NOTE:~ means telepathic communication. * means personal thought. [ ] means cyberpathy or computer-generated speech.

Massachusetts Academy, 08/26/2006: 09:29:01 hrs EDT: Girls' Dorm:

"When did you and Joe get in?! This is so cool!" Rachel laughed, looking at her cousin Gailyn. The girls had barely seen each other all summer, between the Bailey twins' trip to Ireland with the girls' grandparents John and Elaine Grey, and Rachel's volunteer work with the Salem Center Park District.

"Just a little bit ago. We saw Miss Frost, and did the whole power-gauging thing, and she let us go to our dorms to unpack," Gailym smiled. "I hope you didn't have somebody else in mind for a roomie..."

"No! This is cool," Ray said. "Listen, I gotta meet Frank Richards at the pool like yesterday, but I wanna talk, too. Can we meet later?"

"No problem -- we'll have tons of time later," Gailyn said. "You go see the Frankinator, I'll go meet the other girls. Anyone I should beware of?"

Rachel shook her head, grabbing her bikini and a towel as she raced out the door. ~Just don't go in Illyana's room when she's chanting,~ she sent.

"Chanting? Oh boy..." Gailyn sighed. She poked her head out the door to see two blonde girls, one tall and the other smaller, arguing at the end of the hall. *What is that smell?* Gailyn thought, heading down the hall to check out the discussion.

"Look, all I'm asking is you keep your hound out of the biosphere lagoon! He's stinking up the dorm!" the taller blonde yelled.

The shorter one shook her head and replied, "Lockjaw doesn't know the lay of the land yet, Illyana! You can't blame him for teleporting into the pond. Maybe if you'd use a deodorizing spell..."

"Like I want to waste magic on your giant dog," Illyana snapped. She looked up to see Gailyn and muttered, "Hi. You must be Gailyn Bailey. I'm Illyana Rasputin, teleporter and apparent landlord. I've gotta go set my wards in my room...just let me be for a while."

She stomped off while Gailyn asked, "You can keep a dog here?"

"He's my bodyguard -- hey! Are you that Gailyn, the one who fought with Bill last year at the X-Men's Memorial Day pool party!?" the other girl grinned. "I'm his cousin, Luna Maximoff. Don't worry -- I know Bill, and he probably deserved it. C'mon in and have a juice."

She invited Gailyn into her room, which was nearly spotless. If one ignored the giant, towel-covered dog with a fork on his forehead laying on the floor where the other bed would have been.

Gailyn knelt by Lockjaw, stunned at the giant panting beast. "He's so neat! And he doesn't really smell," she smiled. Lockjaw licked her hand, while Luna handed Gailyn a juice pouch.

"Thanks," Gailyn said. "So what's your power?"

"I'm a time-shifter," Luna replied, sitting by Lockjaw and rubbing him off. "Lockjaw used to be my mom's dog, but after I came here he was the only bodyguard Miss Frost would allow. She didn't want to attract attention to the school, and I'm really a little tired of all the suck-ups at home anyway."

"Where're you from?" Gailyn asked. "I know Bill and Tom from Mrs. Shade's visits to the X-Mansion, but I don't remember you ever being there."

"The island nation of Attilan, home of the Inhumans, where I'm their princess," Luna smirked, rolling her eyes. "Don't let the title throw you -- my mom's the queen, but I hate all the royal garbage."

"You're not a snob, don't worry," Gailyn grinned. "Thanks for not holding Bill against me...I only pushed him into the pool because he called me a 'tomato.' I'm not looking to beat on him or anything, but my brother Joe--" She stiffened suddenly, as if hearing a distant noise, and said, "I'm sorry, Luna. I've gotta go find Joe. He's in trouble somewhere on campus -- I felt it through our psi-link."

"Lemme come along! We can let Lockjaw rest here after his nap, and I can accelerate both of us," Luna smiled. She enfolded Gailyn in her accelerated time-field, allowing the girls to run after Joe at lightning speed.

The girls traced Joe's thought-yell to the boys' dorm, where the red-headed psi was scowling at Bill and Tom Shade on the front porch. "Look, Shade, I'm not gonna beat you up! I just want to go unpack and relax a little, OK?" Joe growled.

"Like I'm supposed to believe that?!" Bill snapped. "You nearly broke my arm last year at the pool! I screwed up when I teased your sister, but I said I was sorry!" The girls faded into normal space-time and sighed while Gailyn stepped between the boys.

"He's serious, Bill," she said, glaring at both of the boys. "And as for you, Mister Linebacker, I can fight my own battles! Now, do I have to break out the wet noodle?" The boys muttered apologies, and Joe headed upstairs with his bags.

Nate Summers poked his head out of the common room and asked, "Was that Joe? I wanted to say hi! C'n somebody watch Gary while I go talk to Joe?"

Gareth Cassidy ran to Gailyn, who picked him up with a smile. "I'll do it," she told Nate. "Hey there, kiddo! I'm Nate's cousin, Gailyn. You wanna go fora walk?"

Gareth nodded with a grin and said, "Sure! I'll show y' th' biosphere!" The pair headed for the biosphere while the teens went their various ways.

"Thanks, Luna!" Gailyn called after her new friend.

"Sure! Seeya later!" Luna smiled after her. She turned to Bill and said, "She's really not a bad person at all. You might wanna take notes."

Bill rolled his eyes and said, "I'll leave her alone, Luna. But don't try to play matchmaker like Tommy boy here."

The twins headed back upstairs, leaving Luna to raise an eyebrow. *Looks like I hit a nerve,* she thought with a smile. *Oh, Bill, could you finally have found somebody?*

The lithe girl dodged the shopkeeper's rolling pin, slipping into the shadows she called her only friends. *Pig,* she thought, running from the shop with her latest meal. *As if the high-castes have any right to look down on me!*

At 14, Soraya was a member of India's lowest caste, the Untouchables, and an orphan as well. In a nation facing overpopulation and ethnic strife, not to mention increasing threats from its neighbor Pakistan, one lone girl could easily fall through the cracks.

She ducked into an alley, chewing on the cold bread and sighing. *At least the police aren't out tonight,* she thought. *Father would have a fit if I showed up at home, much less with Bombay's finest hauling me in.* She spat out a piece of gristle, unintentionally striking a sleeping beggar.

"Oops," Soraya said. She cringed as the beggar stood up and growled at her, an insane glint in his eye.

"The Dark Mother calls you, girl...prepare to join her!" he rumbled, pulling a garrotte from his rags.

"Oh, Kali wouldn't want me, Thuggee -- besides, aren't you supposed to avoid bloodshed when you kill for her?" Soraya teased. *Like I need this now,* she thought. She tripped over a garbage can and felt the wind be knocked out of her.

*Not...now,* she thought, fighting to remain awake. *H..elp me...*

A sudden flare of darkness seemed to respond, swallowing Soraya and pulling her away from the beggar. He dropped to his knees and stammered, "Y-you can have her, Mother...I beg mercy!" But no one was left in the alley to hear...

Frank Richards raced out of the boys' lockers, dressed in his swimbrief and cursing himself for running late. *Like she's not already nervous enough,* he thought. He looked about, gasping to see Rachel approach in her bikini. Her red hair hung about her shoulders, her green eyes drinking him in.

~Ah...eye candy,~ she sent with a wicked grin. "Now...let's set some ground rules," she said aloud. "You can hug and hold my hand, but the heavier stuff let's wait on, 'kay?"

The teens jumped into the pool, where Frank smiled sheepishly. "S-sure," he said. "I don't wanna pressure you, Ray, really."

She smiled back and said, "Frank, that's not a problem. You're the nicest guy I know, and I've never thought of you as someone who'd paw me." She splashed him, sending, ~So, boyfriend, catch me if you can!~

~Boyfriend? All right, 'girlfriend',~ Frank sent back with a grin. Rachel shrieked as she dodged another wave of water, yelling, "No TK!"

Charles Lehnsherr strolled out of the boys' dorm, unsettled by the vibes clinging to the place. *Like they can't figure out tepes are bugged by strong emotion? Gimme a break, guys.* He had never seen the point in the Bailey-Shade feud, and was grateful to Gailyn for trying to end it.

*It's funny... Ray, Nate and I get along great, but the Magneto Curse spoils things for our cousins and nephews.* He shook his head and sat beneath a shady tree, already noticing the late August heat. *Dad just had to wear that stupid red and purple armor again to the going-away party. Uncle Scott was right to have a fit, even if he did show a lot of restraint. Shows what I get for wanting Dad home...* Charles winced at his thought; he had missed his father, who'd been away in Antarctica keeping the Acolytes from attacking humans for the better part of a year. But Remy had been there when Charles had needed him, and Mom had never totally gotten over Gambit...

"At least I don't have to worry about affairs of the heart -- what!?" Charles jumped as the shadow of the tree spat forth a dark-skinned girl. She was dressed in silks and sweat pants, and shivered as if she had been in a freezer. Charles' jaw dropped as a wave of terror and disorientation swept over him.

~Miss Frost! Mr. Cassidy! We've got a Darkforce manipulator on the quad -- just fell out of a 'port!~ Charles pshouted. The teachers came running, followed by Gailyn, Gareth, Moira, Nate, the Shades, Luna and Joe.

"Saints preserve us!" Sean said, taking a frightened Gareth from Gailyn.

"She's in shock - we hafta get her t' th' infirmary now," Moira replied.

Illyana appeared with a look of rage and yelled, "Who's tearing up space-time!? I'm trying to -- oh, crap." She calmed herself and cast a series of spells which brought the color back to the girl.

She sat up and said something in a foreign language, which Emma translated telepathically. "She's a street urchin from Bombay," she said. "And she's apparently our newest student..." Her gaze at Sean and Moira brooked no interference, as she helped the girl up and took her to the medlab.

Next: Mutant power classes, I promise! Also: Tom Shade: boy or machine? You decide...

Days of Future Hope: Deep Waters Part 2

Phil Hartman

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Marvel, except for Gareth Cassidy, Jamal, Soraya and Cathleen, who are mine. No profit is being made from this story, so please don't sue.

NOTE:~ means telepathic communication. * means personal thought. [ ] means cyberpathy or computer-generated speech.

It had been four years since the biosphere's computer control center had been needed -- the biosphere proper was a self-sufficient ecosystem, only requiring the occasional removal of an animal to prevent overpopulation. *Much like th' X-Mansion,* co-headmaster Sean Cassidy joked mentally. *Ach, be kind, man -- y'r students deserve X-Men status, even if it is in Seattle as th' X-Men Black Team. Blame Frost an' her leather fetish...*

Sean sipped his coffee, waiting for his co-headmaster to arrive. As he did so, he smiled to see his wife Moira, the school's doctor and medical teacher, bounce their four-year-old son Gareth on her knee. After Moira and the McCoys had found the cure for all three strains of the Legacy Virus in late '98, Banshee had wasted no time in proposing to his love.

"Da! Catch th' ball!" Gareth giggled. He sonically levitated the baseball to his father, who caught it with his own voice.

"Excellent, croi o mo croi," Moira crooned in Scots-accented Gaelic. She swept the boy into her arms and kissed Sean farewell, whispering, "I've got t' ready th' med-lab-its' comsuite will let me remotely watch Gary. Best o' luck, accushla."

Sean kissed Moira back, careful to avoid letting his eyepatch slip. "Wit' th' two o ye? I dinnae need luck, m' love," he grinned. The Cassidys left, Gareth waving "bye!" to his "Aunt" Emma Frost. Emma let a small smile escape her lips as she came in from the Cerebro chamber.

"Cappucino, Emma?" Sean asked. She nodded, seating herself and chewing on a pencil.

"You're lucky, you know," Frost finally smiled. "I let my chance at matrimony slip by in favor of teaching the St. Croix twins, Artie and Leech a few years longer. Although I shudder to think what kinds of ice sculptures Drake would have created for the wedding..."

*Best t' get her mind off th' old days,* Sean thought. He gestured absently with the laser cannon left hand Forge had created to replace the one Banshee had lost when the first Generation X had graduated in final combat against Emplate in 2000. "Well, we c'n start by lookin' at our recruits," Sean said. "Who's on th' list?"

Emma pushed him a folder with dossiers and photos of 8 of the astounding 13 neomutants Cerebro's last sweep had detected. Sean opened the first folder and began to read.

"T'will be good t'have Frank back again-now we c'n teach him somethin' more useful than how t' tie his shoes," Sean quipped. He jumped as a space-time rift deposited a shaken Franklin and his luggage in the conference room.

"Can I...sit for a minute? I'm...still gauging my teleport range," the boy gasped. Sean got him a chair, while Emma poured Frank a glass of milk and pushed a box of doughnuts before him.

"Your shields are weak from the jump -- 'breakfast' is flashing in your mind," she chided her student. "You should have eaten before trying such a dangerous stunt!"

"I'll remember that, Miss Frost," Frank said between bites.

Emma did some mental arithmetic and gasped. "You teleported here from Pier 4, on memory alone...Good Lord!" she exclaimed.

Frank nodded. "It's still overwhelming for me. I remember running into my older self from the original Rachel Summers' timeline -- he scared the heck out of me. That's why I have to learn to control my powers," he said. "Not only to help others, but also to prevent that nightmare from happening..."

~Some parts of it were a dream,~ a mind-call sent.

Frank stood with a smile to see Rachel and Nathan Summers step out of Limbo with Illyana Rasputin, the Shade twins, Charles Lehnsherr, Luna Maximoff and Luna's bodyguard. Frank took Rachel's hand while Illyana said, "I made sure to study all of my destinations carefully before teleporting from the X-Mansion to Avengers Mansion to here."

"A wise choice," Frost nodded. "We won't get to the orientation until tomorrow -- I suggest you all unpack, get used to the campus, and perhaps go to Snow Valley if you so desire. Cabs do come out here with a phone call." The students and Luna's bodyguard dispersed, while Sean and Emma returned to their own studies.

Frank and Rachel stopped under a tree in the quad and sat, merely enjoying one another's company. Rachel gulped and began, "Frank...I've been thinking about everything. You, me, my being a clone...and if you don't want me as a friend..."

Frank started. "Why wouldn't I want you as a friend!?" he blurted. "Ray, you're my best friend!"

She rested her head on his shoulder and sent, ~Thanks. I was just a little freaked when Mom and Dad told me everything on my 'birthday.' But you know all about big surprises, huh?~

~You got THAT right,~ he sent back with a smile.

Rachel suddenly felt a leap of emotion in Frank, and jumped up. "What was THAT?" she asked with an uncertain grin.

Frank blanched, but took a deep breath. "Red...you're...I'm...oh, geez," he stammered. "I like you! I was just afraid to say anything because I thought it'd screw up our friendship-"

Rachel teared up, placing a fingertip on Frank's lips. "You probably just saved it," she whispered, grinning from ear to ear. "I've gotta go unpack. But meet me in the pool in 90 minutes...we've got some more to talk about." She turned, teke-lifting her suitcases, and headed to the girls' dorm, her face a mask.

Her mind, however, had only one thought: ~YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!~

Nate sensed his sister's giddiness and smirked. *Goof...still, I'm happy f'r her,* he thought. He had found his dorm room easily, and had begun to telekinetically unpack as he reclined on his bed.

A small, squeaky gasp came from the doorway. Nate rolled over to smile at a small boy in overalls. "Hey, Gary! Good t'see you," he said. Gareth smiled back and bounded into the room, helped onto the bed by a gentle teke-lift from Nate.

"'M Ma asked me t' ask ye t' watch me while she works in th'lab," Gareth pouted. "'M a big boy...I'll be good."

Nate ruffled the smaller boy's hair and said, "Y'know, even the biggest boys can get bored. Lemme dazzle you with the amazing flying clothes!" Gareth gasped, mesmerized as drawers, hangers, and the closet absorbed wave after wave of flying garments.

"Hey, Nate-I thought I was your roommate," Frank Richards smiled as he entered. He knelt before Gareth and said, "You're too young to be a student-scratch that. I was a student when I was 5, so you COULD be a student..."

Gareth giggled and shook Frank's offered hand. "'M Gareth Cassidy!" the boy laughed. Frank introduced himself and began putting away his clothes by hand.

"Take notes, squirt -- he's the smart one, I'm the cool one," Nate smirked. "Oh yeah -- he's the one in love..."

Frank finished unpacking quickly and grabbed his swimsuit and a towel. "No biggie," he shrugged.

"Who's yuir girlfriend, Frank?" Gareth asked innocently. The older boys looked at one another and laughed.

"We gotta be more careful, Gary," Nate quipped as Frank headed out the door. "Your mom'll kick my butt if we corrupt you." Gareth merely nodded, uncertain how to answer, as Nate scooped him up and asked, "You ever played Go Fish? I need a new opponent, and it's the most innocent game I can think of..."

Illyana finished unpacking her side of the room she would share with an as-of-yet unnamed roommmate. "Time to check on the queendom," she shrugged. Exerting hardly any effort, she teleported herself to a forest glade in Limbo. Her clothes faded into a bikini outfit made of leaves, and she sat atop a throne surrounded by scantily-clad fae. "Let the audience begin," she said magnanimously.

Two haughty elven lords, Duke Aethelred and Duchess Angwin, bowed before her. Aethelred asked, "Hail, Queen of Winter and Summer. Wilt thou be staying long?"

Illyana hid her contempt for the plotting Unseelie well. "I hath returned to the Otherearth to hone my powers, the better to rule this land, my duke," she said in a honeyed voice. "Certainly, thou canst not refuse me the right to become a better queen than I hath proven so far, canst thou?"

Angwin bowed again, replying, "Not at all, my lady. But pray, do not forget us in thy cold, mana-poor Otherearth, shalt thou?"

Illyana nodded once more, and called forth the Soulsword in its anchoring block of adamantine.

"So long as I rule and leave the Sword here, my oath of guardianship stands, my lords," she said. "Forget it not-nor the effect soulsteel has upon the fay body, eh?" She teleported, letting the poorly-veiled threat hover over her political foes. *Twits,* she thought, returning to Earth. *I killed Belasco when I was a mewling 12-year-old. Two upstart fae aren't even a challenge...*

Charles unpacked hurriedly, eager to see the campus and perhaps Snow Valley. *Can't forget this,* he thought with a smile, placing his family portrait on his dresser. It had been taken at his last birthday, and his entire family had gathered -- a rarity, given Crystal's added responsibilities as Queen of the Inhumans following the Maximus Massacre of '04.

His father and mother flanked him, with Pietro, Crystal and Luna to the left of them. Wanda, Arthur (Charles had never felt comfortable calling his brother-in-law "Vision," prefering to use the synthezoid's legal name) and their sons Thomas and William were on the right. And his mother's "special friend" leaned on Magnus and Rogue, a grin on his roguish face.

"Uncle Remy...you always do remind me to have fun," Charles grinned. He hid his gift from Remy -- a set of lockpicks which had driven his father mad with concerns of "you'll make the boy a felon!" -- in with his jeans, and tossed himself onto his bed. A pair of familiar mindscans made him grin.

*The terrible twosome,* he thought...

"Atomic batteries to power," Tom grinned, his buzz-cut head at odds with his polo shirt and jeans.

"Turbines to speed," Bill smirked, turning up the amp on his sibling's cyberaxe. Tom psi-linked with the technoinstrument's CPU and went silent, concentrating on turning out an approximation of Motley Crue's "Girls Girls Girls." Bill rolled his eyes and phased through their closed door, heading for the next-door room of his uncle Charles.

~Come in,~ Charles sent. Bill phased through the door, catching an orange Charles magleved from a bag of fresh fruit his mother had insisted he take to school. "Our fellow Scion of Lehnsherr is at his guitar again?" Charles asked.

Bill collapsed onto the vacant bed, peeling the orange carefully as he nodded. "He's getting weird, Chuck," he muttered. "Too much time in cyberspace...at least I have girls to keep me occupied."

"Oh yeah? Ray's taken, 'Yana's running with the fae host, and Luna's blood-related," Charles replied. "If you want to wait for Gailyn Bailey to get here..." Bill shuddered -- the last time he and Gailyn had met, it had proven emotionally bloody for both of them.

"I'd rather take my chances in a cage-match with that nutjob brother of hers," Bill snapped. "Although Luna has filled out pretty nicely..." Charles made gagging noises and magleved a pillow at his nephew. Bill phased, and grabbed the other pillow to retaliate.

"Now...should I wear the pink sweater or the blue?" Luna asked her bodyguard.

"Wurf."

"You have a terrible sense of fashion, but it's a daring departure from the expected," Luna crooned, aping her Aunt Janet uncannily.

Skritch scratch.

"Now STOP that! Don't you know how much trouble Mom and Daddy went to to get Miss Frost to let me keep you in the dorm!?" Luna glared at her bodyguard.

"Whiiiine..."

"Oh, don't look so sad," Luna sighed. "We'll go for a walk in the biosphere soon."

"Pant pant pant."

"You're a pushover," Luna laughed. A knock at the door made her bodyguard leap up from his bed.

"BOW WOW WOW!!"

"Down! Oh, hi Ray, Illyana! C'mon in -- don't mind my shadow," Luna grinned. Rachel and a dressed Illyana came in, gasping with delight to see the bodyguard.

"The Ice Queen let you keep him in here! Oh lucky -- no roommate," Illyana shook her head. Rachel gave the bodyguard -- Lockjaw, Luna's family's teleporting giant dog -- a doggie treat and a scratch behind the ears. He accepted the treat with a polite "burf," and licked Rachel's face as she shrieked.

"Down! Silly puppy!" Rachel laughed uproariously. "I didn't want to shower until after I got to the pool!"

Illyana and Luna exchanged a knowing look and simultaneously sang, "Goin' to th' chapel..."

Rachel speared her friends with mock-death-glares, and finally gave a small laugh. "He said he likes me," she whispered.

"WHAT!? Dish, girlfriend, DISH!!" Illyana cackled.

Ray shook her head and headed out the door, only saying, "I have to be to the pool in a half-hour to meet him...see ya later..."

She headed back to her room, ignoring the disappointed cries of "Tell us what happens!"

As she reached her room, a mindcall of ~Miss me, cous?~ made Rachel gasp and laugh.

~YES!~ she sent back, running into the outstretched arms of her closest female relative. "I thought you and Joe hadn't manifested!?" Ray grinned, looking over her roommate.

"Hey-mutancy happens," Gailyn Bailey grinned...

NEXT: A pool party, a new student, and mutant power classes defined -- be here!