DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. OCs however, are owned by their respective owners.

***There is a POLL on my profile so go vote for your favorite character thus far! I'll add characters as the story progresses. ***

Richard! Yay, I have been waiting to write this chapter. Richard is going to be an investigator in this character summary! It will be loads of FUN! (Wow that is a lot of exclamation points, lol) Also another long chapter.

Callout to S.G. thank you for your compliment about me not making Ella a Mary Sue. I try to make every character as realistic as possible by giving them good and bad qualities.

X-Men: Restoration

Chapter Fifteen: Richard King

Richard packed his things cautiously staying away from the window. He had to run from his apartment. The police were everywhere. The mutants were going crazy with killing everyone. They attacked anyone. It was strange. What triggered the Brotherhood to attack?

He went out the fire exit as he slung his duffle bag over his shoulder. He silently walked in the shadows as he made sure the ice pack vest he made was secure. He zipped up his oversized hoodie. He glanced around the corner. There was a human death right there. He saw the lights on the police car and heard the sirens silence as a police stepped out of the car. He blinked. The scene he had just witnessed disappeared. He rubbed his eyes. He had seen a death, the police, and the yellow tape yet there was an empty street before him. He knew something was up. What in the world was going on? He knew there were deaths, they were broadcast all over the news yet he had always tried to remain in the shadows, trying not to get involved at least for now. He didn't know that they just vanished in thin air!

There was something going on. He thought back to the school incident as he saw Ansleigh and the others help him. There had been Brotherhood members there. They didn't seem like killers but just common day crooks. They were behind the attacks yet they were nowhere to be found after they attacked the humans.

He was going to head to Xavier's now but since he had witnessed this weird phenomenon, he had to investigate. He was used to doing things on his own. It was only recently that he had considered going to Xavier's. He wasn't sure how he would fit in there. He wondered how long the ice packs would last. It had been hot for a few days since the rain had past. The heat triggered his mutation to come alive and he didn't want that to happen when the nonmutants were looking for him. He liked them but they were enraged and there was no messing with enraged nonmutants.

Richard sighed. Something was definitely up. His curiosity urged him to go farther. Curiosity killed the cat as they say. Or in his case the huge dinosaur. He got up and took a back alley. He heard voices around a corner. It sounded like an argument. He chuckled, a couple arguing but doing it in a quiet manner. He peeked around the corner and only saw a girl standing there pointing at thin air. Strange.

"Where in the world are we?" a voice said. A guy's voice but there was a guy nowhere in sight.

"Bayville. A few days after 'the attacks' happened." She said shyly. Richard heard a sigh.

"Well, I suspected that, where in Bayville?" The girl rubbed her temples as she glimpsed at the ground. "Are you okay?" The voice replied. She started to stand up as she responded to the invisible voice.

"I feel…" She dropped to the ground.

Richard being the kind of guy he was felt his hero quality kick in. Richard ran down the alley way to help her but she disappeared. He heard a shuffle of footsteps. Another mutant at work…An invisible guy or maybe a chameleon dude? Hmm, it was possible. He had seen a lot weirder mutations.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm a mutant. I am investigating the Bayville attacks." He said calmly as he set his duffle bag down and raised his arm. He waited for a few moments.

"Behind you." A shy voice said. He turned around a little embarrassed. He saw a guy who had the same girl slung over his shoulder. He was very tall but had a little muscle on him.

"Whoa, you really are…" Richard began to say but he finished his sentence.

"Invisible, I know." The guy said as he shifted his eyes towards some dumpsters. Richard pursed his lips. Richard pointed to the girl. "She tends to do that a lot. She is weak, not enough sun time." Richard shrugged his shoulders as he directed them towards the shadows. She was really pale, he had a point that girl needed some sun.

"You guys aren't from here? Are you?" He said interrogating the guy. The guy backed away.

"We…" the guy vanished before his eyes. He heard a clearing of a throat. "This is going to be hard to explain." The guy gained confidence in his voice. Richard lifted his eyebrow.

"I just saw an entire murder seen disappear. I think I can handle it." Richard said as he dug around his duffle bag. He handed the brick wall a blanket as he soon saw the blanket disappear. He saw it reappear on the ground with the girl sitting on it. It was still weird seeing stuff like that.

"The murder scene disappearing…she can answer that but about us. We are from the future. I helped her escape a place behind all of this. We are running from them. She had the smart idea to time travel to get us off the grid. We need to get to Xavier's." He said. Richard's mouth dropped open. He thought he was intelligent but this was the stuff that happened in sci-fi films. He held up his fingers as he counted off the points.

"Okay…okay…OKAY. Got it." He said as he lifted up an okay sign with his fingers as he paced back and forth. "Can you reappear, please? It is kind of weird to hear this from a voice." The guy reappeared but he looked really shy. He leaned against the wall, regarding the ground. "You really don't like being visible, do you?" The guy nodded as his eyes strayed towards the girl.

"I've been invisible for the most of my life…it is just easier to talk to people…" His voice hushed as he knelt to the ground. He ruffled his short brown hair.

"That's fine. I wish my mutation was being invisible. The whole world knows when it comes out. Yo, I'm Richard." Richard said as he held out a hand. They had to get out of here before some curious cop found them.

"Noah…this is Ella." He said as Richard quietly stepped back into the shadow.

"I know where Xavier's is…and I have the perfect way to get you guys there." Richard smiled. Richard knew that he now was meant to go there. It was more than a coincidence. Noah looked hesitant but shrugged his shoulders. Richard helped him get Ella unto his back as they disappeared. He had to get use to that. Hopefully they were following him. Richard dialed Ansleigh.

"Ansleigh, can you get a car out safely? I picked up some mutants who were looking for the Prof." He hung up after several moments as he signaled what he thought was Noah into a shadowy doorway. He sat down and heard a rustle as what he thought was them sat down. Richard shifted a bit.

"Ow, that's my shoe." He heard Noah say.

"You are asking for it." Richard said. He hadn't joked around with a guy in a long time. He thought Noah would make a good friend if they spent a little more time together; the invisible guy and the big dinosaur. He would come in handy because he could make the dinosaur disappear. Not that he would use the guy. He nodded at the idea. He thought about the good times he had in Westbury before he destroyed it. He rubbed his temples as he began to feel anger at himself. He punched the wall. He had messed up, big time. He made his friends and all of the townspeople go running in fear. They were without homes…luckily it was a small town so he didn't kill anyone but he injured quite a few including his own mother. He sighed. He would never forget the expression of horror on her face. He was a monster. He didn't want to be. He couldn't stop it at times either.

He felt a hand on his back. "You okay?" Noah said as he rematerialized. He was still holding Ella on his back leaning against the wall. Richard gave a nod but gazed away from them. He couldn't discuss this stuff with anyone.

Ella stirred and she opened up her eyes. Richard stared at her as if she was a freak of nature. She had a purple eye and a gray one. He had never seen that before. She slid off of Noah's back and rubbed her eyes. She noticed Richard and gave him a stern look. Richard flinched at the gaze. Freaky.

"Can we trust him?" She pointed at Richard in an expression of disbelief. Noah scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. She extended a hand to Richard now with a look of complete trust on her face. "Well, I guess we have nothing better to do. Hi, I'm Ella." Richard shook her hand with raised eyebrows.

"Richard." He said as his eyes twitched. Her eyes were so weird. He pressed his lips together as he scanned the ground. There was an awkward silence as each of them thought about their past. Richard scrutinized at them out of the corner of his eye. Ella sat there rubbing her neck under the scarf she was wearing, smiling to herself. Noah dusted off his leather jacket as he glimpsed at the time on his wristwatch. A nice mustang rolled up in front of them. Richard gawked at the car.

"Nice mustang! The paint job is impeccable!" Richard said as Noah stood in appreciation of the car.

"Mustang? Where? I love horses!" Ella exclaimed. Noah smacked his forehead. Richard shook his head in disappoint. Girls knew nothing about cars.

"You really don't know anything about pop culture, do you?" Noah groaned as he pointed to the car. She nodded in agreement. Ansleigh stepped out as she moved the seat forward.

"Sorry, this was all we had. The recruits decided to play paint ball in the garage for training. Bad idea. Anyways, we will take you all to Xavier's" Ansleigh said as she held out her hand to both Ella and Noah. Logan grumbled as he gripped the wheel tighter. They quickly got in the back seat. They were squished like sardines. Richard was sweating and he got nervous as they drove away. The ice packs were melting quickly in such a cramped space.

"Ansleigh, can you turn on the AC?" Logan glared back at him as if Richard was asking if hurt someone. No answer came from Ansleigh because of Logan's irritable mood. Ansleigh pressed the AC on as Logan grumbled.

"So who are you two?" Ansleigh said pointing back to Noah and Ella. Noah looked suprised at the question. No words escaped his tightly sealed lips. Richard covered up a snicker with a cough. This guy was the shyest guy he had ever met.

"Ella!" Ella said a little too enthused. She bobbed her head back and forth as she said it to herself. Richard raised an eyebrow at her but decided that ignoring her was better. Noah smacked his forehead again. Noah covered his eyes in embarrassment.

"Noah." He said as he readjusted his long legs. After a long awkward silence the car ride took a more serious tone.

"Richard, what did you find out about the attacks? You said you had some information." Ansleigh said.

"The murder scenes are disappearing all over the city." Richard said. "The police are spread out all over the city within a one mile radius from each other." Richard said as he unzipped his jacket. It was still hot.

"Murder scenes disappearing?" Ansleigh said as she turned up the AC. "Are you saying that they aren't real?"

"The murder scenes aren't real. They are master illusions set up by The Institution. The Institution wants mutants to actively attack humans so they can purge the world of mutant kind by turning the mutants against us." Ella said quietly as her crazy antics began to fade. Richard slowly took this in as he thought about Westbury again. Logan viewed the rearview window at them. Everyone in the car except for Logan and Richard started to chatter their teeth.

"The Institution?" Logan growled as they entered the gates to Xavier's. He also was trying to get their minds off how cold the car was.

"They are in control of all the going ons. They have captured many mutants from around the world including some well-known ones. They are using their mutations to their advantage. They are trying to make the Morlocks come out and attack nonmutants." Ella responded. Richard thought about what he thought of this 'Institution'. It made sense that all of the murder scenes were illusions but it was still farfetched that one organization would be behind it all. How could everyone in the world see the same images even on television? Noah continued the conversation before he could ask.

"The Institution is also mobile. The location, building, transport, guards, etc… are constantly changing. I managed to let two mutants escape, other than her. It takes a while to track down The Institution. I've been the only one in and out of The Institution and the security is crazy." Noah said. Richard let the information sink in. This Institution was a lot bigger than he had thought of. It was much more than a mystery.

Suddenly, they all felt as if everything had stopped. They snapped back into motion a minute later. What was that? "Sorry…I had to sneeze." Ella said squeamishly. Noah groaned. "I kind of stopped time for just a second." Everyone including Logan stared at her in disbelief. She smiled naively.

"I would have run away if it wasn't for your accident prone self. I should have saved someone else. ANY ONE ELSE for that matter." Noah grumbled as he disappeared from embarassment. Ella rolled her eyes.

"Nice to know, Mr. Invisible." Ella grumbled. Richard smacked his own head. They argued like an old married couple. Logan growled as he pulled the car to a halt. They were thrown forward as Logan got out of the car. Richard ran forward with Ansleigh as the two of them continued to argue. They entered the mansion. Richard, Noah and Ella dropped their mouths open at the size of the place. Ansleigh closed Richard's was no one up this late at night. Richard glanced at his watch 2:31am. He had to go to sleep at normal hours.

"Welcome to Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters." Ansleigh said as Logan walked of in another direction. He probably didn't like being called this late at night. However, Richard confirmed this when Logan turned around on his heel and smiled evilly at them.

"Let's see what you new kids can do then you can go on about this Institution. Call it my welcome gift." He said. Noah turned invisible as Ella showed a look of concern. Richard swallowed his pride. The next thing he knew was he was having a pile of metal thrown at him. He transformed into a dinosaur hoping the room was big enough for him. The monster, who had destroyed an entire town, but this time he was back for redemption. He had a group of friends. He was not alone.

Noah was nowhere to be found…typical. Ella, however, had also disappeared. Richard hoped that he survived this test. He stabilized his two big feet as he caught the piece of metal and threw it across the room. He felt a burp coming on and he smiled his big dino grin. Another piece of metal was thrown at him and he let the burp out, flames came bursting forth and burned the metal into black pile of liquid. Nice. He ran through the course trying to carve a path for either Noah or Ella to get to the destination safely. The object of this lesson as Logan called it was to use teamwork to get the flag which was near the ceiling. He saw a piece of metal fly at him but it was coming to fast to react. Suddenly, it stopped midair dropped to the ground. Ella appeared coming up from under some scrap metal and gave him a thumbs up. She then dove down deep into the pile once again.

He ran towards the flag and saw Noah under it, appearing and disappearing like an SOS signal. Okay, they could do this. He lifted Noah up as Ella tried to stop time after several pieces of flying metal.

"I'm feeling a little dizzy down here! I can't use my mutation for this long, especially stopping…" She fainted into a pile of scrap metal. Noah had grabbed the flag by that time. They were victorious. The simulation went away as Richard and Noah looked at each other in admiration. Richard did a victory dance but his tail hit the wall that made a loud booming noise. That awoke Ella who hopped up and looked around observantly.

"What was that?" Ella said before fainting again, thankfully Noah caught her before she hit the ground again. They all laughed. Richard knew that this was where he could make a difference. He could make up for all the things he had done wrong. He wasn't a monster anymore but a mutant looking for some friends. He was no longer alone.

I really love Richard! He is such an awesome person. I also loved his combination with Noah and Ella. They are going to be such good friends! :) Next chapter is about the Brotherhood. Where are they and what have they been up to?