Part 5: Rogue Recruit

Watching Logan train was mentally exhausting. The man was a machine. A blood thirsty animal. Other than the fact that he pushed them all pretty hard in training sessions with him, none of them really seemed to know much about him. All she knew was that he was tough, strong, and a little scary at times. She heard him muttering a few times in the kitchen about there not being any beer and how the Professor wouldn't let him smoke inside the mansion. Kurt said that he saw the man sitting on the roof one night with a six pack and a cigar. Lili was sure he did that sort of thing often.

They all stood in the observation room of the Danger Room and watched Logan on the monitors as he crawled his way through the mansion air vents. Storm attacked him when he came out, but he managed to escape and crawl back in and make it all the way to the Danger Room. This training was to test the security of the Institute. Everything from the outer gate to the inner workings. Lili wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to learn from all of this, but she supposed it was good to know how secure this place was. Already she was amazed by how locked down it was.

The Professor finally called the session off as Logan trashed a few pieces of machinery and headed up to the observation room. Kurt was hanging upside down from the ceiling, stuffing his mouth full of popcorn. Scott and Jean were reviewing some of the training footage. Kitty, meanwhile, was sitting off to the side, hugging herself tightly.

Logan came in and suggested that they electrify the air vents or put in poison gas. Luckily, he was talked down to knock out gas instead. Kitty panicked a bit at this, “Is it just me or is anyone else seriously freaked about this?” everyone just stared at her blankly, “Oh right, it is just me. Great.”

Kurt teleported around the room, close to Kitty, telling her to relax and calm down. That this was all normal. She still hadn't got used to the blue guy yet and excused herself, “She's fully not into the fuzzy dude. Not that I blame her,” to which Jean reassured him that Kitty would come around. If Lili didnt know any better, she would think Kurt had a crush on the new girl.

The Professor came in soon after that to explain that they were going to Mississippi because of a new mutant. It was a girl that the Professor felt was a danger to not only others, but to herself as well. Despite that, as Lili was fairly excited when he said they all would be going.

Since coming here nearly a month ago, she had yet to be allowed out on these missions. The Professor kept claiming that she wasn't ready yet, “All of us, Professor?”

“Of course, Lili. It's a weekend, so no need to worry about being too tired for school in the morning,” she smiled brightly and started off to gear up with the others, “Lili,” she stopped and the other continued on, “You will be coming with, but you will not actually be taking part in the mission. They injury to your arm is not healed enough yet. I don't want you getting hurt anymore than you already are, but I think it's important for you to go with. The experience will be good for you.”

“But, Professor,” she started to argue, “What good will sitting back do for me? I want to get stronger. I can't do that if I'm always sitting on the benches. That's what my parents made me do and now we're not even sure if my wings can ever be used,” it had been sad the first time she unstrapped her wings and they just hung their limply. She'd been unable to use them at all or even make them twitch. The Professor stated that the muscles were atrophied and it would take time to see if they would ever be able to be used.

“Watching can be a good lesson. I know you want to overcome the weaknesses of your mutation, Lili, but it cannot be forced. Evolution is a slow process. We are the product of giant leaps in genetic changes, but even we have our own evolution that takes it's own time. Many of us will not see these changes in ourselves, but instead see them in future generations of our bloodlines. Your body will evolve in it's own time. Trying to force it will only cause undue stress. Do you understand?”

She nodded, “Yes, Professor.”

“Very good. Now, please go get ready. We're leaving in ten minutes,” he wheeled himself out and left her to pout for a moment before heading off to her own room to change.

Her uniform was special made, all of them were. Tight fitting, probably to keep other people from grabbing hold of loose clothing during a fight. Most of it was black, but there was a forest green stripe that came over her shoulders and narrowed down between her legs. The mid-calf high combat boots were the same shade of green. It zipped up the front into a turtle neck so that everything except her face was hidden. Even her hands were hidden under green gloves. The neck of the uniform looped around her own neck to hold everything in place, it had it's own small zipper on the back of the neck. It whole thing clung tightly around her chest (not that there was much to hide or cling to). Her back was exposed, but not much. Just from the base of her wings to just over the top where they connected with her skin and spine.

She wasn't sure why she bothered suiting up if she wasn't going to be participating, but part of her hoped the Professor would change his mind. She doubted that happened often. Maybe she could just stay in her room and no one would notice she didn't come with. She had better things to do anyway. She had to find Ms. Darkholme.

The woman had promised her a 'trial run' of this other advanced student group and she was still trying to figure out if it was the principal sending toad boy after her that first week. Darkholme was supposed to show her this other group almost two weeks ago, but every time she tried to find the woman, the secretary said she was out of town at a convention. How many conventions for teachers or principals could there really be in a year? Maybe she was stealing money from the school and taking vacations. No. The woman had too big of a stick frozen up her backside to do something like that.

Lili supposed she didn't really have a choice in the matter and it wasn't like she could force Darkholme to do what she wanted. At least she would be able to go somewhere other than school for a change.

A few minutes later found her sitting in the back seat of the Blackbird jet. It wasn't her first time in it, but it was her first time in it actually flying. For the most part, they had just learned about the controls. Kurt was the only one, other than Jean and Scott, who had actually flown in it. Scott was in the process of teaching the blue boy to fly it. So he was allowed to do their initial take off with Scott as co-pilot.

As soon as the engines started, she felt her chest get tight. Was she scared of heights? It's not like she ever had a reason to test whether she was or not. How sad would it be if she freaked out about a little flight to Mississippi? She was supposed to be able to fly herself and she was scared of heights? That would be pathetic. Lili told herself that it wasn't the heights. That it was the fact that Kurt had decided to switch to using his feet to drive.

“Scott's kind of cute,” she heard Kitty whispering to Jean. The redhead responded that she didn't think so. That she thought Scott was more strict and things like that. It was true, but Lili knew better. She saw the way the two of them looked at each other and tended to hover now and again. Those two were meant for each other. Finally, Jean admitted to thinking that the sunglasses wearing boy was kind of cute.

“He's frigid,” she added her own comment before going back to her own thoughts. Her little crush on Scott had faded completely. Lili didn't know what her 'type' was, but it certainly wasn't him.

Next thing she knew, Kurt was flying back into Kitty's lap. He crashed there and the girl screamed. Apparently Kurt's little stunt to try and impress her had gone wrong. The Professor snapped at him not to goof around in the jet and Kitty told the blue mutant to stay away from her. She reached over and touch the tailed one's arm, “She'll get over it,” that was all everyone seemed to be telling him. Honestly, she wasn't sure if Kitty ever would get used to having someone like Kurt around.

***

The flight didn't take too long. They landed at a private air strip and all of them piled into a van as they headed towards a hospital. Jean pulled on some nurse scrubs over her uniform and headed inside. Lili just pouted a bit. She could have done that. Though she knew Jean had been picked because of her ability, nothing else. The Professor needed to get inside someone's head and Jean could help him do that.

Soon after that, they were on the trail of this rogue mutant. Kurt, Kitty, and Logan were on one team. Storm, Jean, and Scott on the other. She sat back in the van with the Professor as they searched and he gave them instructions. She tried to pay attention, but there were points when it was more than a little boring. Considering the whole team was here, she really so no reason why they would have any issues. Three highly powerful adult mutants and a small group of young mutants with some pretty amazing abilities. She doubted anything this other girl could do would be a match for all of that.

“Is there anything I can do, Professor?” she finally asked.

“I'm sorry, Harpy, but not at the moment. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat are on her trail. If we can calm her mind down, I think she'll find the institute to be a wonderful place for her growing powers, just like yours,” she folded her arms and laid out on the back seat. They were all going by their codenames right now. It would keep them safe in case anyone over heard them. She knew Kurt and her had picked out their names, kind of, together, but she was kind of disliking hers now. Not that the idea of it didn't fit, but did she really need more confirmation that she was hideous? And weren't men still attracted to them, even if they ripped the mens faces off? Or was it sirens that lured men? Lili could never keep them straight. Were they allowed to change their names? A conversation she would have to have with the Professor some other day.

“We have a situation,” she got up quickly as he spoke. She got out of the car and helped the Professor out as well.

It turned out that the rogue mutant had touched Kurt, just put her hand on his face, and now he was unconscious. Kitty was holding the blue boy in her lap, crying, and begging him to wake up. Kitty said that it was her fault. That she thought she could take the other mutant down and Kurt had tried to get between them. Kitty said that the other girl shouted something in German before teleporting away like Kurt usually did. Apparently this girl could steal powers, “Maybe I should go after her, Professor. I'm not very strong, but unless she can grow wings, there isn't really anything of mine to steal.”

“I'm sorry, Harpy, but no. That boy in the hospital wasn't a mutant and look what happened to him. We have no way of telling what would happen if she touched you. I'd rather not risk it. No, I'm afraid we have to let her go.”

“But, Professor,” Scott started, but was silenced.

“No. We can't force her to come with us, Cyclops. She has to come of her own free will. I don't know what scared her so badly, but we can only hope that she will come to us one day wanting to join us. For now, we need to head back home and take care of our team.”

Speaking of which, both Storm and Kurt were starting to wake up from their attacks. Kitty nearly rushed the blue boy in a hug, calling him 'fuzzy elf' of all things. It was an incredible change of heart for the phaser mutant. Kurt just smiled before almost passing out again.

Kitty spent the whole trip back home at Kurt's side. It was kind of cute. She'd gone from completely disgusted with the blue mutant to being his loving friend. Apparently it had been one heck of a fight.

Lili was fairly upset that she hadn't a chance to be involved in it. All she did was sit in the car playing with the cast on her arm. What kind of incredible, amazing X-Men was she? She felt like the useless sidekick. Not even a useful sidekick that at least handed the hero weapons. She just sat there like a rock. Not even a rock that could be thrown. She was a huge boulder in the middle of nowhere that served no purpose.

***

School Monday morning wasn't fun for any of them. The others had worked hard to find that other mutant in Mississippi and felt very discouraged by the whole situation. More so when they went to school that morning and found the rogue mutant as the newest student at Bayville High. To say they were shocked was an understatement. The girl with the two-toned hair was being shown around by Ms. Darkholme.

Lili wanted to go after them and talk to the principal, but this hardly seemed the time for it, “How'd she get here?”

Jean shook her head and the others shrugged, “I don't know. Probably the same way Lance did,” Kitty commented, “I don't know who brought him here, but it wasn't the Professor. I think someone else around here is starting their own mutant group.”

“I wonder if the Professor knows...”

“Wolverine mentioned smelling someone called 'Mystique' when we were in Mississippi. He said that no matter what she looked like, he could still smell her,” Scott added in.

Lili shuddered a little, “A mutant that can look like whoever they want? She could be anywhere. For all we know, she could be the mayor or something,” which seemed silly, but it wasn't like she hadn't seen her fair share of strange things since coming here.

“I'm going to call the Professor. The rest of you should get to class,” Scott took charge and gave them their simple orders. None of them had a reason not to comply.

Lili made it to her Social Studies class on time and was surprised to see, for the first time since her first day of classes, the toad boy sitting in his seat. No one ever sat around him, the smell was sometimes unbearable, so instead of her usual seat she sat next to him, “Surprising to see you here for a change.”

He smirked, “Well, education is important. I gotta keep this brain of mine sharp at the crack of a whip.”

“Sharp crack of the whip? That makes no sense,” she shook her head and opened her notebook with her good hand, “Oh, and thanks for this,” she raised her cast up to him.

“You should have let go,” he sneered before reaching over and taking hold of it. When she tried to pull her arm back, he held a little tighter. She wasn't stupid enough to try and yank it free. That would only break it in another place, “Needs somethin' though,” he held her arm in such and awkward position that she couldn't see what he was doing other than that he had a pen, “That's better,” he smiled as he let her arm go and she yanked it back to her chest, “Catch ya latter,” he announced as he hopped from his seat and out the classroom door just before the bell rang.

Lili glanced down at her cast as the teacher started in on his lecture. He'd drawn a little frog. It was kind of cute. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He was cute too. Not extremely so, but maybe a good scrub down in the shower would fix that. She traced the outline of the little frog with her fingernail before she realized he’d written a note too. She squinted to read it, saying it silently to herself as she read it, “Two more coming. -Toad”

What the hell did that mean? Apparently he called himself Toad. It made sense. Every time she met this Toad, she felt more confused. Who the heck else was coming? What were they coming for? She’d tried to just ignore all of this and deal with it on her own, but Lili realized she had to talk to the Professor about it now. The little note felt somehow threatening.

***

“I really think it’s important, Professor. Toad wrote this on my cast. Two more coming. I think that rogue girl from Mississippi is working for someone around here. So is Toad and that other guy. I think Kitty said his name was...”

“Lance. Lance Alvers. I met him briefly when we went to meet Kitty. We would have welcomed him here, but he ran off before we could talk to him. I understand your concern, Lili, but there is nothing to worry about. No one is in any danger. Obviously mutants are like any other human. Some of us just fit in better with certain types of people. That means not all mutants will fit in with each other. If these two boys and the rogue feel more comfortable with their powers with each other, then so be it. The Institute will still be here for them if they chose to come.”

“I understand, Professor. I’m just worried that they might be trying to start a fight or something. Logan mentioned someone called Mystique down in Mississippi. Who is that? Could she be getting these mutants together?” Lili didn’t want to let this go.

The Professor sighed lightly, “Mystique is a mutant, but not one you need to concern yourself with right now,” it was easy for anyone to tell that he was hiding something, but she knew she was in no position to get him to say it, “I would like for you to leave the subject alone for now. If Toad tries to talk to you about it, please just ignore him. He’s likely just trying to get you riled up. It’s, unfortunately, in his personality to do such things. He seeks attention.”

Lili nodded. That did make sense in a way, “I will, Professor. Not like I can do much with this anyway,” she raised up her casted arm, “I think I’ve still got another month of this,” she smiled before starting out of the room, “Good night, Professor.”

“Good night, Lili.”

Flopping onto her bed, she stared at the drawing on her cast. He was the only one who had wanted to do any kind of signing on it. Reaching over to her nightstand, she pulled out a black marker and started scribbling out the warning message. She left the drawing and his signature. It really was cute and she liked frogs.

A knock on her door made her blush, “Come in,” she knew who it was. It was Storm.

“You wanted to see me, Dear?” the white haired weather witch asked softly as she closed the door behind her and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, I, uh, had some questions. Kitty thought it would be best if I talked to you about it...”