fortune 500 Company."

"Oh."

"He recently made good on that inheritance," Danvers picked up. "Police couldn't prove anything, but… well, let's just say it didn't look good."

Wolverine crossed his arms. "Why are we suddenly interested in corporate scheming?"

"Because Worthington has turned his father's pharmaceutical company into the only weapons manufacturer that has the resources to compete with Stark Industries," Fury jumped back into the conversation. "And because he recently bought an island."

"We can't prove anything," Danvers went on, "but we're pretty sure he's working with Magneto."

Wolverine crossed his arms and frowned suspiciously. "So why are you all the sudden in the mood for all this sharing?"

"We need your help," Fury admitted. "If it gets out that the U.S. government – even S.H.I.E.L.D. – is interfering with a company the size of Worthington, a lot of very important people that have been 'not noticing' our activities will suddenly become a lot more interested."

Wolverine shook his head cynically. "Do we at least get a medal or something for this?"

Fury smiled. "I knew we could count on you."

Wolverine grunted. "Leave Xavier out of it, I'll take care of it myself."

"Like hell you will!" Bobby exclaimed.

"Language, young man," Wolverine mock chastised. "Kids these days."

"He's right," Storm's voice said over the intercom. "This is a job for the whole team, Logan."

"How long have you been listening, darlin'?"

"The whole time, of course."

Wolverine sighed. "There's no reason to drag everyone into this. I can handle a small-time punk like Worthington."

"But not Magneto," Rogue pressed, joining the argument. "You're the worst possible person to go after him alone."

"Look," Fury cut in. "I don't care how you handle it, just handle it."

Wolverine raised a brow. "I know you're used to giving orders, bub, but—"

"Please," Danvers added with a wink.

"Alright," Wolverine conceded. "We'll take this back to Charlie, and we'll see what—" He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly sniffing the air.

"What?" Rogue asked.

Wolverine deployed his claws and spun around just in time to see someone rushing at him with impossible speed. Wolverine back flipped out of the way, only to be thrown backwards by a burst of flames from a second figure standing father away on the roof.

"Damn it!" Fury shouted, drawing his weapon and dropping behind cover.

Colonel Danvers surprised the three mutants by rising slightly into the air and flying towards the blur. She slammed into him at full speed with an uppercut, knocking what turned out to be a silver-haired young man onto the ground.

"Uh. You can fly," Rogue noted blankly.

"I'll explain later," Danvers answered. "Go help Wolverine."

Bobby had already transformed into ice form, and was working hard on keeping himself cool, knowing exactly whom they were facing when he saw the flames. Rogue had removed her gloves, planning on de-powering John as soon as they got close enough.

"Hello, John," he said as he approached the edge of the roof.

"Bobby," John answered with exaggerated friendliness. "Rogue." He grinned wickedly as he shot a huge burst of flames at them, but Bobby easily deflected it with an ice blast.

"Is that the best you can do?" Bobby challenged.

John surprised him by shooting a burst of flames directly at Rogue, which Bobby tried to block but was not completely successful. Bobby's heart jumped into his throat as he saw Rogue disappear over the side of the roof.

"Rogue!" he shouted, and the loss of concentration cost him dearly as Pyro suddenly engulfed him in flames, and he fell to his knees, quickly losing his cold form.

Pyro sneered maliciously as he watched his former friend weakening, but that only distracted him enough for him to not notice Wolverine until the other man staggered him with a sharp blow to the face.

Pyro staggered back, and Wolverine hit him again. Either punch would've been fatal if Wolverine had had his claws out. "You always were too arrogant for your own good," Logan chastised as John fell to the ground, but the boy fired another huge burst of flames at Wolverine, sending him to the ground with nasty-looking burns.

Wolverine didn't so much as cry out in pain, knowing that the burns would heal quickly, and Pyro was obviously too winded to take advantage of the attack. And then Danvers flew – that was taking some getting used to – across the roof to join them.

Bobby was unable to get up, but he gestured in the general direction of the side of the roof. "Rogue…" he managed weakly.

Danvers gasped when he saw the girl barely hanging off the side of the roof. Hastily making sure she had secure footing, Danvers leaned over and reached for the girl.

Rogue actually seemed to shy away from the contact, which confused Danvers. "Grab my hand!" she shouted over the sound of the wind.

Rogue shook her head desperately. "I dropped my gloves!" she tried to explain.

"Whatever!" Danvers insisted. "You'll die. Just grab my hand!"

"You don't understand!" Rogue protested, but it was too late.

Danvers grabbed Rogue's hand and with her super strength tried to haul her up the roof, but suddenly all the strength left her body. She gasped, and lost her footing. Rogue had been desperately trying to pry her hand away from Colonel Danvers', but suddenly realized she was dizzyingly high above the ground, and she clung desperately to her.

"Somebody!" Rogue screamed. "Help!"

But it was too late, and they were both falling away from the building, and Rogue didn't let go.

"Rogue!" Bobby shouted, finally managing to get to his feet and stagger over to the side of the building. He was just in time to see both women plummeting downward, and he screamed in horror. "No!"

There was a loud crash as Rogue landed on a car, crushing it. Danvers landed on a paved road nearby, and cracks formed all around her.

Pyro had recovered just enough to stand, and was about to shoot fire at Bobby again.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Quicksilver grabbed him by the arm.

Pyro shrugged away his hand. "Hell no. I'm going to finish this."

"There's too many of them," Quicksilver insisted. "We're getting out of here."

Pyro spat at the ground. "Who the hell died and made you king?"

"You idiot," Quicksilver insisted, motioning towards the horrified Bobby. "He's going to kill you."

Pyro sighed, but reluctantly followed.

xxxx

Rather than waiting for Storm to bring the jet, Bobby and Wolverine accepted Fury's generous offer to fly them down to the street in the S.H.I.E.L.D. transport. Wolverine's hand was on the boy's shoulder the whole way down, steadying him, but Bobby barely noticed.

He killed her. He actually killed her. That bastard… oh my God, Rogue… no…

They landed almost silently next to the car Rogue had landed on, and Bobby ran out of the vehicle, hoping against hope that Rogue had somehow survived.

"Rogue…" he whispered in dull horror as he approached the ruined car. He jumped onto the hood and pulled himself onto what used to be the roof in order to see her. Rogue was lying in the middle of the car, crying—

No, that wasn't her crying, that had to be him… but… wait, no, she was moving!

"Rogue!" Bobby shouted in disbelief and elation, reaching for her.

Rogue slapped his hand away violently, and shoved him with a ridiculous amount of strength so that he went flying backwards through the air.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Rogue shouted, jumping out the car, looking around frantically as Fury and Logan also approached.

"Rogue, darlin'—" Wolverine started.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!" And Rogue jumped into the air, and was suddenly flying away.

"Oh God," Fury whispered in dull horror, realizing what had happened. He walked over to the cracked pavement, and sure enough, Colonel Carol Danvers – codename Ms. Marvel – the indestructible woman… was dead.