Skateboarding. That's what Evan really wants to do right now. So obsessed was he that he placed four tacks in his eraser and moved it along his desk in a bored manner to keep himself from falling asleep.
"Chemistry is the study of matter and the change matter undergoes." Mr. McCoy said to his students. "To illustrate, turn to page 40."
Smiling as he got an idea, Evan pushed the eraser over a ruler that he positioned like a ramp, making it hit Kurt's shoulder.
"Pay attention." Kurt whispered not amused. "This is interesting."
"Yeah, riveting." Evan replied sarcastically as he put his head down.
McCoy continued his lecture. "Now there are stable molecules, such as water, and then there are your unstable molecules, like potassium metal."
"Yo, Daniels!" A voice said in the distance. Evan looked out the window behind him to see that his friends were waiting outside with their skateboards. Evan looked over at McCoy, who was still speaking to the class.
"Unstable molecules have weak bonds and break up easily." He explained as he gave a demonstration. "Kind of like the defensive line on our football team." He joked, getting some laughs from the class.
"Yo, teach." Evan raised his hand. "Can I have the bathroom pass?"
"Don't get lost." McCoy tossed it to him. "The best part is yet to come." After Evan left, McCoy put on some safety goggles. "Okay, let's see some fireworks." He fired up the bunsen burner and dropped in a cube of potassium metal. The reaction was quite spectacular as fire came out, getting many ahs and oohs from the students.
"Intense, huh?" McCoy said. "You should see it in the dark." He was about to close the blinds when he saw Evan join his friends.
"Hey, what's going on, boys?" Evan greeted.
"Come on, man." One of his friends said. "Let's roll."
Evan was about to follow them when he looked back up to see Mr. McCoy staring at him from the window. Evan could only give a guilty stare before skating off with the others.
Closing the blinds, McCoy decided to get back to his class.
"So, where were we?" Just then, a sudden pain shot through his body as his arm accidentally knocked over a set of vials and test tubes.
The students all muttered in concern as they saw their teacher put his hand to his chest. Danny thought that he was having a heart attack or a stroke, so he went up to his teacher.
"Mr. McCoy, are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine." The teacher forced out. "Go ahead and read chapter four." He stumbled out the door. "I'll be back in a while."
Making his way to the bathroom, he went over to the sink and splashed some water on his face. "For in the sleep of death." He quoted from Macbeth. "What dreams may come." He cried out in pain as he leaned against the bathroom stall.
"When we have shuffled off this mortal coil." He fell to his knees as sweat poured down his forehead. "Must give us pause. There's the respect that makes calamity of so long life. Ahh!" Finally, not able to hold it in anymore, he gripped one of the sinks and ripped it off with his bare hands.
The bell rang as students were heading to their next class when Taryn noticed their school principal taping off the boy's bathroom. Only thing was that the door was gone, and from what Taryn could see, the interior was smashed as well.
"Mr. Kelly, who did this?" She asked, wondering if this was an act of vandalism, and if it was, whoever did it seemed to go the extra mile.
"I don't know yet, Taryn." Kelly replied. "But I intend to find out."
"It looks pretty trashed in there." She observed. "He must have been very strong."
"Yes." Kelly concurred. "Or very angry."
As Kelly was still pondering the mystery of the trashed bathroom, Danny, Kitty, and Kurt walked past them as Kurt filled Kitty in on what happened in class.
"McCoy?" She said incredulously. "Are you crazy? He wouldn't do anything like that."
Danny agreed; he didn't think McCoy did this on purpose, as Kurt thought. "Yeah, Kurt, he was probably going through something. Maybe he has some medical condition."
"But you saw what he was like in chemistry." Kurt argued. "He was totally losing it. And no one has seen him around since."
"Kurt, he's the coolest teacher we got around here and the nicest." Kitty reminded him.
"Other than Mr. Lee, of course." Danny added before he saw said teacher walk past them. "Yo, Mr. Lee!"
"Danny." Mr. Lee greeted. "What's up?" The two shared a fist bump. "Excelsior!" The kind man exclaimed before continuing on his way.
"I wish Ms. Hawkins would be like that." Kitty complained as she gestured to her classroom. "Massive geometry test on Friday, and I am so not ready." Kitty then bid them goodbye as she went inside the classroom.
Kurt glanced at the destroyed bathroom before giving an anxious look to Danny.
"You don't think-"
"Kurt." Danny said. "Mr. McCoy is a cool guy. So, I'm gonna let that weird incident in class slide because he's awesome. I actually learn in that class, Kurt." He gestured to himself. "Me, of all people. That's how good of a teacher he is."
"Alright." Kurt acquiesced before heading to class.
Danny gave one more look at the bathroom before following his friend.
At least he hoped that Mr. McCoy didn't actually do that.
It was afternoon, and Evan and his friends were skating around the park when he heard a familiar voice.
"Show his eyes, and grieve his heart."
Looking to his right, he saw that it was coming from the amphitheater. Curious, he went past the close sign to find Mr. McCoy on stage, muttering to himself.
"Come like shadows, so depart." He mumbled. "If that which he avouches does appear, there is no flying, hence, nor tarrying here."
"Mr. McCoy?" Evan said, getting his teacher's attention.
Mr. McCoy turned to Evan, but he didn't say anything as he kept on quoting the monologue.
"If thou speak'st false upon thy next tree, shalt thou hang alive. Till famine cling thee." The teacher got closer to Evan, who backed away, thinking that he was mad about earlier.
"If this is about cutting class, I'm sorry." Evan apologized. "Seriously, teach. I'm not trying to play you. You got my attention now."
McCoy growled as he lunged at the boy, his hands impacting the wall behind him and making large indents.
"Mr. McCoy?" Evan said fearfully as he fell to the ground. "It's me, Evan."
The man breathed heavily for a few moments before the animalistic look on his face was replaced with one of regret.
"I'm sorry." McCoy said sincerely. "I didn't mean to scare you; I was just..." He put his head against the wall to get his mind together.
"Yo, Daniels." One of Evan's friends said as they stood at the entrance to the amphitheater. "What's the holdup?"
"I'll be right there." Evan told them before giving his attention back to Mr. McCoy. "You gonna be okay?"
"Yes." He answered. "I'll..." He stopped briefly, as if he had forgotten where he was or who he was. "I'll see you tomorrow, Evan." He finished as Evan decided that the teach needed some time to himself.
Getting back on his skateboard, he went to rejoin his friends, but not before giving one more look of concern to his teacher.
It was now evening as Evan came home. As he got to the edge of the stairs, he noticed a package for Kitty. Grabbing it, he brought it inside before heading down to the Danger Room for today's training session.
Unknown to him, the training session had already begun with the other X-Men running through a simulation of some barren wasteland that was surrounded by several spiky mountains.
They stopped and spotted the exit point they needed to reach to complete the exercise when a swarm of metal orbs came down from above. Cyclops, using his optic blast, and Danny and Rogue, who used their ghost rays, fought off the spheres while Jean kept a small telekinetic shield over her for protection. Shadowcat allowed one to phase through her as Nightcrawler teleported to the lift that was supposed to take them out of here.
"Come on!" Nightcrawler urged everyone as Shadowcat and Jean got on the lift as well. We're running out of time!"
"Come on!" Shadowcat cried to the others.
"It's all or none!" Jean joined in.
The remaining three got on just in time as Nightcrawler threw the switch.
"Yes!" They all cried out in victory. Even though they were down a member, they managed to complete the exercise.
"Nice job, team." Storm congratulated as the simulation ended and their surroundings went back to normal. "And, Nightcrawler, good restraint on not throwing that lever until everyone was there. Impressive teamwork today." She narrowed her eyes. "I only wish all of you were here."
On cue, Spyke skateboarded in, only to notice everyone staring at him.
"Uh, am I late?" He asked innocently.
"No." Danny said sarcastically. "We're just staring at you for the hell of it."
"You part of the team or what?" Cyclops asked as they all walked past him.
"Sorry." Spyke apologized. "I was caught up with stuff. And I forgot my watch. And-"
"You're making a habit out of this, Evan." Storm told him. "Nobody can count on you anymore." She then left, leaving the young mutant feeling guilty.
While Evan headed back up to his room, the X-Men were relaxing in the foyer when Kitty noticed the package for her.
"Cool." She ripped it open and shoved aside the packaging peanuts to pull out a blue pyramid-like object. "It's here." She then placed it on her head and turned to the others. "Okay, so be honest. Do you like it?"
"Uh, very unique." Scott said diplomatically.
"What are you wearing?" Rogue asked bluntly.
"Well, it's supposed to stimulate brainpower." Kitty explained.
"Oh, I gotcha." Scott said understandingly. "Still stressing on that geometry test, huh?"
Rogue snorted. "You ordered that from the back of a comic book, didn't you?"
"No." Kitty answered defensively before looking down shyly. "Okay, yes. But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. Oh, I think I feel my head tingling."
"That's most likely your brain telling you that you've been scammed." Danny said, getting the others to laugh.
The next morning, Evan was making his way to class when he ran into Mr. McCoy. The young boy had a nervous expression on his face, thinking that he was gonna get it, but Mr. McCoy just smiled.
"Hey." He greeted. "Just the guy I was looking for." He placed a hand on Evan's shoulder.
"I'll be in class today." Evan said quickly, not wanting to get into even more trouble. "I promise."
"It's not that." McCoy replied, making Evan feel relieved. "I just want to apologize about what happened at the amphitheater."
Evan raised an eyebrow. "You do?"
"You caught me at a bad time." McCoy said, feeling embarrassed. "I like to go there to kind of get my head together. I suppose I got a little entranced by the whole Shakespeare thing."
"Hey, it's cool." Evan said, glad that he wasn't getting yelled at by one of the few decent teachers at this school. "I understand."
"I know you do, Evan." McCoy responded. "You're a bright kid, and you have a lot of potential. More than you know." He led him over to the school's trophy case and pointed to a picture. "You see there?"
The spiky mutant saw that it displayed a younger McCoy playing football.
"You played here at Bayville?" He asked interestedly.
"Three years." McCoy answered proudly. "Would've been four, but I just goofed off as a freshman. It wasn't until I became part of a real team that I truly realized my potential. Pick your friends wisely, Evan." He advised. "They shape us in many ways." He then pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to his student. "Oh, and about skipping class, memorize this little Shakespeare passage, and we'll forget it. Fair enough?"
Evan nodded.
"Great." McCoy then went to the doors that led to the school's gymnasium. "Now you better get to class."
Evan, deciding not to let Mr. McCoy down, headed to class, while Mr. McCoy started coaching the girls as they played roller hockey.
"Pass it!" One girl cried.
"Come on, people." McCoy encouraged. "Let's turn it up a notch and have some fun."
He saw Jean use her hockey stick to block the puck from entering the goal.
"That's it, Grey." McCoy praised. "Use your stick."
On the bleachers, Danny and Rogue were watching when the black-haired boy let out a chuckle at what McCoy said.
"Real mature, Danny." Rogue said as she rolled her eyes.
Danny smiled. "Don't act so high and mighty, Rogue. I saw a smile tugging at your lips."
His girlfriend looked away as she crossed her arms. "Okay, maybe I thought it was a little funny. Only a little."
As the couple was bantering, McCoy was cheering on the girls.
"Look for your teammates. Go! Go! Go! Go!" Another surge of pain shot through McCoy as he held one of his arms back. "No." McCoy muttered. "Not now." He turned around and gripped his head, not knowing that Sandy had lost control and was heading towards him.
"Catch me, coach." She told him. "I can't stop."
McCoy turned around and caught Sandy as she looked fearfully at his angry face.
"Hey teach." Danny came up between them. "Nice catch. I bet you didn't see that one coming." He joked, hoping to snap McCoy back to his senses. It worked as he let go of Sandy and turned away, feeling guilty.
"Gee, Mr. McCoy looked really mad." Sandy said as Jean came up to her.
"Nah." Jean assured her. "You just surprised him." She then brought her teammate back into the game.
"Are you feeling all right?" Danny asked.
"Yes." McCoy gasped, feeling tired. "I'm fine. I..." He rubbed his eyes. "I guess I'm a little jumpy."
Danny and Jean shared a look of concern before Jean went back to the game and Danny sat back down on the bleachers.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Rogue asked him.
"I hope so." Danny wished. "He hasn't been acting like himself since yesterday."
The game then continued with no other incidents before all the girls headed to the locker room, leaving their skates by the walls.
"Well, that looked like fun." Danny said as he and Rogue stepped off the bleachers.
"Yeah." Rogue said enviously. "I wish I could play." But she knew that, with her powers, it would be too dangerous.
Danny then got an idea as he grabbed one of the pairs of skates and handed them to Rogue along with a helmet and a hockey stick.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I want to see how good you are." Danny answered as he got a hockey stick and got in front of one of the goals. "Or maybe you don't think you can take me."
Rogue smirked at the challenge. "Bring it on."
Later that evening, Evan was in his room trying to memorize the monologue McCoy gave him.
"Show his eyes, and grieve his heart." He recited. "Come like shadows, uh, like shadows." He stopped, as it was too hard. "Man, I'm never gonna get this."
"Hey, dude, what's up?" Danny greeted as he entered his room. "What's this?" He grabbed the paper and looked it over. "Shakespeare? You getting into drama?" He grinned at his friend. "Piece of advice: don't bring a skateboard to the audition."
"Actually, it's an assignment for Mr. McCoy." Evan corrected. "He told me to memorize this, and he would forget about me skipping class."
"Really?" Danny was surprised at how easily he got off. "Lucky you. Any other teacher would've just given you detention." Crossing his arms, he gave Evan a serious look. "So, what's up with you, Evan? You've been blowing us off for quite a bit."
"I don't know." Evan admitted. "I guess I've just been busy-"
"Goofing off?" Danny interrupted. "Skateboarding with your friends?"
Evan sighed. "Yeah."
"Look, I understand." Danny replied as he reflected on his past. "One time in school, I kept staying up all night playing video games until the morning. It was fun; don't get me wrong, but my grades suffered as a result."
He remembered how angry his parents were and how disappointed Mr. Lancer was in him. Looking down, he was filled with guilt at the memory of Mr. Lancer. Sure, he was a dick at times, but he did give Danny a chance to retake that test. And in the end, he ended up getting the man killed.
"Yeah?" Evan said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "And what did you do?"
Danny put his arm around Evan's shoulders. "Evan, there comes a time when we have to take responsibility for our own lives. We can't just ditch class forever. Eventually, we have to find out what's really important."
Evan nodded. "I get what you mean." He then waved the paper in front of Danny. "Do you think you can help me memorize this?"
Danny looked it over. "Let's see what we got."
"What you need is some brainpower." Kitty said as she entered the room wearing her pyramid hat.
"What is that?" Evan asked, giving her a weird look.
"A pyramid hat." Kitty answered proudly. "It stimulates energy in the mind."
"Along with gullibility." Danny snarked, but Kitty ignored him.
"Pretty cool, huh?" She asked Evan.
The spiky mutant shook his head. "You really believe that stuff?"
"Hey, Danny and I walk through walls; you shoot bony spikes." Kitty pointed out. "What's not to believe?" She took it off and offered it to him. "Try it."
Deciding to give one more piece of advice to Evan, Danny said, "Evan, there's also a time where you need to stop spending your money on stupid crap like that."
"Hey!" Kitty glared at him as the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Danny said as he raced downstairs to open the door and was greeted by Mr. McCoy. "Mr. McCoy, what's up?"
"Hello, Danny." McCoy said kindly. "I'm here to see Professor Xavier."
"You reached out to me when I was young." McCoy said as he stared at the fireplace in Xavier's office. "I realize now I should've listened. I can't control it anymore, professor. Not by myself. I need your help."
"Tell me, Hank." Xavier said. "What have you been feeling?"
"It's like I got an animal inside of me, a beast." McCoy explained. "And it's..." He rubbed his forehead. "It's tearing me to pieces."
"But somehow you've managed to suppress it all these years." Xavier reminded him. "How?"
"Through a serum I created." Hank revealed. "But it's not working anymore. Please." He begged. "You have to help me before somebody gets hurt."
Xavier gestured to a chair. "Have a seat."
Hank sat down as Xavier placed his hand on his head. Closing his eyes, Xavier soon found himself in Hank's mind. It was dark and foreboding, but Xavier's attention was on the growling that he could hear in the distance. He was only there for a couple of seconds when he saw something charging at him.
It walked on all fours and was covered in purple hair with large teeth and yellow eyes. It jumped at the psychic, pushing him out of Hank's mind.
Xavier gasped at the strength the beast had to push him out.
"What did you see?" Hank demanded, worried by Xavier's reaction.
"I'm sorry, Hank." Xavier apologized. "There's nothing I can do for you."
"No." Hank refused. "Don't say that. I'm too dangerous to be trusted."
"Agreed." Xavier replied. "Which means you may need to make certain sacrifices until you've got this under control."
That was out of the question for Hank. "You don't understand. Teaching is my life. I'm nothing without it."
"That mutation is a natural part of you." Xavier explained. "The only way to suppress it is with your own strength of will."
"I've tried." Hank shot back.
"But you stopped when you started depending on the serum." The wheelchair-bound mutant reminded him. "You have to reach from within. It's the only way."
"I'm..." Hank looked down to the ground, tired of all this fighting within himself. "I'm just worn out. I can't fight it anymore."
Deciding that only he could help himself, Hank left the institute and headed back to Bayville High, where he was preparing another dose of the serum in his classroom. After hours of preparation, he finally completed it. Eagerly, he took a sip, hoping that it would finally put an end to his problems.
Unfortunately, whatever he did seemed to make it worse as Hank started to scream. He could feel the serum's effect on his body. It wasn't repressing the beast this time. Instead, it was strengthening it.
His shouts of agony sounded throughout the school halls, where Principal Kelly, who was working late in his office, got up to investigate.
As Hank knocked down his equipment accidentally, he could feel himself change. Purple hair sprouted all over his body. His teeth sharpened into fangs, and his clothes were ripped off. All in all, he looked exactly like the creature Xavier saw in his mind.
He was the beast.
Hearing growling coming from the chemistry classroom, Kelly apprehensively approached the door. As he looked through the glass, he saw that the entire classroom was wrecked.
"What?" He whispered before the beast's face popped out and scared him. It opened the door and made a grab for Kelly, who managed to escape as he ran down the halls. He tried to leave through the exit doors, but they were locked. Turning around, he saw the beast gaining on him. Panicking, he saw another door next to him and dashed inside.
The beast banged on the door before punching its fist through it. As Kelly was holding the door shut while avoiding the creature's paw, he reached out and pulled the fire alarm. At the noise, the arm receded, and Kelly, looking through the bottom of the door, saw the beast's silhouette leave. Opening the door, he saw that the beast had burst through the double exit doors while leaving behind a lab coat.
Picking it up, he saw the name etched into it.
McCoy.
"Mr. McCoy?" He said in disbelief.
"A state of emergency has been declared throughout the city as reports of a wild beast continue to flood in." A news reporter stated as he stood in front of a destroyed department store. The news report then cut to another reporter who was in front of Bayville High interviewing Kelly.
"I've seen the beast with my own eyes." Kelly revealed. "I know who it is. It's Hank McCoy, a chemistry teacher here. He's gone mad."
The X-Men were all down in the computer room watching the report.
"Oh, man." Evan said, feeling concern for Mr. McCoy. "Teach."
Wolverine and Xavier were looking at a map of the city to figure out his location.
"Based on sightings and the wake of damage, it's clear he's headed north." Wolverine observed.
"Let's head him off." Xavier said to his students. "And remember, we don't want him hurt."
The X-Men all piled up in the X-Van and headed off towards Hank's last known location.
Shadowcat and Jean were in the junkyard as they looked over some large footprints they found.
"These tracks are huge." Jean noticed. "Must be his."
The two then stood back-to-back as they heard his growling when Shadowcat spotted him on a pile of cars before he hopped off.
"I'll track him!" Shadowcat said. "Call the others!" She went off after the beast.
Jean pulled out her communicator. "Wolverine, we've sighted him in the scrap yard."
"On our way." Wolverine responded.
Shadowcat was phasing through all the junk in her path before realizing that the beast was nowhere to be found.
"I've lost him." She reported over her communicator when the beast landed right behind her. Shadowcat screamed as the beast lunged at her, but thanks to her powers, only fell through her.
Roaring in anger, he tried it again, only for Jean to telekinetically throw a car at him. She tried to keep him pinned to the wall with the car, but the beast was able to lift it over his head. Chucking it away, he leaped at them, only for Jean to use her powers to push him against the wall. Wolverine then showed up as he clawed his way through the wall, appearing next to the beast.
He tackled the purple-furred creature to the ground as they wrestled across the field before Wolverine was thrown into a crane. Spyke appeared as he witnessed the duel between the two animalistic mutants.
"I'm going after him." Wolverine told the others as he saw the beast escape. "Stay together."
Jean used her communicator to warn the others. "Storm, he's still heading north."
"We'll be waiting." Storm replied.
"Where could he be going?" Shadowcat wondered.
It then hit Spyke. "To get his head together." Knowing where to go, he ran off.
"Spyke, we have to stay together." Jean said, but she was ignored as Spyke continued on his way. "Come on." She urged Shadowcat as they went to follow their teammate.
Back in the city, a police car drove by an alleyway with its lights flashing, not knowing the beast was standing in that alleyway, but the other X-Men did.
"There he is!" Rogue spotted him as she, Danny, Nightcrawler, and Storm went over there, only to find he was gone. Several bricks landed next to them, making them look up to see the beast hanging onto the building. It dropped down to attack, but Storm let out a gust of wind that pushed it back up on the roof.
"I'm on it." Nightcrawler teleported to the roof, but the beast was missing. Inspecting his surroundings, he looked over the edge to see the creature hanging onto a pipe. With a growl, it climbed up to confront the startled X-Man. He tackled him through the floor as they both fell, with Nightcrawler teleporting out of the beast's grip.
The beast plummeted to the floor, where it found itself in a warehouse full of crates. Nightcrawler teleported on top of one and went over to see that the beast had disappeared again. He then saw the other three join him.
"Where is he?" Rogue asked.
"In here somewhere." Nightcrawler answered. The four looked around for a moment before the beast popped out of the crate in front of them. As it was about to attack, it gazed at Rogue and Danny, who were both in their ghost forms.
Looking into their eyes, the beast found itself terrified as its fur stood on edge. It needed to get away. And fast. With a whine that made it sound like a scared dog, it retreated. Bursting through a wall to escape.
"He's on the move again." Storm reported to Wolverine before turning to Danny and Rogue. "But why did he run away when he saw you two?"
Rogue just shrugged, but Danny pondered it before coming up with a possible explanation.
"His animal senses must sense our supernatural powers." Danny theorized. "I guess that makes us scary to him."
"We can use that to lure him away from the city." Rogue realized.
"Guys." Spyke's voice sounded over the communicator. "I know where he's going. To the amphitheater."
"Danny and Rogue will meet you there." Storm told him as the two hybrids went off.
Spyke was now in the amphitheater as he looked around for any trace of Mr. McCoy.
"Mr. McCoy?" He called out before the beast dropped down in front of him.
"This isn't you, teach." Spyke tried to reason with him. "Don't do this. You gotta fight this thing."
As the beast was about to attack, Danny and Rogue appeared in front of it, cornering it as it whimpered in fear.
"Well, he's not angry anymore." Rogue said as they saw the beast, who was giving them a look of fear.
"Yeah, but he's still not himself." Danny replied before an idea came to him. "Evan, the monologue. Say the monologue."
Spyke nodded as he recited the words. "Show his eyes and grieve his heart. Come like shadows, so depart."
The beast then started to grip its head in pain as the words triggered something. Another presence started to fight for control as the beast started to spasm on the floor.
Spyke kept going as the other X-Men arrived. "Sleep shall neither night nor day. Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary se'nnights nine times nine. Shall he dwindle, peak and pine."
Xavier was teleported over to the beast, courtesy of Nightcrawler. He connected his mind to Hank's. 'Hank, listen to me.' Xavier pleaded telepathically. 'You're still in there. You know what's happening to you, so take control. You're stronger than the beast. Don't give up.'
"Though his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be tempest-test." Spyke finished as the beast roared one final time before it collapsed to the ground.
He opened his eyes, but not the eyes of the beast, but the ones that belonged to Hank McCoy.
"What happened?" He asked the X-Men.
"You beat the beast." Danny told him proudly.
The next morning, the X-Men, with the exception of Danny and Spyke, were at the breakfast table watching the morning news.
"After a night of terror, local teacher Hank McCoy's whereabouts remain unknown." A reporter said from the outside of Bayville High. "But until he's found, police have vowed to continue their search." It then showed a picture of Hank McCoy.
In the medical room, Hank sighed as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He still looked like the beast, though the shirt and pants made him look more civilized.
"I still look like a monster." He looked over to Xavier, Evan, and Danny, who were in the room with him.
"But you're now in the one place where that doesn't matter." Xavier said, trying to make him feel better.
"I can still feel it, though." Hank revealed. "Inside."
"And you probably always will." Xavier added.
"The worst part is, the very thing I feared most has happened." He looked at his reflection. "My teaching days are over now that I look like this."
"Not so, teach." Evan said. "The prof can outfit you with an image inducer like Kurt's."
"To look like whom?" Hank asked. "Hank McCoy?" He shook his head. "He's a wanted fugitive."
"But you can be anybody else." Danny said, trying to help.
This didn't satisfy Hank. "With a beast inside trying to claw its way out? I just can't risk it."
"What you need, Hank, are students who know your secrets." Xavier told him. "Who have secrets of their own. And who need a man of your compassion to teach them."
"Yeah, Mr. McCoy." Danny patted him on the back. "You're one of my favorite teachers. It would be awesome to have you here at the institute."
Hank smiled. "Thank you, Danny. You're a good kid." He then grinned. "Despite what all the other teachers say."
Back in the kitchen, Scott was throwing something away when he spotted Kitty's hat in the trash.
"Let me guess." Scott said. "Bad grade on the quiz?"
Kitty shook her head. "No. I aced it, which means it worked."
"More like the placebo effect worked." Danny said as he entered the room.
Kitty smirked. "You tell yourself that."
"So, why are you throwing it away then?" Scott asked.
"I looked in the mirror." Kitty responded. "Why didn't you tell me I looked so hideous?"
"You didn't look hideous." Danny said. "Though you did look stupid."
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Very funny. Anyway, I'd rather study than ruin a good hair day."
"Everyone, may I have your attention?" Xavier rolled into the room. "Please say hello to the institute's newest faculty member."
The X-Men all watched as Hank walked into the kitchen.
"Welcome, Mr. McCoy." Jean welcomed him.
"Thank you." Hank replied. "But from here on in, I'm not just Mr. McCoy. You can call me Beast."
"So just Beast, or do you prefer Mr. Beast?" Danny joked.
Beast smiled. "Please, Mr. Beast was my father."
"Who's your father? Bigfoot?" Danny asked as everyone laughed, Beast included, who was happy to be in a place where he was accepted.