( Volume: 4 Arc: "the new Hellions" 4 Issue: 1/4 )

Chapter 150 : disasterpiece

Julian swallowed, eyeing the six teenagers under his charge, all dressed in standard Xavier Academy practice uniforms. They eyed him back, with one, collective, gawking eye, or so he thought.

There was Gaia, and Noseeum, and Flare, and Sylvia. And his brother, James. At least he was used to bossing him around. There was also another girl that Julian had never seen before, a quiet blond-haired girl with big blue eyes.

And Blindfold, of all people.

"This it, Keller?" Logan grunted, surveying the little squad as well. "These all yer kids?"

"I think so." Julian looked at the sheet of paper on the clipboard in his hands. They were standing in the Danger Room, and everyone was wearing uniforms, as they were supposed to run a small simulation today to test everyone's capabilities.

Julian wished he could hide. He had a very bad feeling about this.

"Aldene, Ruth?"

The girl tilted her head. "Excuse me, but it is going to die. How terrible."

"…" Julian looked at Logan, who shrugged.

"I'm leaving," James announced loudly.

"No!" Julian snapped. "Stay right there, Jim, or I swear to god I'll make good on what we spoke about earlier."

James rolled his eyes.

"Burns, Candace?"

The girl didn't answer.

"Cordova, Amelia?"

"Hi." The blond girl spoke up, smiling.

"Gaia?"

"Hello," Gaia responded in her usual pleasant manner.

"Awesome. Keller, James?"

"We just fucking spoke. Do you have Alzheimer's?"

"Shut up, butthead. Rockefeller-Black, Sylvia?"

"Present." Sylvia looked eager. She'd been gunning for this for a very long time now, having egged at Julian to tell the heads that she was ready for a squad since she'd been 14.

Whoever I pick for leader, it won't be her, Julian promised himself.

"Wilde, Gilbert."

"Here," Noseeum said. A patch of ground suddenly developed an arm and waved at him. He started and almost dropped the clipboard.

"Great, everyone showed up. Except for this Mullinix guy."

Julian looked at Logan. "Should we start it up?"

Logan shrugged again. "Why the hell not?" he countered.

…

"This was the worst idea ever, in the history of ever," Julian said, watching the chaos from the observation room. "I've never seen a group of people so uncoordinated in my life. I mean, really."

"You kids weren't so great when you first started," Logan reminded him.

"I didn't trip on myself, Logan," Julian said apprehensively. "No one caught fire. And above all, we didn't create a gaping crater in the middle of the Danger Room."

Logan gazed at the smoking gap in the metal floor.

"Yup, Cyke'll be right pissed," he said after a few moments. "To be fair, it was yer brother that really got 'em goin'. I thought he had a handle on that damn riot power of his."

"So did we," Julian said. "You'd think someone that nasty wouldn't have a problem with other people's nastiness, but…"

"God works in mysterious ways," Logan grunted.

"I wouldn't bring God into this," Julian said, still gazing at the destruction. "God wants nothing to do with these hapless people."

Logan grinned. "Think we better go separate 'em, Keller," he said, nodding at the glass. Julian squinted through the smoke.

"Oh my god," he said, turning to head for the door. Then-tinkle! Something large and heavy flew through the observatory glass, smashing it into tiny shards and fragments. Logan blinked, then pulled a piece of glass out of his eye.

"…" Julian flew through the hole in the glass, using thought to separate the smoke. He finally located his brother and clobbered him in a football-style tackle, shouting above the noise.

"Turn it off!" he yelled.

"I can't!" James snapped. "They—ARRGH!" The boy crouched over, holding his head, and Julian flew backwards and slammed himself into a wall, overcome with a wave of mixed emotions. Chief amongst them was anger,
followed by annoyance, violation and an urge to show people who was in charge.

He slithered down the wall and clutched his ribs, coughing up blood. Suddenly his 'assistant' was beside him, obviously livid. "KELLER, you dumbfuck!" Logan roared, in a manner that reminded Julian
of Laura. "Don't need you addin' your shit to the mix!"

Julian blinked up at Logan, with difficulty, because his head hurt.

Logan straightened, and sniffed the air, his expression changing.

"Holy—" he had about three seconds to roll to the side as Logan lunged for his torso with his claws. There was a loud clang! and a ripping noise as they instead met the metal wall of the Danger Room.

"Get over here, kid…" Logan growled. "Show you who's runnin' this show!"

"JIM!" Julian shouted almost hysterically, raising up as strong a shield as he could manage as he scrambled to his feet, Logan in hot pursuit. The man moved fast, and there was no way he could block him
forever. And Logan was heavy, about three hundred pounds with his metal skeleton. His only hope was that somehow he could outrange James's powers—or make him stop.

…

Hiss! Julian glanced to the side, and saw that the door had opened, and that Laura was standing on the other side. She took in the disaster scene with wide eyes.

"…I'll come back later…" she said.

"RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRL!" Logan stabbed at Julian, his claws penetrating the shield but not getting close enough to hit his person. He'd done this twice already, catching his arm lightly with the tip on one
strike. It was bleeding, but Julian didn't have time to patch it up.

"HELP!" he yelled.

"Jesus. How…" Laura peered into the smoke, and saw flashes of purple and orange light. "Oh god—you've got to be—it's Emo, isn't it?"

"LAURA! HELP!" Logan had just struck again, a rivulet of blood flying from his shoulder.

"Alright, alright…" Laura ventured into the Danger Room.

Logan suddenly turned his head towards her…and snarled.

"!" Laura exclaimed as her father figure lunged for her, saying something garbled about being 'the best at what (I) do'. She suffered a flesh wound to her arm, which healed almost instantly. She then popped her
own claws with a snkkt, and warded off the next lash. The adamantium generated sparks as the claws struck together; Logan used his strength to push the mess of sharp tips towards Laura's face.

"Holy…" she said, straining to keep herself defended. "Keller…you have to get Emo down, now!"

"He can't shut it down," Julian panted.

"Fine, I'll do it then," she grumbled. Her booted foot swung straight up and caught Logan in the crotch; the older man automatically let go. Quickly she disappeared into the smoke, trying to trace James' scent. It was
next to impossible. She couldn't hear, either, due to the loud screams emanating from the air, where Sylvia and Candace were fighting, flashes of white and purple washing in waves over the entire area.

There! She darted through the smoke, catching sight of James as he ran away from someone, still holding his head.

"Hey, fuckface!" she called.

James paused for a moment, and turned.

BOMF.

The boy dropped to the floor like a stone, his eyes rolling up in his head.

Suddenly the screams stopped reverberating against the walls; silence reigned over the disaster scene.

"I hate you," Candace said loudly to Sylvia, then Laura heard her leave (still unable to see through the smoke).

"Laura?" Julian called.

"Over here," Laura said. Footsteps in her direction; then Logan and Julian emerged from the smoke, looking worse for wear. They joined her in looking at the boy lying prone on the floor.

"What did you—Laura—" Julian asked uncertainly.

"I punched him in the face," Laura said calmly. "I'm surprised no one thought to knock down the source of this. I mean…really…Keller? Aren't you a big fancy X-man? And Logan…I'm a bit ashamed to be your clone right now."

Silence.

"You had t' be there," Logan said, annoyed.

"I'm sure," Laura said mildly.

…

"Summers. Trust me, you don't want those kids trainin' together," Logan growled. "Never seen anythin' go so wrong. I mean—I seen lots worse fights, sure…but when that's supposed to be a team…yer barkin' up the wrong tree."

"I see," Scott said, rubbing his chin. "And how was Keller?"

"Keller was helpless. Helpless as I was, anyway. We all got nerfed by that damn brother of his. Kid's outta control."

"I see," Scott said again. "Looks to me, Logan, like James is the problem factor here. If we can help him control his power…I see no reason why the team wouldn't work. The spirit of competition will bring them together."

"Yeah, well…" Logan rubbed his face. "I goddamn hate these kids."

Scott remained silent.

"This is a punishment, ain't it?" Logan persisted.

"Hardly. I just thought you might like to help Julian out. I know you two get along well, and that you'd bring some stability and reassurance to a difficult situation. These are the problem kids, Logan. These are the kids I've
marked as having the most challenges to overcome. If they can overcome them—if they become a team despite their differences—I think they'll be the next generation of X-men, of all the students in the school. And God
knows, we need new blood right now."

Logan sighed, rubbed his neck. Scratched his ear. "Fine. But you get Keller's brother a gizmo or somethin', coz that can't go down again."

"I'll get right on that," Scott said, smiling.