Chapter 16: Growing up is hard to do.

It had been about half a month since Gavin had spoken to Chelsea about possibly going to counseling for her PTSD, and now she laid in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Another night full of night terrors of her past, and very little sleep. She rubbed her eyes with a groan, looking at the clock. 6 am. Not the best time to wake up on a Sunday.

"Damn it..." she sighed. The kid was... possibly right. She couldn't keep living like this. Waking up in night sweats jolted out of sleep from a memory. Or worse, when her memories would take over while awake.

"The Vamp may have been on to something." The dragoness whispered to herself as she got out of bed, throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

As she walked down the hall, she was surprised to see Gavin trudging tiredly towards her. "Uh, Gav?"

"Oh, hey Marks." He waved sleepily, letting out a yawn. "Just heading to bed."

"Kid, it's 6 in the morning." She scoffed.

"It's a Sunday. Lemme be nocturnal." He groggily said, walking past her down the hall. "I'll see you tomorrow..."

"Riiight..." She drawled, shaking her head with a smile. The kid had grown on her, that's for sure. He could be cocky, and too stubborn for his own good, but he had a good heart. Maybe the reason she was able to connect with him so easily was that he reminded her of herself. "Remember, training on Monday before school." She called out to him, getting a limp thumbs up in response.

She walked down to the kitchen, heating up the coffee pot once she was there and waited for it to brew. 'I need to get my PTSD under control..' she thought to herself, staring off into space as she recalled the nightmare that plagued her.

"You're up early." She turned, seeing Logan in the doorway with a newspaper.

"I could say the same about you." Retorted Chelsea.

"You could. But, it's my routine to get down here before all the kids decide to raid the kitchen." He pointed out as he sat in the windowsill, unfolding his paper.

"Maybe I should join you more often." She mumbled, turning back to the coffee pot as the steaming liquid began to pour in. 'why can't I get this out of my head? What will happen if... if..'

"Chels?" Logan asked.

"hm?" Hummed the woman.

"What's going on? You're acting off." The man noted.

She turned to him, glaring. "What? Just because I'm down here early something must be wrong?"

"I can smell it, Scales." He said seriously looking up from his paper. "Somethings worrying you."

"It's uh... It's my PTSD..." She admitted quietly.

"Tell me about it." He folded his paper, getting up to pour two cups of coffee.

"Logan I'd rather not-" the woman attempted to protest.

"Chels..." He persisted, extending one of the cups to her. "Tell me. I've been through shit like you. If anyone is going to know what it's like, it's me.

She cautiously looked at him, taking the coffee. "My nightmares have been getting worse... More persistent, more detailed. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in over a week. And..." she tapped her mug, contemplating continuing.

"And?" The clawed man persisted, his voice softer than usual.

"And I've started to have flashbacks when I'm awake as well. Certain things will trigger them and then I'm suddenly back in the labs or on the run." She looked at him, eyes full of concern. "I'm afraid that if they get too vivid... I could start to lash out, reacting like I'm actually IN those situations again."

Logan looked at her, deep in thought for a minute. "Has it happened before?"

"No, but it can happen with PTSD."

"I know. I've gone through it..." He admitted, taking a sip of his coffee. "Remember when we met on Mt. McKenna?"

"How could I forget." Her cocky tone shone through for a moment.

"Reason I went there was because what happened to me started to float back up to the surface." His eyes met hers, intently holding her gaze. "And believe me, what was going through my head wasn't pretty..."

Logan then deployed his claws on his free hand to emphasize his point.

"Yikes." Chelsea winced. "... yeah, my Flashbacks are kinda like that. It usually involves a guy named Victor Rowner, a real sick piece of work who was usually the cause of most of my trauma."

"What did he do?" Logan asked, while trying to suppress his slight spike of anger.

"Well, He had this habit of showing me unnecessary "favoritism" in the form of unwanted sexual advancements. And being the egomaniac, narcissist he is, did not hold back from abusing his power over his subjects, especially me. He was a total pervert towards me due to how much I apparently reminded him of his ex-wife." She explained. "That paired with how he would single me out for exclusive torture, use my friends against me, and how he tried to turn me into a sex crazed breeding bitch, lead to me despising him even more than most agents of HYDRA."

"Did he do anything else to make ya lash out?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. He manipulated my instincts to force me to eat a kid alive." She nodded.

"Did what?!" Logan nearly spat out his coffee.

"Okay, maybe not EAT." She blushed in embarrassment. "But, might as well have... The poor kid was my first kill. It wasn't my choice though Rowner forced me into a session with his little PET at the time to prep me for the fight, forcing me into an uncontrolled rage before the fight. By the time I was done with the other mutant I had consumed enough blood and torn enough flesh that... well you get the point."

"What do you mean by, pet?" Logan growled.

"Telepath. A little shit named Kuo. Chinese kid, taken in when he was a toddler. HYDRA was all he knew, but that doesn't excuse the fact he was a little torturing drone." She sipped her coffee, frowning, scales fluttering over her skin as anger began to grow. "This, CREATURE got a kick out of fuck with minds. Created illusions to drive people mad, controlling others actions, forcing them to do things against their will."

"Hence the fear of telepaths." Logan said aloud.

"Exactly." The blonde nodded.

"So is that why you don't want to take Gavin's offer for counseling with his therapist, Frost?" Logan asked.

"Pretty much." The Dragoness nodded.

"Then what's with the change of mind?" The man questioned.

"Because I'm not sure I have much of a choice now, if I don't do something about this, I could end up going insane and hurt someone else, and... I don't want that!" The blonde said before small trails of tears started to trickle ever so slightly out of her eyes.

"Well, if you're still not sure about doing it with Frost alone, maybe you could have Gavin go with you to make sure she doesn't pull anything?" Logan suggested.

"Maybe. I mean it's worth a shot." Chelsea shrugged. "But, I just, I really don't know what I should do. Do I get the memories erased? Altered? Suppressed? I don't know."

"That's not my wheelhouse." Logan shrugged. "I'd talk to Chuck if I were you Chels, he may have an idea."

"Yeah, 'the world's greatest telepath' better have an answer." She scoffed, wiping her tears away quickly. "He helped you, didn't he?"

"As much as he could." Logan gave her a small smile, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Go see what he says. You can trust him. He cares about you as much as everyone else in the Institute."

"Even you, with as much as an ass you can be?" She said coyly.

He smirked at her. "Yes. Now if you don't drink that coffee, I will."

Later that morning, after the kids flooded the kitchen Chelsea quietly left the commotion to go to Charles's office. "Come in Chelsea." the voice behind the door said before she knocked, making her shiver.

"I'm never going to get over that..." She said to herself as she walked in. "Hey, Charles, can we talk?"

"But of course." The man nodded as he gestured for her to sit down.

As the blonde sat down she faced the man as he looked at her expectantly. "Logan mentioned you wished to talk, from the tone he used it seemed rather dire. What is it that's on your mind?" Xavier asked.

"It's my PTSD flashbacks, their getting more frequent, more vivid, I'm afraid that if I don't do something about it soon I could end up hurting someone if I relive them. Or worse." Chelsea explained. "So I'm thinking of... going to counseling, more specifically with Gavin's therapist, ya know the sexy telepath?"

"Yes Miss Frost, I'm aware." Xavier nodded. "But I thought you weren't comfortable with telepaths?"

"I don't exactly have much of a choice, now do I?" The woman sighed as she sat back in the chair she was in. "So I came here to see if you'd check my traumatic memories and try to see just how much work needs to be done. I mean should I have them altered, suppressed or erased? So I need you to go into my head for me, okay?"

Xavier nodded. "Very well then."

"Charles, before we start to promise me one thing." He gave her a nod. "Dont let anybody else know what you'll see."

Charles nodded, gently placed his hands on her temples taking a breath before diving in. He saw moments pass from the past few weeks from Chelsea's point of view. Time spent training with Gavin, Ororo giving her pointers on methods that worked for each student, time spent drinking with Logan. More memories, from when she was on the run. The scenes began to speed up until they stopped, the scene focusing into the scene of a laboratory.

Chelsea was strapped to a table, a leather strap in her mouth as she screamed as HYDRA doctors directed her open abdomen. The scene changed and Charles saw her covered in blood, shaking as she stared at a lifeless body. Once again it changed, and he saw her fighting other mutants while trying to plead with them, pain ringing in her voice. He saw her trapped in a cell, alone and shivering in the cold, hearing howls groans around her.

He saw her strapped to a table, vertically strung up as an older man with black greasy hair and grey eyes looked at her sadistically, pulling her hair back with one hand and cupping her face with the other. "You aren't going to fight me this time, are you my dear?" Her breath shook with fear as she tried to turn away but couldn't.

He pushed further into her memories, past more pain, anguish, and anxiety, through more trauma he could have never expected.

Another scene with the man with grey eyes unfolded. The doctor looked at her, adjusting a contraption above her holding multiple needles. "If you refuse to fight the others, Chelsea..." He sneered, glaring down at her.

"Rowner-Rowner please no." She managed to say between sobs.

"You'll have to be repurposed. And lucky for you, your healing factor makes you a perfect candidate for this project. Welcome to the breeding program, my dear." Fear erupted like fire in her mind as the needles came down on her skin, pain shooting through her body.

Charles halted at a scene in which he saw her strapped to a chair, incapable of moving. Across from her, an Asian boy her age stared at her intently, his face void of emotion.

"You don't have to do this." Chelsea muttered her tone exhausted.

'What am I doing? What are you doing? Is this even real?" A voice, not her own, said in her head. 'You're pathetic soul can't even comprehend what is real any more.' And with that, the ground fell out from under her, as she fell into complete darkness. 'You are not in control. I am. And you will serve us.'

Charles reeled back to reality, fear he absorbed while in her mind creeping up his chest.

Chelsea looked up at him, her eyes full of concern, yet looking tired. "Prof?"

"This... is more extensive then I thought." The man said, hands rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Though now that I know what your trauma truly is caused by, I think I can finally give you a suggestion for your course of action."

"And?" Chelsea asked.

"I'd suggest a selective memory wipe, several alterations, a mental purge of any lingering 'programming' and lastly a suppression of any memories or triggers that could cause these to reappear." Charles explained.

"So in other words, the whole nine yards?" Chelsea clarified.

"Unfortunately, Yes." Charles nodded. "Of course I could also offer you a mental block on your instincts if you'd like as an extra precaution to be safe, if you're willing."

"I mean if I'm gonna do all that, I might as well." The blonde shrugged. "Think you can get the blonde bimbo to schedule me an appointment?"

"I'll make a call today." The man told her.

"Great." The dragoness sighed. 'At least I won't have to keep waiting.' She thought as she got up and left the office.

(The next day)

The next day everyone was at the Bayville High soccer fields where Jean was playing the last team they had to play to get to the finals. Everyone was cheering her on, except for Gavin who was currently asleep in the bleachers next to Rogue, his head laying on her shoulder.

"Why did Gavin come if he was just going to fall asleep?" Kurt couldn't help but ask.

"Tell me about it." The southern girl replied with a shrug.

"Hey man, cut him some slack. The guy's been run ragged ever since he had to do those training sessions with Chels." Evan defended the boy, he knew this because he would be called in to help on occasion.

Everyone couldn't help but shudder. They knew how into it the blonde dragoness could get, so they were definitely able to sympathize with the pseudo vampire.

Speaking of the dragoness, she had just gotten back from the concession stands with a couple of drinks in both hands, apparently the staff at Bayville High were selling beer to those over twenty one. The woman sat next to Logan, who had also decided to come to the game, and handed him a solo cup of beer.

"Achoo!" Chelsea sneezed as she wiped her nose.

"You okay?" Logan asked as he took a sip of his beer.

"Yeah, must be my allergies… Either that, or someone's talking about me." She shrugged, drinking from her own cup.

Right at that moment, Jean just received the ball and she was running and weaving her way through the other team like a pro, and then with one decisive kick she scored the winning goal.

Everyone cheered as they all jumped up, this action caused Gavin to abruptly wake up and fall out of his seat onto the ground below. Though any injuries he may have suffered healed themselves in a matter of seconds. However that didn't stop his clothes from being covered in dirt.

"Okay, NOW I'm irritated." He grumbled.

Later that day, Kitty and Kurt got a ride home from Scott, while Rogue rode home with Gavin in his car, but before the two did so, however, the half Japanese boy made a quick stop at Forge's house.

As the boy got out of the car he pulled out a long cardboard tube usually used for blueprints and then looked at Rogue.

"I'll be back in a second." He told her as he went to Forge's door. Gavin knocked on the door and a few seconds later, Forge answered.

"Oh, hey Gavin. Need something built?" He asked. Forge had come a long way since he got out of the Middle Verse and got himself caught up with the times. Right now, he was doing jobs for certain people that needed a reliable way of getting things built. He was currently dressed in a jet-black shirt, a pair of blue jeans and some brown shoes.

"Yeah, I got the blue prints right here." Gavin nodded as he handed him the tube. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Depending on if I can get the necessary materials, I'd say a week or two at most." The man shrugged as he glanced over the designs before whistling. "Wow. And you want two of these things?"

"Yup. I noticed that I'm lacking in the ranged department, so I need a way of fighting from a distance. Bloodfallen can only do so much." The young horror fan explained.

"Any special engravings?" Forge questioned.

"The Devil's Ruin' and 'The Devil's Scorn'." Gavin told him. Forge wrote them down on a notepad and nodded in affirmative.

"Alright, I'll give you a call when they're done." Forge said, getting a nod from Gavin before he went back to his car.

(Elsewhere, a little Later)

At the Institute, the New Mutants were all hanging out, and Bobby had just started a conversation with the others about their first training session.

"You remember when Gavin made his first impression with us during our first training session?" Bobby asked.

"Kinda hard to forget." Jubilee nodded as they thought back to it.

-Flashback-

The New Mutants, as well as Chelsea and Logan were in the danger room about to start the New Mutants's first training exercise, which the Professor would be residing over. All the kids were standing around waiting for things to start. Chelsea then turned to her scraggly companion.

"Where are Scott and Jean? I thought they would be here already." The woman asked.

Logan shrugged before he spoke into his communication device. "Hey Chuck, where're Scott and Jean?"

"They should be here any-" Charles was saying before he was interrupted by Gavin appearing out of nowhere by coming right through the wall of the training room while in his costume.

"Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?!" The boy asked as he appeared in front of them, causing all the kids to scream, and little Jamie to faint.

"STOP SCREAMING!" The blond dragoness yelled at the still screaming children, who did as ordered… Though they did whimper a little.

Scott and Jean then entered soon after. "Sorry Professor, we tried to stop him." Scott told the man.

"But when I pleaded with him, he merely responded with and (please excuse my French) 'Fuck the police'. He then proceeded to turn every painting on his way here." Jean added.

"Oh god..." Chelsea groaned as Gavin simply started chuckling. "Now when I'm walking down the hall I'm gonna have a headache."

-Flashback End-

"Still can't believe that he was stuck in a different personality at the time." Amara shuddered. "I can't imagine what that's like."

"No kidding." Tabitha nodded. "Though let's be honest, him being basically a vampire is pretty sexy, am I right girls?" The girls all simply blushed in embarrassment.

Inside the Institute, Xavier and Logan were watching all the kids as they started playing around.

"The new generation is certainly a lively bunch, isn't it?" The headmaster asked.

"Yeah, a bit too lively if you ask me." Logan said as a huge ball of lava flew past the window and caused the yard to explode. "We're definitely gonna need some extra barriers, and maybe a few bomb shelters."

"Agreed." Came the Professor's reply.

Ororo chose that moment to walk in. "Charles, I think there's something you should take a look at." She said as she turned on a monitor.

What was shown was a news report where a car that was about to fall on a bus was deflected by a red laser.

"Scott." Charles stated, knowing exactly what the source was.

Scott and the others drove up slowly, while Gavin straight up pulled a Tokyo drift and skid into the Institute's Driveway.

Rogue slowly stumbled out of the car. "What was that about?!" She snapped.

"Sorry, I remembered that I gotta call Miss Frost and ask if she'd be willing to come back here tomorrow." The boy told her. "Professor X said he couldn't get her at her office, so I'm gonna try her cell."

'Still don't know why that happened, it's so unlike her.' The boy thought to himself.

The two looked at Scott the others. "What's up with you guys?" Rogue asked.

"Beats me." Gavin replied with a shrug.

As all of them walked inside, Xavier rolled up to them. Kitty seemed really nervous. "Oh boy…" she said.

(Later)

Gavin dialed the number of Emma Frost's cell and waited for an answer. As soon as he heard the click, he knew she answered. "Ms. Frost?" The boy asked.

"Gavin, your next appointment isn't for a good while. Why are you calling me now?" The platinum blonde asked.

"The professor said he was trying to call your office, but couldn't get you. Is there a reason for that?" Gavin asked. "He wants to set up an appointment for one of our instructors."

"What? Why?" Emma asked with a surprised voice.

"Because her PTSD is getting out of control. She's not too fond of telepaths due to past experience, but she's willing to at least give you a chance." Gavin explained.

"Alright… When would you like to schedule the appointment?" Emma asked.

"Hang on." The boy said before he went to the Rec Room where Chelsea was sitting and watching TV. "Hey Chels, when do you want your appointment with Ms. Frost to be?"

"Well I don't have anything planned on Thursday." The woman called back.

"Thanks." He replied before turning his attention back to his phone. "Is Thursday fine?" He asked Emma.

"Let me check… Hmmm, I do have an appointment with my partner Mr. Shaw that day, but I'm sure I can reschedule… How does six thirty sound?" The blonde asked.

"A.M. or P.M.?" Gavin asked, wanting specifics.

"Well if I still want to meet with Shaw… It would have to be A.M." Emma told him.

"Alright. I'll let her know." Gavin replied. He was about to hang up when Emma spoke up once more.

"Wait, you never gave me the name of the one who needs my help." She stated.

"Oh, her name is Chelsea Marks. I think you may or may not have spoken with her briefly when my seals were failing." The pseudo vampire replied.

"Oh yes, I remember her." The psychiatrist nodded.

"Great. Hey Chels, is Six thirty A.M. okay?" Gavin called to the dragoness as he covered the mouth piece of his phone.

"Yeah, it should be fine." Chelsea called back.

"Alright." Gavin nodded. "She said it's fine." He told Frost.

"Alright. I'll be there tomorrow." Frost told him as they hung up.

Gavin sighed as he was finally done. Walking over to the couch and slid down on it in his usual upside down position. "So, whatcha watching?" Gavin asked casually.

(The next day)

In the Bayville High gym, everyone was waiting for the assembly to start. And Rogue was walking in when she saw a new girl sitting on the bleachers.

"Hey, you go here right?" The girl asked in a British accent. She seemed to be of Japanese descent like Gavin, and had her hair dyed purple.

"Yeah, I'm Rogue, what's your name?" Rogue asked.

"I'm Ristie." She introduced herself.

Gavin, meanwhile, entered and saw Rogue sitting with Ristie. Not wanting to impede on his southern friend's progress with making new friends, he went over and sat next to Kurt and the others. Everyone kept staring at him though, ever since Asteroid M he had actually started to let his hair grow out. He didn't know why, but he suddenly found himself liking the idea of having long hair.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" He wondered aloud to Kurt. 'It's honestly creeping me out, which never happens.'

"Vey probably just aren't used to za vay you look yet." Kurt shrugged.

Gavin shrugged as the school's new principal, Edward Kelly, took the stage. Immediately the boy felt sick to his stomach when he saw the man. 'I don't know why, but for some reason I really don't like the look of this guy.' He thought to himself.

As the new principal began speaking, Lance decided to try and go flirt with Kitty. After Mystique's disappearance and Devin's subsequent departure back to Japan, the Brotherhood just seemed to be feeling like life was mundane, lacking focus. So the group's de facto leader decided to focus on the one thing he actually cared about sticking around for: Kitty Pryde.

"Hey, Kitty." The boy said sheepishly.

"What do you want, Lance?" The ghost-themed girl grumbled.

"Just wanted to show you something, watch." He said before he clenched his fist and started to make tremors.

Everyone started panicking at the sudden 'earthquake' as everyone who wasn't sitting down already tried to keep their footing.

The boy stopped and then smirked. "Hey Kitty, wanna see some real shaking?" He grinned as he then started even more shaking, only this time worse. Up on the ceiling, the cable holding the scoreboard started to fall apart before it finally snapped and the large game board fell with the new principal right underneath it. Acting fast, Jean discreetly used her powers to divert it away from him.

Gavin slowly got back into his seat after being wedged into the spaces in between the bleachers and glared down at Lance, his fangs nearly drawing blood as he bit the inside of his mouth.

'One of these days, Lance. ONE of these days, I'm gonna kill you!' The angry vampire themed mutant thought as he glared daggers at the tremor generating boy.

'You will not!' Jean thought up at him as she glared at him.

'Shut up, Jean!' Gavin thought back. 'And stay out of my head!' He added while slamming a large mental barrier in her face. Jean recoiled slightly in surprise from the sudden mental block. She looked at Gavin suspiciously before turning her attention back to the new principal.

(Elsewhere, later that day)

Lance and the other Brotherhood were at their place and the boy was fuming. "First that asshole Devin leaves us because he thinks he has better things to do, and now the X-men think they're better than us." Lance growled.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Pietro asked.

"I say we go public with our powers." Lance told him.

"But Mystique said-" Toad tried to protest.

"Forget Mystique! She's gone, and so is Magneto! I say we take our new principal's words into consideration." The living quake generator said with a smirk.

(That Thursday)

Emma Frost arrived at the Institute and at designated time and knocked on the door, a few seconds later the door was answered by Chelsea.

"Hello Miss Marks, I didn't expect to see you. Are you ready to get started?" The platinum blonde asked her.

"I'm a little skittish about this, but I don't have much of a choice right now. And just to warn you in advance, you won't like what you find in my head." The dragoness said before issuing a forewarning.

"Sweetheart, I'm the therapist to some of the most mentally damaged mutants on the planet. I think I can handle you." The woman told her.

"... Alright. Come on, we can get this done in my room." Chelsea sighed before gesturing for Emma to follow her. As they entered the two women sat down.

"Now, I'll be erasing around half of your memories of HYDRA, or at least attempting to. I'll also be removing or at least altering any programming they may have implanted, and suppressing the rest that can't be erased so deep into your mind, they will merge with your feral instincts." Emma explained.

"Got it." The silently distressed dragoness replied as she laid down on her bed. "Okay, go ahead." Chelsea told the platinum blonde telepath.

Emma put her hands on Chelsea's head as she dove into her mind, finding every memory she could about HYDRA and then started erasing them. One after another, they all started disappearing. Once about half were gone, all that was left was relatively minor ones, the few good, and the ones that completely resonated with her primal instincts. Then she sifted through her head for any programming, finding two: 'You are not a person, you are a thing, a weapon. You are to obey and die for HYDRA' and 'Your only function is to breed. You will find a mate and for the rest of your life, you will breed and never stop.'

Finding both programs (understandably) repulsive, the blonde discarded the first one and then decided to alter the last one: 'You have a natural need to breed, but you will only do so when you find someone who is willing to help you. You are the only who can choose who to be with, no one else. You have your own will, you are your own woman. Embrace that.'

Feeling satisfied with her work, she pulled out of Chelsea's mind. As she waited for the blonde on the bed to wake up, Emma went over what she found in her head. She knew that it was going to be bad, but a part of her wasn't expecting it to be to this extent!

'If Gavin ever finds out what she went through, he will be out for blood.' She thought, knowing that he would hunt down HYDRA to the ends of the Earth because: A. They hurt his older sister figure. B. They were still a group created by the Nazis back in the day. And C. He was not one to let go of a grudge.

"How do you feel, Miss Marks?" The telepath dragoness slowly came to before she slowly started getting a grin on her face.

"I… Feel… I feel great!" The woman said she could feel the stress from all those memories slowly start to melt away. "I mean shit, I wasn't all that sure about all this, but now? I kinda wish I went to you sooner." But then she felt something come into her mind.

"Wait… Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing something. Is that because of the memory wipe?" She asked Emma.

"Most likely, the fragmentation should disappear after a couple days, so in the meantime I suggest relaxing to allow your brain to catch up." The telepath told her. "Also." She then handed her a slip of paper. "Here's a prescription for hormone managing medication, that way you don't try and throw yourself at the guy you like on the first date."

"Shut up, Frost!" Chelsea squaked in embarrassment, causing Emma to chuckle a bit.

(Friday night a week later)

Everyone was at the game that night and was waiting for it to get started. But as Principal Kelly started giving a pre game speech, he was interrupted by a wave of tremors. Gavin was absent during this event.

"Oh not again!" Scott said as he and the others tried to keep their footing. That was when they saw the Brotherhood standing atop the scoreboard.

"Students and nimrods of Bayville High, my name is Lance Alvers, but you can call me Avalanche, and I am a mutant!" Lance said into the microphone that Toad swiped for him.

Everyone looked at him in shock, all non X-men bystanders not understanding what was going on. What was he talking about? They wondered.

"And I'm not the only one, Scott Summers, he's a mutant. Jean Grey, Evan Daniels, Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner. They're all mutants." Avalanche continued. "We have powers that would make you quake in your boots, and trust me, I mean it!" He added as he started causing more tremors.

"Cat's out of the bag, Professor." Scott said as he got up.

"So it would seem." The man nodded.

As everything started shaking, everything stopped when music started to play and Lance looked up seeing Gavin standing at the top of a news van in his costume as 'Better get ready to die' started to play.

The pseudo vampire reached into his coat and then his hands pulled out two huge pistols and twirled them before pointing them at the Brotherhood. The guns themselves were in a sidearm style and were black in color with silver and red accents and a cryptech pattern at the back of the slide and had a second silver barrel fused to the bottom of the primary barrel. Lastly they had the names 'Devil's Ruin' and 'Devil's Scorn' on the barrels of the gun in his left and right hand respectively.

"Well well well, I leave for a few minutes and the Brotherhood decides to run around like a headless chicken, if this little performance is anything to go by." Gavin mused with a chuckle.

"Since when did he have guns?!" Toad croaked as he jumped back.

"I dunno, but facing him feels like a bad idea now." Blob said nervously.

"Pfft, I can outrun bullets no problem." Quicksilver scoffed dismissively. Gavin just smirked as he jumped down and then started firing. Luckily for the Brotherhood, he specifically had Forge make the guns shoot energy bullets that could either be lethal or just set to stun.

Blob decided to get in between the team and the bullets and roared in pain as the gun's rounds started to bring him down. After taking ten more stun shots, he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Gavin unloaded the mags and then loaded another two and slammed the two guns together to lock them into place. "Alright dirt bags, give up?" He asked.

"Never!" Lance shouted in defiance.

"Have it your way." He shrugged as he engaged his guns' second function: their laser function.

Gavin held down the triggers and let the laser charge up to 100% before he released them, letting the lasers shoot out. One of them hit Lance and it was discovered that they were so fast that Pietro actually got hit by one of the beams. Toad was the only one left standing, but he didn't seem interested in trying anything if him cowering in fear was anything to go by.

Gavin held the smoking barrels to his nose as he breathed in the fumes. "OH! I am very turned on right now." He grinned as he holstered his guns. Which was around the time Lance started to get back up.

"You think you've won?! You think this is over?!" He asked as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Gavin simply drew his sword as the rest of the Brotherhood got up. "Not really, however… Guys? A little assistance please? I'm out of ammo here!" He called.

The rest of the X-Men rushed to his side in their costumes, ready to fight. They were legitimately surprised that Gavin had a pair of guns now, even more so that they had a stun mode on them.

"And before you ask: Yes they don't use real bullets. Honestly, whaddya take me for? A killer?" Gavin asked rhetorically as both groups faced off.

"At least you put a large amount of forethought into their design." Jean pitched in.

"Alright, let's deal with these guys!" Even exclaimed as he charged at the Brotherhood, the rest of the X-Men following suit.

The fight ensued and everyone kept trying to make sure that no one got hurt, and right around this time, Chelsea, Logan and Emma (who had come to do a weekly check up with the Dragoness) arrived at the scene.

"Professor Xavier, what's happening?" Emma questioned the man as Blob hurled the Bayville hawk statue at Jean and Scott.

"Lance has announced that mutants exist live on camera. We have a lot of damage control to do." The Professor explained.

"No need to worry about the camera. I just finished messing it up and destroyed the footage." Kitty said as she ran up to them.

"As for everyone's memories, I will assist you." Emma told him.

'Me too.' Jean added as she kicked Toad into the bleachers.

As soon as the fight was over, the Brotherhood left, and now it was time to do damage control. The three telepaths then started crowd control as Xavier and Jean started erasing memories while Emma did altering.

Everyone's minds all started to change, but as soon as it reached Kelly, Xavier gave out, leaving it to Jean and Emma. They tried to alter his memories, but they were kept out by mental blocks that were too strong to be a normal human's, though they were able to at least make slight alterations.

After this everyone left, all feeling drained after what just occurred. Except for Gavin who stayed behind and cornered Kelly in an alley and sunk his fangs into the man before he could react.

As he drained him, he immediately syphoned the memories of what happened out of his mind and left the man leaning against the school dumpster, unconscious.

"Sorry Principal Kelly, it's nothing personal, just gotta keep things under wraps." The boy said as he left while pulling the brim of his hat down, coat flapping in the wind.

(Elsewhere)

-New York City, Brooklyn-

Bast was standing in front of her boss at the shelter she worked at, a grave look all over her face.

"I'm sorry I have to leave so suddenly sir, but you see my-" she tried to explain.

"Abuser found you?" The man said. The woman nodded. "Say no more Fatima, I understand. Do you have a place to go?"

"Yeah… I know a place in Bayville." Bast nodded.

The man nodded as he slid a check over the table between them to her. "Here, use this." He told her.

The woman looked at the check in surprise. "Are you…. Are you sure?" She asked in shock.

"Yes." He nodded. "You've been a great help so I'm going to pay it forward. Now go, hurry."

Bast nodded. "Thank you." She said as she turned and left.