Author Notes

This bit of fan-fiction is based off of an online message-board game that’s been running for in and around three years now. While not having a whole lot to do with many canon characters from X-Men, they are mentioned here or there. Especially as several characters are the known or unknown offspring of several famous characters you’ll recognize as the story progresses.

I’ve taken the innumerable posts from the game and re-written them into a story format. Therefore credit goes—not only to me—but to Ginsan and JadeRaven (found here at FF(dot)net) as well as Dante and Sever for the meat of the story.

This is rated M for mature for a reason. Content includes violence, sexual situations and adult language (sometimes in other languages besides English. If you are a native speaker of said language and what’s written here is wrong, by all means let me know. Online translators can only do so much. ). Any sex scenes have been removed from what’s posted here due to FF(dot)net’s policies. If you are over the age of consent and would like to read them, contact me through email and indicate which part or chapter you’re looking for and I’ll be sure to send it to you.

While originally meant to center more on joining a new team of fighting mutants, the game has taken on more of a high-school drama feel. (Probably all my fault, being the hopeless romantic that I am). If none of this interests you, then please don’t bother reading. I don’t expect this to be too terribly popular. I just felt like uploading it somewhere, since I’m spending so much time on it. Plus it gives those of us playing the game an easy way of reading it (without me having to email it every other day).

And finally, if you’re reading this, are a fan of X-Men and think you might be interested in joining the game, email Ginsan (head administrator) at bocogoko(at)aol(dot)com.

List of Characters and their owners (for anyone curious) ;

Lynnwood (just realized I have FAR too many characters . . .)

Animal Avery, Tandy Michaels, Andrei Valerian, Levi Phillips, Aislinn Cassidy, Jenny Spence, Megan Wyndell, Wade Boggins, Lavender Blaire, Zeke Douglas, Natasha Valynik, Roni de la Cruz, Shelby Stubbs, JJ Jameson, Wilhelmina Heines-Rothstein

Ginsan :

Jonathan Fraum, Karen Moonshadow, MECH, Kevin Banefin, Jason Silverstone, Josephine Clearmont, Mia Katawozki, George Hender, Ryan Juno, Lucy Boggins

JadeRaven :

Samantha Yansu, Lexy Yansu, Nicolae Valerian

Dante :

Heinrich VonDroth, Victor VonDroth Sr., Victor VonDroth Jr., Conner MacIntyre

Brian (Lynnwood's Fiance, whom she ghostwrites for because he can't write worth a damn ) :

Marius Boudreaux, Shin-hua Cheung

Sever :

Maggie Santa Clara, Angelique Tonnelier, Erin/Aaron Thomas, Julian Christian

Communal NPC's :

DNA, Paulette, Michelle and Nanette Rousseau, Katherine Marbanks, Nathaniel Pennderson, Brad Fredericks, Violet Vickers

Chapter One

The Dangers of Pranking

August.

For some, autumn was a time of transition, a time of change. As spring began to descend into winter, many things in nature went through a metamorphosis of sorts. Likewise, it was a time for most people to re-evaluate their lives and take stock of all they had, all they had lost and all they might gain in the days to come.

At the moment, in a small community deep in Death Valley California called Haven by its assorted occupants, two individuals were quite literally seeing their lives flash before their very eyes.

“You are both so friggin’ dead!”

Two teen males darted down the length of a pristine football field, neck in neck. One was about six feet even, his hair a fringe of dark blue gelled spikes and his caramel complexion belying a Latino heritage. The other towered over his companion by a good four inches, his long black hair flying out behind him like a banner.

“Holy crap, is he pissed,” the blue-haired boy hissed, his expression a mix between terror and guilty mischievous humor. “Maybe we shouldn’t have put that superglue in his helmet?” The taller of the two shot his friend a harried look, his own face bland.

“Yah think?”

The object of their comments was in hot pursuit, and though he easily dwarfed the other two—both in height and in sheer muscle mass—he was very near to catching his prey. His expression was hidden due to the football helmet lodged on his head. The bright gold bolts of lightning shooting out erratically from beneath it was enough of a giveaway to his current frame of mind, however.

“Stop runnin’ away like cowards, ye li’le shits!” the taller teen roared, his deep voice laced with a thick British accent. “Get back ‘ere an’ face yer deaths like men! I’m gonna rip yer bloody hearts out!”

“Shyeah, right, be right there George!” the black-haired one shot back over his shoulder, not slowing in the slightest as they neared the bleachers. And then, in the interest of self-preservation he added somewhat desperately, “besides, it was Kevin’s idea to use superglue! Not me!”

Kevin slid his “best-friend” a betrayed glare as they continued to hot-foot it away from their pursuer. “Oh hell no, you’re not pinning this all on me, pendejo. You’re the one who wanted to add the accessories, Jason!” he was sure to add, loud enough that George could easily overhear.

An inarticulate roar of rage heralded a rather violent burst of electricity, and the helmet exploded into several different fragments before falling away. As it did, it revealed the face of a truly enraged George Hender. Pools of brilliant golden energy existed where his eyes should have been, spitting miniature lightning bolts as he put on an extra burst of speed in order to overtake his prey. Enraged, not because of the helmet. No, he was enraged because of what was now glued into his hair.

Plastic butterflies. And not just any type of butterflies. Bright neon pink glittery ones. They sparkled in the sunlight.

With one last lunge, George launched himself at the backs of their knees with both arms outstretched. All three teens went down into the turf with a bone-jarring thud.

“Hey George, don’t kill them too badly,” a voice suddenly called good-naturedly from the bleachers. “Geo still needs them to clean up the training room. They gotta be there by six.”

There wasn’t any indication that the huge Brit had heard, commencing to pounding the crap out of his hapless victims. The owner of the voice snickered to herself as the beatings began.

She was pale-skinned, obviously of Asian decent, her ramrod straight, slanting bob style black hair streaked in metallic silver and her laughing eyes sharing the same shade. She dug her elbow companionably into the ribs of the girl who sat next to her, who had a sickly look on her face as she watched George plant a huge fist directly across the jaw of the blue-haired teen below. Her skin was a rich mocha brown, her hair done in a thousand tiny braids of black, red and platinum white that hung down to her waist. Her dark brown eyes were wide before she forced herself to look away, staring down at the book in her lap instead.

Her friend noticed her queasy expression and laughed. “Oh come on, Josie. You gotta admit the two stooges asked for it. Might as well enjoy it.” Josephine’s face turned bland.

“Mia, you might enjoy watching others writhe in pain—and really, they give therapy for that kind of stuff—but I don’t. I’m not here to watch World War III, I’m here to study.” Now she smirked. “You know, for that 5000 word essay on X-Factor in Human Genome that’s due tomorrow in Biology?”

“Ah, nuts!”

Josie laughed as Mia hopped out of her seat and grabbed up her spilled books, then began scrambling down from the bleachers.

“Sorry guys,” she called out to the other three. “You’re on your own! Catch ya at dinner!”

Josie got to her own feet with a sigh, closing her book. She followed her friend, but hesitated, trying not to stare too hard at Kevin and the blood leaking from his nose and mouth. “Have them in the training room by six, George, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

As Josie left, a petite, slender yet athletic girl sauntered over across the field, her helmet hanging negligently from the one arm she had looped through the face mask. The headgear swung back and forth with each purposeful step. A slightly tanned face and a plume of hair adorned the newcomer, which was an inky black with the last inch or so dyed crimson red. Cropped short at about two inches, the mass stuck up every which direction in a wild abandon that looked completely untamable.

The back of her navy blue jersey—number 1—read simply; Animal.

The girl winced as George pounded one last fist into both Kevin and Jason before finally standing up and stalking off to hopefully rid his head of the neon plastic accessories. Then she shook her head and chuckled to herself. As the other two were slowly sitting up and trying to assess the damage, Animal crouched down beside them with the grace of a feline and gave them a toothy grin, dark eyes dancing. Two elongated canines flashed in the afternoon sunlight.

“Afternoon, guys,” she cajoled sarcastically, voice heavy with a New Jersey accent, “lovely day, ain’t it?” Both glared mutinously but did not respond right away. She leaned her weight on the helmet she had set in front of her and sighed, rocking on her heels. “Can’t say that was the smartest thing in the world, lettin’ George see you run away. If you’re gonna prank you gotta do it right.”

Kevin shot her a withering glare, ruined by the swelling eye and bloodied nose. Jason seemed far too preoccupied with cradling his ribs, studiously avoiding her gaze. “Oh, and I suppose you could do better?” the blue-haired teen questioned flatly. Animal lifted one shoulder, which almost slipped through the neck of her too-large-jersey, in an offhand shrug.

“Unlike you two morons, I don’t have a death wish. George is the last person I’d prank . . . and I think you’re starting to feel why,” she added as Jason popped his jaw back into place with a painful grimace.

“Yah, you always talk a lot of game, Ani,” Kevin grumbled afterward. “Yet you never back it up.”

Again that fanged grin before the slender girl got to her feet, lifting the helmet. She turned around and began sauntering away, though from over her shoulder she gave them both a one-fingered salute that illustrated quite eloquently how she felt about Kevin’s assessment.

Meanwhile a very petite girl with long platinum blonde hair tipped in black sat in the bleachers, a very thick volume balanced in her lap. She rolled her eyes over to an identical girl—though her long hair was inky black tipped in white—who bounced up and down at her side, fist in the air, cheering wildly as George Hender finished up beating down Kevin Banefin and Jason Silverstone. The former twin’s expression was the epitome of disapproval.

“He really shouldn’t be doing that,” Samantha Yansu murmured softly, tone chiding. “He could seriously hurt them.”

Alexandrea Yansu—Lexy for short—rolled her eyes at her sister, then watched the scene below unfold. She grinned as Ani began in the two boys’ direction.

“You gotta learn to have more fun, sis. Besides, they had it coming. I mean, didja get a load of George’s hair? Priceless!”

“I don’t need you and Ani’s particular brand of fun, Lexy,” Sammy announced primly. “I don’t want to end up hurt or killed, or worse—expelled.” Now she frowned speculatively, which only deepened as her twin steadily avoided meeting her direct stare. “Speaking of which, you should be studying. Don’t you have a test soon or something?”

Lexy whined, “but it’s math! You know I hate math!” Sam’s expression remained serene and unmoved in the face of her sister’s volatile animation.

“Yes,” she murmured softly, “but that’s why I offered to tutor you.” Lexy shot a desperate glance toward the field, and brightened when she saw that Animal was heading in their direction across the field.

“Eh, practice is over. Let’s go catch Ani on her way out.” Sammy wasn’t fooled by the sudden change of subjects. She just sighed however before closing her book and then both sisters stood in synch.

“Fine,” she allowed, “but later tonight I’m going to help you study for that test. And no using my powers to cheat. You know what Geo said would happen if you got caught again.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Lexy intoned before taking her sister’s hand and tugging her along behind her down toward the field.

Below, Animal reached up to swipe off the beads of sweat dotting her brow as she trudged toward the locker rooms. She noticed the Asian twins headed in her direction, and her face broke out into an honest grin.

“Sam, Lex, always a pleasure.”

“Hey Ani. What did you tell those two blockheads a second ago?” Lexy demanded as soon as they were close enough for conversation. The feisty female merely smirked as the three of them fell into step together, the two twins on either side of her.

“Oh I just told them that it was pretty stupid, prankin’ George like they did, of all people.” Sammy smiled in approval, but that quickly fell again as Animal continued with, “hands down I could do it so much better.” Lexy’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, while Samantha let out a groan.

“Oh really? You got anything in mind?”

“I don’t wanna hear this!” Samantha suddenly called out loudly, one hand pressing into her forehead. “For the sake of plausible deniability, and my own sanity, I really don’t wanna hear this.” She turned to her sister as they stopped outside of the girl’s locker room entrance in the stadium. “Lexy, if you need me, I’ll be in our room studying.” Then she turned on her heel and trudged off, muttering under her breath about juvenile delinquents.

Animal and Lexy chuckled as they entered the locker room. The former tugged a near-by towel off a pile and used it to mop the majority of sweat and grime from her face and neck while her best friend came farther inside and straddled one of the benches in between the lockers. She leaned down on her fists planted in front of her, and the quirky smirk she was wearing immediately made Ani wary. And with good reason.

“So what do you have in mind, Animal?” Her grin turned positively predatory. “You finally gonna tell Jason you got the hots for him?”

The meanest glare in the world couldn’t counteract the telling blush that turned Animal’s cheeks scarlet, and Lexy just chuckled good-naturedly.

“Can it, Lex,” she hissed, casting a worried glance toward the open doorway of the locker room. She was quite certain that Lexy and Sam were the only ones who had even the smallest inkling of Animal’s not-so-tough feelings for the six foot four, black-haired, emerald-eyed powerhouse. The Jersian’s tough bluster did quite a nice job of hiding it for her.

Still, one could never be too careful.

“One of these days, you’re gonna get a crush on somebody,” Animal announced scathingly as she marched toward the showers. “And I’m gonna take sadistic delight in teasing the crap out of you for it.”

Lexy just shook her head and sighed loudly. “Animal, a crush is when one person likes someone else who doesn’t return their feelings. Only a deaf, dumb, blind man couldn’t tell that Jason thinks you’re hot—,”

Animal’s loud snort of bitter sarcasm drew the other up short. She turned back to her friend, expression caught between bitter resignation, cold detachment and fragile hurt. “Me?” she demanded, tone sharp. She motioned to herself with disdain. “All five-feet three inches of skinny wonder? Yeah right. Lex,” the sixteen year old heaved, exasperated at her friend’s look of unconvinced annoyance. “I have no boobs to speak of, no hips and definitely no ass. I do however have quarter-inch fangs in my mouth, and thick black claws where my finger and toe nails are supposed to be.”

“All of which go great with your Goth-punk hairstyle and the amount of metal you have piercing your body,” Lexy added stubbornly, indicating Animal’s multitude of piercings. She had two silver loops in her left eyebrow, two silver studs in the left nostril, a hoop, two studs, a half hoop and a cuff in each ear and finally a somewhat large, curved silver barbell in her navel. “As for not being curvy enough, you’re only sixteen,” she continued to defend stubbornly.

“You’re fifteen and pure Chinese, and you’re wearing a C-cup,” Animal returned flatly. Lexy blushed.

“Some girls just develop later than others.”

“And some never develop at all. Look, let’s just drop the subject ok?” Ani insisted loudly when her friend would have said more. “Hunky star football players don’t date the flat-chested Goth-chicks. It just doesn’t happen.” She turned and stepped into the shower, out of a scowling Lexy’s line of sight. “Jason should be dating some busty blonde cheerleader or something. Somebody with a food name, like Candy.”

“And the fact that Jason can’t ever seem to string more than two words together when you’re near-by? How do you explain that, miss know-it-all?” Lexy demanded loudly to be heard over the sudden spray of the showers.

“Oh hell, I dunno, how about the fact that he doesn’t like me and would sooner gouge his own eyeballs out than speak to me?”

Lexy could only sigh at that, and then shook her head, though both were lost on the stubborn female in the showers as she couldn’t have possibly heard them. “One of these days,” she murmured to herself, “Jason’s gonna get the balls to tell you how he really feels. And I really hope I’m around to watch you pull that foot out of your mouth.”

“Jason?”

“Yeah, Kev.”

“No butterflies next time, ok?”

“Yah, I’ll remember that,” the dark-haired seventeen year old agreed, hunching over and still favoring his ribs. The two of them leaned heavily on each other for support as they limped their way off the field, ignoring the surrounding chuckles and comments that lit up around them. They turned their steps toward Haven General. It wouldn’t hurt to make sure that George hadn’t done any real, permanent damage beyond bruising them up and embarrassing the hell out of the duo in front of God and everybody else.

They neared the entrance to the stadium, when all of a sudden Kevin drew up short, eyes wide.

“Uh . . . Jason? You did remember to disable that trip line we’d installed previously in George’s locker . . . right?”

“Uh . . .” was Jason’s only answer. A moment later, a blood-curdling scream of fury erupted from the men’s locker room, and both of them paled.

“I’m gonna break yer bloody necks!”

A very unhappy—and very neon green—George suddenly burst from the locker room door.

Summoning reserves of strength neither knew they had, Jason and Kevin both broke apart and went tearing down the street toward the hospital. They didn’t dare stop, look behind them or even breathe until they’d made it inside the safety of DNA’s examination room. Then the two fair collapsed from exhaustion and pain, while the nurse looked on, brow crinkled with confusion.

For now, they were safe. Once they had to leave the safety of the hospital was a different story, but they’d save that worry for later.

“Yes Jason.”

“I think we might want to curb the pranks. Just a bit, mind you,” Jason added hurriedly. “At least until I stop pissing blood.”

Kevin sighed heavily as he scrubbed a section of scorched paneling several days later. While DNA had given both the boys a clean bill of health, neither looked in their top form. Especially after George caught back up with them later that day after they’d left the hospital. Kevin’s face was a mass of livid bruises, both eyes blackened, a heavy scab on the corner of his mouth where his lips had been split and reddened scrapes down the whole left side of his face that looked suspiciously like road rash—from where the side-walk had suspiciously rubbed against his face when George was beating the crap out of him. Jason fared no better.

Geo had given George triple training sessions and an extra shift out in the fields for the assault. For Kevin and Jason, they had cleaning duty in the training center until further notice, and double training sessions. They did look like they’d been trampled by elephants, after all. Triples would’ve been too harsh.

“Yeah, let’s do that, mi amigo,” Kevin agreed heavily. “And while we’re at it, let’s pick a new target too, eh? Ol’ Georgie-boy doesn’t seem to grasp our particular brand of humor.”

Jason snorted as he buffed the wall near-by. “Yeah that’s putting it mildly,” he murmured blandly. Then he hesitated. “Hey, you figure out who you’re gonna ask to prom yet? It’s like . . . only two months away.”

Kevin’s smile was pained. “Not a clue. I’m more interested in living through the next few weeks.” He tried to feign nonchalance while he chipped off a bit of black crust as he added, “I dunno, I was thinkin’ of maybe asking Josephine. You know, just so she would have a date,” he added hurriedly, nervous of how his friend would take such news. He hazarded a glance and found Jason leaning against the wall on one shoulder, arms crossed with a knowing smirk on his face. “Hey, I mean, no sense in the girl not getting to go cause every other guy is scared spitless of her powers,” he added quickly. “I mean, hell, I’ll take one for the team.”

Jason chuckled. “Yeah, you wanna take one all right, but it ain’t for the team. We’ve been friends for—what, how long now?”

“Since preschool,” Kevin supplied needlessly, frowning. Jason nodded.

“Yeah, since diapers, and you think you could possibly pull one over on me? Hell, you stare at her ass so much it’s a wonder she hasn’t slapped you with a restraining order.” Kevin just glared.

“Besa mi culo, pendejo, you’re just jealous cause Ani won’t give you the time of day.”

“Oho, and just what would we be admitting to in here, boys?”

Both teens froze and shared a horrified stare before slowly looking over their shoulders to see two of three other teens who had access to this room. Mia stood there smirking, hands on her slender hips, while a blank-faced Josephine stood slightly behind her. Both girls were dressed in shorts and halter-tops, obviously having meant to use the facility to exercise. The Asian girl turned to her friend now, eyebrows lifted to a haughty level.

“I dunno Josie, it sounded to me like Kevin over here just dissed you big-time. Talkin’ about how you were like some pity-date that no other guy would ever ask out. Like you couldn’t do anything better than his charity.”

Josephine’s scathing stare pinned Kevin to the spot, who looked just about ready to melt into a puddle.

“It looks like the training room is out of order, Mia,” she murmured, tone flat. “I have homework I have to finish. I’m leaving.”

Josephine turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. Mia herself indulged in her own glare on her friend’s behalf before she too turned to leave, muttering the word “morons,” beneath her breath.

There was a moment of charged silence, then Jason let out a low whistle. “Dude. You are in so much trouble. So much for prom.” Kevin, not liking the snide snicker of humor in his best-friend’s tone, turned to give him a nasty glare of his own.

“Me? What the hell kind of trouble do you think you’re gonna be in when Mia goes to give her own skewed opinion on your feelings for Animal?”

Both of them stared at each other for a full minute. In the next breath they both began scrambling to their feet and taking off after the girls as fast as their legs could carry them.