Thank you, thank you to all my readers.
I cannot express words on how far this story has come.
You have helped me along the way, incredibly.
Disclaimer: Don't own X-Men and the OCs are owned by their respected owners.
X-Men: Retaliation
Chapter Three: New Meat
Wolverine, Fred, and Coralie walked into the Academy to be ambushed by a little girl they had never seen before. Fred did a double take. He had seen the girl before at the diner. She usually stayed in back but a few times she talked to Olivia.
"Is she okay?" the black haired, green eyed girl begged them.
"Do you mean Olivia?" Fred asked going out on a whim. She started to cry and he could feel the sting of Coralie's eyes beaming into him.
"Great, Fred. You made her cry." Coralie remarked, taking the girl into her arms. She patted her on the back. "It's okay…she is fine. She went home in perfect condition."
"She is?" the girl sobbed and breaking away from the caring grip of Coralie. "Oh, that's great." She whipped away her tears from her flushed face. Logan grumbled in the background, waving at each of them and walked off. Logan was never one for dealing with sobby girls, he had tried it once with Kitty and it ended with him being called an insensitive jerk. All he had said was he was going to cream that Alvers guy. What is so wrong with that? He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, hesitating for a moment, and then disappeared into the shadows of the hall.
"You better now?" Coralie asked, her motherly side coming out of her. Coralie was older, more mature though she still carried around her video camera like a tourist who wanted to photograph every moment. Hope shook her head and wiped her tears away with her now soaked sleeve. "Now, are you a new student here?" Hope was about to say something when a big thump at the door interrupted her. All three of them turned towards each other and raised their eyebrows. What could that be?
They stared through the cloudy textured windows to see a dark figure leaning up against it. The door swung open and banged against the door stopper.
"Get outta here! I don't want to see ya again!" Rogue yelled, stomping into the school.
"But, Cherie." Remy said in a suave voice as he got up off the ground. Rogue stared him down with a dart glare. She pointed out the door then gracefully kicked it shut in Rogue styled fashion.
"Is he that desperate?" Coralie asked. Rogue balled up her hands like fists and let out an agitated sigh. Remy LeBeau was a person she could not get out of her life; she NEVER wanted to see him after what he did.
"I can't even go to Creamy Goodness Parlor to get the new flavor of ice cream without HIM stalking me." Rogue sighed, "I didn't even get any ice cream!"
"It's okay, Camlin is probably getting some. You know how my sister is with new things…let's go sky diving, let's go get the new flavor very berry nutty ice cream, let's go see that new movie, etc…" Coralie commented trying to comfort Rogue.
"It isn't stalking, Cherie. It is called following closely." A voice said. They all spun around to see Remy leaning against the door with his arms crossed, and wearing his crooked grin. Rogue gasped with surprise and disgust.
"How in the world did you get..? Oh, never mind." Fred asked doing a double take. Fred slowly turned his head slightly towards Hope and motioned with his head cocked sideways for them to leave. Whenever Remy and Rogue were in the same room…things get tossed. Hope shook her head and they both slowly inched away from the confrontation.
"No it is called stalking! You have ruined multiple videos of mine. Navy Pier, Disney World, Washington D.C. You have 'followed closely' to Rogue everywhere! Do you know how creepy it is to see a perfect good clip of your friends having a good time and then there is you lurking in the background!?" Coralie shouted.
"Creepy? Oh, please petite fille don't call me that. I did come up and rendezvous with Cherie here," Remy replied stooping over the now angered strawberry blonde girl. Coralie glared up at him. Fred and Hope were now a distance away and the three of them had seemed to get quieter. They shifted their focus, shuffling down the classroom hallway before seeing Professor McCoy come out of his class and dart for the lobby. Hope looked scared stiff by the big, blue beast but Fred reassured that he was one of the kindest professors she would meet.
They heard Rogue scream "Remy!" before the muffled voices were silenced. Fred breathed out a deep sigh. "Sorry about that, it isn't always like this at the Academy. I got to head to class so I will take you to someone who knows this school like the back of her hand to show you around." Fred continued as they stopped in front of an unlabeled door.
He tapped the door three times and the door flew open. A tall, Asian girl emerged from a thick fog. She was in an old western duster jacket that was misted from the fog. She had a regular collared shirt and worn jeans beneath it. She beamed a smile at Hope.
"Hello, I'm Sakura. Please to meet you." She said cheerfully in a slight Asian accent. Sakura had changed slightly since The Institution event, eight years ago. She had grown out her hair and got it permed because she said it made it 'more perky'. She was more controlling of her water based powers but she never changed her cheerful, optimistic personality. Sakura would always be a happy-go-lucky person; no one could dull her outlook on life. Her yoga and relaxation class was one of the most popular classes because people loved being around her.
"Sakura, can you show her around? I have to get to Anderson's Tech in Field class. See ya!" Fred bolted down the hall.
"What's up with the fog?" Hope asked, trying to see into the room.
"Greenhouse." She commented, stepping aside and welcoming Hope into the greenhouse. Hope saw many flowers and exotic plants. The misty fog lingered in the air made it all the much prettier since the sun rays were shined through the layers of haze.
"It's so beautiful." Hope gaped looking at the bright colored blooms. The colors exploded across the room. She breathed in deeply and a pleasant fragrance filled her nose.
"I'm Hope by the way." Hope said. Sakura smiled at her.
"Oh, another Hope. Good. Good. We need all the hope we can get." Sakura replied.
"No, no. My name is Hope." Hope said, thinking that Sakura didn't understand her.
"I know. We are the X-Men. Hope Winters. Mutant Integration advocate." Sakura explained then suddenly it clicked with Hope. Hope Winters, the woman on the television advocating mutant integration had gone here, not to just the academy but was chosen to be an X-Man.
"Oh, yes two Hopes. I was named after someone who was a hero, long ago. You can call me by my last name, Dawson if you get confused easily. My dad use to call me that when we spent time together. He said it was a more fitting name for me when we were working with his tools." Hope smiled.
"Dawson, it is a pretty name." Sakura answered, nodding in approval as they exited in the greenhouse where they were greeted with the cool air conditioning in the building. They walked down the classroom hallways where Hope had seen a bunch of different mutants taking very different classes.
They stopped in front of some doors labeled formal lounge and Sakura pushed opened the doors joyously. Hope saw lots of students hanging out. Some were reading and others were huddled around a television screen. There were a few just sitting about and talking.
"Hey, this is Hope Dawson. Not her get her confused with Hope Winters, she said calling her Dawson is perfectly fine. She is new here." Sakura said introducing Hope to the students. They nodded and waved.
"Hi, I'm Sarah. Nice to meet you Dawson." Sarah said, brushing her fingers through her pixie cut before throwing her arms around Hope in a bear hug. She was welcomed by other students too, there was Vince who was Sarah's boyfriend, then there was Laura, a nurse who was dressed in scrubs which complimented her blue skin nicely, then there was Shiloh, who seemed to be the shyest out of all of them but was really nice too. Hope knew she would fit here. She knew she had a place she belonged.
"Hope, your sister is here." Someone said. Hope spun on her foot and saw Reagan Mitchells standing in the doorway. She was as beautiful as can be and she gave of this aura of genuineness that was warming to Hope's heart. She couldn't believe that Reagan Mitchells, the celebrity model had said her name. Hope breathed deeply in because she felt a dark ball in the pit of her stomach. She had to face her sister. She walked down the hallway, following Reagan who glided across the floor like she was walking on air. "Your sister is waiting by the door. Hopefully, I'll see you around." Hope saw her sister leaning against the French doors, Rogue and the others nowhere in sight from earlier. Reagan left Hope to her business, going upstairs.
"Hope!" Olivia shouted, running to her and giving her a deep embrace. "You are alright. Thank the Lord."
"Why are you worried about me? What about yourself?" Hope said, looking her over and saw no marks of a fight from the robbery.
"We need to go. You can't come here, Hope. I can't let you." Olivia pleaded.
"Why? Mom and dad encouraged us to come here. Just because you missed your opportunity for an education, doesn't mean I can. Yeah, I know that you dropped out of high school. Stop lying to me, Olivia. You can't keep treating me this way." Hope angrily spat at her sister. Olivia was taken back.
"It was all for our wellbeing, Hope. Just as now. You are putting everyone around you and yourself in danger. You just don't know it." Olivia retorted, biting back the tears. She had never confronted her baby sister like this before.
"I can control my gift. Even if I can't, I'll learn it here. This is what this place is for." Hope cried, tears now falling from her eyes. Professor Xavier approached both of them, rolling up in his wheelchair.
"Girls, I think we can take care of this in my office. Olivia, welcome and I am happy to see that you are alright." Professor Xavier said. Olivia and Hope followed him to his office.
-SHIELD chopper-
"So, do you like being called X-23 or do you have another name?" Natalie asked, trying to pass the time but X-23 just stared her down like she would disappear if she concentrated hard enough.
"Friends call me, Laura. But you just call me X-23." X-23 snarled, turning her head so Natalie was out of her line of sight. Natalie felt no sense of camaraderie from this girl at all. Now, all she wanted was to hang out with her X-Men friends. They had eventually warmed up to her being 'semi-good' as they called it since SHIELD had its own agenda when it came to all things mutant. Natalie wanted to use her persuasive mutation on Laura or X-23 but she would highly doubt it would do anything. She was angry at the world. Natalie would be too if she was frozen for a decade.
"So…do you want to go get a burger? You must have missed some type of food while you were frozen in ice." Natalie commented, remembering Danielle had said something about food being everybody's good point. Laura looked up and nodded slowly then looked away again. Maybe, Danni was right about food. Now, the only problem was landing the SHIELD chopper.
Hope you all liked it. I am trying to space out the new recruits being drafted in so it maybe another chapter before I get to them. I'm sorry! But as you already know, these new recruits are going to be side characters so after a chapter or so Olivia and Hope Dawson will not be as prominent as they are now. I added in a lot of other character interactions in this so I am wishing that you like it!
To my reviewers:
MysteryAgain- Thank you for the wonderful review! I hope you like what happens next.
PotterGal14- Thank you for such a compliment! It is what every writer wants to hear.
Paperman0- Thanks for the compliment and I hopefully won't disappoint you with updating it in a timely manner.
callofduty1944- Thank you for bring to my attention grammar corrections. I have fixed them and hopefully the chapter reads better.
gordhanx- Gordhan will be coming into the picture soon, sneaking about in the background for a chapter.
Ocean's Viola- Thank you for numerous compliments! I cannot wait to reveal the relationship between X-23 and Natalie either.