Chapter 55: Mainstream

Three weeks following the Oktoberfest celebration, everyone was currently asleep in their beds and, unknown to them, three people had snuck onto the property. Kitty had woken up to get some food in her currently empty stomach when Kurt surprised her by teleporting onto the table in front of her.

"I knew it! You drink straight from it." He said as he snatched the milk carton from her.

"I was gonna finish the whole thing." She said in a very unconvincing tone. Their argument was interrupted, however, when the remaining proximity alarms went off, indicating that there were intruders on the grounds… Which was promptly answered by poor Damian crying as his sleep was so rudely interrupted.

"Zey made Damian cry. Zey made me angry!" Kurt growled, angry that his little brother had to get woken up at this hour.

"You and me both!" Kitty growled just as angrily in agreement.

"Alright, who made my son cry?!" Came Gavin's angry question. The monitors then showed three people with spray paint cans near the wreckage of the old Institute. "Okay now I'm even more pissed off." He said as he pulled out his phone. "Johan? Get the paddy wagon, we've got some people breaking the mandate's laws, right after the last one got passed too."

"For the love of- *Sigh* On my way." The older Sever sibling replied, not sounding too pleased about his sleep being disturbed.

The three then ran out to cut the intruders off, and Gavin was able to see that they were wearing Bayville High letterman jackets with his night vision. They had spray painted racial slurs, discriminatory remarks and disrespectful drawings of the students all over the last remaining wall of the Institute that was left standing after the explosion.

"Alright, jackasses! You woke my son up and made him cry, so I'm just gonna go on a whim and say that you no longer wish to have teeth!" The pseudo vampire barked, getting their attention as he started cracking his knuckles.

"Fuck off you freak show! No one wants you or your stupid kid here, so why don't you go jump off a bridge and take him with ya?" One with a swamp thing mask on retorted. Gavin, Kurt and Kitty cracked their knuckles in response.

"You know what to do, guys!" Gavin growled. The tree then used their powers to slip behind the kids and tackled them all to the ground and ripped off their masks. "You people are just as racist as the Jim Crow supporters from back in the day, you all make me sick." He snarled, snapping his fangs.

The guys below them all tried to get free, right as the police drove up right behind Johan in his car. "Alright, let's see the… Damage." Johan said before he saw the graffiti. "... You've gotta be fucking kidding me." He facepalmed before glaring down at those responsible. "You kids do realize that discrimination based vandalism and property damage against mutants has just been made a fellony, right?" He asked them.

"So what?! They're all freaks and they should be killed!" One of them exclaimed stupidly. Johan sent the speaker a withering glare before he addressed the officers.

"Load these racist degenerates up!" He barked. The officers did so and the three kids were led into the cruisers in handcuffs. Johan then turned to Gavin. "You and Devin remember your jobs, right?"

"Yep, weed out all the discriminatory teachers and students via video and audio evidence." The boy nodded.

"Good." The man nodded back. "Now, anyone else wanting breakfast right now?" He asked as the sun slowly started to rise.

"Oh hells yes." Gavin replied as his stomach grumbled.

(Later)

As everyone was eating breakfast, Xavier had just finished telling them that Bayville High was going to be letting them go back to school today but tonight there would be a vote on whether or not there would be a permanent mutant ban. Clearly the PTA didn't care about the fact that the mandates were passed.

"I'll tell the Sever siblings about the possibility of having to put the PTA in their places." Gavin spoke up.

"Man. Even with the mandates being passed, people are still trying to shaft us." Evan commented in a bitter tone.

"They won't have much choice in the matter once the crack down starts, but I think that we should try and show them that we're still people first so that they can start learning to see us as equals out of respect instead of being forced to by law." Xavier told them.

"Yeah. If we can do that, then it'll make things a whole lot easier." Devin mused.

"And the people who refuse to learn, get weeded out." Gavin added with a clench of his fist.

"Ah just hope they learn that it'll be a bad idea to try their luck." Rogue sighed.

(Later)

The X-Men were all heading towards the school and as they started to enter, Duncan stopped Jean, starting to tell her that he was willing to overlook her 'problem' and put said problem to good use. This infuriated the redheaded telepath.

"You insufferable lughead! We are so through!" She told him, officially ending their 'relationship' before she stormed away with Scott following her.

"Looks like Scott has a clear shot at Jean now." Lance noted without any sense of awareness to who was listening, causing Rogue to let out a depressed sigh.

"Yeah, looks like it." She mumbled. Gavin noticed her reaction and frowned before quickly smacking Lance in the back of the head for his idiocy.

"Come on Rogue, let's get out of here." He told her as they walked away. Meanwhile, Laura was getting her stuff for class, when she accidentally bumped into someone. Said person was a girl who looked to be Mexican with black hair, which was in a ponytail and blue eyes, she had mocha colored skin and also was wearing a pair of white jeans with a light green top.

"Uh, sorry about that." Laura said awkwardly as she helped the girl pick up her books that she dropped.

"Don't worry. Is this your first day here?" The girl asked.

"Unfortunately, it is." The daughter of Wolverine replied with a sigh.

"Me too, I just moved here from Westminster." The girl nodded. "Hey, do you go to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters?" She asked suddenly, noticing the X-men pin on Laura's black backpack.

"... Will you hate me if I say yes?" The green eyed girl asked reluctantly.

"Oh heavens no. I have a friend who goes there. Does the name Gavin Shirakumo sound familiar at all to you?" The Mexican girl asked, causing Laura to look at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah, he's practically been like a brother to me." She nodded.

"Really?" The girl asked as Laura nodded. "Wow. Well I'm Ronni Ann Di Casa. Me and Gavin went to the Westminster Fencing Academy before he moved here."

"Really? Wow." The green eyed girl said as they started walking to class.

"I like your outfit." Ronni Ann said as she looked at what Laura was wearing. The girl was wearing a pair of yellow leggings with blue stripes, blue boots with yellow trim, a blue Lycra skirt, a yellow leather jacket Chelsea gave her with a blue X on the back, and a yellow shirt with a blue X on it. Lastly she had on a pair of blue glove/gauntlets that exposed most of her hand and looped around her middle finger, they also had two slots for her claws near her knuckles. Which showed that her nails were painted in both gold and blue.

"Oh! Thanks. I was a little standoffish about the nail polish, though." She replied as she looked at her nails.

"I think it suits you." The girl told her.

"So… How exactly do you feel about Mutants?" Laura asked nervously, not entirely sure if Ronni Ann actually liked her and was just being nice to her because she was close with Gavin.

"Honestly, I'm a little envious. The fact that people have powers others can only dream of? Makes me wish I had one myself." Ronni replied. "But other than that, I think they're awesome." She added.

"Really? Most people I've come across think we're freaks." She said as she dodged a spitball being shot at her by a student. "..: Case in point." She grumbled.

"I can tell." Gavin's old friend replied in irritation. "So, tell me, has Gavin started dating anyone? I've always thought of him like a brother too and I'm always worried that he may end up falling for the wrong girl."

"No, but he did end up having a kid." Laura told her. Her words caused the fencing girl to freeze.

"... What?" She responded dangerously, already coming up with plans for the one who used Gavin in such a way.

"Oh don't worry, the result was an absolutely darling little baby, look." The girl told her as she showed Ronni a picture of her and Damian.

"Oh my goodness, he's an adorable little blueberry!" Ronni squealed quietly in delight as she looked at the picture.

"Yep, and he's a real troublemaker too." Laura said as they walked to class.

(Elsewhere)

Scott was currently being cornered by Duncan and his cronies, and had his shades taken away by the blonde, but luckily for him, Lance was there for backup.

"Don't worry Scotty, I'll take it from here." He told his rival turned friend as he swatted the shades from Duncan and tossed them back to Scott.

"Oh, you think you're a hotshot, Alvers? You think you can take me?" The jock taunted.

"Heh, I've taken down guys way tougher than you." The boy smirked. He was then joined by Evan, Rogue, Kitty and Devin.

"Damn straight." They agreed.

Duncan looked at them before he sighed and walked away with his cronies. "This isn't over Muties." He yelled back.

As they left, Devin smirked as he held up a camera he had hidden the whole time. "Yeah, cuz you guys need to keep digging your own graves." He smirked.

"Heh. The look on his face when his life falls apart in the span of a few moments is gonna be priceless." Evan chuckled.

"Good riddance." Kitty nodded as she kissed Lance on the cheek. "You did good Lance, I'm proud of you." She told him.

"T-thanks." He replied with a stutter and a blush.

(Elsewhere)

At the trophy case, Jean was currently being absolutely insulted by Principal Kelly, who said that because of Jean being a mutant it made her a cheat and a menace. Though little did the racist idiot realize that Gavin was recording him the entire time as he stood behind the man, recorder behind his back.

'That's right, dumbass. Keep digging your grave.' Gavin thought as Kelly walked off. He then followed the man and waved at Duncan as he walked into his office and started recording their conversation. After a few minutes he made sure to record the last part.

"And when you and the Brotherhood deal with Mr. Summers, make sure you deal with him, permanently." The man told Duncan.

"You got it." The idiotic jock replied.

The pseudo vampire's eyes widened as he backed away. "... I gotta warn the others!" He said as he ran away back to his class with the others. He immediately whipped his phone out and dialed Johan's number. "Johan, we have a serious life and death problem!" He said to his friend.

(Later that night)

Later that night in the school auditorium, everyone was waiting for the PTA meeting to start for the Mutant ban vote. Though as soon as Kelly called Jean to the podium and the redhead spent several minutes giving a truly moving speech about how anyone's child could be a mutant. Everyone heard Gavin's voice at the other side of the closed double doors.

"Whaddya mean you forgot the song? Fine you know what, just take my player and hit random. No just-just hit random!" He said before he and Johan kicked open the door with Katerina close behind. That's when Bitch by Meredith Brooks started playing as the pseudo vampire walked in dressed in his usual costume, while everyone looked at them oddly.

"Turn it off, turn it off." He said as Johan made the song stop. "It didn't work. It did not work." He added with a sigh as he took his shades off.

"I tried to warn you." Katerina shrugged.

"Sorry for the interruption everyone but we were sent here by our superiors at SHIELD to address this school's clear disregard for the Mutant Equal Rights Act." Johan said to the crowd before glaring at Kelly. "As well as a suspected plot to commit murder against a mutant student." He added. His words caused whispers of concern to erupt in the crowd.

"You have no business being here! Leave now!" Kelly yelled, right as a car was sent flying across the parking lot outside.

"I don't think we'll be leaving just yet." Johan growled with narrowed eyes. The X-Men quickly ran outside and pretty soon they all saw it, Duncan had joined forces with the Brotherhood.

Kurt let out a sigh as he turned off his image inducer. "Guess vere's no sense in hiding now, people vill know I'm the fuzzy one by seeing my powers anyvay." With that, he went and engaged Toad.

Everyone started trying to either avoid or help keep people out of harm's way while not using their powers, something Xavier quickly pointed out to Kelly.

"Do you see now, Principal? My students are showing that they are capable of showing restraint and not using their powers." He told the man as Gavin caught a punch that Blob tried to throw at one of his classmates, Terran and Ronni Ann. "Rather they use their own natural skill."

"Hey Ronni Ann, when'd you get here?" Gavin asked his old fencing partner casually as he forced Blob's fist down with little effort.

"Just today. One of my parents got a job here, so we ended up moving." The girl replied with a shrug.

"Really? Huh." The boy said as he pushed the mountain of lard back. "So, you believe me now about being a vampire or what?"

"Yep." Ronni Ann replied with a nod. "I also met Laura today. I wanna nuzzle your son, now." She added, mentally squealing at the thought.

"I'll be sure to let you meet him." Gavin told her as he pulled out his guns and pointed them at Blob. "Get ready to drop, Blobby." He grinned as he started firing.

Scott was currently trying to direct the X-Men in using their powers to keep the people safe as Kitty saved a few by turning them intangible, Evan creating a protective wall of spikes, Kurt on teleportation duty, and even Lance was chipping in by making the ground roll and get everyone out of the way of several flying cars.

But just as things were going their way, Duncan slowly pulled something out of his letterman jacket. It was a nine millimeter Beretta pistol, as he took it out he took aim at both Scott and Jean with glee on his face.

"Two Mutants with one bullet. So long, Summers. Sayonara bitch." He said as he pulled the trigger. Chelsea, who had been trying to stay clear of everything for obvious reasons, heard the gunshot and saw the bullet heading straight for both Scott and Jean.

"SCOTT, JEAN, LOOK OUT!" She yelled. Scott turned and quickly pushed Jean out of the way, and was then hit in the chest with the bullet, in the right side of his chest just barely past his right lung. Scott let out a pained scream that caught the attention of the others.

"SCOTT!" Jean yelled in alarm as she rushed to his side. Rogue also ran to his side as well, taking his left hand while Jean took his right and Lance started applying pressure to the wound.

"Heh. One down, one to-" He started before Johan tackled him to the ground and knocked the gun out of his hands. The jock tried to get up, but the older man punched him in the face before he grabbed his hands and put cuffs on them.

"You're officially under arrest for attempted murder, you damn degenerate!" He growled. He then hoisted the fool to his feet and dragged him to a police cruiser that had just arrived.

"Hey you can't take him, he's our star player!" A boy snapped.

"Yeah, who cares if he shot Summers? He's a mutant, he isn't worth anything!" Terran added.

"Sis, get these idiots out of my sight! Scare 'em if you have to!" Johan barked at his sister. Katerina did so and even used her powers to scare some of them off.

Everyone else rushed over to Scott as the Paramedics got there, and the entire time, both Rogue and Jean never left his side.

"Oh Scott… please be okay." Jean pleaded as the ambulance drove them away.

"Ah'm so sorry Scott… Ah'm sorry, Ah should have helped you." Rogue cried as she and Jean tried to comfort each other.

(Elsewhere)

Edward Kelly cursed as he stormed into his office and flipped his desk over as he yelled in frustration. Ruined, it was all ruined! His plan to make the school ban Mutants from schools, his plan to get rid of the X-Men, his plan to use the momentum of the movement to become a member of congress to put all Mutants in cages and get rid of them. It was all ruined!

Suddenly, his door was kicked in and the Sever siblings walked in with steel looks on their faces.

"Edward Kelly, you're under arrest for orchestrating a plot to commit murder against a mutant out of discriminatory hate. Hands in the air." The older sibling ordered.

"That's a lofty accusation. Where's your proof, Mutant lover?" He snapped. Johan responded by whipping out a tape recorder Gavin gave him and pressed the play button. Kelly's conversation with Duncan from earlier in the day was played and it caused the principal to go pale.

"Do I really need to say anything?" The SHIELD agent asked rhetorically.

"Y-y-you can't do this to me! Mutants have no place in my school!" He yelled defiantly.

"Too bad for you. It's either come peacefully or things get violent." Katerina warned.

"And should you choose to resist, I'd be happy to let you leave here with a few broken bones." Johan told him, cracking his knuckles.

"I refuse to let you do this to me!" The man yelled in rage and, stupidly, charged at them. The siblings promptly clotheslined him to the floor before they pulled his hands behind his backs and cuffed him.

"No racism allowed, fuckstick. Let's go." Johan said gruffly as his sister hoisted him up and then proceeded to lead him to their cruiser.

Looks like a new principal was needed… again.

(Later)

The next day Scott was in recovery after being in intensive care for over ten hours. Luckily for him though, Dr. Sampson Marks had been in town to help Bast with applying to SHIELD and was able to operate on him. And true to his reputation, the man managed to save Scott in the nick of time.

"I cannot thank you enough, Dr. Marks. I am truly in your debt, if something were to happen to Scott… I would have never forgiven myself." Xavier said to the man as they shook hands.

"My pleasure, Charles. I just hope the other hospitals across the nation will learn to treat their mutant patients with the care they deserve." The man sighed. He then turned to Chelsea and smiled as he surprised her with a hug. "I'm so proud of you, Chelsea. I'm sure you will be a wonderful mother one day." He told her as he looked his daughter over before turning to Logan and Laura. "Take care of her for me, alright? I don't want to lose her again." He told them.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of her." Logan nodded.

"If she'll let us." Laura joked with a mirthful smirk, causing them to laugh.

With Scott, he had woken up about an hour ago from the surgery after being asleep for five hours and the first thing he was met with was the pain of his gunshot wound and the caring and relieved smiles of Jean and Rogue.

"How long was I out?" He asked with slight pain.

"Fifteen hours." Jean told him.

"We were all worried sick about you the whole time." Rogue added as she gripped his hand tightly, as did Jean.

"Heh, thanks girls… Oh, hey, Rogue?" The shaded boy asked the southern belle.

"Yeah?" She responded.

"I know we're not as-Urg-close as you and Gavin are, but, I just wanted you to know that… I'm really glad that you decided to join us back then." He told her sincerely.

"Ah'm glad Ah joined back then, too." She replied with a sincere smile as she gave his hand a squeeze. Off to the side, Gavin let out a low growl and hiss before he crushed a can in his hand and stormed off while throwing it in the trash.

"Well, all this aside, I do have some good news." Johan told everyone who was present.

"What's up?" The red headed telepath asked.

"Everyone at Bayville high voted to let Mutants continue coming to school. It seems that after you guys saved everyone and they saw just how poorly people were acting, it made them start to change their tone." He told them.

"Hopefully that can happen with everyone else." Katerina noted.

"Let's hope. What happened to Duncan?" Evan asked.

"He's sitting in a jail cell. Same with Kelly since he orchestrated the whole thing. Bayville High's gonna need a new principal." The older Sever sibling replied.

"A non-racist one, I hope?" Scott asked.

"Oh yeah. Big time." The eldritch woman nodded.

"In fact, Director Fury hand picked a candidate straight from SHIELD who will do everything he can to enforce the Mutant Equal Rights Act." Johan told them. "He's a guy I know pretty well. His name is Phil Coulson."

"Sounds like the guy we need in charge." Jean commented.

"He is. And when he's in charge, it'll make cracking down on the racism so much easier." The younger Sever sibling nodded.

"Good." Chelsea nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was outside of the hospital and was walking down an alley before he stopped right in the middle of it and let out an angered yell as he punched a wall, causing it to crack and form a hole.

"Dammit! Why can't she see it?!" He asked no one in particular in frustration. "Why can't she see that I want her to look at me the way she looks at him?" He said as he fell to his knees and started slamming his head and fist against the wall. "Why?... Why can't you see it, Rogue?" He whispered as tears started to run down his face. "Why can't you see that I love you?" He said before he started to cry again.

Cracks have started to form in his heart, so how much longer until he breaks?

Dragon Emperor0: Well, things certainly took a few unexpected turns this chapter, didn't they?

ThermalsniperN7: That they have. And now Duncan and Kelly are in jail for their stupidity. On top of that, Gavin's exterior is cracking.

Dragon Emperor0: I guess bottling all his feelings for Rogue for so long to help her try and win Scott over (although the epitome of selflessness and great show of how much he loves her- as the saying goes: if you love something, set it free-) came back to bite him in the end as Scott completely ignores Rogue's romantic feelings and continues to friend zone her. And to add insult to injury, Rogue has no idea he loves her.

ThermalsniperN7: Which means when it all breaks free, it's gonna be really ugly. Let's hope it all works out, somehow.

Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. On the bright side though, looks like Laura made a new friend. Sure it'll take her a while to adjust to school life with humans since she's so used to the easy to adapt to the environment of the Institute, but I think Ronni Ann may be able to help her.

ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. She really lucked out there when they met. Having one of Gavin's old friends around should serve as a confidence booster for Laura.

Dragon Emperor0: No kidding. Anyway guys, see you guys next time! And tell us what you thought of Laura's new design.