Tony had to admit, he loved Pepper's new "duckling" as he called her. Which usually got an annoyed scowl from Jazz, but it was cute so he ignored it.

Jazz had long since moved past "intern" to "Pepper 2.0" in the eyes of everyone else. She had a special touch when it came to getting him to do the boring stuff so he had time to do the fun stuff.

And her little ideas! Tony could dance with glee at some of the unique, and very profitable ideas she kept coming up with in her spare time. Giving her that tablet and pen was a brilliant move and he could literally watch her spend the day away by messing around with the products they had available and improving it.

Jazz kept far, far away from the weapons department and went straight for the "personal defense" line of thinking. Rhodey only took one look at some of the things she kept messing around with before looking quite eager about delivering them to his bosses.

For a civilian, Jazz knew quite a bit about a soldier's mentality. More than a few of the ideas looked like they would do a lot towards keeping soldier's safe at a cost effective way that would make the skinflints in the military accounting department happy.

Things like an ultra-sonic emitter that would detonate IED's with enough distance that the most soldiers would get from the explosion would be a minor bump on the head. It could be retrofitted to attach to the front of the standard convoys and once it was active it would set off a sound that was inaudible to human hearing. Sure, it would drive dogs and other animals nuts, but the safety of the soldiers inside those cars was more than worth it.

Even if it meant limiting the amount of K-9 units in the convoys, that was a small price to pay.

Another idea she had was new armor plating for the vehicles, especially for the bottom. One that could handle an IED blast without compromising the engines or making it too heavy. That one she was still having trouble with, but the fact she even consider that was enough to have Rhodey's respect.

Tony, once he figured out what she was making, had taken the concept and was fiddling around with the subsonic device for the vehicles as a way to get the government contract over with.

Rhodey noticed Jazz trying to bring up coffee for everyone, especially Tony. He pushed the elevator button for her.

"Thanks."

"You're the duckling Tony mentioned. The one who came up with that special mace," said Rhodey.

"Why does he keep calling me a duck? Why couldn't it be something dignified like a falcon or an owl?" scowled Jazz.

Rhodey grinned at that.

"So why did you go into making items for soldiers?" he asked, because that had been bugging him for a while now.

A civilian teenager shouldn't be able to understand that sort of mentality so easily.

"If anyone can understand the thought process of a soldier against an enemy that has a terrian advantage, it's me," she said quietly. She left the elevator and started handing out the coffee.

Rhodey blinked and stared at her a bit. He sensed a major story behind that, one that he suspected no one would like.

Jazz turned slightly to hand Pepper her coffee, and the light hit her in a way that had Rhodey blink.

For a split second there he thought he was looking at a teenage, female version of Tony with red highlights on the tips of her hair and green eyes.

Weird.

Rhodey had no idea that odd little comparison would haunt him for weeks and lead to a rather shocking revelation for everyone... except perhaps Jazz.

"So I heard someone is about to graduate high school a full two years early," grinned Tony.

It wasn't that hard, but Jazz had a bit of a late start from what he could tell and still had trouble with some of her subjects. However she still had to sit the tests in an actual school before she got her diploma.

Tony kept giving her ideas, and even Pepper had a few suggestions, but she had her mind set on a specific one in upstate New York. The headmaster there had agreed to let her sit in with his own students, after a brief meeting with her.

Jazz wondered how Tony or Pepper would react if they knew she had deliberately picked Xavier's School for the Gifted to sit her high school exams because of the fact that the main bulk of the student body was full of mutants.

At least she wouldn't have to sit in a cramped plane seat. She had thoroughly gotten on Tony's good side with her ideas and suggestions so he was letting her borrow his personal jet for a few days.

"It'll be good to be done with those silly classes. I kept getting headaches," said Jazz.

Tony had noticed she squinted a lot, before he swiped her glasses. They were rather outdated and clearly an old pair.

"When was the last time you had your eyes checked?"

"...I honestly have no idea."

Tony was appalled. Even he knew prescriptions changed all the time, so without any warning at all he enlisted the aid of Pepper to insure she had the right one.

The eye doctor was beyond furious when he found out she had been wearing the wrong prescription strength for years.

As it was she had to make due with contacts (they had her prescription in stock) until her new glasses were delivered to the office. She had the worst habit of forgetting to pick up her mail at the post office box, being so used to owl mail.

A week later...

Xavier's School was interesting. Though the students only really warmed up to her when she heard Hank quoting Shakespeare and she couldn't resist throwing out a personal favorite of her own.

"'If we shadows have offended

Think but this, and all is mended

That you have but slumber'd here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend;

If you pardon, we will mend.

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call:

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.'"

("A Midsummer Night's Dream" if you haven't guessed what it is.)

Dead silence. Hank looked at her with open respect.

"It has been far too long since I heard someone quote that particular play correctly, rather than just the partial that everyone knows. And with the proper accent to boot," he said approvingly.

"What can I say, as a Brit I do love the bard's work. Though I wish he wasn't so fixated on the evils of witches," said Jazz grinning. She held out her hand, "Jazz Evans."

"Dr. Hank McCoy," he said, rather pleased she shook it without any thought or expression of disgust. "You're the one Charles said was coming for the tests, correct?"

She nodded.

"Follow me, I know where the room is. We've been expecting you with great interest," said Hank.

Jazz noted, but did not indicate her amusement, at the shock everyone had on their faces. They knew she wasn't a mutant like them, but she had treated anyone who spoke to her like a fellow human being.

It was a major change of pace for those who's mutation was a bit more obvious than most.

Jazz went in, nodded in thanks to Hank, and sat down to take the tests. For the next few hours, outside of the breaks, she didn't leave the room.

She was just glad it was over with.

But the second she stepped out the door, the first person she nearly bumped into was Dr. Jean Gray.

Her reaction could be excused mostly for the fact that she had an exhausting day and that Jean had a very strong resemblance to the few pictures she had of her mother.

She fainted.

In the infirmary...

"Any idea what caused that?" asked Hank frowning.

"I believe it was seeing Jean," said Scott.

Jean had been most upset when the girl fainted in front of her, a look of complete shock on her face.

Xavier came in with a frown upon his face.

"Her shields are nonexistent. I hear everything she was thinking since she came into range. Apparently Jean bears a strong resemblance to her dead mother, hence why she fainted."

Scott and Hank winced at that.

"I have such a headache..."

As one, the three mutants turned to her. She had to blink at the surroundings before she face palmed.

"Please tell me I didn't embarrass myself by fainting in front of a woman who could have been a dead ringer for my mum."

"Alas, young lady, you did," said Hank with humor.

"Terrific," said Jazz annoyed. Then she noticed the unusually serious look on the Professor's face. "Please tell me I didn't offend the majority of the students by fainting upon seeing that woman."

"Actually by this point most of the students have decided to treat you as just another mutant. The fact you shook Hank's hand without hesitation warmed them up to you considerably, and I explained to them why you fainted in the first place. Seeing someone who bears a resemblance to a dead loved one is and fainting is a rather normal reaction, one they can emphathize with," said Xavier.

Jazz paused and looked at him hard.

"How exactly did you know I fainted because she looked like my mother?" she asked slowly.

"I'm a telepath."

Jazz groaned in dismay.

"Which means you've likely heard every thought in my head since I got here."

Xavier didn't say anything, but it was clear she had guessed correctly.

She inwardly cursed Snape and those damn Occulmency lessons she was forced to take.

"I am so sorry if anything you heard offended you," she said finally. She had nothing against telepaths...but she still loathed Snape and Dumbledore for multiple reasons. Knowing they used her own thoughts against her was just another straw on an already broken camel's back.

"Ms. Evans, if anything you've shown my students and staff far more compassion and empathy than most have upon meeting them. Not once have you even entertained a single thought of disgust at the more obvious mutations, only polite curiosity. It was rather refreshing," said Xavier.

"I've lived with enough bigotry and discrimation to last an entire lifetime. Mutants aren't monsters...they're just people with rather odd genetic quirks. It's about as ridiculous as hating someone for being born with dark skin instead of fair," said Jazz flatly.

Xavier looked rather pleased to hear that, especially from someone who he knew for a fact didn't carry the mutant gene in the first place.

"There's one thing I don't get," said Jazz.

"What's that?" asked Hank.

"If mutants want to have equal rights with everyone else, then why aren't they going about it like every other minoritygroup has in the past?" she asked.

Stunned silence.

"What do you mean?" asked Xavier, intrigued.

"Well aren't there mutants from already established minority groups like the Indians or African Americans?"

"Several," confirmed Xavier.

"So why haven't you banded together as a minority group and started a protest against unfair treatment the same way Martin Luther King did? Generally speaking the things politicians hate more than scandals are when large groups of voters band together to demand fair treatment like everyone else. It's one thing to ignore sympathizers who don't really do anything...it's another matter entirely ignoring registered voters who are perfectly capable of removing them from power by voting in someone more sympathetic."

Xavier had to admit, he had never thought about it that way.

"What would you suggest?" he asked honestly.

"Start going around colleges and other areas where people who 'disparage' the way the government works but don't actually like doing the work for it. People who would happily sign petitions without reading them just to make themselves feel better," said Jazz bluntly. "It would make the politicians very nervous seeing actual names on paper, and gathering bored college students would be easy enough. Even if they don't believe in helping to get equal rights they'd would still join in on the protest to make themselves feel important. To quote a certain movie, 'People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of the people.'"

Xavier had to admit, the idea had merit.

"Governments won't listen to a calm voice, but having a much stronger united front, even if they don't actually mean it, would get far more attention," said Xavier.

"You could also point out that ridiculous bill Senator Kelly is trying to push through is not only anti-American, but discriminates against a minority group...which last I checked was illegal in the first place. Never mind the fact that it bears a very strong resemblance to what Hitler and the Nazi party pulled on the Jews shortly before they started sending people into camps."

Xavier had the feeling Magneto would get along with this young lady rather well, lack of mutant gene or not. He had made a similar argument when he first heard about the bill.

"How is the Registration act anti-American?" asked Scott.

"Last I checked, the Declaration of Independance and the Constitition made absolutely no references to impeding the rights of mutants. What's the ratio of mutants to normal humans in the States?" asked Jazz cheekily.

"Well within the range of a minority group," said Xavier. "And that's not bringing into the fact that some of them are already part of one."

"Which means the good senator is not only a racist, but Anti-American. That should be more than enough to derail that bill and any others like if you spin it correctly, never mind the fact it would open up a way for mutants to get equal rights without having to resort to less savory methods."

Xavier was already plotting. He had never considered that angle, and he had to admit her idea was sound. At the very least it might help to nip some of Magneto's own plans in the bud without causing violence.

On an unrelated note, Hank and Xavier got a new pen pal in the form of a sixteen year old witch.

Jazz wasn't sure whether to hex them both silly for sending Stephen Strange her way (to complete her magical education) or to thank them.

She settled for them both turning into canaries for a week. The students were all very amused once they realized it would wear off.