"Now class, can someone tell me the second law of thermodynamics?" Mr. Wales asked the classroom of half-asleep teenagers.
Whoever was awake had slouched a little bit lower in their seats doing their best to stay out of the teachers view.
Iris Dixon didn't seem to care whether the teacher called on her or not. She was too busy doodling on her desk.
"Ms. Iris, would you care to—"
"The entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium." Iris answered with little effort, not even pausing to look up at the teacher.
The students (who were awake that is) gawked at her, others whispered obscenities, while Mr. Wales seem a little surprised. It was Iris's second week in this school and she hadn't talked ever since she got there.
Mr. Wales paused for a moment before he continued speaking, "I would prefer if you made eye contact when you're talking Iris." He said in a strict voice.
"And I'd prefer not to, sir." She said in a voice dripping with an uninterested tone.
"Now excuse me Ms. Iris, I understand that this is all new to you, but don't you dare—"He was cut off once more.
"Look, I really don't want any trouble here. If I don't want to look at you, then hell, how is that my fault? I've been sitting in this God-awful class for the past 6 days and I am literally the only student in here who hasn't fallen asleep yet. I've done all the crap homework and haven't said a word. So, can you just do me a really big favor and leave. Me. Alone." She wasn't asking.
She had woken the entire class by now, all bring aroused by her little speech.
Mr. Wales looked as though he was going to explode, but before he could even detonate, the bell rang and the whole class, including Iris, breathed out a sigh of relief.
Iris walked out the classroom coolly, not a word from Mr. Wales was said.
She hated everything.
The school, the walk from the classroom to the doors; everything was just a drag for her.
She only dreamt to say "I can't wait to get home." since she didn't have one. Her parents had deemed her as a freak and put her up for adoption at the age of 10 when they found out that she could move things with her mind.
They never even said goodbye.
Her home was a little orphanage four blocks away from her new school. There, no one knew what she was or her past and that didn't bother her at all.
Iris walked in the rain, never really caring if her curly brown hair got wet. She only desired the loneliness of her room.
She picked up her pace now, only a few feet away from the orphanage when she felt a sharp pain in her head. She screamed aloud and fell to the ground, scraping her knees and holding her head in agony.
She started to feel hot all of a sudden, but truly her biggest concern was making sure no one saw her.
Iris got up wearily and stumbled into the orphanage, thanking God that there was no one there at the time.
They had probably taken them to the park…
She ran into the bathroom and stared into the mirror, looking for any oddities in her appearance.
On the outside, there was nothing wrong with her. Although she felt like she was on fire on the inside, she was perfectly fine physically. Then, just as soon as the pain had come, it went.
Iris looked at her hands and then looked at the mirror again staring into her black eyes.
A flicker of gold flashed in her eyes before she walked out of the bathroom and went to her room.
"Tony, this would go a lot quicker if you just hold still." Natasha Romanoff grabbed Tony Stark by the hair to pull him back into place. She continued snipping away at his hair.
Tony sighed impatiently in the chair. Natasha had promised Pepper that she would give Tony a haircut, since he always seemed to miss his appointments with his personal hairdresser.
"I don't wanna stay still." He whined like a child and in return got a swat from Natasha which resulted in a smile from Tony.
Bruce Banner was sitting at a table looking through a magazine, while Steve Rogers and Thor were sparring in the ring across from Tony and Natasha
Clint sat comfortably on the couch watching the match between the Captain and the Thunder God.
"Oh come on Thor! You're the God of Thunder for crying out loud! How'd you let him get you in a headlock?!" Tony shouted as he leaned away from his seat.
Natasha slapped him again and Thor gave a look to Tony that made him shrink back into his seat.
Only every once in a while did the Avengers ever have spare time like this and when they didn't they were either stopping an intergalactic war or preventing one.
The unmistakable voice of Jarvis had chimed into the room. "Stark, the receptionist is requesting your assistance. She says that it is urgent."
"We have a receptionist?" Tony asked looking at Clint. Clint only shook his head and laughed. "I'm sure she could handle it, Jarvis. Tell her I'm in the middle of something." He gestured to Natasha.
"Sir, she says it's the X-Men."
It had gotten silent.
Steve and Thor had stopped fighting, Clint sat up in te couch, and Natasha stopped snipping at Tony's hair.
"Shit." Natasha whispered under her breath.
They'd all known that if the X-Men were coming to the Avengers doorstep, there was trouble.
"Send em up, Jarvis." Tony replied.
"Right away, sir."
Tony combed through his hair while Natasha got a little broom the little piece of hair scattered on the floor. Steve and Thor went to go get cleaned up, and Clint went over to the table to take a seat next to Bruce.
Once the elevator chimed, Logan, Storm, and Kitty Pryde walked out of the elevator.
"This place rocks." Kitty Pryde said with wide eyes.
"Don't say that aloud, you might gas up Tony's already conceited head." Natasha said sarcastically.
"Too late." Tony said as he walked into the room. "Nice to see the men of the X here."
"I wish I could say the same Stark." Storm said with grim eyes. "We'd like to speak with the entire team."
Bruce, Clint, and Natasha walked over to where the rest of the group was. Tony had gestured for all of them to sit on the couches.
Thor and Steve walked through the elevator doors a few seconds later, and smiled at their guests.
"Thor, Steve. Nice to see you've arrived." Logan said as he got up to greet them with a friendly and strong handshake. "It's good to see you guys."
"And you too, Wolverine." Thor replied with a smile. He looked over to the couch and saw Storm and almost tripped dashing over to her and picking her up in a gut-crushing embrace.
"Storm! The one who shares my skills with the lightning!"
She had laughed. "It's good to see you too Thor. I only wished it was on better terms." Her toned had softened.
At this point, the Avengers stood around the table while the X-Men sat down and started to explain their dilemma.
Once Logan had explained every little detail, from the psychic straight down to the Phoenix, the Avengers were all wide eyed.
Steve walked towards a window with his hands placed firmly on his forehead in distress. "I could've sworn we killed that thing."
"One thing my brother Loki would say: 'You can't kill sheer power. It's impossible."
"The same way it is impossible to take away a mutants power for good." Storm added.
"But hold on a second." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "We don't when this is going to happen. And we don't know who is going to be this 'innocent victim."
"Who said anything about it being a person?" Natasha said.
"The times that we have encountered and fought the Phoenix, is when it possesses a mutant, never in its pure form." Thor said knowingly.
"Why mutant?" Clint asks.
"The Phoenix prefers mutants, since it can enhance their powers to godlike abilities. It's quite amazing." Kitty Pryde chimed in.
"But dangerous. Serious question though: how do we find em'? With most of the telepaths that are in arms reach gone, how are we going to find that one person?" Logan asked.
"We start checking database, records, of any mutants being adopted, abandoned for what they were. We could start there." Bruce had been listening quietly to the ongoing conversation. "We narrow it down to the five boroughs. That's it. Apparently, we don't know how much time we have before it's too late. So we search here at home. If there's no luck, then we're going to have to spread out."
"Or…" Tony said with one finger in the air. "We could do this: Jarvis, I need you to hack into all the records of the foster homes, orphanages, anything of that sort in the five boroughs. Look for peculiar stuff like the reason the parents gave them up. Tell mewhen you find something." Bruce gave him a hard annoyed look. "What? You said we don't have the time!" Bruce sighed.
A few minutes had passed before everyone heard the voice of Jarvis, "Sir, I've found several homes fairly close to the Stark Tower. All have records of the parents stating that their children were capable of things no one else was."
"Which is the closest?" Bruce asked.
"Michaels Home for Orphaned Children, sir."
"Then that's where I'm going." Tony said. "Thor, you want to come with? Never know if you need back up. I don't really want to prance on in in the Iron Man suit. Too much attention."
"And I'm not?" Thor was pretty sure Tony was just too lazy to put on his suit. "I will accompany you, Stark. I believe the rest of you should take a look at the other destinations."
Everyone nodded and began their search for the telepath, who would help them in their search for the "innocent." But in everyone's mind, they were thinking:
Would it be enough?