It's the first day of the new semester at Xavier's Institute For Gifted youngsters. For the past month or so, students have been steadily coming in to settle into their new dorms, meet their new classmates, and overall prepare for the new, upcoming school year.

However, just below this school's old, musty exterior, lies a great secret that plans to have a great impact on the world of humans and mutants alike. Actually, this secret lies underground, in the institute 's basement underground target range and training facility. This is where Professor Francis Latour, aka Ghost, will be teaching a handful of specialty selected students to control their powers and prepare them for the conflict just on the horizon, instead of attending the normal classes that are available. These students have all been notified to gather in the underground target range and training facilit by no later than 8:30 am sharp, and await further instruction.

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Interacting with: Each other mainly
Location: Sophie's room in the basement then in the room viewing the underground range

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Francis stood outside of the metal, solitary confinement of which Sophie called her room. He was wearing a plain grey T-shirt and jeans, a rather casual attire for a teacher. He sighed as he never did like the idea of her shutting herself up in her room like she does, but understood her reasoning and has allowed it for the time being.

Francis lightly knocked on the door to her room. "Sophie, are you awake? May I come in?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure... come on in." A quiet voice came from the other side of the door.

Francis grinned with a slight chuckle. "Alright, I'm coming in then." He replied then phased through the door to see a fully dressed Sophie, who wore a black camisole, jean shorts, sneakers, and her hair up in a messy bun, sitting on her bed.

"You could have just opened the door, ya know. You didn't have to walk through it." She replied with a slight annoyed expression, but her tone didn't match it.

Francis laughed slightly. "Yes, I suppose you are right. Are you ready for your first day of school?"

"As much as I'll ever be, I guess." Sophie said with a shrug, then stood up and walked to the door.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine, I promise. Remember, all of these people are just like you and that everything will only get easier from here." Francis reminded Sophie, placing a hand on her shoulder and offering her a reassuring smile. Sophie sighed then nodded.

The two then proceeded through the maze of a basement, to a room that looked quite similar to a rather modern looking living room. It had a sofa and a few matching lounge chairs, all modern in design, surrounding a glass coffee table that had a small 3d hologram projector built into it, a refrigerator, sink, television, a couple computers that were up to date in terms of design and technology, as well as well as being something that only rich people or the FBI could afford, a large glass window that over looked the range, and lastly, a large steel door that led to the range.

The two entered the room and sat down, Sophie on the couch and Francis in the chair across from her. "It's going to be fine, Sophie. Remember what I told you earlier and you'll be fine." Francis said as he noticed Sophie's expression turn nervous. Sophie nodded in response, but her expression didn't change. The two then sat and awaited for the other students to arrive.

Grace sat up in her bed and rubbed the back of her head with both of her hands. Her head felt like it had been beaten with a sledgehammer repeatedly. Blinking away the sleep in her eyes, she swung her legs over the bed. The night before can rushing back to her and she fell back on the bed with a loud groan. "I cannot believe that happened," she muttered and pushed the pillow against her face to muffle her groans. "Wait a second," she whispered and sat up. She was dressed in a loose fitting t shirt that she didn't recognize and her boy shorts.

She had no memory of anything after the big guy carried her back into the building. "Oh no." She had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she had done something completely idiotic and embarrassing. Fighting the fog in her brain, she padded to the bathroom and ran herself a hot shower, hoping that would alleviate most of her stiffness. With her wings stretched out behind her, she sat in the tub and let the water pour over her.

"We will not mention this to anyone," she muttered into her hands and peeked around the shower curtain to look at the time. 7:45. She hastily toweled off and dressed in her dark wash jeans, light blue top, and brown leather jacket that she had gotten last night.

Grace grabbed a pop-tart from her bedside table and slipped her grey converse one and headed out the door. She navigated through the basement maze with little trouble and found herself standing outside the large double doors of the lounge. With a growing feeling of dread, she pushed the doors open and glanced briefly around the room before taking a seat on one of the love seats with a direct view of the range.

She gave The professor a small smile and tucked a stand of her wet hair behind her ear, a nervous tick that she had picked up years before coming to the institute. The idea of meeting all these new students was threatening to give Grace an ulcer. She was fine with people that she knew, but when she had never even met them, it was very stressful for her. opening her small breakfast, she nibbled on the corner of one of the brown sugar pop-tarts, hoping it would help settle her stomach.

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Having been awake for the past hour or two anyway, Dani sighed as she watched the bright red display of her alarm clock change ever so slightly, a shrill beeping filling her room as it did. As usual, she hadn’t been able to sleep for more than couple of hours over the course of the night due to hearing the dreams of the other students in the mansion. And the few times that she had actually managed to fall asleep, she could only toss and turn as the dreams and emotions of the other students mingled with her own.

After stretching her arm out and turning the annoying device off, she began the laborious task of extricating herself from the tangle of fabric that her blankets had become overnight. Once she had managed to free herself from her fluffy prison, she trudged over to the mostly empty closet and began getting dressed for the day, tossing her pajamas into a pile at the foot of her bed as she changed.

Wearing a faded lavender-colored t-shirt that was clearly too big for her, a pair of baggy blue jeans that had clearly seen better days, and a pair of purple cotton socks that were pretty much entirely hidden by the old black sneakers that covered them, she left her room and began making her way down to the basement where the meeting was going to be held.

The path to the basement as a whole was fairly straightforward, and Dani was stepping into the basement proper only a few moments later. But the path through the basement to the place where the meeting would be held was quite a bit more convoluted than that, giving Dani the impression of being in a maze as she walked along, yawning periodically and ignoring the occasional grumblings of her stomach. Fortunately, she had the ability to sense the minds/read the thoughts of the Professor and the other students with him, which provided her with a fairly reliable sense of direction in the twisting hallways of the basement.

Eventually, she managed to arrive at her destination: a decently-sized room that was decorated to give it the appearance of a modern living room, with a couple of couches and lounge chairs, a coffee table, a large television, and more. In fact, the only thing that really broke the illusion that it was just a regular old living room was the huge steel door that lead to the range on the other side of the room.

As Dani walked into the room, she saw the Professor and a girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes seated together on one of the couches and another girl with brown hair and greenish blue eyes sitting on a nearby lounge chair eating what looked like a Pop-Tart. While the Professor's thoughts were generally optimistic about how this meeting would turn out, the thoughts of the two girls were brimming with anxiety. Even without the ability to read minds, it wouldn't be that hard for Dani to guess that they were nervous about meeting new people and afraid of making bad first impressions.

Without saying a word, Dani trudged over to one of the lounge chairs and sat down, absently checking her pocket to confirm that her little bottle of Advil was still there as she made herself comfortable. It seemed like this meeting would probably take longer than she would like, and if everyone’s thoughts were as loud as the girls’, it wouldn’t be long before a headache settled in and ruined her day.

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"Uuuugh... Shut the FUCK up...!" And soon enough, the blaring alarm clock was smashed. It's tiny contents were scattered on the floor as it short circuited. The red glowing lights that displayed the numbers died out instantly. Taylor Jason Garrick looked up at what he had done, "Oops..." He had forgot that he needed to control his powers, he should have known that something like that would. Taylor sighed, and rubbed his face. He sat up, and got out of the tangled mess that is his bed cover.

His unhappy mood then changed when he realized where he was again, he smiled to himself. He was in the X-Mansion. The place where mutants learn how to control their powers and become X-Men. He was always a big fan of the X-Men, they were living proof that Homo sapiens and Homo superiors, or mutants could exist. They were heroes, and very great ones too.

After gathering his full consciousness, Taylor got up from his bed and headed to the bathroom. He walked into the bathroom and splashed water on his face, he looked into the mirror to see the excited emotion across his face. He was so excited, he could look into his own eyes and tell. Taylor calmed himself down, he was going to look embarrassing if he showed up to the basement looking like he just took some LSD and saw a unicorn.

Taylor stripped himself of his clothes and got into the shower. As soon as he turned the shower on, he could feel the warm raindrops falling from the holes of the shower head dripping on his body in a fast motion. The showers here were nice, he told to himself. He was amused that the bathroom was going to be nice, considering the mansion is a little old.

Soon enough, Taylor got out of the shower with a towel wrapped around the lower half of his body. He pulled some deodorant out of his book-bag which was in the corner of his room. He then pulled some fresh clothes out of the same bag. What he pulled out was his favorite red T-shirt, his black jeans, his underwear and socks, and blue sneakers. He dressed in a fast manner, and laid his hand on the doorknob out of his room. He opened it, and luckily didn't break it.

Walking into the basement, he looked around and didn't expect a maze-like pathway to the room where the meeting was going to be held. He raised his eyebrow, it took him a few minutes but he ended up finding his destination. The room where the meeting was supposed to be held looked like a modern living room. It had the normal living room furniture, with lounge chairs and some couches with a coffee table that had a hologram projecting out of the middle of it. The only thing that ruined the modern living room theme was the steel door that lead to the range.

He noticed there were four people. There was the Professor, and a girl seating on one of the couches. There was another girl who was eating a Pop-Tart or something sitting in a lounge chair. And another girl sitting in a lounge chair. They seemed to be waiting for everyone to come into the room. "Uh, hi?" Taylor said to everyone, glancing around the room. He then sat on one of the couches, waiting like everyone else in the room for the others to come into the room.

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Loki's golden feline eyes peered into darkness as he watched the time tick by. He had developed a mild insomnia quite some time ago. At least now he gets to wake up human. He waited a few moments longer before grabbing his usual attire of a black t shirt, black jeans, steel toed boots, and his sunglasses. For some odd reason, the darkness of the glasses seemed to help him deal with his odd eyesight...that and he had gotten used to concealing them.

He inhaled and prepped himself for the likely small space he was about to enter. His ever present animal side made things like that difficult. Most times he felt more animal then human. He made his way to the maze like passageways and tilted his head. His nostrils flared as he inhaled scents and followed the freshest.

He made his way to the entryway and rolled his shoulders before entering. He took note of the amount of students and the scents that seemed to belong to each. He nodded and found an empty seat...one a bit away from the others. He tilted his head as he spotted one person with wings. His inner panther took even more notice and that caused him to look away quickly and silently be thankful for the shades concealing his eyes.

It had been a long hour of intense cardio, but Bao wasn’t much of a sleeper. Going laps around the academy’s track with a soccer ball he was messing around with. The rock music flowing through the ear buds he had on while he sweat away. It was the first day and Bao had been impatient for this day to come. Today shit was getting taken care of. He was joining the X-Men, he was going to fix the world. For Bao that was incredibly important and he wanted to make sure he was good and ready for it.

Finally after who knew how many laps he had gone around Bao kicked up the soccer ball and put it away in the rec supply shed on his way back into the mansion. It didn’t take long for Bao to realize even with a head start he was running short on time before the first meeting with his newfound teammates. “Aw man...” Bao was hoping for a shower and something to nibble on, but a quick trip to the kitchen from a sports drink and muffin was all he was going to get. Quickly wolfing down the baked good on his way to the basement.

Stopping to take a quick sniff of himself. Bao realized he smelled decent as he glanced down at himself. The hoodie and athletic shorts with sneakers didn’t look very professional. But they’d totally get it right? Slipping in Bao saw the small group that had already assembled as he took a drink of the neon yellow sports drink. “Sorry if I reek or something. I was out doing stuff...” Bao took an almost leaping hop backwards onto the couch with a relaxing sigh as he flopped into it. Kicking up his feet onto the glass coffee table. He had a moment to get a read on the other students and his thoughts turned to who looked like they were handle to handle themselves. Bao slowly started frowning, everyone looked like some kind of American Eagle model who’d get snapped in half. All he could do was sigh a little and hope he was wrong about his first impressions.

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The morning came sooner than Raylan wanted, he could have used another hour or so of sleep. The night before was rough. He remembered every thing that happened last night. He wished he didn't, he wished things would have gone differently. As he thought about the events of last night he wondered what he did wrong. He didn't pick any fights, he didn't get blind drunk, as far as he could tell he did everything right and still it blew up in his face.

He rolled out of bed and noticed his ribs and arms were hurting. As he looked down he could see some bruises hard already formed. It looked much worse than it was. He recalled the last fight. The second one where he was drunk and lost his temper. What was wrong with him that made him do things like this?

Pushing himself up he was grateful for the giant burger he ate last night. He was still a little groggy but he was sober and that was the import part. At least Frank wouldn't jump down his throat about this time. Well, he probably would but being sober was gonna help the situation. He was still dressed from the night before and saw no reason to change clothes for what he was about to do.

Raylan made way outside and had his first cigarette of the day, then a second. A large couple slices of ham and two cups of coffee later he was in the shower. The warm water falling down on him made him so much better. The longer he stayed under the water more he could his body loosen up. He was in heaven for a brief moment, everything just washed away and in an instant he was brought back to reality. As he stepped out of the shower he groaned a little from the pain in his sides. He pushed the pain from his mind. Pain, like hunger was nothing more than a single being sent to the brain and those can be ignored.

He cringed a little as he got he got dressed. It was more painful than he thought he it was going to be. He was just going to have to live with it. It wasn’t a horrible pain but it was going to be nothing less than annoying. A pair of faded jeans, a belt, and a pair of pull on boot adorned his lower body. The rest of him was covered in a dark grey henley shirt. The long sleeves would cover up the bruising.

As he finished his last sip of coffee, Raylan decided another cup or two and a cigarette or two was in order. He didn’t want any part of whatever was going on in the basement. Raylan wasn’t what most would call a social butterfly, others would call him a complete asshole. He wouldn’t disagree with that notion either. As he poured another cup, Raylan started to think about ways to get out of it, he could just walk out of the school and take the asschewing later. He could just start working on something and say he lost track of time.

When Raylan took that first sip. He remember just how much he owed Frank. He had food and rood, a warm bed and place to take a shower. It was a lot more than he had before he met Frank. Raylan was even given a lot more freedom than the rest. Maybe freedom wasn’t the word, maybe the word was room. Room for Raylan to be Raylan, room for Raylan to screw up and get all the gunk and nastiness out of his system. Frank reminded Raylan of the guys at the gym when he was a boy. They held him to standard he didn’t know he could reach, Frank did the same, just differently. They wanted Raylan to fight and earn his keep and do the right things. Frank wanted the same things but Frank emphasized learning, culture, and education. Raylan was better for it and he knew it. He didn’t have a much of a choice in the matter, he had to show up and do his part. Even if he didn’t want to.

Still that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a smoke of two before descending into the madness. After the first drag it hit Raylan that it was the first day for class or whatever it was called. He tried to remember if Frank ever told him anything about the new students. Though for some reason he remember that a Cruze was coming. Raylan hoped they were getting the new turbo diesel model, It was supposed to a good engine.

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She had to admit to herself she was more than a little nervous as Katherine got dressed for the morning meeting. The first official class was about to start in a school with new students. This would be her first social gathering since the trip back home... and what happened with her mother.

Kat had gotten up roughly an hour ago so she could get a morning run in. It was just one lap around the entire school grounds, but it was enough to get her blood pumping. After all, the institute's campus was huge. She had noticed the Asian boy, Bao, doing laps around the school's track and kicking around a soccer ball and thought briefly of trying to join him on the field, yet she decided against it. Besides, they would have time to get to know one another soon enough. At that moment though Katherine was more focused in getting back into her old routine. And with the professor's help she had recently began doing just that.

After her run Katherine hit the shower, though the water pressure was a bit low most likely do to others bathing at the same time. Since she didn't know what the first class would entail, Kat decided to dress comfortably, casually and ready for a possible workout. So, this morning's outfit consisted of: a brick red Guess Lily Henley tank top, a cute pair of denim roll up shorts, little white ankle socks and a pair of Hogan Rebel running shoes. Little gold earrings and a pink scrunchie to tie put her long, brunette hair back in a ponytail completed her outfit. For moment she wondered if she was showing too much skin. But, only for a moment.

With an energy bar in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, Katherine made her way downstairs. The labyrinth that was a the basement was bright, metallic more than a little confusing for the eighteen year old to navigate. But, Kat managed to find her way to the designated room. The large steel door was heavy but far from impossible to open. Entering the room Kat was all smiles and beaming happiness. Of course, it was all fake as she was quite apprehensive to join the others. But, then again, as the queen bee of her old school Katherine was well trained at hiding her true feelings behind a bright smile. "Good morning, Professor," she beamed as she walked by him. Making her way around the glass coffee table Kat found a seat on the sofa between Sofia and Bao to whom she greeted both with a silent 'hi' before sitting. Crossing her smooth, bare legs she took a small bite of her energy bar while waiting for class to begin.

Location: Diner in town, then basement.
Syn was dashing between tables of the diner finishing up her shift by cleaning up and collecting her tips. She knew she had to hurry if she was going to make her appointment at the school. So she polished the last table clocked out and changed clothes. Wearing a tank top and jeans she began running towards the institute. The run was long but took her through the park.

While she did enjoy it she didn't have time to stop. She was determined to not be the last one there.
So sprinting across the courtyard, and down stairs .

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Raylan tossed down his last cigarette and stomped it out. He took a deep breath and headed towards the entrance of the basement. He passed for a moment, he really didn't want to do this. Another deep sigh and he left for a fresh cup of coffee.

It didn't take long for Raylan to get to where he was supposed to be. Raylan knew these halls very well. Whenever Frank grounded him, this was one of the places he spent the most time. He trained more than he did almost as much as anything… Almost. There was only two things that could ever take president over training.

As he walked into the meeting the room he instantly saw Grace, he could have done without her being the first thing he saw. Raylan flopped into an empty lounge chair and winced ever so slightly. One would have to be watching him very close to see it. He could feel his heartbeat in his brusies.

Raylan gave a lazy wave and looked at each one of them. They all looked so down about being here. He wondered what bullshit excuse they were going to give about it. Raylan flat out did not like many people, he especially hated new people he didn't know. He hated those psychics the most. When he was done looking them over, his eyes found two people that stood out. Two girls for lack of a better word, one with black hair that seemed to be attached to Frank at the hip. The other was a was smiling, she one of those ‘I got to be the most popular in the whatever’ types. Raylan had a gift for picking those types out, they made his life a living hell after his father stabbed him. “Frank. What's with the growth?” Raylan said pointing at the dark hair.

Interacting with: Everyone
Location: the room viewing the underground range

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Francis and Sophie watched quietly as the students pooled in one after another in silence. Of course when Grace and Raylan entered the room, Francis shot them both a warning glare, meaning that he knew something was up and that he would talk to them both later. After about 10 minutes had passed, Francis stood up to address the class. "This should be everyone then, correct? Alright." He said rubbing his hands together. "Welcome everyone to your first day of class! My name is Professor Francis Latour, I am currently this institute's headmaster and I will be your instructor from now on. My job is not to hold your hands and tell you everything is going to be alright because I assure you that almost of you will get hurt one way or another during your time here and some of you may even die. Good news for all of you however, my job is to protect you with all my being and do what is necessary to ensure you all end up in one piece. My job is to also push you past your limits and to help prepare you for the hell you are going to witness. " Francis paused and eyed everyone in the room before continuing. "Let's begin then, shall we? As one of our fine students mentioned, I am sure you recognize a few faces here, while everyone else you haven't bothered to even ask their name and have come up with your own ridiculous nickname for them." He shot another glare at Grace and Raylan.

"So how about a little show and tell then, hm? State your name, new codename, and display your powers. I will go first - My name is Francis Latour, codename: Ghost." He gestured to Sophie to come forward, to which she responded with a slight nod and stepped forward as instructed. Francis took a step forward and punched what would have been Sophie's stomach. However, instead of actually hitting Sophie, Francis phased right through her stomach. He then pulled his arm back and faced the class. "Alright, who's next?"

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Loki listened to the professor speak. His head was slightly tilted to the side like a curious animal intently listening. When the professor did his turn of the 'ice breaker' he found his head tilted to the other side. So that's what he could do. He found himself slowly standing, his hands going into his pockets as he did so. Part of him did not want to do this...it never ended well. All eyes on him...he hated it. And this room felt small...he inhaled. Just get it over with.

"I'm Loki cage...code name animal. I can become any predator I feel like. Except canines...I just really don't like being those. Anyway here it goes" he took of his sunglasses and placed them in his seat then inhaled again before a succession of snapping sounds were heard and in place of Loki was a large black king cobra. The snake was flawless except the snake eyes...those eyes were clearly feline in nature. The snake hissed before rising up full height. With a rather painful transformation the snake became Loki...who proceeded to pop his jaw back in place. He then placed his sunglasses back on and sat back down.

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Taylor was rather surprised by how much the Professor talked. But he guessed this was how normal the Professor was. He then noticed he kept on glaring at some guy and a girl. He didn't really know what that was about. Taylor listened carefully to what the Professor was saying. He was going to help realize their powers, he had heard from the Professor and Taylor kept a stern face, but was nervous inside about it. The Professor said they were going to see hell, and Taylor could only assume he was talking about the Equalists.

Now everyone was going to have to introduce each other to everyone. Taylor was now a little nervous, as the Professor went first. The Professor's codename was apparently Ghost and he could phase through things. Then there was the practical equivalent of Beast Boy who was Loki Cage, he could shapeshift into animals. Taylor might as well go next he thought, to get it over with.

"My name's Taylor Garrick, my codename is Rocket." He came up with the codename on the spot, he couldn't think of anything that had sounded cool besides Rocket, because he was kind of like one when jumped super high. "I can't show my powers in here, I uh.. need any open area. But I have super strength and I can jump high and fast."

As soon as Taylor had said that, he tapped the wall with little effort, and a dent appeared. He tapped it again, and a bigger dent appeared. "As for my second ability, super jumping.. I can't really do that in here." Taylor said. He was now pretty much suspected everyone thought of him as a little bitch.

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Katherine looked around the room as she waited for things to get started, casually glancing at those whom would be her new classmates. She had seen most of them in the last couple of days leading up to now, and even had overheard a few of their names. She had to admit they were a good looking bunch.

As who would be the last male student entered the basement lounge, making his way over the a chair, Katherine's nose wrinkled at the disgusting stench of cigarette smoke. “Frank. What's with the growth?” the young man said pointing a finger though from Kat's perspective Kat couldn't tell if he was pointing at her or Sophia whom sat beside her. Quirking a brow Kat gave the guy a What the hell? look.

A moment later, Professor Latour stood from his chair and began to speak. Katherine listened intently while taking a small sip of water from her bottle. "So how about a little show and tell then, hm? State your name, new codename, and display your powers." Kat's eyes widened. Display your powers? She nimbled on her lower lip anxiously even as the professor demonstrated his mutant ability of ghosting.

One of her new classmates slowly stood. "I'm Loki Cage...code name: Animal," he began. An odd name, Kat thought.

"Eep!" And then, Loki transformed into a cobra. Katherine jumped from her seat on to the back of the sofa at the sight of the slithering reptile, her face flushed a bright pink half from fright and half from the embarrassment of squealing.

After Loki returned to his human form another male classmate decided to introduce himself. Of course, as far as Katherine she was concerned Taylor Garrick needed no introduction. Katherine had noticed him the day she arrived at the school. Taylor was tall... handsome... with pretty pale green eyes... and charming smile. Kat found it difficult to not stare at the boy whenever he was nearby. As Taylor demonstrated his super strength by denting the wall with nothing but a tap of his hand, Kat tried desperately to cool herself off by taking a long drink of water.

When Taylor stopped talking there was a moment of silence perhaps because everyone was a bit nervous about showing off their abilities. If she wasn't transfixed by the boy Katherine would still be worried as well. But, with eyes currently lingering on Taylor she spoke up. "I'm Katherine Winchester," she said looking straight at him, before blinking herself back to reality. "I guess in class you can call me Pretty Persuasion. And I, um... I can make people do stuff just by telling them to." Katherine didn't dare try to show off her ability.

Dani, uncomfortable as she was with the thought of drawing attention to herself, kept her eyes fixated on her lap as the rest of the students gradually trickled into the room for the meeting. While they were waiting, however, she would occasionally look up at a person whose thoughts happened to strike her as particularly peculiar, like the boy who was glad that the sunglasses they were wearing covered their eyes or the boy who thought that pretty much everyone else seemed like they’d be easy to break in half.

Shortly after the last student to arrive on time, a man with dark hair and eyes that was wearing a dark grey long-sleeve shirt, walked through the door to the room, the Professor stood and began his introduction, though not before directing a pointed look towards the man in the dark grey shirt and the girl nibbling on a Pop-Tart. Once he had explained that their lives were not going to be ones of comfort, surprising Dani a bit with how blunt he was in doing so, he explained that they were going to be breaking the ice by introducing themselves and demonstrating their abilities. As expected, he started things off by giving his name and codename before showing off his ability to phase himself through solid matter with the girl he had been sitting with acting as a sort of volunteer.

The boy wearing the sunglasses was the next to go, introducing himself as Loki Cage/Animal and explaining that he could transform into different predatory animals. Though Dani figured that that was pretty straightforward, she wasn’t quite ready for the violence of his transformation into a fairly large snake, wincing slightly as the sound of what she could only assume were bones cracking filled the air. After another moment or two, he shifted back into his original shape with a similarly unnerving sound accompanying the action.

As Loki returned his sunglasses to his face and sat down, another boy stood up and said that his name was Taylor Garrick/Rocket and that his power was a combination of super strength and super jumping. For obvious reasons, demonstrating his ability to jump inside of the room wasn’t really possible, though he was able to show off his strength by denting the reinforced wall with what looked like relatively light blows.

A short moment of silence followed Taylor’s demonstration as people, for whatever reason, hesitated to stand up and demonstrate their own abilities. Dani herself wasn’t too keen about telling everyone that their thoughts and feelings weren’t as safe and secure as they assumed, especially given the fact that she just watched a man dent a wall with a love tap. In her experience, people got angry enough with her when they thought she was just really good at just digging up dirt or reading their body language. Letting them know that she could literally read their minds like a page of a book seemed like nothing more than a recipe for disaster.

Fortunately, the dark haired girl who had been sitting next to the Professor earlier spoke up, giving Dani bit more time to build up her resolve. The girl gave her name as Katherine Winchester/Pretty Persuasion before explaining that she had the ability to make people do what she wanted just by telling them to, though she didn’t offer to actually demonstrate her ability.

By the time Katherine had finished sharing, Dani had managed to summon enough courage to follow suit. ”My name’s Dani Carson and my codename is Psych,” she said after had stood up, broadcasting her thoughts to each and every person in the room. ”If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have the power of telepathy. So, y’know, I can read other people’s thoughts and emotions and transmit my own to others. I, uhm, should also probably let you know that I can’t turn off the mindreading part of my power. Sorry if that bothers you, but I can’t help it.”

Once she had finished giving her spiel, she sat back down, hoping that she hadn’t angered too many people and that everything would progress as smoothly as it had been thus far.

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Grace noticed a lull in the introductions and looked around hoping that someone else would go. She hated being in the spotlight. She glanced over at the professor and blushed at his stern gaze. "I guess I'm up," She mumbled and stood up, tucked her hair into a loose ponytail. Everyone turned to stare at her and she blushed furiously. "Hi everyone. My name's Grace Potter. The code name I chose is Typhoon." She heard some people chuckling under their breath. Yeah, Yeah. Someone so quiet and shy couldn't possibly live up to that name, She thought to herself and bit her lip. 'I'm just going to step through here. It's easier to show you than to explain it all. and it's cooler to watch. Please watch from the windows," she suggested and entered the range, but not before stealing a quick nervous glance around the room. Her eyes met with a small smirk on Raylan's face before looking at professor Latour. He looked on expectantly.

She closed the doors firmly behind her and walked to a spot in the middle of the room where everyone could see her clearly. Grace shrugged out of her jacket and took a deep, steadying breath. "You can do this. It's okay. You can do this," She repeated quietly. She squared her shoulders and took another breath. "Show time."

Her wings unfolded around her. The feathers were a light charcoal gray, almost the color of smoke. Their span was a total of 7ft from tip to tip. The feathers were as soft as silk. She beat them once, twice, and then she was in the air. She rose rapidly and flew a quick lap around the ceiling of the room before hovering 6ft off the ground.Her eyes turned a slightly different, brighter blue and the air around her started swirling. Wind appeared from nowhere and everything in the range was being thrown about. Grace pushed her wings together in front of her and a stream of air shot straight out in front of her and bounced off the opposite wall. Inside the range was complete chaos with the wind whipping around as uncontrollably as a tornado.

She stopped after a few moments and lowered herself back to the ground. She looked up at all the faces in the window and grinned, panting slightly. "There you have it folks," she stated, "Typhoon." She tucked her wings securely back under her shoulder blades and pulled her jacket back on. With her grin still in place, she reentered the room and, in a moment of bravery, took a low bow in front of everyone. She was very proud of herself, and she radiated confidence as she popped back down in her seat and looked around the room once more.

---

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Frank look at Raylan with a glare, not once but twice. The fact that those glares were also directed at Grace meant Frank knew something. Raylan doubted he really knew anything but Frank at the least had a suspicion that was enough for a headache. Either way, Raylan sat with his arm propped up the arm of the chair and his head resting on the back of his hand. It didn't take a mind reader to see that he was already board out of his mind.

Any worry that Raylan had was erased when he heard the name Loki Cage. "Who the fuck has name like that? No parent would name their child Loki Cage, not one. He picked that name. I aint calling him that, fucking Cat Boy." Raylan thought to self. His mutation looked like it hurt more than anything. Raylan instantly hoped that the chain he had been using at the range was still there.

The pretty boy. Whatever his name was next. Raylan instantly thought of the Sandlot and those shoes when he described his powers. Those shoes that could make a kid run faster and jump higher and whatever else. He seemed liked a decent kid but seemed soft at the same time, and not in a good way. Raylan decided that his name was Charmin, like the toilet paper, becaue it too was also soft. Raylan let a smerk and the smallest of chuckles escape.

Next was The Mean Girl. Raylan knew from the first look and her upturned nose, he hated her. There was no chance they were going to get along. She kept staring at Charmin. It was starting to get creepy and that was coming from someone who just as comfortable sleeping drunk in a gutter as he was in a bed with roof over his head. She apparently could make people do stuff. "If I had a body like hers and tits, I could make people do shit too. Any girl can do it."

The moment the child started talk Raylan's mind instantly drifted to something else completely different. Whatever she did or said was completely and utterly lost on him. He let his mind drift off into song and music. He could hear every note and utterance made in the song.

Here's my story, it's sad but true
It's about a girl that I once knew
She took my love then ran around
With every single guy in town

Yeah I should have known it from the very start
This girl will leave me with a broken heart
Now listen people what I'm telling you
A keep away from a Runaround Sue

I might miss her lips and the smile on her face
The touch of her hair and this girl's warm embrace
So if you don't want to cry like I do
A keep away from-a Runaround Sue

Raylan was instantly snapped to a voice in his head. His face twisted in anger but he didn't move a muscle. He hated anyone in his head. Period. Frank, shrinks, psychics. There was no exceptions to his rule. Raylan did everything he could not be mad her This isn't her fault, she can't help the powers she has... Stay the fuck out of my mind. I've whooped whole sale ass and put people in the hospital for less than this you little shit bird... No, calm down. It's not her fault, she didn't ask for this and she can't control it. Raylan's mind went back and forth from understanding and rage.

"Confidence looks good on her."Raylan thought to himself before adjusting himself in the chair. "Raylan. Cataclysm. I make all that is living do the hokey pokey." Raylan said not really looking at anyone. Well until he could feel Frank's glare." Fine I'll do it."Raylan said not even not bothering to look at Frank. He already knew what Frank was doing and going to say.

Raylan looked at the dent left by Charmin. A couple of seconds later a loud metallic pop could be heard as the dent disappeared and the wall came back to an even and flush look. After the pop Raylan stood up and walked into the range with his cup of coffee.

On the range there were a few metal orbs. They were always there, five in total. He could reasonably control two of them at a time, three could get a tricky, four was hard and five... Five was dangerous for everyone around him.

Raylan picked up two if the orbs with one hand. They were only two inches in diameter, that alone made things hard. If they were larger and heavier things would be easier. However like Frank said earlier, he was there push them past their own limits and Raylan loved a challenge.

The two steel orbs floated in the air. They floated just off to the right of his head. Raylan took a drink of his coffee. In the a blink of an eye one of the orbs were gone. A booming clang of steel hitting steel rang out, loud enough that it hurt Raylan's ears. He didn't wait for the ringing to stop, he sent the other orb.

When the ringing in his ears less. The two steel targets rose, one after another. Raylan walked over to the steel targets and pulled out what was left of the orbs. It was harder to pull the orbs out than it was to send them.

It took a few minutes but he managed to scaveng most of the orbs. With all pieces in his hand, Raylan walked back in to meet everyone. He put his cup down on a table and cupped his hands. The sound of metal Bending and crashing together could be heard coming from his hands. When Raylan was done, he had a single large reformed orb, it wasn't perfect by any means. One could still see the lines and cracks in the orb from reforming. If he had the time or the interest he might be able to make perfect but that wasn't important right now.
"I create and control magnetic fields. That's the short of it at least."Raylan said as he softly set himself down in the lounge chair.

Casey watched as more and more teammates/students showed what they were able to do, there was a boy with super strength and he could apparently jump really high, Casey was a bit concerned with his control over it but he seemed to have a good handle so far. Casey watched as the boy just dented a wall with a small tap and jumped a bit at the prospect of damage that he could wreak with that strength. There was a shapeshifter that for his demonstration turned into a snake which of course caught Casey's attention. After that the other teammates flew by and he didn't really notice anything new until he heard a voice in his head which he tried to block out but failed misribly, "That's gonna be annoying..." he muttered under his breath as his turn came up.

Casey stood from his stool and cleared his throat, "Hello everybody" Casey said trying to make a good first impression "I'm Casey Locke...,yes yes get your laughs in now" he sighed and waited just to let any noise to die down. "My Codename is Accelerator and I can control the vectors of objects that I touch or within my field" He said before deciding to go straight to the demonstration, He walked into the training room and closed the metal door. When the door was sealed Casey walked over to a 2 ton block of metal and just before his hand could touch it, the block began to circle around him and then shoot away striking the opposite wall and completely demolishing the block. The fragments of the metal flew back but were instantly caught in the freeze field that he had made to hold his tea. He walked out of the room pretty satisfied with his demonstration and plucked his cup out of the air from between the twisted and bent metal fragments before bowing and sitting down.

Watching everyone else speaking about their powers Bao Lu just casually sat back and listened to the variety of people he was now going to be working with. First up was the professor who showed the phasing powers Bao had seen before. Remembering how much it freaked him out the first time. Since he didn’t truly realize where he was, having just arrived to the mansion. Where he watched someone basically walking around like a ghost. Scared the shit out of Bao.

Next up was Animal who turned into a cobra by the looks of it. Though what Bao noticed more was the sickening crunch sound his jaw made snapping it back in place. A sound Bao had heard before after a kick went array in kung fu training. Still seemed like a fun power if one could get over the whole body parts contorting all fucked up.

Rocket? That was a weird codename but being named Wind Dancer in Chinese was probably not going to give Bao room to talk. Still watch a guy flick a big dent in a wall was... well kind of weirdly unimpressive really... maybe his been here too long already.

Katherine didn’t demonstrate her powers of persuasion which Bao could understand. Still someone who was hot like that probably didn’t need much help persuading men to begin with.

Oh goody, a telepath. God Bao hoped the guy didn’t read his thoughts when Katherine was talking....

He knew Grace and her powers already so honestly he didn’t pay that much attention when she showed them off. Still hearing her need to focus and executing it Bao gave her a supportive gentle applause. The air squad needs to stick together of course.

Raylan didn’t need to do much to get Bao to realize the guy was going to be a grade A prime pain in the ass to deal with. Another whiny little punk who has had it great but still needs to complain about it all most likely. Bao secretly hoped the two got put into some kind of sparring match. He can straighten Raylan out in no time. Cracking some ribs usually gets the job done like that.

Finally came Casey who demonstrated his powers with some good old fashion property damage. Not bad stuff to watch as the guy just did it all looking like a cool under the collar Ralph Lauren model.

Finally though as everyone else had gone Bao looked around realizing he was last as everyone seemed to be realizing the same thing, looking his way. Sighing as he hopped up to his feet Bao started wiggling his fingers a bit. Feeling the small bits of wind sliding between them as he looked around. “Sup? Name’s Bao Lu. Codename is Fēng wǔ zhě, but Wind Dancer works if that’s too much of a mouthful.” Focusing for a moment Bao quickly raised his arms up, letting a gust of wind quickly lift him straight up off his feet and up to ceiling height before he came down and wiped his shirt off. “I can control the wind. Plus... I mean I know it doesn’t count as a power or anything.” Bao folded his arms with a confident belief as he looked around and felt easily sure he could say so. “I was trained 10 plus years in kung fu. So I can probably kick just about anyone’s ass in here.” Stopping for a moment Bao looked over at Mr. Latour. “Can I say ass? I mean butt I guess...” Finally after that Bao casually flopped back onto the couch.