Disclaimer: The X-Men don't belong to me, they're Marvel's. The OCs featured are either mine or one of my reviewers (check my profile for full details).
Author's note: I think I met the deadline.
Ha! Back on track. So this chapter has most of what I said it would. Sorry San child of the wolves, I didn't use your ideas. I started with the Ash idea, but it's not time yet for the Haven to become exposed. Look forward to some of the Sionnach idea in the next chapter, and the Ash idea probably.
And don't worry, I only changed the name of the last chapter from Jaller to Masked Fate (which any hardcore Bionicle fans will get).
Enjoy. Read. Review.
Leo sprinted toward Biology with a goofy grin on his face. He'd just been told by the soccer coach he could do his try-out this afternoon, and he got the solo in jazz band, and he saw that Enrique's name was already on the list for the varsity soccer team. He couldn't wait to tell him!
Turning a corner he slammed into a girl. The two both went down in a heap.
Leo was the first to recover, shaking his head and mentally scolding himself for being stupid. "Hey, look I'm so sorry I—"
"Shut up moron." The girl snapped.
As the two untangled themselves Leo stood and offered his hand to help the girl up. He then recognized her as Claire Darth. He gulped. Not only did I crash into someone… I crashed into the principal's daughter. Moron is right.
Claire glared at him for a second with her harsh green eyes, then her expression softened. She reached up and accepted the hand, Leo pulled her up quickly.
"Look, I'm so sorry I—"
"You already said that." Claire said in a monotone voice. Maybe if she kept her voice even he wouldn't recognize her as Clay. Then again, maybe it would be better if he did.
Leo grinned. "Yeah, but you never let me finish." He leaned in closer to her. When in doubt, charm a girl out of hating you. If that doesn't work… run. "I'll start again: Look, I'm so sorry I—"
Claire held up her hand. "Seriously? Stop." She turned and started walking down the hall.
"Hey… hey wait!" Leo called after her, carefully grabbing her shoulder. "May I walk you to class?" He bowed deeply and gave his crazy grin again.
Claire couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, sure whatever. Get up you loon."
He straightened up and smiled normally. "Thank you my liege."
Claire rolled her eyes as they navigated the halls. She had one hand on her backpack strap and the other hung at her side closest to Leo. He continued to spew charm the whole way. He made her laugh but she kept a wary eye on him. The last thing she needed was for him to recognize her as Clay Dune.
She continually notice the way he walked so calmly down a hall of people who most likely hated him. His upper arms were exposed and she was surprised to see they were muscular; he was a kind of scrawny guy. He was short for a guy, being probably slightly smaller than her, but his confidence made him seem taller. He held his head up high. Clay watched as he spoke, getting sucked into his glittering amber eyes that were also flecked with gold if you came closer.
Snapping out of her reverie she sighed. Things would always be weird between them; she wasn't who he thought she was.
They neared her classroom, the AP Chemistry room, where outside it was Benj and Rogue. Benj was still growing and now had several inches on Rogue. He held her hands and swung his arms, content with what he had. He cupped her chin in his hand and tried for a kiss, but Rogue placed her hand in between their faces.
"Ya wouldn't do any good passed out on the floor." She whispered.
Benj smiled and kissed her hand, looking up to see Leo and Claire walking that way. He nodded his head and Rogue turned.
"What brings you this way, bro?" Benj asked.
Leo pointed at Claire. "I crashed into this poor dame and offered to walk her to class."
Claire, without warning, punched him in the shoulder. Leo buckled from her uncanny strength and rubbed his hand over his most likely now bruised shoulder. His eyes widened as the crystal over his heart tugged at Claire. Obviously she wasn't following the no powers rule.
"You call me a dame again, and I'll aim for somewhere else." Claire growled.
Leo looked shocked for a moment then burst out laughing. "No, please… have mercy! Hahaha, I'll keep that in mind chica."
Rogue looked at the two of them and smirked. "Ya're gonna have a hard time havin' kids if ya keep messin' with her Leo."
The X-Men started laughing. Claire glared at Rogue and skulked inside the classroom.
"Damn, she's still mad at me." Rogue said, stopping the laughter.
"What did you do?" Benj asked.
"Who knows? Maybe Ah'll get things smoothed ovah in class."
"Good luck!" Benj called as Rogue chased after Claire.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. The warning bell sounded.
Both brothers cursed and looked at each other.
"English."
"Bio."
"We're never goin' to make it." Benj groaned.
Leo laughed. "You don't know if you don't try!" With that he turned and sprinted down the hallway.
This time his running was more successful. Most students had cleared the hallways so there wasn't anyone to vault over. He slammed into the classroom door just as the tardy bell sounded.
Leo smiled apologetically at the teacher and looked back at his seat. He frowned as he saw that Enrique was not there.
He awkwardly made his way to the back table and sat at his stool. The classroom felt oddly empty. He didn't know any of the freshmen in there well, they kept their distance for a number of reasons. Enrique must have caught the Flu that was going around, Roberto already had. He glanced sadly at Jamie's seat that was also empty.
Leo had spent all Sunday, minus the time he was at church, at Jamie's side. He felt incredibly guilty about what happened during the DR session. Well, it was his fault after all. If he had been paying more attention… if he hadn't left his side… if he—
"Mr. Dyson."
Leo shook his head out and looked up. The teacher and the whole class were staring at him.
He rubbed his head. "Uh… sorry, sir. I kinda zoned out. What was that?"
The teacher rolled his eyes and repeated the question. "I asked if you could name the classification system used in naming animals."
"Uh… I don't know the name but I know how it works. King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti." Leo said. When the class just stared at him he sighed. "Animals are classified by Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. That's just a little trick I use to remember them." He paused. "The scientific name is the Latin genus and species name."
The teacher cracked a smile and nodded. "Very good, Leo. Class remember that naming trick Leo just gave you… it seems to work."
Leo exhaled. That was a close one. He needed to still pay attention during class apparently.
Rogue stood awkwardly next to Claire and they started their lab work.
Half the classroom was desks and the other half black counter lab stations with computers and stools. From past experience Rogue knew working with an unwilling partner would be bad, hopefully they could patch things up fast before they got into too much chemical work.
Claire wrote down the procedures in a fast scrawl and then turned to Rogue. "You wanna get the beakers out? I'll get the acid."
"Yeah… sure."
Half the class period went by with short quick answers from both girls. Finally Rogue couldn't stand it anymore.
Placing a hand on Claire's shoulder she stopped their lab. "Okay, what did Ah do ta piss ya off?"
Claire looked steadily at the chemicals in one hand and then calmly set them down with a sigh. "Nothing, it-it's not your fault. I… I just have some things going on at home I just don't wanna deal with right now."
Rogue frowned. Darth didn't seem like that bad a guy, so she couldn't imagine anything being bad at home.
Claire sense Rogue's apprehension and continued. "I brought up the Xavier Institute thing." This wasn't a complete lie. When Darth asked about her vision she did mention the possibility of joining with the X-Men. Instantly terminated and shot down. Claire was only worried about the safety of her Haven family, Darth was too, but didn't think that would help anything. But then again, he had started up a partnership with them at school… so maybe it wasn't a complete "no".
"My father doesn't want me hangin' around you guys that much." Claire answered, truthfully.
Rogue frowned. "Ah'm sorry Ah got ya in trouble then."
"Nah, it ain't your fault." Claire muttered, adding the hydrochloric acid to the solution. She knew it was too much, but she was a bit distracted… and tired. Nearly all night border patrol doesn't help one concentrate during school. "My dad's just…" She swore. The solution started bubbling and overflowing out of the beaker.
Rogue stepped back and called the teacher over, while also running to get paper towels.
After they cleaned up the mess, class had ended.
Claire threw her goggles into the goggle cabinet and grabbed her backpack. She was about to head out then froze. She turned around and looked at Rogue.
"My father mentioned that he agreed to a partnership with Xavier."
Rogue frowned. "Ah didn't know that we were doin' that."
The neon-green eyed girl raised an eyebrow. "Well… I'm sure he was about to tell you guys. Let him know that… that I know some mutants that would be interested in learning from him."
"Ha!" Kitty cheered.
She, Kurt, and Amanda were gathered around Kitty's locker. Amanda clung to Kurt's arm and was smiling.
Kitty jumped up and pointed at Kurt. "I so told you that, like, Darth Maul was better than Darth Vader!" She danced around the couple. "Like who can't survive being cut in half now!"
Kurt sighed. "How was I supposed to know they'd bring Darth Maul back?"
Kitty continued her victory dance and stuck her tongue out at Kurt.
The elf looked up at the ceiling. "Why would you spite me so George Lucas?" He whined.
Amanda laughed. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Star Wars." The two X-Men said plainly.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Kitty thinks Darth Maul is better than Darth Vader," he looked straight at Kitty, "which she is completely wrong about."
"I still don't get—"
"Apparently the creators of Star Wars: The Clone Wars felt like bringing Maul back to life." Kurt sighed. "And now I will never here the end of it."
"Nope!" Kitty laughed. She stopped dancing as she saw the Brotherhood boys walking down the hall. Kurt followed her gaze and frowned.
Lance walked up to the X-Men and stopped. "You guys go on, I got something to do."
Pietro looked at Toad and chuckled quietly. "More like you have kitties to kiss." He whispered.
"Get outa here!" Lance growled, turning on his teammates.
They shrugged and kept walking.
Lance looked uncomfortable around Kurt and his girlfriend. He'd shown too much of his feelings during the fight on Saturday and he was afraid they would mention it.
Kurt pulled a face. "What do you want Lance?"
"I… uh, need to talk to Kitty." Lance muttered.
Kurt looked at Kitty, confused.
Kitty waved off Kurt and Amanda. "Like, I'll see you guys later."
She nodded over to the side as to say to Lance, "Let's go over there." She started walking, but stopped when Kurt grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing Kitty?" He hissed. "Don't go anywhere alone with him!"
Kitty rolled her eyes and glanced at Lance. "He's not going to hurt me Kurt!" She paused. "We've been… uh…"
Lance sighed. "We're seein' each other. Got a problem with it, blue boy?"
Kurt could only look stunned as the two walked off. It's not like he shouldn't have seen it coming, but really? Kitty could do better, he thought.
"Well that was a surprise…" Kurt mumbled.
Most of the Institute students were ignoring homework obligations in the Rec Room. The boys huddled around the television, playing their overly violent shoot-'em-up game.
Spades was one of them, finally relaxing enough to rejoin the crowd. He was winning horribly, causing the others to wail. He grinned and sat back.
"Aw, come on Ty, give us a break!" Bobby whined, throwing down his controller.
Ty laughed. "Fine, everyone gets a ten second head start…" He grinned, baring his shark-teeth, "then I kill you."
"You may have to hold off on that." Logan growled, storming in the room. The teens groaned, fearing a surprise DR session.
Professor X rolled in after Logan, trailed by Benj and Storm. He nodded to the boys on the couch. "Turn to Channel 8."
As they fumbled with the remotes, Logan tapped his foot impatiently. Tabitha looked up from her seat. "What's goin' on prof?"
"You'll see." Logan answered gruffly.
Finally the boys were able to switch to the normal TV and then to the requested channel. Not knowing what was happening, they all sat holding their breath.
A man anchor's voice came from the news show, explaining the footage showing. The clips of Sionnach Fae losing control played repeatedly.
"A young mutant, now identified as Sionnach Fae, was found dead in the Arizona wilderness early this morning. Reports show that the mutant died of dehydration. Local police are not investigating his death any farther, and his family has requested he be buried swiftly." The anchor paused. "The footage shown is of the mutant's initial attack on three young children. Thanks to our sister station— click"
Logan turned off the television at this point.
Ty blinked at the screen. "He's… dead?"
"I don't know about that, kid." Logan said gruffly.
"Wha— how do you—" Ty started.
"Benj and I were in Cerebro," the professor said, "I figured it would be nice to have another telepath that could use Cerebro, and we were doing simple mental scans of power usage in Bayville. Storm was helping us by using her powers right outside. We then compared the different levels put out when—"
"When I had the idea that we could compare the energy signatures of the fight with the Haven to energy being put out in the city, you know to try to figure out who some of them are." Benj interrupted, swiping his blonde hair from his eyes. He was pretty proud of his idea.
The professor smiled at Benj's pride and continued. "Luckily we had just updated Cerebro so it now stores mutant power levels in a database for future reference. This change was made before our recruitment mission of Sionnach Fae."
Ty blinked again. "So…?"
Benj answered. "One of the power signatures from the Brotherhood House fight matched Sionnach Fae!"
Ty rubbed his head. "Yeah, but—"
"I highly doubt the Haven mutants killed him." Benj said. "Plus, it takes a while to die of dehydration." He seemed giddy with his helpful idea.
Logan laid a heavy hand on the blonde mutant's shoulder. "Stop jumping, you're makin' me nervous." He growled.
Benj nodded and sobered up. "Uh… we also looked for where the mutant that makes those portals showed up."
"It would appear that she goes to Bayville High." The professor finished. "Several times portals were opened on school grounds."
"Did you get an ID?" Bobby asked.
"No, all of the Haven mutants had the same fuzzy signal, like there was a something cloaking them." Xavier sighed.
Ray sneezed. Everyone turned and looked at him. "Sorry, man I hope I'm not comin' down with what Roberto has."
"Is there anything else, Professor Xavier?" Ty asked, anxiously fingering the gaming controller in his hand.
"I have an announcement to make once all the students arrive for dinner." Xavier said bluntly. "And I hope all your homework is done."
The teens nervously glanced at each other and nodded.
"Of course professor!"
Jamie groaned and turned over. He had rolled over onto his injured arm, causing a jolt of pain to wake him. Beast had said that sleeping a lot usually helps a person recover faster, so that's what Jamie had been doing. It was a good way to keep from getting bored as well; there was nothing worse than staring at the blank walls in the infirmary.
The boy's eyes fluttered open and they adjusted to the harsh white light. He looked to his right and wasn't surprised to see Leo sitting there.
"Hi." Jamie muttered, rubbing his eyes, trying to shake off the sleep.
The worried look in Leo's eyes melted away and he smiled. "Hey there Jamie! How you feelin'?"
"Better… I'm bored out of my mind though." Jamie said, trying to sit up. His arm was bound so it wouldn't bend the way he wanted. Leo leaned over and pulled him into a sitting position.
"Good thing I brought this then…" Reaching into his pocket, Leo pulled out a hand-held gaming device. He tossed it to Jamie, who caught it one handed.
"Thanks!" Jamie smiled, placing the device on the table next to him. He looked at Leo. "What about you, what are you up to?"
Leo leaned back. "Nothing much."
Jamie laughed. "You're covered in sweat! Either Wolverine whooped your butt or—"
"It was soccer try-outs." Leo stopped him, running a hand through his damp hair. He hadn't bothered showering when he got back, wanting to see how Jamie was faring. His hair was wet with sweat and it still glistened on his forehead. "The coach said it's likely I'll make it."
Jamie sat back and let some silence sink in. He looked at Leo. "You're thinking of running, aren't you?"
Leo looked shocked, and sat forward. "Where would you get that idea?"
"You are, aren't you?"
Leo didn't answer.
Jamie looked at his face, as to read his reaction. "You have that same look Rogue got before she ran off, and you aren't talking to most of us here…"
Leo picked at his fingernails. "I… uh, I guess I've thought about it."
"Are you going to?" Jamie asked, his voice catching in his throat.
The older mutant met the younger's eyes. "I'm not going anywhere Jamie, not as long as you need me here."
"And when I don't?" Jamie questioned, not turning from Leo's amber eyes.
"I make no promises." Leo answered in a low, gruff voice. "I don't exactly fit in here, Jamie… if you haven't noticed."
"But it was fine until—"
"Until I told everyone I killed three teenagers. I knew I was damn stupid when I did, but I didn't want it to come between me and the team." Leo groaned, sitting back in his chair. "Look where that's gotten me."
"Leo, no one's been in that kind of situation though. They don't know what it's like to be pushed to the edge of wanting to kill someone." He shrugged. "And it wasn't completely your fault, you didn't have control."
The feline mutant shook his head. "You get it, why can't everyone?" He rubbed the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Listen, d-don't mention anything I said here to anyone. Okay?"
Jamie nodded. "Your secret's safe with me."
"We're partnering with Darth?" Kurt asked, a little puzzled.
All of the students, including Scott, Jean, and Jamie, and the teachers were assembled in the dining hall.
"Yes." Xavier answered. "Hopefully we can help more mutants, and possibly add more recruits. I think it's time again to recruit more mutants, and I think focusing on the local ones for now is a good start. If you haven't noticed already many new students transferred to Bayville High this year, and are continuing to come in; and many of these are mutants. Mr. Darth's polices on equality has attracted a lot of attention for mutants."
Ty raised his hand. "Uh, Professor Xavier, I know I'm not currently in school… or on staff" He added, looking at Beast and the other teachers. "…but could I help in some way? ¡Voy a estar loco!I'm through with school, no job…" He pulled off his hood. "…I look like this," he pointed at his face, "Please tell me I can do something!"
Charles chuckled. "Of course, Tyler. You're welcome to help." He scanned everyone's faces. "The meetings will be every Friday after school, and if you are able I would like all of you to be there. Principal Darth will make an announcement tomorrow about it."
"Come on everyone! We gotta leave…" Portia yelled in the common room, glancing down at her watch, "now!" She sighed, muttering to herself. "We're going to be so late."
She was wearing a purple tank-top with a black jacket over top. A pair of glasses (one of those fake thick, black rimmed "hipster" glasses) rested on her face. They framed her face and eyes making her appear quite different than when she wasn't wearing them.
Sionnach was ready and sitting on the couch, absent-mindedly watching the television. His eyes kept looking at the entrance to the boys' hallway, he was waiting for Enrique.
Instead Xander walked out, looking miserable. He sniffed and started hacking like crazy.
"All dan, mayde I shouldn't go da school doday." He grumbled, weakly walking into the common room.
Zendi jumped down from her perch on the wall. "Woah there germy, go back to your room and lock the door. I'm not getting sick."
Portia rolled her eyes. "I don't think locking the door will keep the germ from gettin' out. He's got the Flu!" She pointed back at the hallway. "Go back to your room though, no need for all of us to get sick."
"Actually, sneeze on me, will ya?" Sionnach called from his seat. "I do not want to go to school."
"That will just make you sick for the weekend." Enrique's calm voice said from behind the sick mutant. He placed a hand on Xander's shoulder. "You do not look well."
Xander rolled his eyes, his sick was an even paler shade than usual. "Danks…" He grumbled heading back to his room.
Rena walked in, trailed by Ash, in her human morph. She hated staying human for too long, but Darth insisted she shadow someone for a day and see if she liked it at Bayville High. If she had her way, she would continue at the Haven's homeschool.
"Where's Clay?" Rena asked, looking around and perking her ears up to try to detect some sound. "Wouldn't she be up by now?"
Enrique and Zendi looked at each other, the same slightly concerned countenances.
"We will check on her." The white-haired mutant stated, motioning to Zendi to follow.
The two walked down the opposing hall and stopped in front of Clay's door. Enrique made as to knock, but Zendi stayed his hand.
"Wait… Clay didn't have Digger over last night, did she?"
"What, why would…?" Enrique started, and then he shook his head. "Clay is not like that Zen." He proceeded to knock on the metal door, the clang echoing down the hall.
No one answered. Enrique shrugged and tried the door knob, surprisingly it wasn't unlocked.
The door swung open and the pair walked in carefully. They scanned the room quickly.
Clay was on her mat on the floor, still asleep. She was obviously not well; her face was covered in sweat, though she had no blankets on. Twitching a little she awoke with a start.
"W-what the hell are you doing in here?" She asked groggily, struggling to sit up. That action caused her to start to cough violently, with a groan she laid back down.
"It's time to leave for school, we were wondering why you weren't up." Zendi said.
"What?" Clay tried to spring up, but this time it caused her head to feel like it was splitting in two. Clutching it with both hands she leaned back against the wall. "G-give me a minute, I'll be up."
"No." Enrique said firmly. "You are going to stay here. You are sick."
"No, my father wants me there at the Xavier mutant… thingy…" She mumbled, her speech starting to slur.
"That's too bad." Zendi said. "You will stay here or I'll drag your ass straight back here halfway through the day."
Clay groaned and looked at her friends. Her eyes were dulled way below their normal glow. "Fine… ACHOO!" She sneezed, and moaned. "Ugh… this is a terrible day."
Zendi chuckled a little as they backed out of the room. They walked back into the common room to several impatient mutants.
"Clay's sick too, so she's staying behind." Zendi said simply. "Let's jet."
Sionnach groaned, but stood. Enrique flashed him a smile and he became a lot more complacent.
"Shouldn't someone stay with Clay and Xander?" Portal asked.
"I volunteer as tribute!" Rena yelled. Anything to get her out of having to run around a school she didn't want to be at.
The others stared at her and then burst out laughing.
Zendi shrugged. "Go ahead; I'll let Darth know when we get there."
Yeah so it was a bit of revenge for all the times I was sick to infect Clay and Xander, and Ray... and Roberto. I'm evil like that.
Did anyone get that Hunger Games allusion? Great, I couldn't help but put that in (even if I'm not a Hunger Games fan).
Next chapter: The actual mutant meeting, are the X-Men prepared to meet the Haven mutants on neutral ground? And just how many mutants are at Bayville High now? (*hint* most are Haven)
And I'm planning on going back and reviewing chapters so if you see or remember anywhere that has a typo (I was horrified at how many I found in the Kitsune chapter!) let me know and I'll fix it.