Roxy always sort of figured she'd end up being a biologist. It was something she was good at, something she knew. Hell, it was so ingrained into her that even her powers were biological; and being in a school full of genetic anomalies gave her plenty of inspiration to boot. So, despite the fact that the teacher was lecturing about something Roxy had taught herself the week before, she still took down his words with a fervent dutifulness that might indicate obsession. Roxy noticed a dull ache in her hand and let out a quiet huff; she didn't exactly have time to take a break. She was the best student in this class, after all, and she would prefer to stay that way. Eventually, the teacher stopped talking and Roxy was free to shake her wrists for a second. Staring down at the messy diagrams and handwriting on her page, Roxy couldn't help but smile for a moment; she had scary mutant powers, yes, but Xavier's still let her be a normal teenager. Her powers were under control, no crazy supervillains were attacking, and her worst problem was just...homework.

Or so she thought.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt! I need a, um..." Jubilation paused for a moment, glancing at a sheet of paper in her hands. "Roxanne Clemente?"

Roxy's head shot up at the mention of her name. Was she in trouble or something? "Um, that's me," she said, hastily scooping her books and pencils into her backpack.

"Cool. Come with me."

Jubilee was already walking out the door by the time Roxy managed to gather her things. As she walked-or rather, ran- out of the classroom she bumped into a desk, but at least she out of class. Still, she didn't really know Jubilee, and now she was being taken somewhere? Her mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to figure out what the hell she could've done to get herself into trouble. She was fairly certain nobody heard her call Hayden Lee "obnoxious" under her breath, at least. "Miss Lee?" God, she sounded like an idiot. "Did I do something?"

Jubilee gave her a grin, almost like Roxy's fear was amusing to her. That's what Roxy thought, anyway. "You didn't do anything. It's what you can do. Don't sweat it."

What she can do? What the hell does that even mean? Roxy tightened her grip on her backpack and followed Jubilee out to the courtyard, the cool air soothing her nerves a bit. If it was anything serious or bad, she wouldn't be in the courtyard, right? Still, the unknown was scary, and she wasn't quite sure what to think. She looked around, but she and Jubilee were the only ones there. She turned back to Jubilee, who had her hands on her hips. "Welp, guess the others aren't here yet. Chill for a second, I gotta get some more kids." The others? More kids? Roxy said nothing as Jubilee walked back into the mansion, presumably to get the others. Whoever the hell they are. Roxy set her backpack on the ground, wondering if she'd be back in class soon. She sort of hoped not, since she already knew the material anyway. Still, it might be better than sitting outside wondering what was going on.

Glancing around the courtyard, Roxy wondered why she didn't spend more time outside. The courtyard was pretty, albeit not very entertaining. Some trees, some flowers, grass, a few benches. It might make for a decent place to study, assuming there weren't too many people around. The fresh air was nice, at least. She could even hear some birds somewhere, which was...pleasant. The quiet was reassuring; whatever was happening, it wasn't anything bad or dramatic. Maybe it was some kind of assembly, or there was some special guest coming? Roxy's mind wandered to the "others" that Jubilee mentioned; she felt frustrated at the cryptic nature of her words. Did she have something against saying what she meant? Or, maybe it was supposed to be a surprise. Whatever it was, it was taking a long time. Roxy even found herself getting a little bit bored. Crossing her arms, Roxy took a deep breath, wondering who else would be joining her. People she knew? Strangers? Both?

At that thought, Roxy heard faint voices coming from inside the mansion. She stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked back to the center of the courtyard. She rocked back and forth on her heels, wondering who was coming. Roxy noticed she was getting a little cold; a tanktop and shorts didn't do her much good outside. Hopefully she'd be back inside soon enough.

Biology? Madison hadn't ever heard of most of what was being taught in this class. Everything was just flying through Madison's poor skull as they discussed subjects such as evolution. Prior to being transferred to Xavier's, Madison had been lead to believe that God, whoever that was, had put everything that was on this green Earth. Everything she was learning here was proving otherwise. Hell, Madison wasn't even aware that there were these things called "cells", and that their powerhouse was known as the mitochondria.

Today was yet another day in their unit about the human body. Needless to say, Madison had been made aware of many components of her body and how it worked, especially in the past few days. They had worked their way from the very top of the body, starting from the nervous system, and working all the way down to their current unit, which was now the reproductive system. Just a few days ago, Madison had learned what menstruation and ovaries were. Apparently every single female in the world had eggs inside of them like a bird? The young girl thought that was kinda odd, considering that she had never seen a human hatch from an egg.

Today they were going over something called "sexually transmitted diseases", which was something Madison also had never heard of. As you would expect, schools in Topeka, Kansas weren't really of the science-y variant as evidenced by the severe deficiency in Madison's knowledge of science. She was curious to see what "sexually transmitted diseases" were. Unfortunately, just as the lecture was about to start for the day, a lady came in to pull Madison out of class. Bummer. Guess she was never going to learn what an STD was.

Following the strange lady down the hallway, Madison, of course, had some questions. "Uh- excuse me, miss... where are you taking me?" Madison inquired, looking up at short-haired lady with the really yellow jacket. Madison was scared that she'd screwed up or something like that. "Did I do something wrong?" Maybe she wasn't even supposed to be learning about these things! Oh no, was she really not supposed to know what an STD was? A million thoughts were racing in Madison's mind as Jubilee turned around and flashed a sly smirk at the worried girl. "Just you wait."

Well that certainly didn't help.

Madison didn't want to wait. She wanted to know now, but she had a feeling that if she asked what was going to happen, this lady might have gotten upset at her. Madison really didn't like it when people got upset at her. She felt helpless. Madison shoved her hands in her pockets, playing with a piece of lint in her left pocket as she shut up and only followed the big yellow jacket girl. Stepping out into what appeared to be a rather grandeur courtyard, Madison was amazed to see such a gorgeous piece of land. Ever since she moved over to Xavier's, she was seeing things she'd never seen before, such as mountains and hills!

Dropping off Madison next to another girl, Jubilee tsked and tutted as she saw that there were currently only the two of them. "Guess I gotta do everything around here... just wait here with the other girl." Jubilee blurted, before disappearing off to wherever. Madison shrugged, before looking around the courtyard some more. There was definitely a reason why they were here, and seeing that the slightly older girl was here, Madison was slightly relieved that it wasn't because of the topic she was going to be learning in biology. It still didn't completely relieve her anxiety, though. That just meant the other possibilities in her head had more freedom to take her mind over. Was she going to get expelled? Was she going to get relocated elsewhere? Was she going to be a part of some super secret thing? There were so many possibilities running through the girl's mind. Looking over, Madison realized the girl next to her was yet another unfamiliar face among many. Madison hadn't really been at the school for long to learn everyone's names. Still, what better way to get to know other people than talking to the only other person around? Maybe Madison would've gotten some answers.

"Do you know what's going on? I got pulled out of class by her. Did you as well?"

Nikita had chosen the back of the large class for a reason. With so many teachers that could read minds, or see out of the back of their heads, or whatever, the Classic Mythology teacher did not, and it was a rare opportunity for her to ghost out of class. She was pretty sure the teacher probably figured out she was doing it, but Nikita was able to answer every question correctly, and always made straight A's. Why, because her overbearing mother had run her through this material when she was homeschooled in middle school. She had no idea how advanced her mother had pushed her until she got here... Though she also didn't know how much her mother had neglected. Her mother, finatical Christian that she was, didn't care for science, so Nikita has to struggle in those classes to keep up. She liked the challenge though.

Nikita never went far, simply drifting up through the walls to the roof where she could have a quick smoke, and get a little sun before returning to doze off again. To her credit, she did bring her work book to read while she smoked, though she was a couple chapters ahead of where the class was. She found it fasting how guys like Thor being around didn't change Norse mythology out of the "classic" genre and make it modern. Whatever.

She took a long drag of her cigarette, looking up from her book to gaze out over the treetops that stretched out behind the school, remembering her times of running through the woods back home. Her soft grew eyes, doing a slow scan, spotting different landmarks she had found while exploring them last weekend. It was nice here. Peaceful. While she didn't have any "besties" she seemed to be getting along ok. At least she didn't hate her roommate, that was a plus. And she was really getting the hang of this Ghosting thing, even if she still didn't understand it all that well.

"You know..." The sudden voice behind her made her hickup mid drag and ghost reflexively intangible, though still visible. "If the class bores you this much, you can test out of it. We know you know the materials." Nikita looked back to see Kitty. She looked disappointed, but not suprised. This wasn't the first time Kitty had been sent to find her.

"I know, miss Pride, but I like having an easy class in the middle of the day." She lifted the cig, as if that answered everything. Kitty had caught her smoking before, and had tried the traditional 'smoking will kill you' talk, to which Nikita always responded with a grin, and turning into a ghost. Nikita looked to her part time mentor, "Did I miss something important?"

"I was supposed to be pulling you Out of class. I told your teacher, and she didn't seem any more suprised than I am that you weren't there. We need you in the courtyard for a meeting. Not about you skipping class, we will have that talk later." Kitty had almost the same disapproval stance her mother had. "Now, Nikita."

"Yes ma'am," Nikita answered, scooping up her book and getting quickly to her feet. She quickly ghosted the rest of the way and headed for the courtyard in a straight line through the building. She paused only a moment in her room to drop her book and snag her hat before continuing down. Once she reached the other two girls, she abruptly materialised next to them, slipping her hat on. "Hey girls, Y'all get pulled for a meeting too?"

Nikita had become known for appearing randomly next to people, among other things, in her time here. She was flitty, and loved giving people a little scare to lighten the mood. Maybe her code name should be Casper.

Heidi no longer needed to take classes. You couldn't really spend a year teaching a mutant who could teach herself the entire curriculum to an A+ standard in one day. That said, she would be bored without the daily structure, so was currently sitting in a History class. History as actually a rather interesting subject for Heidi, because every lesson, every textbook, every different source taught something brand new that you wouldn't find in all your previous sources. She could actually learn new things by attending the class, that she couldn't learn from finding academic textbooks and getting through them all in one night, which had been her method for passing most of her other classes on the second day, choosing to instead devote the time she'd spend 'learning' instead reading or skipping class entirely to work on her...secret project.

This History class also had the distinction of actually being for her age group, which was preferable to the embarrassment of sitting with children 18 or older, though this class also had it's downsides. Heidi was seen as a smartass and a teacher's pet, and all manner of things which the other kids labelled her in an attempt to spin their jealousy into something that she was doing and that was her fault. This, coupled with Heidi's hearing impairment, and also her difficulty in having conversations without getting overwhelmed, meant that she didn't have any friends in this class. Of course, she had difficulty making friends in general, but she found that older students would often put energy into becoming Heidi's friend, and being rewarded with Heidi's eventual ability to relax around them and say the first thing she thinks.

Heidi was interrupted by a thought entering her head, telling her that she will be called out of the class by Jean Grey, and to start preparing and packing away her books now, which she promptly did without question, running through the likelihood of every conceivable reason she would be called away by a teacher. She knew she wasn't in trouble. It was very likely to be because of how difficult she was to teach, or maybe they had found out about her little 'secret project'. After all, it wasn't exactly on the curriculum to build a combat exoskeleton in your dorm room but Heidi had dreams of joining the X-Men, and she wasn't exactly going to be called upon if she couldn't go toe-to-toe with the Brotherhood in a fight.

Wasn't she?

Before Heidi knew it, she blinked, and she was standing in the courtyard. Jean had collected her from class, walked with her, and the two had engaged in light conversation before Jean dropped her off and went to collect more students. Heidi, looking back on the memories of what she'd been doing whilst she was on auto-pilot and it's amazing how much easier she found talking when she wasn't thinking about it. Maybe this is how she should talk to people from now on, though she would prefer more control over what she was saying than that. Heidi noticed that there were three other girls there. All older than her. Non of whom she'd ever spoken to properly, though she knew the names, ages and mutant abilities of each. She paid attention to the student roster. She liked knowing who she was in school with, and what they could do.

---

Mrs. Alivine's office was a quaint little room, a cliché of sorts cramped and messy as it was. Stacks of paper covered an already cluttered desk with pencils, staplers, files, and food wrappers scattered here and there with seemingly little abandon to an overall structure. There seemed to be some method to the chaos, though whatever it was remained locked entirely inside the mysterious mind of the scaly English professor bent in studious pose over her desk. She tapped rhythmically at the two sheets of note paper stapled together in front of her, reading over the contents contained with rapid eye movements of the literarily inclined. She was a strange old women, most of her body covered in flesh colored scales that rippled like a snakes skin when she moved. She had a reputation for spitting fire when she was angry, figuratively and literally, and bore a more intimidating presence then one would assume from a five foot tall older lady. She had earned the label Lady Dragon despite only every teaching at Xavier’s School, and upheld her title and fame even into her later years. She shook her head from time to time muttering, “Simply frightful,” and “Such unacceptable formatting.”

Sitting before her like a man condemned in court was Basil Floros, a Mediterranean boy of sixteen, who for the moment was being ignored and was thankful for it. His flimsy four legged stool, which could not appropriately receive the honorary title of chair creaked beneath his bulk as he shifted about with a nervous energy. He’d grown bored with watching his teacher, however strange her appearance, read and instead lolled his head from one side to another, searching for something interesting to look at. Despite a small picture, whom Basil assumed was the teacher’s family, and a paperclip Eiffel Tower model up on a shelf there wasn’t much of interest, at least not or a teenage boy who’d been cooped up indoors for the past few hours. At least her scratchy voiced scolding had ceased giving him some peace of mind.

“A D, and feel fortunate for it Mr. Floros.”

Basil jumped, straightening up in his chair and looking around. He hadn’t been paying attention and it appeared the judge, jury, and executioner had made her decision at last. “Ahm sorry ma’am, uh, what’d you say?”

“What did you say. Say it properly. I will not tolerate this half-baked behavior in your writing nor your speech young man.” Mrs. Alivine scolded, rapping her desktop with a ruler to annunciate her point. “You continue to struggle in my class for no other reason than your lack of effort, such is your only shortcoming as far as I can tell, from my limited association with you. Whether this is the case or not, you will find you would no longer struggle should you apply yourself diligently. You are not unintelligent, I am sure. However I am led to believe foolish disgraces such as the one you presented me today,” here she slapped the paper on her desk. “Are derived from laziness above all else. I demand excellence from all my students, and no excuse shall justify…. This. Did you truly think I would not expect higher standards? Is that the impression I deliver?”

“But I…” Basil was saved from trying to find an answer to the rhetorical question presented when a sharp knocked sounded on the office door. Scott Summers, one of the school executives and leaders of the institution. Basil sat up a little straighter in his chair his heart skipping a beat at the sight of the ruby-tinged glasses. It was one thing to be scolded by Mrs. Alivine, and another entirely to get a dressing down from one of the most influential people at Xavier’s. Had his paper been that terrible?

“I’m not interrupting am I?” Scott asked before continuing on as if it didn’t matter whether he was interrupting or not. “I have important business with Basil today, I would surely hope you wouldn’t mind too much if I take him off your hands.”

“Can it wait?”

“No, I – we have need of his services now. You will have to continue with Basil another time.”


A grin spread across Basil’s face and he collected his school bag, standing up and reaching for his paper. Mrs. Alivine, despite looking as if she would very much like to made no protest to this and showed him to the door. “This is highly inconvenient Scott, I hope your ‘business’ doesn’t affect his grades to an even lower point average. He needs tutoring not training. You know very well I disapprove of this plan of yours.”

Basil’s head whirled with questions. Training? Business? Plan? What exactly was going on? He determined to ask the moment they stepped from the office, as long as Scott kept up this air of mystery and didn’t explain himself.

“I am aware Mrs. A.” Scott said, looking a bit unsettled with Alivine’s stare. Apparently even he didn’t enjoy staring down the Lady Dragon’s brimstone-like eyes. “I think the discipline and teamwork will do him good in those regards. And if not I shall ensure his grades improve personally. Come on Basil.” He led the way out of the office, down the halls and stairs and across the wooden floors of the school at an easy pace, clearly not in any hurry. Much to Basil’s disappointment Scott started up a conversation, contrary to what Basil wished to discuss before the Greek could so much as utter the questions that sat on the tip of his tongue. “Why exactly were you in her office just now? I expected to find you in the history classroom. Is it something I should know about?”

Basil sucked in air through his teeth, wincing a little at the embarrassment accompanying the question posed. “Ah, no, not exactly sir. I was ah… Not in trouble, as you think. No. Ah, she not like my paper, she says I did not do paragraph like she likes yeah. She said do multiple, ah, paragraph. And I only did two, and she says I only do two because there are two papers, which separates them. And I told her, ah, I said no, I did five paragraph like she asked, but apparently you need bigger spaces between paragraph, which I thought I did properly but I ah, did them wrong. I guess. Yes. And she thinks my writing is bad. I dunno, I worked very hard to try and make perfect paper, but ah, she did not like it. I thought it was good, the best. But no, she did not like it at all.”

Scott frowned, as if he was trying to mull over the scattered ramblings and understand them to their fullest. “Comprehension and following instructions to the letter is vital.” He stated, as if it was all as simple as that. “What Mrs. Alivine is trying to teach you is the discipline, to not only listen and understand, but follow those instructions to a T. She has been here a long time and knows the trouble you will face, and that exactness is key to thriving. You’ll learn this exorbitantly in the coming months I would assume.”

“Ah, yes, wh-what exactly wou-“

“I also think,” Scott continued cutting Basil off. “That perhaps the language barrier might be a problem here. Surely Mrs. Alivine knows that, though she is the type to not except any sort of excuse, even one as blatant as that. I will talk with her later.”

The two stepped out into the courtyard, where a cool breeze welcomed them into the glorious outdoors. Basil breathed in deep lungful’s of fresh air, glad for the chance to get away from the stuffy old codgers and their books. Scott left him there with no other explanation but to wait with the few others already present before disappearing back into the mansion.

Basil’s stroke of luck was only improving it seemed when he recognized the four girls small talking in the center of the enclosed yard. He waved, smiling at Heidi, Madison, and Roxy, while giving Nikita a sly wink. “Ah, I have my eye on you Nikita.” He warned the latter of the four, joining them and sticking his hands in his pockets. “This isn’t some, uh, ah elaborate trick no? Cause I’ll catch it, you’ll see.” He joined their little group with ease, knowing all of them at least to an extent. Heidi and Madison less so with the former being nothing more than a name and face without much knowledge of the person behind it. Indeed he barely knew Heidi beyond the fact that she was smart, and silent like a shy owl. Making a point of drawing everyone's attention he looked from one to the other, his eyebrows raised questioningly. "So, ah, do any of you know, uh, what we are doing and why we were taken out of class? Not that I am complaining, but, ah, I do not know why."

BLINK
Location: Classroom

Clarice Ferguson AKA “Blink” was trapped a room, facing her biggest enemy yet…math. She looked down at the notepad again, and ran her hands through her lavender hair in frustration. Then, suddenly, it all clicked. “The answer is 12,” Clarice finally said. Her teacher looked over Clarice’s work and smiled.

“That’s it Clarice, you got it,” Mrs. Jackson said. “Now, how about the next one?” Clarice groaned inwardly, but obediently picked up the pencil and started to work on the next equation.

When she had arrived here on this Earth, it was soon clear that while she was an excellent fighter, Clarice hadn’t had a proper education. In fact, she was so far behind, she couldn’t be in a regular class. Instead, Clarice would get one on one teaching.

Enter Barbara Jackson, a young and popular teacher who was just returning from maternity leave. She was not much older than Kitty, but was shorter, with blonde hair and a southern accent that was pure Georgia.

Mrs. Jackson had two important qualifiers that made her perfect for teaching mutant children. She was an excellent teacher with a huge reservoir of patience, and the “weird” stuff that went on at the mansion didn’t faze her one bit. Scott, Jean and Kitty met with Barbara just before she was scheduled to return to class, and asked if she would take on a special assignment. After explaining as much of Clarice’s history as they knew of, Barbara was shocked at what Clarice had gone through. But having never backed down from helping a child yet, she accepted the assignment.

Scott gave the two a lovely, sunny room to work in with plenty of school supplies. It didn’t start well. For Clarice, the room almost like a prison cell, and the first time she wanted out, she had simply teleported away right in the middle of a lesson. Scott soon caught Clarice and after scolding her, sent her right back to apologize to Mrs Jackson. Clarice could now see why in her world he had become “Prelate Summers,” one of Apocalypse’s feared enforcers.

However, Barbara’s lessons and endless patience was starting to make an impression, and while they weren’t exactly friends yet, at least she got Clarice to not teleport away whenever she felt like avoiding class. She was a tough student, but the skills and brains were there, Barbara knew, she just had to bring them out.

Clarice was in the middle of another math problem when Kitty poked through the door, and quietly rapped on the wall. Mrs. Jackson turned around, and Clarice looked up from her work.

“How’s it going today, Clarice?” Kitty asked with a cheery smile.

“Ok, I guess.” She shrugged. Mrs. Roberts on the other hand was a bit more descriptive. “She’s doing well on her math today…very well,” Mrs Jackson said with happiness as she looked over at her student.

Kitty nodded, taking it in for a second before coming fully into the room. “Well, I’m sorry Barbara, but I got to take Clarice away from you.” Mrs. Jackson nodded. “Well, I guess that it for today,” she said. “I expect you to be here again tomorrow at 8 o’clock, ya hear?”

Clarice nodded, but in her mind flashed one word: “freedom!”

“Can you go down to the court yard and meet with some of the other students, please,” Kitty asked.

The lavender skinned mutant smiled, and before anybody could say anything more, there was a loud ‘BLINK!’ sound as she formed one of her teleportation portals and jumped through it, without saying so much as a goodbye.

“Sheesh,” Kitty said. “I’m sorry about that Barbara.”

“No…it’s all right Kitty,” Barbara said, though she was clearly disappointed. She tidied up the table before picking up her purse and starting out the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

---

---

---

Tilly was lost. Again. It was her daily activity, getting lost. She cursed and kicked a nearby wall as she tried to figure out the messy scribbles on the piece of paper in her hand. It was clearly a map she had drawn for herself, not that it helped much. Maybe if she could actually read her own handwriting. Squinting at the crinkled paper, she tilted it to one side and then slapped herself in the forehead. It was upside down. Of course it was. Groaning to herself, she turned around and started heading back down the hallway she had just turned in.

She was going to be so late for her class. Whatever the class was. She had already forgotten. Glancing back down at the sheet she noticed a scribbled schedule with English underlined. That had to be the one. She grimaced at the thought of the class and turned another corner. It had been over six months since she had been at the school. She thought. Maybe it was closer to a year. All she knew was that it was run by some X-Force people. It was X-Force right? Or X-People? X-Folk? It was something with an 'X'.

While engrossed in thoughts of the X-Crew, Tilly never noticed the young woman in front of her until she ran headfirst into her. Her tiny frame bounced back and landed on the ground. "Shit! Fuck!" Tilly clutched at her head, rubbing the sore spot. "Oh Tilly! I was just looking for you." Still holding onto her head Tilly stared at her in confusion. Did she hear her right, or did she just hit her head harder than she thought? Pushing herself up she said "Yeah... Um... No offense, but who are you? I got this condition...". The woman waved her explanation off. With a grin she replied "Oh no worries, I know all about that. I'm Jubilee. We've met before. I'm kind of like a teacher here."

Tilly sighed slightly with relief. Good, she didn't have to explain herself again. Sticking out her hand she said, "Nice to meet you Jubs!" Glancing down at her wrist she read the tiny writing underneath her left thumb. "Tilly R." Right. That was her name. "Um... I'm Tilly Riever." That was correct, right? She held her hand out for a second, before realizing it was kind of awkward to be reintroducing yourself to someone who knew you. "So... you needed me for something?"

"Yup! Just follow me to the courtyard. We're gathering everyone right now, then we'll explain it all. You got your camera right? You'll probably want to remember this." Her camera? Reaching around for her bag, she glanced through its contents. Damn there was a lot of crap in there. Digging around she grasped something metallic and pulled. A small digital camera. "I guess I do." She flicked the on button and screened through the details on display. Like she had done this a thousand times, she adjusted the settings quickly. Pointing it a Jubilee she snapped a quick picture, before stuffing it back in her pack. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's go." Tilly started walking down the hallway. "Tilly. It's this way."

"Right, I knew that."

---

---

Jubilee led the way as they walked to the courtyard. Tilly made sure to stay close behind, careful so as to not get lost. She wanted to ask her guide where they were going and why, but she figured she had already been told that. Better to just figure it out when they got there. When they arrived, Jubilee mentioned something about finding other students before waving and walking off. Tilly waved back shouting, "Thanks Jamboree! See ya later."

First thing she noticed as she stepped out of the hallway was the breeze. It was cool and refreshing. Or it would have been if she hadn't been wearing a tang top. Tilly hated the cold. Shivering slightly she glanced around the courtyard. Seeing a couple of other students, she began walking towards them. "Hey guys!" She waved as she called out. "You all here for the... the..." Her train of thought blanked. Did she know what they were here for? And what was she just saying? Sticking out her hand she said, "Hi, I'm Tilly Richardson!"

---

Dark brown stared outside of the window that was beside her desk. Her chin rested inside the palm of her hand as she let out a soft sigh, not really wanting to be in this class right now. Hayden disliked sitting there while the teacher explained something so small and quite easy to someone that did not understand what was going on. She broke out of her stare and snapped back into reality for a moment while her gaze went over towards the student who still wasn't getting it.

'Come on. It's not that hard.' Hayden thought to herself with an eye roll as she started to doodle onto the top of her notebook now. The teacher stopped helping the student for a moment and assigned the rest of the class an assignment in the meantime. She quickly opened up her textbook and went to work but occasionally, she would add to her doodle within her the top of her notebook.

A few minutes passed by and she was finished then dismissed from the class. Hayden gathered her belongings and seemingly ran out of the classroom before she ran into Jean, her mentor. "Hey there, Jean." Hayden acknowledged her and even offered her a small wave of her hand. Before Hayden could walk further, Jean stopped her in her tracks and Hayden had no choice but to hit a 180. She raised a slight brow because she was confused about why she had to go to the courtyard.

Jean saw Hayden's confused look and mentioned to her to just trust her with a smile at the end. Of course, Hayden was still confused but first, she dropped her belongings off into her room then made a trek towards the courtyard. She stood at the door while her eyes gazed upon the already gathered group of people. 'What's going on? Are we in some sort of trouble?' She thought to herself while being a little hesitant about going further out there.

'Just go out there, Hayden. You won't be sorry that you did.' Jean communicated to Hayden telepathically as Hayden did not really like that but with a sigh and a push of the door before her, she was walking further towards the courtyard. When she got there, she stared at everyone present then parted her lips to speak.

"Guess we're all here for whatever." She muttered loud enough for them all to hear. "By the way, does anyone know why we're here?" Hayden inquired and hoped that someone had the answer she was looking for.

---

---

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Austin rested his chin in his palm as he listened to the second hand drag it’s way around the clock, tick after sickening tick. How much longer was he going to have to sit through this lecture about some subject he couldn’t be bothered to give a fuck about. Sighing, he looked up at the clock. An hour still remained between him and lunch. Fuuuuuuck

Just as Austin was beginning to debate whether or not he could subtly induce vomiting, Ms. Lee opened the door to the classroom, stepping in so that her frame obscured the hall from view. This was enough to prompt Austin from his sedated state of boredom. There was something about the sound of the classroom door opening that broke the haze that seemed to cloud the room, and his mind.

“Hey, I just need to grab Austin Anderson,” Jubilee said, scanning the room, her eyes eventually landing on him. Austin looked at her for a moment, before getting up and out of his seat, packing his things away. A million thoughts raced through his head as he pondered why he was being called out of class. He never got called out, never. So what made today any different?

Austin followed Jubilee out into the courtyard, his bag slung over one shoulder. Austin recognized some of the other kids in the yard. Micah, Roxy, Hayden, Basil, that one girl who was always forgetting shit. Austin had been around long enough that he really got to know everybody it felt like, at least a little bit. Austin took a spot near the others, folding his arms across his chest as he looked them all over. They were going over ideas of why they were there, but no one seemed to have any ideas.

Turning around, Austin watched Jubilee go back inside the mansion. Weird. What the hell is going on? Austin thought, looking around the courtyard expecting the answer to leap out at him. He waited a moment. No such luck. Well, there was one bright side to this, Austin was pretty sure they wouldn’t be kicking all of them out, so that meant it was something cooler. Probably.

Apollo & Khairo

Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters | Manhattan, New York
Mentions | @Afro Samurai

---

It had only been a little over 10 minutes. There were only four people left standing. He had been trained to fight through many battles. To maintain tranquility and balance throughout all situations he encountered. To use wit along with his physical capabilities. Yet, it was still ever chilling to successfully gain victory. Many a time had he been faced with this challenge. Though this time, the ones who set them up made a major miscalculation to put them on the same squadron.

The young warrior convinced himself that he could do this. After all, his father was the Immortal Iron Fist. Failure was never an option, only a consequence. His ochre eyes moved quickly, watching his opponents' movements in detail. Their opposing elbow was extended, and their throwing hand cocked backward. It looked as though their aim was toward he himself. In any other instance, Kai would prepare himself for a dodge, the last second shift in eye contact signalled something else.

They were going to target his companion! Though, it was clear that it wouldn't be where he could potentially catch it. Instead, they were going to throw it at his legs, knowing that he wasn't as agile as Kai himself. That meant there was little time to waste.

The boy sprinted from his position as the red projectile escaped his opponent's hand. An exhale left his lips as he leapt into the air to dive into the way. Although it appeared as if the object, moving at its current velocity, would hit Kai's stomach midair, his body curled instead. Extending his hands below him, he snatched the red orb out of the air.

Still having a lot of forward momentum, Kai tucked his legs into a forward flip. On the dismount, he managed to plant both of his feet sturdily but the dusty gymnasium floor caused his sneakers to slide. With this inadvertant landing place, Kai slipped and fell onto his back. His opponent was out due to that catch, yes, but Kai still found himself frowning some.

Mild laughs echoed from around him. He wasn't out of bounds, and the time to complete their task still continued. There was some hesitation in getting up, but not out of pain. There was a blow of humiliation that sent ripples through him.

P.E. was always the subject that could leave him with this sort of feeling. He had zoned out again...Kai sighed but simply passed the ball over to his much taller teammate and friend. It was clear who was going to stand victorious in this round of dodgeball, considering their past win streak as a team.

It was actually a surprise that this was the result, considering that they were most often put on opposing teams because of their synergy. One opponent remained, and Kai had a feeling about what was going to happen.

Kai, the dancing willow; Cage, the unbreakable stone--together, unstoppable. Across from the duo stood their lone opponent who knew he was at the mercy of Mansion’s reigning dodgeball kings. In Cage’s hand was the squishy red styrofoam ball. In his hands he held the fate of Richard Waters, a wiry cyrokinetic who was today, in this instant, simple cannon fodder. Today, Cage was inclined to show him mercy as a lively voice breached the raucous,

”Hey! Looking for a err, Kai and Apollo?”

Heads turned, silence came over the stuffy--and sweaty--gym. Many hearts fluttered, but none so strong as Apollo’s. Jubilation Lee! To her there was color, life; if he was a skilled pedant and a little more cliche, he would have recited for her a Shakespeare sonnet. His attention fixed on her and in his right hand where he held the styrofoam dodgeball he applied a bit too much pressure and popped it. Infatuation bade Apollo to hear nothing.

Truncated succession of soundless but parting lips made him look foolish. Words, words! But, he managed none. In his partner and friend he looked for aid, one of his large hands slapped Kai on the back; a little help in a time of desperation. When one stumbled, the other picked up the slack.

Kai's focus was very much still on the target when he got back up, though, he noticed hesitation. It was like the room froze and everyone looked in his general direction. The young man was somewhat confused but jolted slightly when he heard the pop, turning to follow Apollo's gaze. As it were, he found that they were being met with the presence of Jubilee. She was one of the more prominant and memorable personalities of the Institute. Along with that, she was a veteran member of the X-Men, and as such, she merited the youthful warrior's respect.

Though when she announced her reason for coming here, Kai's expression straightened. She was commissioned to search for them? Unusual. Did this have to do with the weird scheduling they were getting lately? Did...Iro do something again? Apollo didn't inform him of such. He would've looked up to his companion for some sort of guidance, but it was clear from his lingering eyes, that no words would leave him. Seeing no need to let awkwardness lay in the air, Kai spoke up for them both.

"That would be us, Ms. Lee." A hand gestured to the both of them to grab her attention.

“Miss Lee, huh?” She shook her head. It was hard to tell if it was a chuckle or a scoff. Kai merely rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to take that. “We're gonna need you guys in the courtyard. Besides, looks like your game's done anyway...” Was a comment, followed by a wave to follow her.

Khairo blinked. Well this was new. They never were called up for anything out of the oridinary while at school. He feared that they might've found out about some of the exams that he had done for Apollo at times. Nonetheless, he took his place in following outside.

What challenges would this day provide them? Kai did not know, but was ready to face them.

Just when she started to complain about being bored, other people actually showed up! What a coincidence. The first person was a girl she was loosely familiar with at best: Madison Barkley. Quickly brushing her bangs out of her face, Roxy eyed the girl as she entered the courtyard. She felt somehow indignant at being referred to as the other girl, but Jubilee was gone before she could say anything about it. For a moment-a painfully awkward moment-the two girls just stood waiting. Finally, Madison actually asked a fair question: what exactly was going on? "No clue. But yeah, she pulled me out of my bio class. Maybe we're all getting expelled or something." She was kidding, obviously; she hadn't done anything expulsion-worthy. At least, not to her knowledge.

The second person was a bit of a surprise to Roxy: Heidi Williams. The super smart chick that Roxy secretly thought was pretty cute. Roxy was kind of miffed that a girl two years younger than her had a better grade in bio, but...well, mutation and all. Roxy took solace in the fact that Heidi probably couldn't sprout wings out of her back. That was her thing. "Uh...hey," she spoke, not really knowing what to say. The look in Heidi's eyes was almost unnerving, like she was studying everything, but maybe it was just in her head. "Three girls. Weird," Roxy observed, wondering if their gender had anything to do with whatever was happening.

Of course, this observation was proved to be mostly useless when Basil Floros was herded into the courtyard. Roxy felt a sudden rush of relief: someone she not only knew well, but actually liked! She gave him a wave and a soft smile, though his presence here was fairly confusing to her. "None of us really know what's going on. It seems like we're just being pulled out of class one by one." Roxy hoped he might know something, but evidently he did not. At least she wouldn't have to actually get to know any new people; she could just stick with him. It was nice having a familiar face among the growing group of students.

The next pair of students to join were two more sort-of-acquaintances: Tilly Roberts and Clarice Ferguson. Of course, Tilly introduced herself as Tilly Richardson, which was...not correct. Roxy only knew that since she'd spoken with Tilly a few times. It was pretty humiliating when she tried to talk to Tilly and found the girl had completely forgotten her existence; after that, Roxy stopped trying completely. You can only introduce yourself to someone so many times before you get tired of it, right? Still, she shook the girl's hand, knowing it would be pretty bitchy to not at least be friendly. "Hi. I'm...Roxy," she said, nodding. In that moment she realized she could have said any name, since Tilly would just forget, but she brushed the thought aside.

Next up was another dude, Micah Jones. Another person Roxy secretly thought was cute, even though his powers seriously freaked her out. Theoretically, he might not even be real. He could be literally anywhere, right? Something about that just wasn't right to her. She resisted the urge to poke him to make sure it wasn't some kind of holographic mind projection she was about to speak to, but it was very hard to do so. "A field trip is a safe enough bet," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. Deep down though, Roxy knew it probably wasn't a field trip. They were a seemingly randomly selected group of children, varying in age, grade level, classes, and abilities. What field trip could they possibly go on?

For a brief moment, Roxy felt kind of okay with the people around her. But then-like with everything in life-something came along to ruin her contentment. That thing was Hayden Rachel Lee. Roxy rolled her eyes the second she saw the girl come into view, crossing her arms. To Roxy, Hayden was the embodiment of the "teenage high school girl" cliche. The only achievement in Hayden's life-being a hot person-seemed like the only thing that mattered to her. She had to deal with Hayden much more than she preferred to, since Basil happened to be friends with her. Somehow. Roxy never said anything to him about his questionable choice in friends, but she always hoped he'd get sick of her obnoxious personality. Or her outfits, which were basically just stolen from Mean Girls. Or her three inch-thick makeup.

Up next was rejected One Direction member Austin Anderson. Roxy had spoken maybe two words to the guy in the couple years she'd been aware of his existence, which didn't really bother her. To his credit, she thought force fields were pretty fucking cool, but that was all she really knew about him. At the very least, he was just another confused teenager to add to the group. Looking around, Roxy realized they were actually kind of a big group now. Hopefully this was as big as their group was going to get.

And yet, two more people joined in on the fun: Apollo Cage and Khairo Rand-Wing. AKA, Mr. Incredible and Avatar: The Last Airbender. They were brought to the courtyard at the same time, which led Roxy to believe they were together to begin with. Not surprising, considering they were both avid fans of punching stuff. She wasn't exactly judging them for it-she had her own appreciation for punching stuff-but they were both much stronger than she was. And much taller. They made her hyper-conscious of her own height, which was...kind of annoying. From a scientific perspective, Apollo was pretty interesting: his powers were like his father's, even though Luke Cage's abilities were the result of a scientific experiment or something. So, that's cool.

Finally-finally-Scott Summers stepped forward to address the group of kids. Actual Scott Summers. That was kind of weird; if this were any ordinary school event, why would it be him? Suddenly, Roxy's unease came rushing back, sending chills up her spine. She was excited, anxious, and curious all at once, culminating in a rapid heartbeat as Scott began speaking to them. Roxy felt something drop in her chest the instant he said "bad news"; she let out a shaky breath, trying to calm herself down and listen. Her eyes widened as Scott segued into anti-mutant groups, her hands tightening into fists. Terrorists. Honest-to-God terrorists. "Fucking hell," she mumbled under her breath. Eight mutant kids gone? Just like that? Other mutants murdering someone? She felt herself getting lightheaded, and blinked her eyes in an attempt to get rid of the spots in her vision.

As a matter of fact, Roxy almost felt herself pass out completely when Scott asked them to become the new X-Men. As in, "become a group of people who risk their lives for a living". She'd taken up martial arts as a means of self defense, not as a means of attacking people. And yet, something in her heart stirred: kidnapped children, who were just like her, needed help. Whatever fears she had paled in comparison to eight innocent lives, right? And Logan...Logan taught her how to protect herself and others. Her whole life she'd always assumed she'd be just like her parents: a biologist. But could she live with herself knowing she chose the easy way out? When maybe she could save someone's life? Save multiple people's lives? She had these powers, but what for?

Maybe this was it.

Before she could even think to hesitate, she stepped forward and spoke: "I'll do it." She could hear her mother's voice in her head: "Mija, what are you doing? You're a child!" But her mother wasn't here to stop her, right? And it wasn't like this was a permanent thing; at the very least, she wanted to help protect those protesters. Maybe she could just...try it out and see what happened from there.

More students joined the group, and like her, nobody knew what was going on. There was little rhyme or reason to the group. Nothing that this particular group had in common that set them apart from other students. She ran through likely reasons this group had been assembled, and the possibilities diminished with every new face added to the group, and still nobody knew why. A field trip was unlikely, as that would likely be on a class or age basis, and would be announced a head of time. Field trips weren't drooped onto students without notice with a foster made up bu lottery, so Heidi dismissed that possibility. Heidi was massive Sherlock Holmes fan growing up, and line in particular had always stood out her. Of course nothing was impossible, and the illogical couldn't be entirely discounted, but she had modified the famous line into something a little more foolproof;

'When you have eliminated the illogical scenarios, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the most likely outcome.'

And it was increasingly becoming apparent that the most likely reason for their gathering was indeed X-men related. Heidi was beginning to get excited, and wore a slight smile. Thankfully she calculated that nobody would likely notice it. When Scott entered the room, Heidi was nervous, to find out whether or not she was right. Unfortunately, he wasn't standing still at the far end of the room, but in the middle of them, so Heidi had to move around the room as he talked, making sure she could always see his lips move. She felt very self-conscious about having to move around like this and many of the other kids must have wondered what she was doing. Her brain could make up for most deficiencies, and her grades had given her a reputation, but barely anybody knew she was deaf. She didn't keep it a secret, but word had spread directly proportional in volume to how much she ever talks about herself to others, I.E. nothing.

With Scott's glasses covering his eyes, and brow ridge, Heidi had to particularly pay attention to the rest of his face, and his body language, to discern his tone of voice. Despite this, she managed to understand fully everything Scott was saying. Anti-Mutant groups were having a surge in popularity, perhaps because it had been so peaceful and they sensed an opportunity. There was nothing Heidi could recall that would have set them off. What was worse, was that they had kidnapped children. Heidi had always been appalled by these extremists. In the same way that nobody despises Stalinism more than a Socialist, nobody despised Anti-Mutant groups more than the very Pro-Registration Heidi Williams.

Something that concerned her equally were that the Pro-Mutant protesters opposing these groups sounded as if they were invoking the name of the Brotherhood as if they were heroes. That was wrong. Terrorists bent on actual world domination were not heroes. This was exactly why Mutantkind needed the X-men. They needed Heroes who showed everyone a better way. The X-Men were the manifestation of the hope that mutants and humans could be truly equal one day. Heidi didn't find it puzzling that the Avengers weren't getting involved. They weren't bouncers or barrier security. Their purpose was to fight threats that nobody else could. Expecting them to help here instead of the X-men was like expecting the coastguard to help de-escalate a mid city hostage situation. It wasn't their job. It was ours.

Heidi knew what Scott was going to ask before he even asked it, and she was ready to say yes, but hearing it actually asked of her caused a well of emotion to come out of nowhere. This had been her childhood dream, and now it was becoming a reality. For her. Heidi Williams, aged 15. A super-genius who had no physical mutations to speak of. She had to hold back tears as she answered in the affirmative.

"I'm in, Mr. Summers. I'll try not to let you down."

Watching more and more people fill the courtyard, Madison still didn't know what was going. She didn't even know most of these faces. As much as she wanted to ask, she was much too shy to do so. The little girl wasn't sure as to what was happening. A field trip? Were they getting expelled? Madison sure hoped she wasn't going to get expelled - she liked to think that she was a good student despite the fact that she may or may not have had a good understanding of how the human body worked. She stayed out of trouble and she avoided being a nuisance. What else wasn't there to love about Madison? She was the perfect student.

The thought of what was going to happen was enough to whisk Madison away into an entirely different zone. She was so out of it that she hadn't even noticed the man with the rose-tinted glasses come in before he started to speak. The poor little girl was startled. Being yanked back into reality, Madison's eyes trailed the big man as he began to speak. A lot of this was new to Madison, which said a lot about her and just how new she was to this entire thing. A certain thing that Scott had said really stuck in her mind as he began to speak.

...there were anti-mutant groups?

Why would someone hate mutants? It's not like they wanted to be that way. The world was a crazy place, and Madison was only getting the tip. However, at the same time, there were also pro-mutant groups which restored some faith in Madison's perception in the world. Just because she wasn't like the others didn't mean she deserved to be discriminated against like that. She was just a small girl in a big world. Why was she the target of stuff like this? What did she ever do to these people? Madison was aware that it might not have directed at her specifically, but still it felt like it was at her.

Still, Madison felt like she had an obligation to stand up for herself and all the other mutants in the world. As a mutant herself, she couldn't just let this injustice go on. Not when she had the chance to actually do something about it. When it was time to volunteer, Madison raised her hand. "I'm in." Madison had no idea what she'd gotten herself into, but it was sure as hell better than sitting around in class all day and learning about stuff she wasn't going to use ever again.

BLINK

Clarice looked over as the other students volunteered one by one and shook her head sadly. It was a pretty speech that Mr. Summers gave, just as good as the speeches Magneto use to give her X-men. And like those speeches, it motivated people to do the right thing. But the cost…

Clarice was used to combat and war, and was tired of it. She had fought practically her whole life as an X-men or an Exile. She had more combat time than anyone here, with the possible exception of Mr. Summers. She knew what it was all about: the pain, the destruction, suffering, fear, and…death, too much death.

These kids, Clarice though of them as kids despite being the same age, really had no idea what they were getting into. But the fact that they were willing to fight for what they though was right was what made them brave, if foolish. Clarice too was glad there was peace between mutants and humans on this world. That she would fight for it was never in any doubt. But she also knew that she would have to protect her fellow classmates if there was to be a future at all.

“I’m in, Mr. Summers, 100%” Clarice said as she stepped forward.

---

---

---

Tilly missed the beginning of Scott's speech. She was standing in front of him and she heard the whole thing, she just didn't get the start of it on tape. Which meant it was as good as never having heard it. When she had first seen him, she had just assumed he was another kid joining them in the courtyard. But this man walked around too importantly. He had somewhere to go. By the time she figured out he was one of the teachers and found her camera again he was talking about missing kids. Great, that was a downer. No field trip.

While listening too all the information Scott offered, Tilly realized she really didn't know how she should feel. People were missing, revolutions were starting in the streets. All of it had to do with mutants, her own people. It sounded to her like an all out war was on the brinks. But... she didn't know any of these people that Scott was talking about. She had no memories to back up her decision. Normal people could draw on a lifetime of experiences to make a choice, Tilly was stuck with only her instinct. Cause that had never failed her.

Even worse than not having memories, she had no connections like everyone else in the room. Everyone else had people to think of and their memories to uphold. Tilly had no connections to anyone. Not anymore that she could remember. She was all alone with no one to trust. And if what Scott had told them was true, everything to fear. The only thing she had in common with any of them was her mutation.

Hell none of that should have even mattered. They were all kids. The oldest of them could not have been much older than 18. Were they really being recruited to be soldiers while studying at a school. That was crazy, right? And yet as soon as Scott's speech was over people began stepping forward, accepting the task to become a hero. "Wait... you're kidding right glasses? You really want us to become some sort of super-peacekeeper-troopers for your X-Band?" She glanced around like anyone else would think it was insane. "We're kids... We're not exactly soldier material. I mean am amnesiac who doesn't know what they ate for breakfast. Fucking hell I don't think I even had breakfast." There was a lot more that she couldn't remember, but she had gotten the point across. She didn't need to announce that that she couldn't remember her last name. Or that she had discovered her shirt was on backwards and its tag was really starting to itch. "This is serious. We're talking terrorists. We could die from something like this."