After school...

I was right outside of the Institute. Scott will probably have everyone waiting to ambush me inside. He will not react well to what I have to say. Laura had walked with me. She took Scott's instructions seriously. She began heading up to the front doors, apparently considering her mission completed. I waited a moment and then followed. I opened the door and had to stop myself from sighing. Too predictable, Summers. He was waiting with Kitty, Rogue, Jean and now Laura. I moved to walk past him and he stepped in front of me. I looked up into his face emotionlessly. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I just stared at him. This seemed to infuriate him. "Don't play stupid with me Victor. The Brotherhood. Did you forget Xavier's order to kill? Or do you just break your word without regret? Are you really an animal?" My control is definitely degrading. "None of them are dead. Now get out of my way." Jean stepped forward. "Please Victor. We need to know if we can trust you." That's all? They should have asked sooner. "You can't. Move." Now Rogue stepped forward. "Ok, cut the bullshit. We need to know. Then ask Xavier. Move." Just then Amy entered from the direction of the Danger Room. Her outfit was burned and torn and she seemed irritated. Then seemed to notice us and winced. "You guys should really calm down. Scott feels like he's about to pop a blood vessel." Scott looked bemused at the statement. I took the opportunity his distraction provided and brushed past him. I heard his heart rate accelerate and nearly laughed. Go ahead and try it. Then he took a breath and his heart began slowing. Logical...but disappointing.. Amy seemed to be amused as I walked past her. She can feel my disappointment. That will make it difficult for me to deceive her.

I got to my room to see Logan leaning against the wall. "Kid, the professor wants to see you." I threw my backpack onto my bed and followed him to the professors office. We enter and Logan takes a seat next to Xavier. Surprising. Somehow I didn't picture him as a therapist. Xavier chuckles at the thought. He was examining my memories of the day. Then his expression turned serious. "You need to show more restraint. You cannot fight the Brotherhood unless there is no other choice. Do you understand?" I nodded. Then Logan leaned forward. "Good job pissin off Slim. He needs to lighten up. Heard the whole thing a couple halls down." Xavier frowned at Logan and then turned back to me. "Why do you distrust the students? It's nothing personal. I don't trust anyone. Why? It was one of the lessons HYDRA taught me very well." I could hear Logan's heart rate accelerate considerably. He hates them too. I wonder why... Xavier seemed saddened by my response. "I understand what they did to you left you scarred, but we won't take advantage of you, Victor. We only want to help you. I'm a realist, professor." So I believe you will only allow me to stay here as long as it's convenient. I didn't say the thought aloud but Xavier seemed to understand it as if I had. "I hope you will grow to trust us in time. For now though, I will have to settle for your word that you will not get into fights." He's very good at reading people even without his powers. I nodded in agreement. "Then that is all. You had better begin your homework, Victor." Taking that as a dismissal, I turn and leave the room.

The day after...

So tedious. I was back in school. I had just entered my history class. Is the tedium intentional? It does not appear to be conducive to learning. A blond boy sat down next to me. "Hey." He whispered. "Hello, human." I responded. Usually the Xavier Institute's reputation was enough to dissuade people from talking to me but there had been exceptions. One other had attempted to talk to me the day girl had been disappointed when I had responded coldly to her greeting. I do not talk to humans. He didn't take the hint. "You say it like you aren't one. I am not. I am from the Xavier Institute." He smiled at this. "Mutants are human too." He doesn't seem to realize that could be construed as an insult. Even stranger, he seems to believe what he said. "Most humans disagree." He looked saddened by my statement. "They're the ones who aren't human." He is a fool. He seemed to be waiting for a response and when he realized I wasn't offering one he turned his attention to the teacher, who was in the middle of a terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.

I had just payed for my apple and headed for an empty table in the cafeteria. Kurt was right behind me. "Victor, vhy don't you eat anything other zen zeir apples? I can smell what they put in their food. If I told you half the things they put in that...meatloaf you wouldn't be eating it either." He looked vaguely nauseous at my words. We sat down and I began eating in silence. Kitty, Scott, and Jean had followed Kurt and were sitting next to him and talking about some band. This place is so full of noise and scents. I cannot pick out any individual one. Someone slid into the table next to me. It was the blond boy that had sat next to me in history. "So, I figured since you don't seem to have any friends here, I would volunteer for the position." The other Institute members had stopped their conversation and were staring at the boy in shock at his words. I didn't respond in any way. He was undeterred by my cold demeanor. "Everybody needs friends." He prompted. Kurt finally recovered from his shock. "You do know vhat ve are?" Blond-boy turned to Kurt. "Mutants, right? Or did he make that up just to get attention?" Scott inhaled half his milk up his nose at the thought of my trying to get attention from humans. Kitty and Jean were giggling. Kurt was grinning. "If you normally attempt to make friends by implying that they are liars I fail to see how you have made any at all." Blond-boy grinned wickedly. "Name's Mark by the way." He looked at me pointedly. I continued eating my apple. After a few seconds he got tired of waiting. "So what's your name? X-29." The Institute students seemed uneasy. I didn't usually use my designation. "Seriously? That's awesome. X-29 is a bit of a mouthful though. How bout just X? Whatever you prefer." What an unusual human. "I told you my name so you would quit calling me human, human. You're just as human as I am." He finished seriously. If only he knew just how wrong he was... "I find humans despicable." Now the Institute students looked very uncomfortable. "And I see us all as humans. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree." He is giving me a headache. I have an accelerated healing factor and he managed to give me a headache. Kitty was trying not to laugh at my expression when all the people at the opposite side of the table suddenly sat up and looked serious. I turned to see a group of big guys wearing Bayville High football jerseys. "More humans. You seem to be everywhere." Mark grinned at that and stopped suddenly when one of the football players stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar. "I always knew you were a wimpy little faggot but hanging with muties? That deserves a special punishment." He raised his fist to punch him and I returned to eating my apple. I don't care what he does to him.

"A little help?" Mark prompted. Victor completely ignored him. What an asshole. The jock suddenly turned to Victor. "Hey, you're the new freak." He dropped Mark and moved to stand over Victor. "Looks like you're off the hook pussy. We gotta teach the new kid how it works around here." When Victor laughed I assumed he was about to do something violent. Him laughing is usually a bad sign. "You attack a table of mutants? Do you have a death wish, human? What the fuck did you just call me? I called you a human. And I wasn't even going to break anything either. Well, you mouthed off and now you're gonna pay." This could get bad. Victor leaned back, utterly relaxed. "You're going to threaten me? You're stupider than I'd thought. You have no idea what my power is. Your 'power' won't be much help when I've broken every bone in your body will it?" Victor smiled. Jean contacted me mentally. "What do we do Scott? If Victor makes a move stop him with your TK. Until then lets see how he handles it" "You see, for all you know, I could light you on fire with a snap of my finger. Maybe I shoot lasers out of my eyes. Maybe I can freeze you where you stand. Maybe my blood is a deadly neurotoxin. Maybe every bone in my body is made of metal. So, human, if you feel like dying go ahead and throw a punch. Maybe they'll be able to identify your incinerated remains." The jocks looked noticeably less enthusiastic at this point then they had before Victor's threat. The jock who had been speaking attempted to look threatening and failed. "You wouldn't do that you little piece of shit. You'd be locked up for life. And you human, would be dead. Want to try me?" The gleam in Victor's eye suggested he wanted the jock to do just that. The jock appeared to notice it. "I'll see you later mutie. I won't forget about this." The jocks turned and walked away quickly. Victor sighed and continued eating his apple. Normally I would tell him off for that... but he doesn't listen to me at all. I think I'll let the professor handle it. Mark looked impressed. "Nice job with those assholes. So your power has something to do with fire I take it? No. I see... so what is your power?" Victor showed no sign he had even heard him. Mark turned to me. "Is he normally like this?" I couldn't resist grinning at his tone. "Yeah. Don't take it personally. Good, because for a minute there I thought he didn't like me or something." What a smartass. He's funny though.

School had just been let out and I began walking back towards the Institute when I heard someone call for me to wait. Recognizing the voice, I kept walking. He didn't take the hint. "Hey! I thought you were gonna wait for me out front. I never said that, human. Come on, just wait a second and I'll let you get on your way." Persistent human. I stopped reluctantly, figuring he would really follow me all the way to the Institute unless I stopped. "See? Was that so hard? I wanted to continue our discussion in the cafeteria." Then I picked up four familiar scents. Maybe this will convince him it's unhealthy to hang around me. "So anyway-" Before he could finish a silver blur sped up and pushed him into an alley. I just watched. The rest of the Brotherhood stepped up behind Pietro. "I believe we owe you a beating, X-Geek." This looks like it'll be a whole lot of fun. "Believe me, I really want to beat the shit out of you, but Xavier forbade me unless it's self defense. If you want to get out of here unharmed, this is your chance. If not, throw a punch. I'm not allowed to kill you, unfortunately, so hopefully this will be a learning experience for all of you." They all looked amused at my nerve. "You think you can take us? You're crazier than that professor." I dropped my backpack on the ground and watched them. Please attack me. I'm getting bored. Lance clenched his hands and his eyes rolled up in his head. Everything began shaking. Not a direct attack, but good enough. I leapt forward and delivered a bone crunching kick to his ribcage. The others expressions of shock barely registered as I moved to Toad. He spat a glob of mucus at me, which I ducked. I came back up with an uppercut that, thanks to my metal laced fist, knocked him out cold. I turned to the other two and smiled. Come on. Attack me. This is fun. Blob didn't disappoint. He ripped a chunk of rock out of the wall and threw it at me. I brought my fist up at the split-second before the chunk of rock would have hit me and unsheathed my claws. I retracted them within a half-second, so fast they just looked like a trick of the light. The rock hit the wall behind us in three pieces. Blob roared then charged me. I dodged to the side and punched him in the back. He turned and laughed. No effect. I dodged his retaliatory swipe and backflipped, kicking him in the head halfway through. Too easy. Pietro sped towards me. I tried to sweep his legs out from under him but he was too fast. He jumped and punched me in the jaw. The familiar sound of bones breaking was the result. He barely knocked my head back so I got to see him jump back and cradle his broken wrist. I didn't waste any time jumping forward and roundhouse kicking him in the chest. He flew back a good five feet and hit the wall. He slid to the ground moaning and didn't get back up. Two unconscious, two injured. I walked up to Lance, who was lying on the ground groaning and holding his broken ribs. He looked up at me in fear. "Hey, come on man, we were just kidding around. No need to do anything else right?" I leaned down. "That was fun. Too bad I can't kill you." I got back up and walked back to my backpack. Mark looked like he was in shock. Without waiting for him to begin speaking I grabbed my backpack and ran out of the alley. I kept running even though Mark was calling my name. He is still in shock. I hate dealing with people when they can't think properly. But then again I just hate dealing with people period.

I arrived at the mansion a few minutes earlier due to my running most of the way. I could hear five heartbeats on the other side of the door. Scott waiting to ambush me again. I think I'll find another entrance. I crept over to the side of the mansion and began climbing. I got to the top in just under ten minutes and listened at the top of the attic. One heartbeat. It's either this or Scott. On that note, I dropped through the opening. I adjusted my landing to make the least possible noise. I appeared to be in some sort of greenhouse, filled with all types of plants and one mutant. Storm was watering one of the plants and hadn't noticed me due to my quiet entrance. I turned to the main part of the mansion and began creeping towards the door. Due to a stroke of luck, she didn't turn around. There were no places to hide in the greenhouse, so my presence would have raised awkward questions had she turned. I set off for Xavier's office and wondered if he would tell the others or let them find out on their own.

A/N: I decided both the codenames I had been thinking of last time were terrible so I'm going to stick to a simple one; predator. This story is almost over with only one or two chapters left. I haven't decided whether to add the next story as a separate one or just keep it as a part of this. And that's pretty much it for this chapter's author notes. Pretty short this time. It feels weird.