Storm took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Hear that?

No?

Exactly.

Things had been happening so quickly lately, sometimes one just needed to get away from it all.

Interestingly enough, it being finals week, the Danger Room was actually the quietest place in the Mansion.

Normally this time of the day—early evening—where she was sitting would be filled with costumed-up teenagers engaging in various combat exercises, the air filled with the sound of explosions and virtual (or robotic) enemies.

Not during finals week, though. This was one of the few weeks the place didn't see any use at all, as everyone was busy studying for their end-of-the-school-year comprehensive exams, whatever grade they were in. All the students were either in their rooms studying alone, or if they were in any of the same classes studying in groups in the dining room, or the living room, or the foyer, or outside in the courtyard—pretty much everywhere except the lower levels, actually.

Ororo, with the combination of her powers and her claustrophobia, tended to be an outside person. Normally when she wanted to "get away from it all", she literally would—she'd just walk out on the stone pathways to the edges of the Institute grounds, or perhaps take a short flight up into the clouds.

Increasingly she had become more of an indoor individual, however. Ever since the Nimrod attack, even looking outside, well—it brought back bad memories. Even though the burnt trees had been replaced, the blackened grass replaced with fresh sod, things still looked "artificial" outside. The trees were all the same age—fairly young and not as leafy as the old ones had been—and the hay was still covering any part of the grounds where the grass hadn't fully grown in yet.

And of course, there were Sam and Logan's graves on one side of the Mansion. She still went over to that side every week or so to pay her respects, but she purposefully made sure not to venture over there otherwise. The "feel" of that whole area could quickly send even the best mood crashing downwards.

As it was with Ororo, so it was with the rest of the X-Men. If one had merely gone by what was said, what was done, it would have appeared that everything had gone back to normal within a few weeks of the Nimrod incident (or at least, as normal as life was at the Institute). But when it came to the tone of speech, body language—in other words, most of the core meaning of a conversation—things were entirely different, however. Jokes were almost always transparent attempts to try to forget what they had lost. Laughter often seemed forced, but sadness and anger genuine. The kidnapping of the two Jamies, the incident between Amara and Tabitha, the increasing uncertainties about the future-- they had only served to amplify this.

Just yesterday they had helped rescue survivors of a train wreck that had been caused by some new Mutant after the Brotherhood who had called himself Rockslide. He had apparently been killed, but the damage had been done—again. Seeing all the dead bodies from that horrible train wreck, helping the newly-crippled, the burned, the bloodied from the wreck, parents who had lost their children and visa versa—it had, again, caused an uncomfortable silence among the X-Men who had been there after their work had been completed and the police and fire department had taken over.

Even though the incident had taken place almost an hours' drive away, no one had said a word the entire way home.

It appeared that now, truly, the X-Men were learning what it meant to be X-Men.

And now it appeared that, with all that had gone on in the past few months, another big change was just around the corner—though thankfully, this change was mostly positive.

Kitty, Ray, Kurt, and Rogue were all graduating from Bayville High at the end of the week—Kitty a year early, and as a valedictorian, to boot.

The feeling was a bit different this time around, however. When Jean and Scott had both graduated a year ago, not much had changed. They had always been the unofficial leaders of the teenage X-Men, and all their graduation had done was make them official instructors, with the added bonus to the kids of "having been one of them".

Now, though, the status quo was definitely changing. Kitty had led one of the teams against Apocalypse, but otherwise none of the soon-to-be-graduates had really been any sort of leader or authority figure among the X-Men. Slowly the X-Men were aging, leaving behind school as they started their trek through adult life. Soon, it wouldn't be just a few "old" instructors at the top with a bunch of Mutant teenagers to take care of—an increasing number of the X-Men would be "full time", devoting their lives to the cause instead of just staying there to learn how to use their powers. They were slowly becoming less a school and more a base of operations, especially since all of the "initial" X-Men would soon be out of school (or, in Evan's case, no longer X-Men).

But, as Ororo had expected, not everyone was going to be staying at the Mansion forever. Although as of yet Rogue, Kurt, and Kitty had announced no plans to leave, they had known for quite some time now that Ray was leaving the X-Men once the school year as over. It was no big deal in Ray's case—in fact, he had let them all know his plans far earlier than the Nimrod incident, so it wasn't related to anything that had occurred as of late—he just didn't want to live life as an X-Man. He had come to the Institute to learn how to control his powers and be around other Mutants, and he had accomplished that. Now that he had a good schooling and a solid financial footing (something the runaway hadn't had during his brief time with the Morlocks after initially discovering his powers), he had a life he wanted to live. He had been accepted to a university in Texas, and was planning on leaving a few days after the graduation ceremony.

Ororo's eyes welled up at the thought of an X-Man leaving, but in truth she knew it was an idea she should have gotten used to. Of course not everyone was going to say at the Mansion. It was foolish to think that—just because someone had powers didn't mean they necessarily wanted them to define their entire life. Unlike the Brotherhood or the Acolytes, Xavier's Institute was here to help Mutants control and deal with their powers—not recruit soldiers. Roberto had also announced his intention to leave the Institute after he graduated next year, much to the dismay of Rahne, who as far as Ororo knew planned to stay an X-Man beyond graduation. Surely more would follow.

Still, Ray was going to be the first X-Man to voluntarily leave since Evan. It was going to be tough, especially for Bobby and Jubilee, who had lost their other closest friend just a few short months ago.

And then there was X-23…

Ororo was interrupted with her thoughts as the cell phone strapped to her uniform's belt started to ring. Sighing, she picked up the phone.

"Yes? This is Ororo."

*Ororo? Where are you? I've been looking all over the Mansion for you.*

"Hank?" Storm immediately stood up off the floor. His voice sounded strained, urgent. What now? "I'm down in the Danger Room. What's wrong?"

*Apparently something else had happened yesterday some time after you and the others had helped out the train wreck victims,* Hank sighed. *It's Tabitha, Ororo. Somehow, she's escaped from her cell.*

"Alright, Maxwell's equations, constitutive relations. Go."

"Um…" Kitty closed her eyes, massaging her temples as she tried to concentrate. "Okay, uh… the first one is, like…"

Tapping on the piece of paper on the kitchen table in front of her for a few seconds, Kitty quickly scribbled down the equation "D = e_o E" on it.

"Alright, good, good," Forge said, nodding his head in encouragement. "And what's the second variable there stand for?"

"The… permittbibbi—bleh. That's a tongue twister. The permittivity of free space," Kitty said, grinning slightly.

"Corrrrect," Forge said. "And the other two constitutive relations, what are they represented by?"

"B and J. Capitalized," Kitty replied confidently.

"Right again," Forge said, standing up slowly. "I'm telling ya, Kitty, you keep those equations memorized and you should have no problem on your test tomorrow. Heck, you're learning this stuff faster than anyone I've known—myself excluded, of course. You keep this up and in a few years, you could even give Mr. McCoy a run for his money."

"Right… in a few years…" Kitty said, chuckling sadly as her eyes dropped to the floor.

"Something wrong?" Forge asked, quirking an eyebrow at Kitty's sudden change in behavior.

"Huh?" Kitty replied, immediately perking up. "Uh… no, no. Just… remembering I have one other chapter I have to go over tonight…"

"Ah, gotcha," Forge replied, gathering together the notes he had brought in and tucking them under one shoulder. "Well, it's getting late. I should probably be getting home."

"Yeah, okay," Kitty said. "Thanks for your help, Forge. Hey, did your dad ever find all those clothes he was missing?"

"No, actually," Forge said, scratching his head. Both of them paused their conversation for a moment as X-23 came into the kitchen, but she paid them both no heed as she went searching through the cupboards for something. Picking up the conversation again, he continued, "It's the weirdest thing, they were just gone one day. And those were some expensive clothes, too. I don't think I ever borrowed them to wear when I came over here to visit, but continue to keep a look out for them, will ya?"

"Will do, Forge," Kitty smiled. "See you later."

"Bye," Forge waved as he walked out of the Mansion's kitchen in the direction of the foyer.

Kitty went back to her studies and continued to mentally quiz herself on the subject material, writing down equations and solving a few astrophysics problems. It wasn't until well into her third problem that she felt someone standing behind her.

Kitty sighed.

"What do you want, X—I mean, Laura? I need to study here."

"What are you learning?" Laura asked. Given her rather monotonous way of speaking when she wasn't angry, Kitty couldn't tell if X-23 was genuinely interested or just forcing herself into making conversation (something that the instructors had apparently been pushing her to do lately).

"I'm not technically learning anything, I'm just studying for my Astrophysics II final tomorrow. So I'm just, like, reviewing stuff I was taught over the last couple of months."

"…Why?"

"Huh?" Kitty said, turning around in her chair to look at Laura, the valedictorian's face twisted in a look of incomprehension. "What do you mean, why?"

"You've already been taught this," Laura said, looking over the equations scribbled on Kitty's notebook paper. "Why are you reviewing it again? It doesn't look like anything important to me."

"Actually, astrophysics is pretty important. It can help us detect and predict orbits of planets and other celestial bodies, and it—"

"No, I meant it's not important to us," Laura interrupted.

"Well, I think it's interesting…" Kitty said defensively.

"That's not what I meant," Laura said, frustrated. Searching for the right words, she continued, "I mean….it doesn't… it won't help us in our mission."

"Our 'mission'? Come on Laura, I know you've had a rough past, but it's time to snap out of it already."

"Our mission is to defeat Magneto's Acolytes. And the Brotherhood. And any other organizations, such as H.Y.D.R.A., that threaten us," Laura said. "Of course we have a mission. And learning astrophysics has nothing to do with that. Defensive tactics, combat maneuvers… they are what matter."

"Then why are you even in school?" Kitty said, slamming her notebook shut and standing up to face X-23. "If all you care about is killing other Mutants, why do you go back out on your own? I don't recall any of us besides the Professor or Logan ever saying we wanted you here, and they probably thought you'd have… I dunno… gotten more normal by now!"

Kitty immediately regretted what she had just said, but she didn't have a chance to apologize before X-23 responded.

"I am here because I have nowhere else to go," X-23 said, a slight bit of anger showing through but still amazingly emotionless in her demeanor. "I can normally defend myself, but H.Y.D.R.A. has weapons that can eliminate any advantages my combat training gives me. With dozens of other Mutants around, I am protected… at least moreso than if I were alone.

"And I go to school because my leader commands that I do so," Laura continued after a brief pause. "There is no other reason, to be truthful."

"Commands? Laura, after all this time do you still even know Professor Xavier? He isn't some sort of military commander—even though he runs the Mansion, he's our friend, our---"

"And that is exactly what needs to change around here if we are to succeed in our mission," Laura said.

"You know what?" Kitty said, her face turning red as she picked up her notebook. "I'm not arguing about this with you anymore. Live in whatever fantasy world you want. Just don't talk to me about it. This conversation is over."

Yet as X-23 watched wordlessly while Kitty walked swiftly out of the kitchen, they both knew it really wasn't.

"Alright sheriff," Hank sighed as he saw Ororo enter the police station through the main entrance, an inquisitive look on her face. "Show us the cell."

"Uh, yeah," the sheriff said, adjusting his hat and looking at both Hank and Ororo cautiously before unlocking the door that led to the police station's temporary cells. "The second one on the right was where we were holdin' Miss Smith."

"Wait a minute…," Ororo said, looking at the cell quizzically. "Officer, this can't be right… this cell looks completely untouched."

"With all due respect ma'am, how incompetent do you think we are?" the sheriff replied indignantly. "If we heard a buncha explosions comin' from back here, don't y' think one of us woulda investigated?"

"So Tabitha didn't use her powers to escape, then," Ororo said.

"My first thought was that the Brotherhood had helped her escape, probably Pyro given his powers and recent… fondness… for Tabitha," Hank said, thoroughly searching the cell to see if any evidence had been left behind. "Remember, Tabitha still has some pretty bad burns on her body from her encounter with Amara a while ago, as well as several broken bones. That's why Charles, the Bayville sheriff and myself decided it was okay to keep Tabitha in a normal cell temporarily until a more permanent cell could be built that could withstand her powers. After all, in her present state even if she could summon up the strength to use her powers, she wouldn't be able to make it more than a few painful steps before she was discovered."

"So then what happened?!" Ororo said. "I don't know about you, Hank, but I don't know any Mutants outside of the X-Men who can get Tabitha out of here without even a hint of damage."

"Well, normally I'd say it was possible that it was Mystique," Hank said, continuing to search the cell, "But she hates Tabitha, so I doubt recruiting the girl for the Brotherhood would be on the top of her list. Not to mention we know for a fact that she was incapacitated by this 'Rockslide' character last night."

"If I may step in for a moment," the sheriff said impatiently.

"What do you think happened, sheriff?" Ororo asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice that she was obviously trying to hide.

"Well, I'm not familiar with all of y'all's Mutant powers and all that—might have been if the Registration Act would ever pass, but if wishes were fishes… Anyways, uh, the security cameras caught a bit of an unusual light show last night… Here, follow me."

The sheriff led Beast and Storm into the station's interrogation room, where a TV equipped with a VCR had already been wheeled in on a cart prior to their arrival.

As both of the X-Men took their seats, the sheriff turned on the television set and pressed "Play" on the VCR. Instantly black-and-white security camera footage came onscreen.

"Alright, now comin' up pretty soon is the part where things get rather funny," the sheriff said. "This here's footage of the hallway in between the cells. Was taken about two o' clock last night. From the angle, you can't really see anyone in Miss Smith's cell very well as her cell's on the far end of the hall from the camera. But she was there when we took our last security check for the night at ten o'clock and nothin' on the camera shows anything up until now, so we can only assume that she was still in—"

The policeman stopped himself as a brief, bright flash of light suddenly emanated from Tabitha's cell.

"Okay, what was that?" Hank said.

"That's what we were hopin' you could tell us," the officer said. Fast-forwarding the tape slightly, he quickly let the play setting go back to its normal speed after about two minutes of 'tape time' had passed. "And here it comes, again."

Just as the officer had said, again the same light briefly flashed in Tabitha's cell.

"And that's it," the officer said, stopping the tape. "Nothing else of note the entire night."

"No sound?" Ororo asked.

"Nope, sorry. We ain't quite as well-funded as your Mutie Mansion."

"Two flashes, then nothing. I hate to say it, but it sounds an awful lot like Kurt helped her escape," Ororo said nervously.

"Kurt is subject to the occasional youthful indiscretion, I admit," Hank replied, "And I'm told he had fairly brief feelings for Tabitha, but he knows better than to try to spring her out of jail. There's no chance he would have done something like this. He was horrified—perhaps even heartbroken-- when he found out what Tabitha had done at Kelly's speech."

"I see," the sheriff said. "…And do either of you know any other Mutant who could have done something like this?"

"Um… not us, no," Hank said, his eyes darting around as he saw where this was going. "But officer, you have to believe—wait, rewind the tape, please."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just—please? Rewind it and pause it at either of the flashes of light."

The sheriff shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you say."

"There, you see that, Ororo?" Hank said, pointing to the flash on the screen just as the sheriff rewound and stopped the tape at the appropriate moment. "There, proof that Kurt didn't do it."

"How is that proof?" the sheriff asked skeptically.

"I see what he's getting at," Ororo said. "Play through the flash, in slow motion."

The sheriff did so, replying, "Okay, but I'm not seeing what—"

"There, see it?" Hank interrupted. "One bright flash. Evenly spread, comes in and out. Kurt's teleportation flashes aren't like that. There's a very brief, bright flash that isn't spread out this much, followed by a much brighter light right before the smoke ring flows outwards from wherever he just teleported to or from. And although we can't see enough of the cell to actually see anyone in it, Kurt's smoke ring radiates outwards enough where I would expect we'd at least see the edge of it in these pictures."

"So we're dealing with another teleporter?" Ororo asked.
"Looks like it," Hank said. "I'll have to talk to Xavier, see if he can't find out more about this."

"Now just hold on a darn minute!" the sheriff protested. "I have to file a full report on this and you expect me to believe that the only known Mutant teleporter—who has connections to the prisoner, however weak you may want me to believe they are—is not a suspect? My superiors are out for blood here after a terrorist here just 'disappeared', and tellin' them 'I don't know' ain't good enough."

"We can bring Kurt here easily enough to show you the light caused by his teleportation," Ororo said.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but given our utter lack of other leads, that's simply not good enough. A couple of slight irregularities in grainy, black-and-white security cam footage from the other side of the hall and you think that's enough for me to let this Kurt fella off scot-free?! No, ma'am. I'm gonna need Kurt to come down to the station ASAP. We're gonna have to hold him until we get more information on this mysterious 'other teleporter' you folks 're talking about."

"But Kurt is less than a week away from graduation, and has plenty of finals to study for!" Ororo protested. "He can't just—"

"That's not my problem, ma'am," the officer said. "Based on what we've got here and what you yourselves have admitted, we've got plenty of evidence to—"

"Alright, let me cut to the chase here, because this is how I see this eventually playing out," Hank interrupted, visibly agitated but trying to hold his anger back. "You force us to handle Kurt over. He does nothing while he's in jail, though he does miss graduation, not to mention months of freedom. Meanwhile, you get nowhere trying to find either Tabitha or the other Mutant teleporter. We eventually take you to court. The question is… do you really believe our evidence is weak enough that you'll win the case?"

The officer sputtered, but otherwise kept silent, his face quickly turning red.

"Because I can see that you want the Registration Act to pass," Hank continued. "And for it to pass, we Mutants have to keep coming off as the bad guys. If word gets out that you unjustly imprisoned a Mutant based on evidence that you were told at the time was weak, how do you think that will make us look? More importantly, do you think that will help or hinder passage of the Mutant Registration Act?"

Hank and the police officer just stood there, looking each other in the eyes for several seconds, before the officer finally sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Alright, alright. Get outta here before I change my mind."

The doors to Cerebro hissed open as Xavier rolled out on his automatic wheelchair.

Beast and Storm both looked up expectantly.

"Anything?" Storm asked.

Xavier nodded his head sadly. "No. Cerebro isn't picking up Tabitha's Mutant signature anywhere on the globe. Wherever she is, she's shielded from my scans."

"It seems like just about all of our enemies are doing that lately," Beast said, frustrated. "H.Y.D.R.A., the Acolytes, the Brotherhood… we really need to see if we can push this tech even further, try to break down these scanning barriers our enemies have somehow put up."

"I agree wholeheartedly," Xavier replied, "But at the moment, I'm not sure where to start."

"So, how does this help us?" Storm asked. "All it tells us is that Tabitha didn't escape of her own volition, which we already know. And it tells us that she's either with the Brotherhood, the Acolytes, or H.Y.D.R.A. Which really doesn't give us any leads at all, since we don't know where any of those groups are stationed at the moment."

"Well, as I said, I think we can safely rule out the Brotherhood," Beast said. "Mystique was incapacitated just over a day ago, I doubt they're already functioning to the point where they're carrying out kidnappings again."

"I unfortunately think this is just another of those 'wait and see' cases," Xavier sighed. "Quite frankly, part of me almost hopes she was kidnapped. Tabitha's changed a lot since she left the X-Men, but to think that she may actually have joined an enemy group of her own volition… it's quite chilling."

Beast and Storm both nodded their heads gravely in response.

"So, how are finals going for you guys?"

"Ugh, I have a he-headache," Cessily stuttered, her head slowly slumping onto the table in front of her. "I'm doing alright, I g-guess. Bs, maybe a couple of Cs if some of m-my guesses were u-unlucky. What about you?"

"Can't complain," Jubilee said, idly playing around with the mashed potatoes on her tray. "I think I might be doing a little worse than you—mostly Cs, I think—but passing is passing, right?"

"I think I might be borderline-failing Earth science," Rahne admitted sheepishly. "All these rocks an' minerals, they sound so alike! …Other than that, though, I'm doin' fine."

"I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be on par with Cessily," Amara said.

"I'm doing okay," Moonstar said absentmindedly, her head craning around as her eyes darted to and fro across the cafeteria.

"Who are you looking for?" Jubilee asked, an eyebrow quirked.

"Any of you seen Kitty?" Moonstar asked.

"You're the one sharing a room with her, you tell us," Jubilee replied.

"No, not that way, I mean. Yeah, I see her when she comes in and gets ready for bed, but… that's it, really."

"So, she's busy studying for th' finals," Rahne said, shrugging. "From what I hear, she's quite a lot on her plate right now, what with the advanced classes an' all."

"No…. no, it's more than that," Moonstar said, shaking her head. "I know that given all that's been going on lately, not all of us are quite… ourselves, but Kitty's personality seems to have changed almost completely lately. She's more like… like a somber Rogue."

"You mean Rogue isn't already somber?" Jubilee joked. "Talk about a drama queen…"

"I'm serious!" Moonstar said in exasperation. "Seriously, NONE of you have noticed it recently? She barely ever talks to any of us anymore, which is not Kitty AT ALL. And then she sticks herself in one corner of the Mansion or the other, only really talking with Beast, the Professor, and Forge on a regular basis so they can help her with her finals. She's still friendly enough on the rare occasions she actually does talk to us, but still…"

"Like Rahne said, I assumed it was just the stress of finals getting to her," Jubilee replied. "Don't get me wrong, I like her, but she worries waaay too much about academic stuff. Whatever happens, happens. Don't pop a blood vessel just trying to pass some exam that really, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't mean squat."

"I think I'm going to go look for her, see where she's hiding this time," Moonstar said, picking up her tray and leaving the table, her head still darting around as she searched in vain for Kitty.

After a few seconds of silence, Cessily piped up. "I d-dunno, Jubilee, I th-think these things matter a little. I mean, after all, it'll de-determine what school we might be able to get into."

"Yeah, I hate ta say it, but you're sounding a little like Laura, there," Rahne said.

"Hey, okay, woah," Jubilee said, putting her hands up in protest. "I am NOTHING like that psychotic test tube baby. We just agree on one thing, that's all."

"Speak of the devil…," Amara muttered, pointing behind her.

Shouts were breaking out across the cafeteria, as apparently Laura was having some sort of problem with a few of the boys near her table, who were currently pushing her around.

"Ugh, don't they EVER learn?!" Jubilee said in exasperation as they all got up from the table and starting to walk quickly to the other side of the cafeteria.

"You mean, doesn't SHE ever learn," Rahne replied. "We're supposed ta be better 'n them! The Professor said no powers 'n school unless it was an emergency!"

"We really sh-shouldn't let her sit by herself…" Cessily said.

As the New Mutants quickly made their way to the other side of the cafeteria, the shouts escalated. Laura was pushing back, and after one large boy tried to grab her from behind, she dropped and did a spin-kick, sending all four of the boys around her to the floor.

And then, it happened.

In a fit of rage, Laura unsheathed her claws and pointed them at the neck of one of the teenage boys.

The other people nearby in the cafeteria were already a little frightened, but as soon as they saw two big steel claws poke out of each of the girl's arms, many of them began to stampede out of the cafeteria, some screaming that one of the Muties had finally lost it and were going to kill them all.

"Yield," Laura growled to the boy she had the claws pointed at. "Do NOT push me around again. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded vigorously, his face ghostly white, though his eyes trailed to a figure behind her as he did so.

Laura turned around, preparing to fight someone else, when suddenly diamond-hard hands gripped her own.

"Laura," Paige said deadpan, flanked by Rogue. "You yield."

Laura lightly struggled against Paige, but it was no use. Paige had shed the skin on her hands to reveal diamond underneath, and now held Laura's arm still with the strength of Colossus. Outraged, she briefly considered slicing into Paige with her foot claws—briefly.

"But they started it," Laura protested. "THEY were the ones who started pushing me around. I had to push back."

"No, you didn't," Rogue interjected sadly. "Just… let things be, Laura. You don't need to always prove yerself to everyone. They're idiots, just… let 'em be."

By now some of the school's policemen were entering the cafeteria, some of them pointing at X-23, Paige, and Rogue and yelling to each other.

"Let me go," Laura said forcefully. "NOW. I need to get out of here—"

"I'm sorry… I know this isn't fair, but it's how it's gotta be," Rogue said, shaking her head as she shed her gloves and touched Laura's forehead with her right hand. Predictably, a few seconds later Laura collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"I believe you know why you're here?"

Laura nodded reluctantly.

"Laura, this is completely unacceptable behavior and you know it," Xavier said, his tone unusually forceful and sharp. Laura and the Professor were in his office, with Cyclops and Beast standing on either side of him, their arms crossed. "I understand the individuals at Bayville High may get rather pushy—"

"—They were threatening to hurt some of you," Laura protested. "I could NOT let that happen."

"Laura," Scott said, sighing briefly before continuing, "Teenagers that don't like each other talk like that all the time. I know you haven't had much time to understand how people normally talk, but they'll often say whatever's necessary to tick you off the most. I really doubt they meant it."

"But even if they did," Xavier continued. "That is absolutely NO excuse for unsheathing your claws in school—in school! And as you well know, this isn't the first time you've been called in here for misbehavior."

Laura's gaze shifted to the floor, but she said nothing.

"A few days after you started at Bayville High, we were called in because you wrote an essay about the twenty most efficient ways to kill an individual for a biology class. A week later, you were caught starting a fight on school grounds because someone had called you 'creepy', though at least you didn't use your claws during that. And I've seen you take no interest in your academic studies whatsoever."

"They don't mat—"

"YES, THEY DO," Xavier yelled back, before forcing himself to calm down slightly. "Laura, we're tried to accommodate you. We really have. But you are simply refusing to try to blend in with normal society. I understand it must be hard for you in several respects given your past, but this behavior doesn't just make you look bad, it makes the school look bad. And I think we all can agree that Mayor Kelly—and the news media—are looking for any opportunity at all to shut down this school.

"As such, Laura, I have never done this before, but I am giving you one FINAL warning. I have been MORE than accepting of the hardships you've had adapting to social life, but enough is enough. One more mishap, Laura, ONE more action of yours that is out-of-line—and you are expelled from the Xavier Institute. You will not be allowed on the grounds again if that happens. Do you understand?!"

Laura stared at Xavier for a few seconds, her eyebrows narrowed, before finally responding.

"…Yes."

"…Y-yes?"

"Kitty, it's me," came a muffled voice from right outside the bedroom door. "Let me in, I need to get some of my school stuff."

"But I need to… oh, fine, what's the point?!" Kitty said exasperatingly, reaching over to unlock the door and let her roommate in before quickly walking over and falling back onto bed, facing away from the door.

"Kitty, is everything alright?" Moonstar asked as she stepped inside their room, concerned. "From the tone of your voice, it sounds like you were—"

Moonstar stopped abruptly as Kitty turned towards her, tears streaming down her face.

"—crying…" Moonstar belatedly finished. "Kitty, what's going on? I've barely seen you lately, you've been staying away from pretty much everyone else in the Mansion—what's going on?"

"I've just… been thinking a lot lately," Kitty said. "Thinking about the X-Men, the Mansion, everything that's gone on the past few months...and I just… I talked to the Professor about this after Sam and Logan's funeral, but I think I've finally decided for sure."

"Decided… decided about what?" Moonstar asked, fearing the answer.

"Well, I mean, I told myself, I was like, 'well, maybe if think things start to look up, maybe I won't, maybe this was all just something bad that would never happen again," Kitty said, her tone slightly panicky as she realized she was finally going to have to let everyone else know about her decision—there was no turning back now. "But I mean, look at what's happened! First we had Jamie…. I dunno, splitting, then we had Tabitha try to scare everybody at the Kelly rally, then the entire Mansion gets invaded by H.Y.D.R.A., I almost get killed and both Jamies get kidnapped—Kurt goes missing on some interdimensional escapade, this big Mutant freak Rockslide causes a train wreck, killing dozens of people for no reason…. and that's just since Spring Break! I can't do this anymore!"

"Kitty…." Moonstar said, her look pained. "You… you can't! Not now!"

"I've decided already, Danielle," Kitty said tiredly, turning her back to her friend again. "After I graduate this weekend, I'm leaving the Institute. For good."

"I can't believe you brought her here," Rockslide rumbled, poking the blonde teenager in front of him, who hissed in pain in response. "I mean, she's on a freaking stretcher! What good's she gonna do us?"

"Wounds heal, Santo," Magneto said calmly as he looked up at the gargantuan rock-man. "And, if she is willing, she can help us out quite a lot on our construction efforts underway."

"Hrrrm," Rockslide grumbled. "Speaking of which, that seems to be all I'm doing. Raise these rocks, lower those, steady the base of that. I can't help but think that you're just using me to get your dirty work done."

"I will admit, it will take a lot of work to get Genosha up and running," Magneto said. "And it would be a lie to say that your powers weren't one of the reasons I had Blink and Synch seek you out. However, given your unique experiences, Rockslide, you see humanity for what it truly is. As such, you are welcome to stay in Genosha and as part of my Acolytes for as long as you wish—and, of course, you are also free to go if you wish, as well. But you agreed to give my side a try, and I hope you will continue to do so."

Rockslide muttered something incoherent under his breath, but otherwise said nothing.

"Now, if you'll excuse us, I need to talk to Tabitha one-on-one," Magneto said.

Rockslide looked back and forth between the two for a moment, then slowly walked out of the underground medical room, lowering his head so he could get through the already-tall doorway.

"Rocky there has a point," Tabitha said weakly, pausing to cough and then hissing in pain again as a few of her broken ribs became agitated as a result. Slowly relaxing again, she continued, "I'm practically out-of-order, and it's gonna be a few months before I'm actually able to function normally again. I've got burn marks, broken bones, bruised muscles… and yet you get that purple girl to teleport me, of all people, here. Because I'm good at blowin' stuff up, which is apparently what you need to help get rid of some of the rock in the way of your precious plans for this 'Genosha'."

"I brought you here, Tabitha, because out of all the Mutants out there, you are the individual with one of the best and most unique perspectives. You've been on all of the other sides. You tried the X-Men, but you thought they were too idealistic. You tried the Brotherhood, but found them too lazy. You tried living by yourself, but the X-Men apparently wouldn't even let you do that. And apparently you weren't able to make any human friends, either. So I'm offering you a chance to stay at my side, see things from my point of view. As I told Santo, if you want to leave, the choice is yours."

Tabitha rolled her eyes.

"I am being perfectly honest," Magneto said defensively. "However, I went to the trouble of seeking you out for a reason—and we have the best medical technology here that is currently available. As you probably noticed, this is where we all faced Nimrod a few months ago—this was apparently an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base, and there are highly advanced medical facilities down here, even when compared to the modern medical tech available to the general human public. We'll get you recovered and on your feet in no time. I promise."

Tabitha stared at Magneto for a few seconds, a smirk slowly creeping across her face.

"…And I assume I'll get to fight a couple of those uptight X-Men."

"If it comes to that… yes."

"Alright, fine," Tabitha said. "I'm in. But if you ever see Magma—be sure to have that purple gal teleport her right here. Because she's mine."

The End
 

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