X-Men Issue #6: Awaken (Patreon)

Two figures stood outside the X Mansion. The taller of the two was dressed in all black, including a mask that hid his features. The other was a bit more brazen. She was dressed in a while button down shirt and beige pants. As if that didn’t hide her enough from the dark, her pale white skin shown as a beacon, including her bald head.  

“You sure he is asleep?” The man asked. 

“I can read my brother like an open book. He is asleep and we shall keep it that way.” The woman said. She was bald and wore all black, though hers was a black button-down shirt and trousers. “But the school still stirs.” 

She closed her eyes and concentrated some more trying to bring sleep to all the inhabitants of Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Children. 

Some of the faculty were already asleep. Like Logan, better known as Wolverine, was snoring on his easy boy in the teacher’s longue. Others like Ororo Monroe, who went by the alias Storm, were up organizing her lesson plans for the semester. 

The students were a bit livelier. In Scott Summers’ room, he, Bobby Drake and Evan Daniels were playing some late-night video games. Their characters raced around the track in go karts as the boys threw out some gentle ribbing. 

“I always meant to ask Scott, how you can see wearing sunglasses all the time, but seeing you play this game you clearly can’t.” Evan joked as Scott was in last place. 

“I can see perfectly well, they aren’t dark just tinted and I came in top three in the last race.” 

“Yeah, me and Evan being the one and two above you.” Bobby said giving his friend some friendly video game smack talk. They were on their second race of four before heading to bed. 

Down the hall Lorna Dane, Alison Blaire and Jubilation Lee were in Jubilee’s room trying to help the girl update her style. Lorna was going through the closet; her green hair tied back in a bun while Alison was going through Jubilee’s drawers. The smaller Asian American woman sat on the bed hoping her friends wouldn’t judge her too much.  

“Why so many pastel colors?” Lorna asked, not that she was one to talk about colors thanks to her green hair. It was clear from her uniform to her hair green was her color, which the mutant named Polaris pulled off nicely. 

“I just like bright colors.” Jubilee said trying to defend herself. She knew they weren’t making fun of her and generally trying to help but after last semester she still felt like they were making fun of her. 

“Well, maybe we’ll try something else.” Lorna said going back to the closet. 

“And these have got to go.” Alison said holding up a big, pair of hot pink briefs. Or granny panties as Jubilee’s friends liked to call them. 

“But they are comfy.” The smaller woman whined a bit embarrassed her friend was holding her undies.  

“I get having one or two pairs, but this is an entire drawer full.” Alison said as she kept digging in the drawer. Jubilee could feel it was going to be a long night. 

Down the hall was Jean Gray’s room.  

The red head was currently sitting on her bed wearing just a blue large t-shirt and her tablet in front of her as she shared her good news with Rogue. The goth was seated in the chair for Jean’s desk in her own bedtime gear of a pair of black short shorts and a black tank top, the least amount of fabric she wore at any given time. Though she still wore her black gloves when not in her room alone. She had brought her nail polish as she thought they were just going to be hanging out, but Jean dropped the good news on her right as Rogue was starting to paint her toenails, black of course. 

“I can’t believe you get to draft your own team.” Rogue said as the two girls sat discussing the future. Jean had the entire roster of available students for what her team, X-Men Gold Team.  

“I know. Like I don’t want to compete with Scott, since we are all a team but getting to be team leader has me so excited.” The red head said as she scrolled through the tablet with the full roster. 

“Who's going to be your first pick?” The goth asked as painted her toenails. She asked nonchalantly but she was wondering who Jean would pick first. Her friend gave her a playful telekinetic shove. 

“Who do you think? I need my best friend on my team.”  

Rogue adjusted to not mess up her toenails before stopping to look at Jean. 

“But Scott’s on the other team.” 

Jean rolled her eyes. 

“You, silly. I need you on my team. My second in command.” She said and Rogue smiled. 

“I didn’t want to assume you’d pick me, but damn second in command.” She had never been given a responsibility like that, usually it was Storm or Scott or Jean running the show. Occasionally Logan would be running point, but Rogue being in a position of power sounded interesting. 

“That’s why I wanted you to come over, to help me pick our team.” Jean said. She specifically used the term our because she did want Rogue to feel involved and ready for this. She floated the tablet over to Rogue, so she could read it as she did her nails. It was the full list of available students. 

Jubilation Lee –Jubilee 

Sam Guthrie – Cannonball 

Kitty Pryde – Shadow Cat 

Lorna Dane – Polaris 

Bobby Drake – Iceman 

Laura Kinney – X-23 

Evan Daniels – Spyke 

Alison Blaire –Dazzler  

Anna Marie – Rogue 

Tabitha Smith –Boom Boom 

“Interesting.” Rogue said as she saw a bunch of the new students on the list. 

“So, I picked you and Scott picked Bobby as his second in command.” Jean said crossing those names off the list. Rogue was impressed how good Jean was telenetically to use the tablet from that far away while balancing it in the air. 

“How does it work? Like you pick one he picks one?” Rogue asked. 

“Sort of, I am just picking and figure Scott and I can negotiate. I can speak to him telepathically.” Jean said looking away slightly. Rogue raised an eyebrow. 

“Are you speaking to him telepathically now?” 

“Yes.” Jean said after a moment. 

“That’s so weird.” Rogue said laughing. 

“We don’t do it all the time. Sometimes we like to talk late a night.” Jean said realizing it did sound weird.  

“Whatever.” Rogue said as she and Jean went over the roster, which Jean would then relay to Scott. They only had to stop once since Evan and Bobby had decided to give Scott a wedgie, much to Rogue and Jean’s enjoyment. 

In the end the rosters were set. 

Bobby, Alison, Lorna, Kitty and Jubilee on team Scott. 

Rogue, Tabitha, Sam, Evan and Laura on team Jean.  

The teams were set, and Jean couldn’t be more excited for the future. 

“I’ll email these to Ororo and the professor.” Jean said as she quickly typed out an email to send to them. 

“I should probably be hitting the hay.” Rogue said standing up and stretching. The goth headed towards the door and stopped to turn to Jean, who was happily going over things on the tablet. 

“I’m really happy they picked you to lead a team.” Rogue said knowing it was her friend’s goal to lead the X-Men one day. 

“Thanks. I’m just happy we get to do it together.” Jean said as Rogue waved her friend a good night before heading to her room. 

Another hour passed and everyone in the mansion was fully under the spell of sleep. The bald woman’s work had been subtle, but it had worked. While she had telepathically hinted to all that they should sleep, the man in black had disabled the alarms. 

“Ready?” She asked as the figure in black nodded. 

The black figure led her into a door he had forced open. The pair made their way through the mansion, like ghosts in the night. They walked right through the defenseless mansion right to the top floor to the faculty rooms. The last room belonged to Professor Charles Xavier. 

The bald woman smiled as they crept into the Professor’s room. Charles lay in bed a sleep as even he wasn’t immune to the woman’s mental persuasion of deep sleep she had put over the mansion. The pair stood over his bed and the man in black stabbed a needle into the professor’s neck. He jerk, almost about to wake up before falling into a deeper sleep. One that he wouldn’t wake up from without a specific concoction of plant life.  

“Sleep Charles.” She said patting his head, her fingers dipped into the head like there was nothing there at all. The unconscious Professor Xavier’s face twisted into one of discomfort as her fingers danced across his mind looking at his thoughts, feelings and memories. She looked for nothing in particular, but something stood out to her. 

Something about one of his students. She retracted her hand from his mind and looked to her partner. 

“I think we’ve found a suitable candidate.” She said to the man in black. He nodded and they headed down to the student dorms. The bald woman could feel telepathically the one she saw in Charles’ mind. The one with a power that might rival her master’s. 

They entered the dorm of Jean Grey.  

Jean slept on her side; unaware two people had entered her room. If the great Charles Xavier couldn’t escape the woman’s tampering on the metal plane, she had little hope. The woman smiled as she stood over Jean before her fingers plunged into her mind.  

"What are you ?” The woman said as her fingers danced in Jean’s unconscious mind. She smiled as her fingers tingled from the feeling. It was the power that she saw in Charles’ mind. The thing her feared from this woman. 

“Are you rage? No, you are much older. You aren’t even from around here, are you?” The woman asked to no one as her fingers danced inside Jean’s head. The bald mutant smiled. 

“Oh, Charles what have you done? You knew this girl had been possessed by something other worldly and instead of trying to free her of it, you locked it away? That is why you will always fail, half measures. But it is for the best. My master still needed one more and this girl shall do just fine.” She said as he fingers unlocked whatever was deep down inside Jean’s subconscious.  

Jean’s began to toss and turn for a moment before settling down again. The bald woman retracted her fingers from Jean’s mind. 

“Sweet dreams.” She kissed Jean on the forehead. 

The pair left without another word. They left the mansion to return to their master. 

Jean began to toss and turn more in her sleep. Her dreams were ones of fire and chaos and emotions so strong that if she had been awake, she’d have collapsed. The power that had been locked up inside her stretched its proverbial legs as Jean struggled. 

She couldn’t sleep anymore as the power inside her flared to life telling her it was time to get up. 

The mansion shuddered when Jean woke up. 

Anna Marie, better known as Rogue, was in the middle of a dream where she never had powers. She was in the middle of a family dinner when the house shaking woke her up. The goth rolled out of bed, grabbing her gloves as she landed on the floor. She slipped them on and stood up, ready to stop whatever was attacking the mansion. 

She hoped the other X-Men were ready to take on whatever was attacking the mansion, but quickly realized she was the last to join the situation as she dashed from her room to the disturbance. She was suffering from bed head as her brown hair with the white streak in it was frazzled. She was also not dressed for combat as she was just in a tank top and short shorts, she was just glad she wore shorts to sleep as she arrived on the scene.  

Students were running all over the halls as Rogue slipped out. Most were heading for the exit, but the older students were heading towards the center of the mansion to confront whatever was causing the tremors.  

The house shook from the core out as Rogue rushed down the hallway.  

“What’s going on?” Rogue asked as Alison, in her white tank top and white pajama pants, fell in line next to her.  

“No idea. The house just started shaking.” Dazzler said as they raced past more students.  

“Help people evacuate, I’ll go see what’s going on.” Rogue said to Alison, who nodded and helped usher students towards the front door. As the goth mutant headed towards the center of the house, the crowd of escaping students thinned out. The house continued to shudder and as Rogue arrived at the center hall of the house, she stopped and looked up. 

The main hall had been the center piece of the mansion. With trophies from victories long past along with the more formal furniture and decor that one might expect in a home of this size. All of that was floating in the air. The large pieces of furniture floated stationary while smaller items like pictures and knick knacks flew around the center point in a speed induced orbit.  

At the center of that spinning maelstrom was Jean. The redhead was floating and looked like a woman possessed. Her hair floated like it was underwater as did her large sleep shirt. Other members of the X-Men were there, not that any of them were having any success. 

Hank McCoy, also known  as Beast, was blocked the flying debris from hitting Ororo Monroe, Storm, who was on the ground unconscious from a blow to the head from a flying vase. Logan was being hurled through the skylight and out of the building from the force of the telekinetic storm. Rogue wasn’t sure but she knew Logan didn’t play around when it came to threats and it cost him as he sailed through the air and out of the house.  

“Jean?” Rogue asked confused as she looked up at her friend looked at her. The floating mutant’s attention snapped to Rogue. Unlike the previous night, Jean didn’t at Rogue with any form of affection. She looked at her with raging red eyes. 

Before Rogue could utter another word, a telekinetic blast slammed into her. She flew back and spun landing against the wall at a ninety degree angle. She was pressed against the wall by the unseen force. Rogue wanted to scream or shout as Jean, but the air was driven from her lungs. She wanted to scream even more after she felt Jean’s powers warp the materials she was pressed against. The paint and drywall went from a solid to a liquid thanks to Jean’s incredible power and Rogue began to sink into it. The goth sunk halfway in, materials holding her arms, legs, torso and head in place. Her last view was of Jean rising higher into the air through the now broken skylight. The paint on the wall turned liquid and warped itself over Rogue’s eyes.  

The goth mutant passed out. 

While Rogue was unconscious, Jean’s eyes burned with rage. She let loose a powerful blast of energy shattering the large bay window in the front hall of the mansion. The red headed mutant looked at the destruction she had wrought before turning and flying out of that hole, disappearing into the morning.  

She wasn’t sure how long she was out, but she began to hear the sounds of people moving through debris and the voices of her friends. It took a moment before one was right next to her. 

“I got you.” Rogue could hear Kitty say as she felt a tug on her shorts. 

“Whoops.” Kitty said. “Second try.” 

Rogue felt herself a fabric covered hand on her ankle and then falling through the paint and pieces of wood that had held her to the ceiling. She landed as best she could, but mostly in a heap. Slowly, Rogue got up and dusted herself off. 

“Here.” Kitty said giggling as she handed the goth a piece of black fabric. As Rogue grabbed it she realized it was her shorts. She looked down to see her black short shorts were gone and she was standing in the hallway in just her tank top and white boyshorts.  

She snatched the shorts and slid them on. 

“Figured you’d wear darker colors.” Kitty teased as Rogue groaned. She was glad she wasn’t the only one as Tabitha; Scott and Bobby were also in just their underwear. Scott in just a pair of red plaid boxers, Bobby in a tank top and powder blue boxer briefs and Tabitha in a slightly too short big t-shirt and yellow briefs. 

“What happened?” Rogue asked, ignoring Kitty’s joke.  

“No idea.” One of the newest members of the X-Men said as Rogue looked around the room. It was pure chaos. Some students and staff were injured, others looked in shock. A few had even started cleaning up.  

Rogue looked for any of the staff. Logan, Ororo or Hank to ask about what happened but she didn’t have a chance.  

Evan rushed in. 

“The professor is sick. I can’t wake him up.” Ororo’s nephew said, and the senior students and staff in the room rushed to Professor Xavier’s room.  

When the group reached the room, it was clear something horrible had happened. Hank was checking the Professor’s vital signs, speaking to the unconscious man in soothing tones.  

The next few days were a blur for most students and faculty tried to process what had happened and what would happen.  

Hank was running tests as it appeared some kind of poison had been injected into Professor X, who lay sleeping in the medical wing of the Xavier Mansion. While the Professor was in his mysterious coma, Ororo had been left in charge of the school. It wasn’t an unprecedented event, but it didn’t happen often either. Things were already hectic as it was the start of a new semester for the mutant haven that also was a fully accredited college.  

Rogue had been summoned to the head office after her class. It had been a regular occurrence for the last few days as the biggest question on everyone’s mind, including Rogue’s, was what happened to Jean. That night had been replayed repeatedly with no answers. While she had a lot on her mind and classes hadn’t been going well, she was shocked that they would call her into the office because of all that. It was because of Jean. 

Rogue knocked on the large wooden door. 

“Come in.” Ororo said from the other side. The goth took a breath and entered. 

Storm was sitting behind her desk; a stack of papers was front and center. Besides running the school, she was also teaching a few classes. The older woman looked up and smiled as the goth walked in. By the large windows, leaning against a desk was Logan. He was also technically a teacher, but his classes were more the basic physical education and X-Men centric exercises. He just gave her a nod of his head in acknowledgement.  

“Rogue, have a seat.” Ororo offered the chair in front of her desk. The goth took it taking a moment to cross her legs as she sat, harder to do in skinny jeans than one might imagine. Storm stood up and walked to the front of the desk, leaning against it. She didn’t look at Rogue as she tried to think of how to explain the situation. 

“As you know we’ve had a lot of changes recently with the professor in a catatonic state and everything else.” Storm said. The older woman still found it hard to talk about Jean’s apparent mental break.  

“With these challenges we need those who remain to come forward and rise to these challenges.” Storm said, letting her words ramble a little. Logan rolled his eyes from afar.  

“With Jean’s.... departure. We need someone to lead the second team.” Ororo said slowly. Rogue raised an eyebrow. 

“And you want me to help you decide who to lead?” She asked not understanding. Logan snorted. 

“No, kid. We want you to lead it.” He said flatly. Rogue’s head darted at him, then to Storm. 

“What?”  

Storm rubbed her forehead. 

“Yes, we still want to have two teams of X-Men and as Jean’s second in command you would be the proper choice to lead it. We thought a lot about this.” Ororo said as Rogue leaned back in the chair, not sure what to say.  

“Scott has already been running his team through the ringer, so you might want to gather your squad and do the same.” Logan said gruffly.  

“Only if you want to Rogue. You don’t have to accept if you don’t feel comfortable.” Storm added shooting a look at Logan.  

“I, uhhh.” Rogue opened and closed her mouth before speaking. It was a big responsibility, but it also felt right. Without Jean and Scott leading his own team, Rogue was the natural choice and while Jean wasn’t in her right mind, it is what she would have wanted. 

“I accept.” Rogue said, standing. After everything that had happened with Jean and the Professor, this was the first time she felt alright. Storm picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Rogue. 

“For the bulletin board, start getting the word out to gather your team and formulate a practice or two.” Storm said as Rogue saw her name at the top followed by the students on her team. 

“Thank you.” The goth said as she headed towards the door. Rogue placed the notice on the bulletin board in the main hall and went to the cafeteria. She just needed time to think to herself. She had just been given command of a team of X-Men, something she never would have dreamed of. She thought of all the things Jean had wanted to accomplish, all the things she could now accomplish. She put together a plan and practice was at the top of that list.  

Rogue had been sitting for a half hour thinking before one of her new recruits approached. She was about Rogue’s height with short blonde hair wearing a vintage t-shirt and loose jeans with rips at the knees.  

“So, I hear I’m on your team.” Tabitha said as she took a seat across from Rogue. Under any other circumstances she thought she and the mutant known as Boom Boom would be friends. Tabitha seemed like a real bad ass and a fun gal to hangout with. They still might be but now Rogue was focused on being a team leader more than just a friend.  

“You are.” Rogue said brushing her dark hair with the white spot back behind her ears. “Sorry, I am still just in shock that they made me a team leader.” 

“I totally get it. A lot has happened the last few days.” The blonde woman said as the two began to talk. They had met during Tabitha’s first day and chatted here and there, but this was their first real conversation. 

Outside, Laura Kinney was sitting quietly on a bench alone. The daughter of Wolverine had spent most of her time at the Xavier Institute on her own, which is how she preferred it. Some of her classmates had tried to be friendly but Laura made it clear she was more interested in being on her own. She was currently on a bench in the gardens spending that solitude time going over math homework. If her “Father” wanted her to get a good education, she’d get the best grades of everyone in the whole damn school.  

Larua’s silent studying was broken up by the approach of another student. 

“Hey.” Jubilation Lee, or Jubilee as she was called by her friends, walked over to Laura. They shared some classes together and besides that the Asian American mutant felt Laura could use a friend. 

“Can I sit with you?” The shorter woman asked. Jubilee was wearing a pink t-shirt with blue shorts, her two favorite colors behind yellow.  

Laura just grumbled an acknowledgement as her fellow mutant sat next to her. She was contrasted against Jubilee with her bright pastel colors by wearing a black t-shirt and black leggings that matched her black hair. 

They sat in silence for a moment as Jubilee waited for an opening to speak. After not seeing one, she decided to just make one of her own. 

“So, how are you liking it here?” Jubilee asked. She remembered what it was like to be the new girl. It was rough and isolating, it didn’t help Alison and Lorna were terrors when Jubilee first arrived but now that they were friends, she wanted to do the same with Laura.  

“Fine.” Laura said, her voice a reflection of how much she didn’t want to talk. Jubilee wasn't deterred. 

“Excited to be on the X-Men?” She asked not putting the social queues together to see that Laura wasn’t the chatty type. Laura didn’t answer, just grit her teeth and focus on her school work. 

“What are you working on?” Jubilee asked. It was the last question as Laura jumped up ready to scare her classmate into thinking she’d hit her. Laura wouldn’t actually hit her, but if it got her some alone time, she would pretend.  

“Hey.” A voice said that stopped Laura as Jubilee flinched. Two more classmates walked over. One was a tall blonde in jeans and a white t-shirt, while the other had a flair for green. The green haired woman was shorter and in a green sundress. These were Alison and Lorna; Jubilee’s former tormentors turned friends. As Jubilee’s new friends, the pair went out of their way to make sure no one messed with her, like what was happening right now. 

Laura glared at the pair. While she wouldn’t have just smacked Jubilee for being annoying, she didn’t want anyone else to know that. She had a reputation to maintain. She watched the two, focusing on looking as bad ass as possible. 

“Play nice.” Lorna said. 

“Or else what?” Laura asked, not backing down. She popped her claws for the intimidation factor. Polaris smiled. 

“Cute but not going to help you.” With a wave of her hand, Polaris used her metal controlling powers to force the claws back into Laura’s arms. The shorter woman was confused but quickly shook it off. 

“I don’t need them to kick your ass.” Laura threw a punch, but Polaris stopped her by raising her hand. 

“Skeleton covered in metal? Just like dad? Really means you should be nicer to me.” Polaris said. “If you didn’t know my dad is also famous. He’s Magneto, master of magnetism and all that. And I’m daddy’s little girl.”  

The daughter of Wolverine audibly gulped as she realized maybe she was better off playing nice with Jubilee. 

“You weren’t being very nice to Jubilee, I think we should teach you why you should be nicer.” Lorna said as Alison laughed next to her, knowing what her bestie was going to do. Even Jubilee smiled, some light hazing never hurt anyone. 

Back inside, Rogue and Tabitha were finishing up their conversation. The goth mutant really needed a friend since Jean was gone and Tabitha slid into the role, as she was also looking for her place. 

“Seems like you have a game plan. Do I have to call you boss or captain?” Boom Boom asked, mostly joking. Rogue let out a small chuckle. 

“No, I think Rogue works just fine.” She said extending her hand.  

“Tabitha welcome to being the first member of my team.” 

The blonde took it and they shook. 

“Should we gather the troops?” Tabitha asked. 

“Yeah, I want to get a training schedule up. I know everyone has control of their abilities, but teamwork takes practice.” Rogue said, standing up. 

“I think I saw Laura outside.” The blonde offered also getting up. Rogue nodded and headed for the door.  

As the pair walked outside, they ran into the trio of Lorna, Jubilee and Allison. The three were laughing to themselves. Rogue was happy the two had stopped picking on Jubilee and allowed the other girl to join their group. While it had been humorous seeing Jubilee get pranked, it was also mean. 

“Hey, have you guys seen Laura?” Rogue asked Polaris, Jubilee and Dazzler. The trio took turns giggling before Polaris answered. 

“I think she’s hanging around by the flagpole.” Lorna said, getting another laugh from Alison and Jubilee.  

The pair looked at each other, feeling like they were missing out on the joke as the trio walked away.  

Rogue and Tabitha headed outside to see what Lorna had meant. They soon saw exactly what the daughter of Magneto had meant. 

Laura was in fact hanging out outside, literally.  

The mutant with her metalic skeleton and claws was currently tied to the flagpole, about five feet off the ground. Polaris had used nearby pieces of the metal fence to warp around Laura’s petite frame. If that wasn’t bad enough for Laura, they had also pantsed her after she was tied to the flagpole. Her jeans were around her ankles exposing her high waisted blue bikini briefs. 

Laura looked Up in rage as they approached. Tabitha giggled at her teammate's predicament, which caused the trapped mutant to glare at her with pure rage.  

Rogue sighed, she had been leader for less than four hours and her team was falling apart.  

“Help me get her down.” Rogue said annoyed as she and Tabitha began the process of getting Laura down from the flagpole. While Polaris had no issues manipulating metal, Rogue and Tabitha had a rougher go of it, while Laura seethed.  

“I have an idea.” Tabitha said as she created two small explosive orbs that blew apart the metal fence posts holding Laura to the pole. Rogue wanted to tell her that she should wait till she could catch Laura, but Boom Boom just did it. This caused the smaller woman to fall face first from the flagpole into the ground below. 

“Oops.” The blonde said slightly embarrassed as she and her team leader looked down on their teammate face down butt in the air. Rogue winced as the black hair woman landed in a thud. 

Laura laid there for just a moment before getting to her feet. The rage filled mutant pulled up her pants and made sure they were in the proper position before turning to her pair of rescuers. She gave a slight nod before marching towards the cafeteria where Lorna, Alison and Jubilee had gone. 

“Wait.” Rogue said jumping in front of the smaller woman.  

“Move. I have unfinished business.” Laura said with a growl. 

“I’m sure you do and there will be time for that later, but we have business.” The goth stated to get the smaller woman’s attention. 

“Yeah, whatever mean stuff you want to shout at them could wait.” Tabitha said from behind Rogue, a good deal behind Rogue. 

“I might have said some unkind words to the little one in yellow.” Laura said, not finding it ironic, her calling someone else little. “But the other two....” 

Laura’s claws popped out. Rogue and Tabitha both looked at the sharp claws before Rogue continued. 

“Uhh, yeah maybe don’t kill other students.” Rogue said before going into why she was looking for Laura. 

“They are still fielding another team of X-Men and you are on, uhhh, my team.” Rogue explained. 

“I am too.” Tabitha said, trying to help the situation. Laura’s eyes darted between them. 

“And?” The daughter of Wolverine asked. 

“And I want to get everyone together to get to start working as a team.” Rogue said. “We just need to find Evan and Sam.” 

Rogue could see that what she was laying down Laura wasn’t necessarily buying. She had to take another approach and an idea quickly popped into her head. 

“I want us to practice so when we face off against Scott’s team, which has the three who did this to you, we stand a chance of winning.” 

“Face off?” Laura asked and Rogue knew she had her attention. 

“Yeah, we use the Danger Room to practice. Who better to practice against than other mutant teams.” Rogue said and Laura nodded in understanding. 

“Alright.” Laura said, joining the pair to find their last two members. Finding Evan and Sam was a bit easier with no mutant powers necessary. They were in the common area discussing music. Rogue explained the situation and brought her team together for the first time. 

Rogue gulped and addressed her gathered team. 

“So, I know originally you were all told there would be two teams of X-Men and you’d be assigned to one and with all the.... situation with Jean, it looked like there might not be two teams.” Rogue said, she realized was rambling. “But there will be and I’ve been assigned to team captain. I helped Jean put together the team, so I know the value you guys bring to an X-Men squad.” 

No one added anything, so she continued. 

“We need to work as a team, so we will be running team practices.” Rogue said to her assembled X-Men. Tabitha was smiling and nodding her head, never seeming to be in a displeased mood. Evan looked fine, he had already been on the X-Men, this was just a different team. Sam and Laura were the issues. Larua just looked pissed, while Sam seemed more interested in his phone than what Rogue was saying. She made a mental note to ban phones from team meetings. 

“Tomorrow we’re going to have our first training session. Nine sharp.” The goth said not sure how to dismiss them. 

“So we’re good?” Sam asked, his country boy accent as he finally put away his phone. 

“Yes.”  

“Cool. He said as he got up and stretched before walking towards the dorms. “Nine sharp, got it.”  

Laura stalked off next. Evan gave Rogue an encouraging nod before putting his headphones on and heading to a class. That just left Tabitha who shrugged. 

“That went well.” 

“Yeah, that did but tomorrow is when it gets difficult.” Rogue said. 

Rogue arrived the next morning at the Danger Room door wearing her normal gear for X-Men practice activities. A pair of dark green cargo pants, a green shirt with a yellow arrow down the front and her black gloves. She was the second person to arrive, fifteen minutes early. Sam was already waiting on his phone. He wore a blue t-shirt and jeans, which didn’t feel like combat appropriate attire, but Rogue was more surprised he was there that early.  

“Morning.” He said putting the phone away. 

“You’re up early.” 

“Gotta get up early for the mines.” He said, "which made all the sense to Rogue. Sam was an early riser due to his time working in coal mines to support his family. She went back to prepping the Danger Room as slowly but surely the rest of the team arrived. Laura was next in black leggings, black sneakers and a black t-shirt. Followed by Evan, who wore a grey t-shirt with the school’s logo and grey sweatpants also with a logo, and Tabitha, who wore a pair of capris and a pink tank top. Everyone was right on time, Rogue was impressed. Her first training session she had been thirty minutes late.  

“Alright, since we are all here time to get started.” She said as she stood before her assembled team. “Evan you already know what team practices look like, but since everyone else is new we are going to start simple. Like a game you’d play in school.”  

She hit a few buttons on the tablet controlling the Danger Room. A moment later a hole opened in the floor and a silver orb popped up floating into the air. The hole closed. Evan sighed, he knew what exercise Rogue picked to start with. A simple game of cats and a mouse. 

“It is a simple exercise. Catch the drone.” Rogue said as she programed the flying metallic orb. She opened her mouth to continue, to tell them how she wanted them to work as a team and figure out their dynamics. The orb floated towards them lazily before floating lazily off to the side away from the assembled X-Men in training. Before she could explain that the drone would react to their movements, so teamwork would be key, Sam stepped forward.  

“I got this.” Sam said as the orb floated a few feet away from the group. He shot forward with lightning speed directly at the orb. His mutant abilities fired him off like, well like a cannonball. An explosive blast threw him forward. He raced towards the orb and just as he got within reach, the silver orb shifted two feet to its left, not even moving all that fast. Sam raced past it and slammed headfirst into the wall. The southern boy landed in a heap as he knocked himself loopy.  

Everyone winced from the loud impact. 

“Okay, I’m going to check on Sam. Everyone else hunt the orb.” Rogue said as she jogged over to Sam, who was on the ground grabbing his head in pain. 

While the goth leader checked on their downed teammate, the other three mutants watched the orb for a moment. 

“It is trickier than it looks. Lure it to me, I have a plan.” Evan said. He had played this game before. His teammates nodded. Laura popped her claws. 

“Does it have to be in one piece to catch it?” She asked. 

“I hope not.” Tabitha added; she had summoned her own explosive energy orbs in her hands ready to toss them at the orb.  

Laura made the first move, diving at the silver drone. It reacted faster than her, but that did it little good as it flew into the fire of Boom Boom tossing energy grenades at it. The drone flew left, right towards Evan. Rogue was impressed as the three were already using teamwork to great effect. 

The silver drone flew towards Evan, who jumped onto it as soon as it was within range. The machine whirred as it realized it had been caught, but it wasn’t willing to give up yet. The drone began to shake and spin, trying to buck the young mutant off. Ororo’s nephew held on for dear life as he lived up to his X-Men code name of Spyke. From Evan’s wrists, spikes popped out. 

The spikes Evan had produced pierced the sides of the drone, locking him in to hold onto it. The issue was that the drone began to take off. While his upper body was on the drone, his legs dangled as it shot up from hovering at four feet to six feet then eight. 

“I got him.” Laura said as she sprinted for the dangling Spyke. She retracted her claws as she raced towards her teammate before he got out of reach, which was getting to be a real possibility. She got within range. 

Laura jumped and grabbed on Spyke around the thighs. An issue that wasn't considered was X-23 was sleight of frame but having metallic bones like her “father” made her heavier than expected, though even if she had normal bones, it would have been the same issue. Evan could already feel the problem as she latched on. 

“No, no, no.” He said as Laura slipped down his legs, bringing his pants with her. Before Rogue could blink Laura went from Evan’s upper thighs to his feet and Evan was hanging twenty feet in the air with his pants down exposing his yellow boxers with red X’s circled. 

“I didn’t know we had merch.” Was all Rogue could think to say. She made a quick mental note to check out the school store. 

The drone spun in the air and Laura slipped free even as her hands found purchase on Evan’s pants. The black-haired woman fell to the ground with a thud and Evan’s pants.  

“Seriously?” He asked before the drone bucked and the spikes on his left arm became dislodged. Before he can adjust his grip, the drone jerks again and his right arm dislodged. Evan fell to the ground, pantsless and landed on Laura. Rogue sighed, this wasn’t going as she had planned as the drone lowered to normal height and Boom Boom was the last one standing. 

The blonde woman summoned her energy orbs ready to give the silver orb a beating it would remember, if it could remember since it was a drone.  

Before she could do anything though the drone exploded sending chunks of metal flying past Tabitha and knocking her on her butt. Rogue covered her eyes to see the cause as Sam was standing in the debris. He had shoulder tackled the drone, propelled by the explosive blast of his mutant abilities it destroyed the drone. 

“Got it.” He said clearly, trying to show off.  

“What the hell dude? I had it.” Tabitha said as she got to her feet, annoyed at her teammate. Laura and Evan were getting to their feet. Laura handed Spyke his sweatpants back, which he was thankful for. 

“Not my fault.” Sam said deflecting the blame. “I am just so powerful I forgot my strength.”  

He started flexing, his attention clearly directed at Laura. Rogue shook her head in disappointment before placing it in her hand. Tabitha sneered at her teammate but then got a wicked smile.  

She walked up behind Sam, who was still focused on flexing at Laura, who wasn’t exactly interested. Her hands darted for the back of the southerner’s pants. Tabitha reached into the back of Sam’s pants and much to the surprise of everyone yanked up white fabric. The southern “cool” guy was wearing tighty whities.  

Sam’s face twisted into one of discomfort as Tabitha yanked on the white fabric, getting the leg holes out of his pants. 

“Too strong for this?” She asked as she made sure the fabric was good and pulled. Spyke laughed, Rogue laughed and even Laura smiled. The alt chick let the waistband snap back against Sam’s lower back and she joined in the laughter.  

“Not cool.” Sam said as he tried to pluck his underwear from behind through jeans.  

Rogue finished laughing and stepped up to look at her team. 

“Okay, so maybe not the best first practice. But I did see some good teamwork from some of you.” She said as her eyes went from Tabitha to Laura and finally to Evan. 

“And some where we need to work on.” Her eyes went to Sam. The southerner had just finished adjusting his underpants. 

“We’re going to run it again.” Rogue said as she summoned a new silver orb. And run it they did. They ran four more team building rounds before lunch and another two after. Progress was being made even just being their first day as a team. 

“Alright, great first day guys. We are going to be running practices most of the week though so be prepared.” Rogue said as her team smiled and even Tabitha and Sam high fived. They were excited to be X-Men. Rogue knew that excitement well and couldn’t wait to see what they could all accomplish. She just wished Jean was here. 

Boom Boom began to speak bringing Rogue out of the somber moment that had been brewing. 

“I think we all learned something important about our team...” Tabitha looked around the group before landing on Sam.  

“Sam wears tighty whties.” She said laughing getting a chuckle from everyone but Sam. Even Laura smiled. 

“Ha, ha. Very funny. I don’t need to defend myself.” Sam said embarrassed that this secret was discovered.  

While Rogue laughed at the exchange, her mind was already on tomorrow’s practice. And practice they did. All week they were booking sessions in the Danger Room and even just hanging out. They all had at least some classes together, which led to more team building outside of these practices. By the end of the week, they had made great strides. It would still take time before they could go out in the field, but there were less mishaps like Evan’s pants from that first day. 

Though Rogue had her own pants mishap when Tabitha thought it would be hilarious to stick one of her energy grenades in the back of her pants pocket. The explosion had caused Rogue to jump before she realized it had also blown out the back of one of her favorite pairs of pants revealing her green boyshorts to the team. 

“Dismissed.” Rogue had shouted as she covered her behind from her laughing team. She had to admit, after changing her pants, it had been funny. She also made a mental note to get Tabitha back for that at some point. 

She had just left her room when she ran into Scott, who had been about to knock on her door. 

“Oh.” They both said at once, surprised. The goth knew he was going through a rough time, even with his eyes hidden behind his red lensed glasses.  

“Sorry, I uhhh, sorry.” Scott said, turning quickly to leave. 

“Scott, wait.” Rogue said getting her friend to stop. They hadn’t spoken since Jean ran away after attacking the mansion. Rogue hadn’t been sure what to say and she felt Scott felt the same way. He turned to face her. 

“Can we go somewhere to talk?” He asked and she nodded. 

They ended up on a hill just at the edge of the Institute’s grounds. They sat in the grass, neither sure what to say until Scott asked what had been on his mind. 

“Did she say anything to you that night?” He asked. Rogue had gone over that night multiple times, many times with Logan, Ororo and Hank but also just on her own. She looked for anything that might have caused her best friend’s sudden outburst.  

“No, you?” She asked. He shook his head. 

“The last thing I said to her was goodnight, telepathically. I can’t even remember the last words I actually said out loud.” His voice cracked a little. 

“I just wish we knew what happened.” She said as they sat in the grass, the sun slowly went down.  

“If the Professor was up, he’d know what to do.” The visor wearing mutant said wishing for some guidance in these dark times. Neither of them thought Jean was the cause of the Professor’s current comatose state but it had been rumored with the underclassmen. Though Logan had shot that down early when he smelled two mutants around Xavier’s room that he didn’t recognize, neither of them Jean. 

“I just wish she would come back.” Rogue said leaning back into the grass. Even with the fun training her new team, the idea that Jean should be here weighed heavy on her mind. 

“If she won’t come back, we’ll get her back.” Scott said, and Rogue wasn’t sure he was talking to her or himself. 

One hundred miles away, Jean was grabbing her head in pain. The new presence in her brain was driving her insane. She knew she had attacked her friends, but that felt like years ago and not the few weeks it had been. The pain that came with the fiery entity came only when she went against what it wanted. When she did follow its wants and needs, it was only to cause chaos, and it felt to Jean like she was on drugs losing herself to impulses she couldn’t control. 

The only time she and the entity agreed was when she needed a wardrobe change from the big t-shirt she slept in. She had stolen a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of converses and a long sleeve green shirt with a yellow bird on the chest. The entity liked that bird. She began to float into the air using her telekinesis and giving into what the entity wanted. 

It wanted to have fun. She would give it fun.