Madeline tentatively walked outside of the Beast's lab. She had spent about a week and a half in there under heavy supervision, but there was only so long a young girl could stay still with someone monitoring her so closely. Since Hank had left without a word to discuss something with Logan, she had decided to take her leave. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the Xavier Institute was almost completely reconstructed. Construction workers continued to work around certain areas, and Madeline nodded a "hello" to them as she continued past them.

"Lookin' good Ariel."

Madeline literally jumped and faced the man that addressed her. Vladmir stood to her right, leaning against an incomplete doorway. She smiled nervously and fiddled with a few stray strands of hair.

"Good afternoon, Vladmir. Where are the others?" she greeted softly, noticing how the workers began to edge away upon Vladmir's arrival.

If Vladmir had noticed the tension between the workers, he was really good at hiding it. "They're in the dining hall. I could take you there. I mean, if you want. You probably don't know your way around."

The brunette's braids bounced as she rushed to stand beside him and held out her hand. "Noble knight, lead me to the banquet that awaits me."

Vladmir chortled and took her hand, surprising Madeline, who didn't expect the joke to go that far. "I'm not a knight, I'm far from it. I'm the big bad wolf in a sheep suit, and you've made a mistake."

He flashed a toothy grin and took her along. 'My, what big and sharp teeth you have' she thought to herself. Madeline was practically tripping over her feet trying to keep up with his longer strides. They navigated through a maze of hallways. There was no way Madeline would remember where anything was. It was as if the architect that designed the building was worse of an alcoholic than that Tony Stark guy she read so much about in magazines. They were brought to a sudden stop in front of a single door. Vladmir let go of her hand and opened the door, ushering her inside. From what she was able to glimpse, she was able to register that a handful of the X-men were in the room, possibly gathered here to discuss something of great importance. Nikolina and Kev were also inside which answered her question about their whereabouts. Mateus however appeared to be missing from this conversation.

Nikolina sat beside a stranger that adorned red shades, talking in hushed whispers. The man had a face set in concrete when he looked up at the duo entering the room. Nikolina followed his shaded gaze and bounced off her seat, smoothing out the wrinkles on her dress.

"Madeline, it's so nice to see you. I really thought that they held you up in that stuffy room for far too long" while saying this, she threw a hardly subtle narrow glance at Logan and Hank, seated across the table from her.

Frowning, Madeline stared suspiciously at Kev. Nikolina had called her by her actual name, which she didn't know. Or rather,shouldn't. Kev smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright, let's get this over with. We're starting off with the current topic of interest: you" Logan said, jabbing his finger at the general direction of Madeline and Vladmir.

Hank looked up apologetically at Madeline. "I tried to mention that you wanted to join the X-men, and frankly it is not going well so far."

Madeline snorted and crossed her arms as she addressed Wolverine. "I'm more mature than you think. Probably much more than you could ever hope to be yourself, fathead."

A growl escaped through Logan's lips accompanied by the snikt of his claws being brandished. The man with red glasses moved swiftly between them.

"Logan, put those away. If she and her acquaintances want to join, at least give her a chance to realize that this lifestyle isn't just fun and games."

Nikolina reached for Madeline's hand and squeezed gently, silently keeping her back from jumping the other two. Vladmir, on the other hand, remained completely composed.

"I think she understands that, Summers. Thank you for being the most reasonable person here" he spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"And how, do you propose, we prove your worth to us and our cause?" the slim brunette inquired, brows knitted together. "Since when could we trust you, Vladmir?"

Vladmir remained silent, working his mouth and staring intently into the other's concealed eyes.

"Who is that?" Madeline asked Nikolina, pointing quite openly at the brunette. "I don't like the way he's talking to Vladmir."

The other female sighed nad lightly pressed Madeline's pointing finger down. "That is Scott Summers. Cyclops. He's kind of like the deputy leader or something of the sort. That means show respect, dear."

"Well then, Scottie Snottie. I'll prove my worth on my own terms. I challenge Wolverine to a duel." Madeline declared, throwing her hands on her hips defiantly.

"Oh yeah. Real mature." Kev rumbled to himself.

Scott hardly suppressed his sarcastic smirk and turned to Logan with a nod. "Gladly."


Madeline's mouth gaped as she spun around in the danger room, used to train mutants through simulations. This, however, was not going to be a computer-generated video game. The power connected to the usually dangerous lasers and various other machines whose purpose was to hurt were shut off for the spectacle that was about to occur. Her footsteps made heavy and hollow noises echo throughout the barren room. It was hard to believe people actually trained with such dangerous tools. Madeline removed her gaze from the machines and faced her current threat: Wolverine.

"If Charles Xavier chose you to be leader in his stead, he must not only be paralyzed in his legs." Madeline drawled mockingly, placing a finger to her lip in mock innocence. "No offense to Charles, of course."

Wolverine brought his claws up towards his face without a word. "Ladies first, lass."

Madeline levitated off the ground and released her flames. Taking advantage of her flight, she glanced up at the audience gathered behind a glass screen that prevented any damage to befall them. It was just her and Logan in the danger room, excluding the lone brunette male leaning against the wall to her right. Cyclops was supposed to stay in the room just in case things got out of hand.

Closing her eyes and nodding briefly, she reassured herself that things would not get out of hand. She was in control of herself and her powers. If anything bad happened, Cyclops was here. With renewed vigor, Madeline dove forward. She managed to land a fiery kick into Logan's abdomen, but before she could pull back, he had her foot in his grasp. Madeline squealed as she was thrown right into the wall, flailing. Madeline sputtered a cough as she forced herself back upon her feet and rushed towards him again. This time instead of attacking, she dove nimbly, narrowly missing one of Wolverine's claws and managing to slide her body through the gap between his legs. Rebounding quickly, Logan deflected her follow-up punch. She grunted as his other fist made contact in her abdomen. Madeline blinked hard before her eyes could give away her pain as blood pooled through her shirt.

"Logan, that's enough. You reopened her wound from earlier." Hank's voice drifted over an intercom.

Logan smirked and backed away from Madeline, sheathing his claws. "Looks like you've learned your place to me."

Madeline grit her teeth and socked him in the face, taking him by complete surprise. Logan cursed and lifted a hand to his slightly burned face. "Oh, you're on" he growled as he unsheathed his claws and dashed towards her. Madeline swiftly evaded his attack by feinting to the side and kicked his ribcage. Logan, unfazed, hooked her other foot with his and swept her off her feet and upon the ground. Landing on her back, Logan jumped above her and pinned her down, swinging his claws towards her. Madeline let out a shriek before his weight was quickly thrown off her by a red laser blast. Madeline looked up, relieved to see Scott leisurely strolling towards the two. Behind him the spectators began to exit the viewing room, some applauding and others suppressing laughs as they made their way towards her and their leader.

"I've seen enough from both of you" he said before reaching a hand out towards her and pulling her up.

Nikolina rushed away from the group to join them. Vladmir's face was indiscernible as he trailed behind her with Kev by his side. Wolverine picked himself off the floor and dusted himself off before stalking towards the others. He jerked his hand up to swipe at his mouth, his sudden action causing the exhausted and bleeding girl to flinch unwillingly.

"You need work on just about everything" Cyclops concluded. Madeline lowered her gaze and stared at the floor that was becoming more interesting by the second.

"Scott, that's absurd. According to your verdict she can't fend for herself, so why would you send her away? You-" Nikolina was interrupted by a wave of the other's hand.

"Let me finish. We don't turn our backs on mutants. She needs help. Help that only the Xavier Institute can provide." Before Madeline had a chance to rejoice, Logan interjected.

"You need training, but that doesn't mean you're a part of the X-men."

Hank leaned in to whisper "yet", causing Madeline to grin nonetheless despite her disappointment at being defeated.

After promising to do her best, Madeline bounded out of the room. Hank gave chase to the injured mutant, trying to catch up and yelling something about treating her wounds. As everyone else slowly departed, Nikolina hung back, grabbing Cyclops' attention.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder in a friendly gesture. Nikolina had begun to shake her head before she seemed to think otherwise and nodded instead.

"I feel that my power is useless. I'll be a burden to you all" she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

It was Scott's turn to shake his head as he responded, "No mutant gets left behind. Your power will find its uses. You can read people's minds, right?"

"Yes, but only when they're unconscious, and I need physical contact. Recently, I've been having terrible migraines to accompany it."

"I think you just need to find a way to put it to use. I never thought being a walking cannon with bazookas behind my eyes would be useful for anyone either."

Nikolina chuckled her agreement and smiled up at Scott. "Thank you."


Madeline could hear Hank calling after her as she dragged her feet, heaving herself up the staircase silently and hoping to evade Hank's persistence of treating her once again. There was no way she'd allow herself to stay in his lab for another week or longer for something that was little more than a flesh wound. Reaching the last step, Madeline looked down the hallway to see a multitude of doors. It seemed troublesome, but curiosity got the better of her as she began to open doors at random, finding rooms that no doubt belonged to members of the X-men. There seemed to be a lack of personal ingenuity in each room she visited, as the beds and furniture were all the same bland boring brand. Disheartened, Madeline leaned against one of the doors and gasped as she fell backward.

"Ariel?! Jeez, you scared the daylights outta me!" Mateus yelped, armed with an oversized pillow.

Madeline was still a little dazed as she replied, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to! Mateus, where were you all of today? You had me worried."

Mateus eyes glistened as he stared down the pillow in his hands. Madeline tilted her head to the side as she approached him slowly. She took a seat beside him on his bed and leaned her face down to look at his.

"Sorry. I'm just... missing someone close to me" he said, then quickly changing topics, asked "So which one is it? Madeline or Ariel?"

Madeline's eyes narrowed as she realized what he was doing. "Mateus, who are you missing? Is it a girlfriend?" Madeline waggled her eyebrows suggestively, resulting in a chuckle from the tanned male.

"My boyfriend" he corrected lightly. It took a lot out of Madeline to not sputter out of shock.

"I would have never guessed! Wow, that sounds so sweet" she said, grasping the other's hands in hers. "Tell me about him."

"He was my surfing instructor. I wanted to visit New York to see some Broadway, but the MRD split us up. I let myself be captured so he could runaway. It was all in vain though. Last I saw of him, he was riding in the back of an MRD truck going in the opposite direction of ours."

"So he must be a mutant too. We should go find him!"

"He's not a priority to the X-men's best interests right now. I'm now even sure where the MRD took him."

The words Mateus said echoed in Madeline's head. Of course the "X-men's best interests" wouldn't involve helping these unexpected newcomers. Especially not after brutally losing to Logan and having Scott insult her combat skills. But this was not over yet. 'I'll show them! I'll help Mateus, beat up some MRD soldiers, and get a new mutant on board, all of my own accord. They'll have to respect me after that.'

Madeline grinned mischievously. "We're not X-men yet, so our 'priorities' are a tad different. Let's enlist a little help and go through as many MRD bases we can until we find him."

Mateus' eyes widened and he shook his head disbelievingly. "A little help? The X-men are definitely out, and there's no way Vladmir or Nikolina would approve of attacking them head-on. Even Kev isn't that bold, and that's saying a lot."

She rolled her eyes and took Mateus by the shoulders. "Not them. There's only one organization that would help out with this."

Mateus stood up and grabbed her wrists, wrenching her away from him. "You can't possibly mean-"

"The Brotherhood" she stated with a wink. Rather than dismissing her, Mateus smiled with excitement.

"What's the plan?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with amusement.