A peaceful afternoon, the sun shines over the long field in front of this "school". A young girl, with suitcases in each hand, slowly walks along a trail leading up to the main entrance.

Wow, this place is huge… I can't believe I was able to get a full scholarship to a huge private high school like this, well, for my first year at least.

She reaches the front doors and before she can even press the doorbell, the doors open like gates into heaven. Before her stands a tall, dark, and handsome man. He reaches his hand out to greet her.

"Miss Pryde, I presume?"

She retorts in an almost whisper, "…yeah…"

"My name is Clark Kent, and I will be showing you around for your first day here. I teach history."

Cute... Very cute!

A beautiful female walks toward them from down the hallway. She has long flowing red hair, and is wearing a tight business type suit.

Clark smiles as he turns toward her, "And this is Ms. Jean Grey, our resident Physics and Chemistry teacher."

"Oh… It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Grey…"

I hate you!

"You must be Katherine Pryde, from Illinois."

What? They give everyone a memo?

"I'm sorry, I just have to borrow Clark for a minute," Ms. Grey says to Katherine as she pulls Clark around a corner by his arm.

"I'll be right back…" says Clark as he is being pulled away.

"Clark, the professor wanted me to remind you about the training session at 8 o'clock sharp tonight. He said that he had some news that he wanted us to hear."

"News? Good or bad…?"

"Not sure, but it can't be too good if he's putting us on double training shifts all this week."

"Yeah, maybe I should see what's wrong? Would you mind showing our new student around for a little bit?"

"Why sure, Mr. Kent." She smiles then blinks her eyes like a little girl.

"Very funny… Can we go now?"

"She thinks you're ‘very cute'…"

He just looks at her with an angry stare.

"It says it all over her mind… and I would know."

He just stares at her, trying hard not to smile.

"Then again, you are pretty cute when you're mad."

Jean turns away and starts walking back towards Katherine Pryde. Clark adjusts his glasses and follows behind her.

"Katherine…" Clark starts before she interrupts him.

"My friends call me Kitty."

"Oh… Kitty, I'm sorry but something important has come up that I have to attend to, and Ms. Grey will be showing you around the campus."

Rats!

Clark starts off down the hallways leaving Kitty and Jean together by the main entrance.

"So, what would you like to see first?" Jean asked as Kitty's eyes followed Clark down the hallway.

Clark's room.

Jean cracked a smile, "How about meeting some of the other students? It's recess in-between classes right now anyhow. Follow me…"

"Yeah, sure."

He paused for a second remembering his first time here, it was so long ago. It seems like everything has changed since then. The school grew larger, "normal" people were admitted, and Clark graduated. For two years he traveled the world, trying to find himself, yet it only took him back here, to his home. The only place that has ever made any sense to him, in a way it's the only home he has ever known. He thinks back, only vague memories of the past. His parents dying of plague while he was only a few years old. Jonathon and Martha Kent were their names. It's the only real memory he has of them. For the next few years he was thrown around from orphanage to orphanage, where he made and lost friends like they were nothing, never really making any strong bonds. That was until he was around 13. That was when he met Alex Summers, a few years junior of him. They became close, like brothers. Until one summer night, when Alex felt sick. Like out of a movie, plasma blasted out of his body burning the orphanage to the ground. Many people were trapped in the building and died, but young Clark was found under the rubble unscaved. Clark hasn't seen Alex since. That was also when Professor Charles Xavier noticed young Clark. He took Clark under his wing and raised him as his own. Teaching him to use his, as Xavier explained, mutant abilities and making sure that he was in a safe environment. That was when Xavier started the school, a place to train and keep other mutants safe, much like Clark. And the first class was started, only five children of different ages from around the country. Much has changed over time, but the same basic truths still exist.

Clark softly knocked three times on the door.

{Come on in Clark, no need to knock…}

The message echoed through Clark's mind, over the years he has gotten pretty used to being talked to "this way". Living among telepaths can do it to you.

Clark entered the large office, Xavier sat on a chair across the room in front of his desk. Behind him on the walls are pictures of past graduated classes. On the first one we can see both Clark and Jean at only 16 or so years old. Warren Kenneth Worthington III, who like an angel had wings grown out of his back, was also 16 years of age. Henry "Hank" McCoy, a boy cursed with enlarged hands and feet who could jump as high as the roof, was the oldest at 19. While Robert "Bobby" Drake, who had the uncanny ability to freeze water and form snow out of thin air, was the baby at only 12 years old. Many other students have been through these doors and have learned to control their uncanny abilities and have found a safe place that they can always return to with open arms. Like a family passing through generations.

"So, what is on your mind, Clark?" asked Xavier as he turned his chair around facing Clark.

Clark sat on the chair in front of the desk and faced Xavier.

"Well, that's just what I wanted to ask you…"

A curious look formed on Xavier's face.

Clark continued, "Well, over the last few days of extra training and the new… 'special' … students that have been given enrollment lately, I just figured that something might be wrong."

Xavier paused and sat there for a second, then a smile formed on his face.

"Well, in a way you can say that some minor problems have been building up over the last few weeks. And yes, I have been preparing you guys for the worst. Until now, we have worked ‘underground', saving mutants from threats around them and bringing them into the school, where they can live like normal children and in secret learn to develop their abilities."

Clark interrupted, "What do you mean ‘until now'?"

Xavier's face got more serious, "Recently, mysterious things have started to happen, and the appearance of this 'Spider-Man' and other ‘super-powered beings' showing off great amounts of power, has got the government in a state of panic. They know that they can't control these people, weather they want to help the world or not, does not matter to them. Control is the issue. Over the last few days, a ‘Mutant Registration Act' has been proposed into congress. They want to tag and file all people born with the gene that grants them these ‘dangerous powers'."

"WHAT? How can they do that? Why would they blame it on mutants? Most of the public only believes us to be a ‘myth' any way."

"They fear what they don't know, and we are the question that they don't know how to answer. But that isn't even the big problem…"

Clark's eyes widened, "Your afraid of how other mutants might react to this. How they might fight back and make matters even worse for us."

"Exactly. A former ‘student' has already notified me that some mysterious person, that changed shape right before his eyes, tried to recruit him to join what they called the ‘Brotherhood'. Said that it was for the safety of all of ‘our kind'. I believe that something big is going to happen soon, and we're going to have to be ready for it. The new younger mutants will start training soon, they will be the next in line if something were to happen to us."

"But…"

"I know Clark, it's unfair. But it's the only way to keep them safe."

"Pretty ironic, the only way to keep them safe is to bring them into conflict?"

"It's only a worse case situation. I have made some calls and some past ‘graduates' will be returning to help out a little bit. We will need all of the help that we can get. Cover in the school will remain and none of the normal students may know the truth. If our location is compromised, who knows what might happen to the young mutants that we are protecting! I'm sorry, but I have to attend to other appointments right now. If you would excuse me…"

"Yeah, sure…"

Clark got up and walked out of the room. Still confused he started down the hallway and towards the classroom in which he teaches.

"Katherine, if you have any problems or questions, you know where to find us." said Jean Grey as she left Kitty by her room in the student living quarters of the "Institute".

Finally, some time to relax…

Kitty lifted her bags off the ground, opened the door and started in. The room… a total mess, dirty cloths all over, food crumbs on the flood and an old yellow trench coat hung off the bookshelf. On one of the two beds sat Jubilation Lee, she doesn't even notice Kitty as she reads a comic book and listens to her ‘Walkman' at full blast.

OH MY GOD? This is my room and my slob of a roommate?

Kitty put her bags onto her bed and walked towards Jubilation.

"Hey, I'm your new roommate."

Jubilation Lee just continued to read her comic book and popped a piece of chewing gum.

"Um…? HELLO?"

Jubilation Lee turned toward Kitty.

"Oh… Hey, nice ta meetcha… You must be my new roommate. Katherine… Pryde right?"

"Yeah, but you can call me Kitty for short. What's your name?"

"Just call me Jubilee!"

"Yeah, sure." Kitty started to take clothes out of her bag and placed them into her closet. "So, what's there to do around here when we don't have classes?"

"Well, I can introduce you to some of the guy's…"

"Let's go!"

A man works, tirelessly, sweat drips from his forehead. His hair brown, templates gray showing his forty years of life. A white lab coat is worn over a black uniform; a gray strip on the uniform's side holds eight numbers. Around his right ankle is a small device, which makes sure that he can't leave the complex's perimeter.

Tools are scattered over the table, and the rest of the room is a mess. Frustrated, the man drops what he is working on and slams his right hand onto the table.

After about a minute, a voice comes over a loud speaker.

Mr. Richards, we would appreciate it if you continued to work… Remember that it is for the safety of the American people.

"The safety of the American people?" Reed Richards retorted, "More like genocide…"

No, that is not our aim here. We have only asked you to create a device to help us track those born with the X-Factor gene…The dangerous gene, which causes an unexplained mutation within its hosts. People like this should not be allowed to roam the streets unchecked!

"With all do respect, how do you expect me to build this device. Files on this "mutation" are limited at best, and you're asking me to create something that will pin point a gene within a person from miles away. I…"

Before Reed Richards could finish, he was interrupted by the voice once again.

Mr. Richards, need I remind you that doing a deed like this for your country might help your chances of being released early from your sentence. Might make you a free man…

Then, there was a pause . . .

Images flashed through Reed's mind, images of years past… The secret space mission, the Government warning, then defying a country in the name of science; in the name of discovery. But something went wrong, terribly wrong. Radiation of some sort hit us like a train plowing through a car. The systems went dead within minutes, and then we went on a nosedive straight for Earth… The last thing he remembers before the impact was reaching out for his fiancée, Susan Storm. But in the blind of an eye she was gone, then impact followed. He regained consciousness in an army base hospital, where he was told of the fate of his ‘partners'. Susan Storm, his fiancée, Johnny Storm, her younger brother, and Benjamin Grimm, his co-pilot, all had shared the same fate. Radiation had entered their blood stream, killed them within hours. Which made the sentence on Reed Richards that much worse… Manslaughter added on to the charges that were already piling up. He ended up with life plus some.

Now, he is forced to work for the government, which is imprisoning him. The ‘greatest' country on the planet, is how he used to feel about the United States… A place of freedom, which he now knows the truth about… About how things truly are!

"I just need…" Richards paused for a second, holding back his anger "…more time…"

Three figures are sitting in a room, observing Reed Richards as he works on the device.

"How much longer?" one man asked. He had graying hair and wore glasses.

"Hopefully not much longer," another replied, looking out the window at Dr. Richards doing his work. He had red hair and wore tinted glasses. "The device is nearly complete. But we have time, Senator Kelly."

"Do we, Gyrich? I mean this whole mutant thing is growing everyday."

"Is it?" a third man asked. He was sitting in the shadows, and not even Henry Gyrich or Senator Kelly could see him well. "Or is it just something in your head?"

"Enough with the mindgames. That's not why we're here," Kelly replied.

"Yes, we are here to discuss the Mutant Registration Act," the man in the shadows said. "It's moving forward quite nicely."

"Just like we planned, and with lots of help from you," Gyrich said, never once looking away from the window.

"Are you sure this is the right thing?" the senator asked. "I mean, is this really different than the Nazi's?"

"Having an attack of conscience, senator?" the man in the shadows asked.

"Well . . . "

"Look, Kelly," Gyrich said. "If the American people support us, then we can't be too wrong."

Kelly lowered his head. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "Don't know what came over me. Let's hope we never have to worry about that again."

"Yes. Let's," said the man in the shadows. "Gyrich, how does it look in there?"

"I give him a day, two at the most," Gyrich replied. "Then, we'll have our device ready, Mr. Luthor."

The man stood up, and the shadows vanished from his face. He smiled. "Good. And no one shall know that Lex Luthor was part of it at all."

Two figures sit; between the two men is a chess board. One is Professor Charles Francis Xavier, you could call him a believer in a world of mystery… The other is known as Erik Magnus Lensherr, well, he adds to the clouds of mystery that covers over the land. Both men are mutants by birth, some could even say that they are two of the most powerful mutants in the world. Xavier thinks for a second, then slides his white rook a few spaces forward… stopping before it passes any of the black pieces. Xavier then nods to sign to his opponent that it is now his turn. Lensherr lifts his right hand, the metal trimmed black knight moves in a "L" shape hitting into the white rook, knocking it off of the board. Lensherr just smiles, not saying a word. Xavier thinks for a few minutes, he rubs his chin as he looks over the board. He slowly moves his white bishop a few squares away from the black pieces, stopping on his own side of the board. Lensherr then moves his black rook across the board, capturing the white bishop. Once again he only smiles, not saying a word. Xavier takes a few moments; he slides his queen across the board. His stare still serious; no smile… no frown. Lensherr then moves his queen across the "battlefield" stopping only a few squares before the white king. He smiles, and says the word "Check." The word seemed to echo all around them.

Xavier paused, then for the first time during the long match he smiled. He picked up his queen, and slid it across the board, capturing the black queen.

"Checkmate."

Surprise formed on Lensherr's face, followed by a simple head nod.

The pieces on the chess board showed the battle clear… While Lensherr advanced to capture and take out the pieces on the white side, he backed his king into a corner, trapping him there with his own pawns. Although the amounts of black pieces were greater, it only took a simple move from the white queen to capture the black king and end the game. Without the king, there would be nobody to lead the black pieces, breaking the army up. Lensherr stood up, placing his hat over his head. For a second he looked into Xavier's eyes.

{You know what lies ahead… And what must be done!}

To Xavier's amazement, the words echoed through his mind.

{Charles, old friend… This is the last time I shall extend my offer.}

Xavier just remained silent.

{I see. Then this is our parting, the two roads which have diverged, farewell.}

Lensherr buttoned his jacket coat and turned walking away.

Xavier whispered to himself, "Goodbye, old friend. Goodbye…"

Clark sat at his desk, an empty classroom was in front of him. He spun a small globe while he concentrated, thinking back to his conversation with the professor. Thinking hard on what might be coming. Two soft hands squeezed the back of his neck, messaging it. With a small jolt, Clark turned toward a beautiful smile, the warm smile of Jean Gray.

In all but a whisper, Clark greeted her. "Hey."

"So, how did the little talk go?" she responded, as she sat down onto the desk.

"Just as we suspected… Bad. This is real and now… And I… I don't think we're ready for this sort of stuff…"

Jean though for a second, "Well, we have been preparing ourselves for this type of event since entering the school those many years ago. Now, we have to show that this school has had reason… A purpose for being."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Jean smiled as she leaned in towards Clark, "I always am…"

"Heh… That you are…"

"So, what's next?"

"Well, we have some investigating to do. Find out who might strike out against the government and where they will be striking… While trying to keep the government from passing a Registration Act against our kind. The odds are against us. Xavier made some calls and some old friends should be returning soon. In fact, the first should be here at any minute…"

"What…"

Kitty and Jubilee walked down the pathways outside of the school. Jubilee described the school and many of the students. Who was who… who was with who… who hung with who… and finally, who to stay away from.

"No way…That's sick!" Kitty said as both of the girls started to laugh.

They calmed down as they reached a bench and a wooden table where a few students were "chilling". One young man sat on the grass beside the table, his name Adam Berman. He sat reading a book… A book titled "Advanced Physics." Two other guys, Julio Esteban Richter and Everett Thomas, sat at the table playing cards. A beautiful blond haired female also sat at the table; her name Frances Kane, beside her was a young man, named Doug Ramsey.

"Hey guys! This is Kitty; she's new here. Kitty… This is Adam, Ric, Ev, Frances, an' Doug."

"H-hey." Kitty said still a little nervous with it being her first day.

"Hey.."

"Nice to meet you.."

"What's up?"

"How is everything so far?"

Kitty smiled…

I think that I'm going to like it here…

It burns, my insides… Pain… Fire… AGGGERRRHHHHH!!!!!

Why am I like this? Why do I have to be in such pain? Why do I have to destroy?

Why?

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP

Footsteps… Coming at me fast. Agrh… They probably need me again, my power…

Always need my power… To destroy, to kill.

TAP TAP TAP.

The footsteps stop. Standing above me, with the light shining off of his sliver hair, my "brother"… Pietro Maximoff. The so-called fastest man alive… That's what they tell me. Any way, I still think that that Flash guy from the old JSA myths is real and the fastest man alive… By far! I wish I had a power like that, rather than my powers. Rather than the pain I feel twenty four hours a day. The build up of raw energy, the fire that burns up my stomach… Makes sleeping a real pain in the ass!

"Alexander, we have been waiting for you… The time is almost upon us…"

I don't give a verbal answer; I just nod my head. Signing that I will be there in a minute. In a split second, he is gone in a puff of smoke… Once again I am alone… The way I like it! But duty calls…

A car pulls up in front of the long circular driveway towards the Institute, out steps a man. Long hair pulled back into a ponytail, his face unshaven. He smiles and breathes in the fresh air, opens the back of his jeep and throws a bag over his shoulder. He walks the long path leading towards the front doors to the institute. His hands appear to be somewhat larger than the hands of normal men; his feet hold the same quality. Before he even reaches the entrance, the doors open and both Clark and Jean step out.

"Clarky boy!!! How is everything?"

"Pretty good, McCoy… Old man!" Clark responds as he shakes his hand.

Henry McCoy then turns towards Jean, "What? No hug for an old friend?"

As Jean walks towards him, he lifts her into the air and spins around.

"Hey, big guy!" Jean said, trying to hold back laughter.

"It's been a while," Clark said as they started back into the school.

"Yeah, I just wish that this reunion could have been under better circumstances."

"I know what you mean Hank, I know what you mean…"