5. Deals

None of the girls in their rooms expected the amount of cursing to come from the single empty room at the end of their corridor. It was a mixture of angry English and Spanish, or Spanglish, that filled the air when the Patriots scored or made a huge play against the Cowboys. Happy cursing occurred when the Cowboys did something good and fortunately, it remained that way as Dallas came away the victors.

Downstairs in the den, the group of mutants watched the second of the day's football games. Remy had a few bets going that his Saints would win against the Jets. Few took him up on it as his gambling nature left him the winner nine times out of ten when it came to football. Logan found himself on the bad end of that bet after the first quarter and three touchdowns.

"So, like, what do you think of the new guy?" Kitty asked as she sat beside several of her girlfriends in the den. "He hasn't said much since we met him."

"Guy's cute, I'll give him that," Amara replied. "Just a shame we got there after he used his powers. Megan said they were pretty."

"They are. When he used his claws in Mexico they were a bright blue. But when he got mad, er, madder, they became black."

"Hey, Megs," Tabitha said as she grabbed a handful of popcorn from a bowl Amara was holding. "You know where he is? Maybe he could show the others what he can do."

"He was the end of the hall on our side in the last room. He was cussing up a storm in there but went to his room after the game. He really loves his Cowboys," Megan told them.

"So you do know where he was," Tabitha said with a grin. "I had a feeling you would."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I've seen the way you acted around him while giving him the tour yesterday, batted eyelashes, giggles, an extra sway in your step, very subtle. I also saw you wave and smile at him in the Danger Room. Plus, you knew where he was just now and where he is."

"Bet she knows what he's wearing too." Amara quickly ate a handful of popcorn before Megan could say anything.

"Oh, how romantic would that be if they snuck into each other's rooms at night to be alone together while we all slept." Twirling her hair with her finger, Kitty daydreamed about having another couple at the mansion.

"Diabetes, Kitty," Tabitha said while playfully pushing her. "You're giving me diabetes."

Megan blushed at what Kitty was saying but hid it well from the others. "That, that'll never happen."

"What makes you think it won't?" Kitty asked, snapping out of her daydream.

"Cause, people are freaked over my eyes. And that I have slits on my back with bug wings coming out of them."

"So? Look at Kurt. He's blue and fuzzy with a pointed tail and he has a girlfriend."

"Look, I'm not looking for a boyfriend. I knew where he was because my room is at the end of our side and next to the storage room he was in. I'm just trying to-"

"Trying to watch the game and not give me a massive case of diabetes," Tabitha broke in. "Seriously, can we please get back to the game?"

"Tell you what," Kitty said. "I'll make you a deal, Megs. If in the next, oh say, five minutes football time-"

"Which should be around ten minutes in real time," Amara interrupted.

"Yeah, ten minutes in real time, If someone comes looking for him in five football minutes, you have to go get him."

"Yeah, right," Megan scoffed. "Like any one's going to come in here and-"

"Hey, does anyone know where Miguel is?" Scott asked as he entered the den with an unopened laptop box in hand. "The Professor wants him to have this."

Loud rock music played over an MP3 player and a set of speakers connected to it. It was one of the only things Miguel had unpacked as the rest of his clothing and personal possessions remained in his bags. With his music playing, he performed handstand pushups after using the wall to walk himself into position. His hair draped around him as he suspended himself upside down and lowered himself to the floor slowly before raising himself back up again.

If it wasn't for the volume of the music being so loud, he would have heard a knock at his door. If he would have been facing the entrance to his room, he may have seen it open and a pair of Capri covered legs walking in. The girl they carried stood in silence with the laptop clutched to her chest. And stared at him as he continued lowering and raising himself. She couldn't help but stare at his muscles as they flexed on his back and around his arms. She didn't know how long she stared but jumped slightly when dropped his legs to the floor at the end of the song being played and started a set of one armed pushups as another rock song began playing. It wasn't until he switched arms and flicked his head around to get the hair out of his face when he saw her sneakered feet.

"Yeah?" he asked loud enough to be heard over the music as he continued to do his exercises.

"Um, I, Professor Xavier wanted you to have this." She held out the laptop with both hands and mentally kicked herself for acting that way. He was a guy and she was a girl giving him a computer for his use that the Professor provided.

Getting to his knees, Miguel looked up and was surprised to see it was Megan. He couldn't tell who it was by feet alone. After popping his back and shoulders, he paused his player and walked over to her. She looked away without it looking as if she were looking away as he came closer without a shirt on.

"What's this for?" He took the box and looked it over, not understanding why she had given him a laptop.

"It's…it's something the Professor gives all the students for classes. I can help you start it up and get the programs you need if you want."

"Ah'm not in school. This'll be just a waste." He handed it back to her but she didn't take it.

"Actually, you will have classes." She entwined her fingers and pulled them backwards without realizing what she was doing. "In the Spring, we'll be enrolled in college courses. It's something the Professor gives us for our stay here, a free college education if we want it. Sort of a benefit for working for him."

With a huff, Miguel shot past her and stomped down the hallway with the computer in hand. Megan watched him with a surprised expression as he neared the top of the stairs. She was further surprised when he stopped at an intersection before said stairs and stared down the hallway.

"If you want to spy on someone, make sure you pick a better hiding spot than around the corner," he said to Amara and Tabitha. "And tell Kitty the same thing when she gets back."

Leaving the three surprised girls behind, he continued on his way and quickly traveled down the stairs. Those around him got out of his way as the news of his temper had already made its way around the mansion and no one wanted to see him lose it. The ones in the den turned to the entrance as he stomped by and followed after Logan who had a bad feeling from the sight of him. His suspicions were correct as he witnessed Miguel barge into Xavier's office and tossed the computer on his desk.

"Ah don't need this," he said flatly to the man in the wheelchair.

"Are you sure?" Xavier asked as he turned from his desktop computer.

"Ah'm sure. Ah only came here to show you mah powers and not go tuh school. Ah'm too old for it and don't need a computer. Give it to someone else who needs it."

"Miguel," Xavier said patiently as he adjusted his seating slightly. "I told you, as long as you're here in my mansion, you will be afforded all the opportunities the others have. A good education here is only one of those opportunities. Rather you choose to take advantage of that is entirely up to you, but the laptop is more of a gift. It's yours to do with as you wish. However, I do encourage you to at least try taking a class or two with Hank. I believe you met him yesterday when Megan showed you around."

"Yeah, blue guy, moonlights as Big Foot. Why are you doing this? What do you really want meh for? And what the hell does 'working' for you mean? Everyone's been saying that since Ah got here."

"My X-Men. That's what they mean by working for me. Should you become an X-Man, you will help create a bridge between mutant kind and humans. The real reason I wanted you here was to offer you a chance to do something with your life that has meaning. Your powers have also sparked my interest as I have never encountered a mutant with two power sets in flux with each other. While I would like to analyze them further, and help you with your anger issues, I would understand if you chose to leave."

"This is way more than what we agreed on and what Ah thought would happen when Ah came here."

"Well, like I said, you're free to go whenever you choose. But I offer you a few choices and an opportunity to take them if you wish."

Waiting outside, Logan leaned against the wall beside Xavier's door, ready to burst in just in case he was needed. He heard everything that was said and came close to dragging Miguel out of there a time or two. When things got quieter, he began to worry and it wasn't until the angered Mexican exited the office with the laptop in hand when he internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Back at his room, he was surprised to see Megan still there at his doorway. She looked as if she were arguing with someone but when Miguel got to his room, he found she was the only one there.

"What's going on?" he asked as looked at the nervous looking girl.

"It wasn't my idea, I swear." She said quickly. "But Kitty wanted to know what music you listened to and went through your MP3 player and-"

Tossing the box on the bed, Miguel grabbed his player and saw it was not on the track he had left it on. "If you see her, tell her to keep her nose out of mah crap. Ah don't go looking through her room for anything."

"I told her not to," Megan said again when she noticed the laptop on the bed. "Are you going to-"

"Do meh a favor and just…don't ask. Ah hate it when people try to make meh do things Ah don't want to do if Ah'm not getting anything from it."

"You don't have to be such a merc, Miguel. They're just trying to give you opportunities."

"Well where Ah come from, you're either a merc or you're dead. Take it from meh, dying sucks."

"What makes you say that? You're still alive," Megan pointed out while crossing her arms.

"Mah powers, remember? When Ah don't have mah claws out Ah can only heal. Ah've been killed three times. Shot in the head, had mah throat slit, and was killed by someone when Ah was a kid."

"Miguel, that's not going to happen to you here. This is a place full of men and women with powers. We protect each other as well as ourselves. You don't have to be so self-centered anymore."

"Again, Ah don't like doing things for others unless Ah get something in return." He shoved the box on his bed to the side and tossed himself on after it with his hands behind his head.

"I hope one day you change that view you have. It's because of that mindset the world is the way it is. And you shouldn't even be given the opportunity to join the team if you're going to think like that. We protect people from the mutants who want to cause harm to them and expect nothing in return. We're trying to do good."

Megan waited for a response from Miguel should she be given one and figured her words got through to him when he said nothing. A moment later, he began to snore and she grew livid. Letting out a huff, she turned around and left his room, slamming the door behind her. Miguel slightly opened an eye while continuing to snore to see if she really was gone and only stopped his faux noise when he sat up. He then looked over at his unopened laptop and brought it closer to him.

"Hate this f%$#ing s#$t."

He then opened the box and pulled out its contents.

"That jerk!" Kitty exclaimed as she lay on Megan's bed. "So he's only here because the Professor's paying him?"

It was already evening and most of the students in the mansion had either gone out to the city or were relaxing in their rooms. A few were in the Danger Room for a late session, which explained Marie being away from Gambit.

"That's what it sounds like." Megan told her. She sat against the windowed wall at the head of her bed with Kitty at her feet. She had told her friends everything that had happened in Miguel's room.

"What were his exact words?" Marie asked from her spot on a cornered beanbag chair.

"I only help other people if they give me something in return," Megan paraphrased.

"So the guy's a merc. Big deal. He's probably used to that life like Remy's used to stealing."

"The only difference between him and Remy, Rogue, is a thief doesn't offer to kill someone for profit." Kitty explained. "Or does he kill for money?"

"I don't know," Megan said while propping her chin on her knees. "He did say he killed someone once but-"

"Whoa!" Kitty shouted as she back flipped off the bed, making Rogue and Megan jump. "He killed a guy?"

"That's…that's what he said." Megan said with wide eyes from Kitty's impromptu gymnastic show.

"So? Logan's killed before," Marie commented. "He's even lost track of the number of guys he killed."

"Yeah but, Miguel, like, so does not look like a killer, unless he gets mad." Kitty stood up and planted both hands on Megan's bed. "So…how about-"

"How about you look at it from his perspective?" Marie said, standing up. "The guy had two choices like he said, be a merc or die. Logan said he hates blacking out from a fatal injury after he heals, I've been there too. It absolutely sucks. Remy had to steal to survive as a kid. So how different is Miguel from us, really?"

Before Megan could answer, several knocks came from her open door. The three girls glanced at the cause of the noise and saw Miguel standing in her doorway.

"Hey, uh, can Ah talk to ya for a minute?" he asked softly.

"I think I'll go look for mah Swamp Rat." Rogue said after a moment then grabbed Kitty by the arm to drag her out as well. "Come on Kitty, you can go call Lance or somethin' and annoy him for a bit."

As the girls passed by Miguel, Kitty turned and pointed at him while making silent smoochie faces at Megan before Rogue grabbed her by the ponytail and pulled her down the hall. Miguel looked behind him with an annoyed look but didn't catch her in time.

"What do you want, Miguel?" Megan asked coldly.

"Ah, Ah came to ask you for help." He looked down, not feeling like looking her in the eyes.

"What will I get if I do?" She placed her hands on her hips and waited for a response. "I won't help you if I don't get anything in return."

He nodded then looked up at her. "Ah just need help getting mah laptop up and running. Ah don't have much but, you're welcome to what Ah've got. Please?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" She shook her head slightly, making him look away.

"You know what? Ah'll figure it out on mah own. Thanks." He turned to leave with the computer in his hands and headed back to his room. "At least Ah won't owe you anything."

Letting out another huff, Megan stood silently and crossed her arms over her chest. She went to head back to her bed when Kitty phased though the floor. It looked as if someone decapitated her and left her head behind. The sight forced Megan to let out a yipe at the sight of her like that.

"How could you?" she said with a mean little face. "He was coming to you for help. You know how many people he's gone to for help since he got here?"

"You were spying on us?" Megan asked in shock with her black colored eyes wide open.

"I prefer the term, 'gathering intel'. That was awful. He wanted your help and you shot him down."

"You just called him a jerk!"

"But he's a cute jerk. He obviously has something for you. You're, like, the only one he's gone to for anything."

Squatting down in front of the ghost-like girl, Megan looked directly into her eyes. "Go, away, Kitty."

"Give, him, a chance, Pixie."

Disappearing back through the floor, Kitty left Megan alone. The rainbow haired girl exhaled and stood back up. She ran a hand through her tresses then looked back at the door he was standing at a moment ago. She huffed as she turned and threw herself onto her bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling.

Try as she did, she couldn't come up with a good enough reason to stay on her bed and go to sleep early to save her life. He was rude, hard to understand, has a foul mouth, scruffy looking (which wasn't her type at all), and not to mention his short temper, the fact he didn't turn away in disgust when she showed him her wing slits, always looked into her eyes when talking to her while other boys looked away or not pay attention to her for those reasons, his well-defined muscles…

Realizing what she was thinking, she grabbed a pillow, turned over, and screamed angrily into the blue cushion before getting off her bed, grabbed a zippered binder full of disks, and headed out of her room. Had Kitty's head been poking out from the floor she would have stomped on her face. She didn't care if anyone came out of their rooms at the sound of her stomping feet and soon arrived at Miguel's closed door. Knocking was abandoned as she burst in, surprising the man inside who was fiddling with the electric device and pulled his desk chair beside his bed.

"Just so you know, I'm here to not be a hypocrite. When I say we help others who need it without expecting anything back, I mean it. But since you offered me something, I'll accept two things for my time."

An angered look flashed over Miguel's face as he death glared Megan. He swallowed his anger, remembering Xavier and his abuela's words, and turned the laptop to her.

"Fine," he said forcefully. "What do you want?"

"I'll take what Kitty wanted to do. Look through your stuff. The second thing is something I want, whenever I want. Got it?"

"Just show me what to do."

Giving him a stern look, Megan took a look at his laptop and began typing in commands. "First, you need the Wi-Fi password. It's XavierSFGY, case sensitive." She typed it into the password area and was instantly connected to the internet where the Xavier School homepage came up. She clicked off it and typed the password onto a note on his desktop display.

"Secondly, you need a few programs. I've got them on a few disks." She opened her notebook and pulled out a disk labeled Microsoft Suite and loaded it into the computer's disk drive. While it loaded, she pulled out a few more disks needed to get his computer up to par with everyone's at the institute.

"This will take a while, so open the bags."

Reaching over with a glare, Miguel grabbed his duffle bag and zipped it open. He then let her dig through it, pulling out shirts, pants, boxers, socks, and various toiletries he hadn't unpacked yet.

"Okay, next." She sat back and watched as Miguel threw the clothes on the floor along with the bag and handed her his backpack.

Inside, she pulled out a few tattered books, a family Bible, a copy of Animals by Crieg Specter, the movie adaptation to The Condemned, and a copy of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. All three looked to be falling apart. "Surprised you read."

He grunted and leaned back.

Digging deeper, she pulled out a pad folio with a sketchpad inside and a mechanical pencil. Drawings of motorcycles, cars, and animals filled the pages. But what made her stop and really look at his artwork was a very detailed drawing of a smiling young woman with flowing black hair and roses around her. A scroll stretched across the bottom with the words; En mi corazón para siempre written on it.

"Who's this?" she asked.

"Ah'm classifying that under the second thing you want if I have to tell you," Miguel told her.

"Fair enough." She closed the book and tossed it on the bed, not noticing as he slid it closer to him as though it were priceless.

Her investigation led to the discovery of wrestling magazines, a few knives, a map of the US, sunglasses, and another book. This one was about the size of her hand and had a worn brown leather cover.

"That's off limits," he said as he grabbed it roughly form her.

"What do you mean off limits?" she asked as she stared at him with a gaze that matched his own. "It's the price you have to pay for my services."

"That doesn't include this book."

"Then you're not paying the agreed amount. I've got four more disks to load, for your computer to be up to speed with the rest of the students here. Give me the book, or I'll cancel the installation and go back to my room."

Letting out a heavy, angry sigh, Miguel looked away briefly then handed the small tome back to her. Upon opening it, she first thought it to be a journal. Closer inspection told her different as song lyrics, quotes, sketches, and photographs were flipped through. The farther she got in the book, the more she saw of the girl he drew in his pad folio as various pictures of her became more frequent until she discovered a photo of her in his arms with the setting sun behind them as they sat out in the desert. Both had smiles on their faces and were touching cheek to cheek. What really surprised her was a gold ring with a small diamond taped to the photo's top corner.

"You loved her," she whispered. Raising her head to look at him, she saw him not moving and staring at the corner of the bed. "Miguel, you were going to marry her, weren't you?"

He didn't respond.

She turned the page and saw different handwriting, fancier and obviously a woman's. Again, the words; En mi corazón para siempre, were written in the new hand writing with the name; Isabella Rios, next to it. On the next page in the same handwriting was; Miguel and Isabella Cortez, written inside a heart.

"Miguel, all joking or…or what we were doing aside, what happened to her?"

He inhaled deeply and let out the gathered air through his nostrils. For a moment, she saw a look of sadness in his eyes instead of the usual hard look he always had.

"She's dead," he answered.

Megan didn't know what to say. She was mad at him a moment ago for how he acted but now she felt sorry for him. "How did she die?"

"The cartels," The anger in his voice returned. "We slept under the stars in the mountains, they woke us up, shot me in the head, and did God knows what to her." His words were gruff as he spoke them with such clarity and anger that he nearly lost his accent. "I found the ones who did it. I wanted to kill them but the policia got to them first."

"At least they got them," Megan softly spoke when Miguel shook his head.

"They worked for the cartels too. The ones who killed Isabella were skimming money from them. The cops were bought and used to hunt down the ones who cheated them. Juggernaut killed them when it should've been me that did it." It looked as though he wanted to cry but didn't by stubborn refusal.

She closed the book gently and handed it back to him. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't know."

It was then when the disk drive opened with a pop, signaling the end of the first disk's installation. No words were said as Megan replaced the CDROM with the second of the five disks and began the sequence all over again. The two stayed in his room and didn't say a word as she finished helping him and left.