The Massachusetts Academy buzzed with life as repair teams worked over the buildings, repairing the damage from a earlier bombing and the neglect since the facilities had closed. Along with construction a new outer wall had already been finished, and sate of the art security features were online already. Jean Grey shaded her eyes as she watched the winch hauling lumber up, her red hair flowing in the breeze. Dressed in a simple green pantsuit she looked sleep and beautiful, her figure shown off by the cut of her clothes. Without trying she drew the eye of many men, but her thoughts were elsewhere right then. 'Damn Emma and Scott,' Jean thought bitterly as she turned away from the dorm building, looking at the reconstructed school. The building was actually quite a bit larger than Xavier's school, a former prep school that was several stories high and contained more of the proper school facilities. In addition to regular class rooms they had school labs, a gym and fine arts wing, now repaired and ready for a new class of students. "Jean," Hank McCoy grinned, the catlike blue furred mutant bounding over as she neared the school's front door, "the subsurface lab is up and running, and the new Danger Room is nearly ready." "Thanks Hank," Jean smiled back, "is the Professor in the Danger Room?" "Calibrating the holographic systems," Hank agreed. Shortly Jean found herself peering into the control room, seeing the Professor's legs sticking out from under a console. Charles Xavier felt her presence and slid free as the perfectly bald man smiled wryly, "Nearly done, Jean." "No hurry," Jean knelt down as she added teasingly, "we have the students practicing in the back yard." "I'm sure that would go over well with the construction workers," Charles noted with some amusement. "I bet we could cover it up," Jean laughed softly. She paused a moment then added, "I'm sorry that my situation has created problems for you." "You may have had personal reasons for this move," Xavier noted gently, "but I wouldn't have gone along with it if you hadn't made sense." "Thanks," Jean smiled. "Logan," Colossus nodded as the steel fleshed man helped haul a section of pre-made wall, "I almost expected you to stay with Scott's team." Logan puffed on a cigar as he balanced the end of the wall, his brown hair swept back in it's usual two wings style. "If something does happen Jeanie's gonna need all the fighters she can get," he noted, silently adding, 'and with Scott gone, maybe I could...' "True," Colossus agreed as they set the wall into place. In a short burst of light he shifted, steel and chrome becoming flesh and blood. Piotr Rasputin pushed his black hair out of his face as he took deep breaths, glad to be alive once more. Some time ago Piotr sacrificed himself to activate a cure to the Legacy Virus, a cure that apparently killed him. However, apparently was the word as they later recovered a very much alive Piotr from a geneticist's lab who was working on a 'cure' for mutants. Obviously the X-men disagreed with that and busted him out, not long before the Jean/Scott/Emma situation blew up on them all. With a sweep of his wings Archangel descended, Warren Wothington the third giving them a charming grin as he set his girlfriend down. Paige Guthrie was a newly graduated X-Man under the name Husk, with the ability to transform via shedding her skin. Paige looked anxious as the long brown haired teen said, "I think Evangeline is on her way back. Should we get the workers clear?" "Probably," Logan admitted after a moment, "I think even the most jaded worker is gonna freak on seeing a real dragon." They managed to get most of the workers warned before the massive grey skinned dragon appeared in the sky, sweeping dangerously low over them before settling down in the back of the school. The young woman riding the dragin dismounted before it changed, soon leaving two women in the sunlight. "Thanks Marie," Evangeline Watson said as she took her clothes from her partner and began to dress. Soon the black haired woman was dressed like a executive or lawyer, which was exactly what she was. Marie D'Ancanto smiled wryly as the brown haired woman followed, "You could have skipped the dive bombing. I thought we were going to crash!" "We had meters to spare," Evangelene said serenely. "Feet, maybe," Marie shook her head. "Welcome back," Logan was nearly smirking, "how did it go?" "About how we expected," Evangeline shrugged, "Scott looked like he was sucking on a lemon when he got the news." "Makes me wish I had been there," Logan sighed. Archangel shook his head, his own feelings mixed. On one hand he felt Jean had been badly treated, but he also still counted Scott as a friend, no matter how much of a jerk he had been towards her. "Miss Grey and the Professor are inside," Paige informed Evangeline, "do you need to check in with them?" "We probably should," Marie admitted. Evangeline nodded, "I suspect the Professor would like an update too." Meanwhile, within the school the mutant known simply as Xorn walked the halls, his manner calm and deliberate as two children ran up the hall at him. "Careful, students," the steel helmed figure cautioned them gently, his eyes glowing with a unearthly light, "you don't want to run into anyone." "Sorry, sir," a new student named Chaotica apologized, her body shifting slightly to match her emotional state. "It's all right," Xorn seemed to smile, "just take care." He watched the two hurry off, noting that Molly was showing better control of her tentacles, them he moved on. Assigned to the special case students Chaotica and Molly were among the dozen or so he oversaw, training them both in their powers and in social interaction. Raching his rooms Xorn opened the door then froze, his eyes flashing. "What are you...?" he started to say. Madelyne gestured, closing the door behind Xorn. "Hello Magnus," she said cheerfully, "it's been a long time." Looking honestly perplexed Xorn said, "Miss, I don't know what you're..." Without a motion Madelyne mentally tore the helmet off, revealing a very familiar white haired man. Magneto looked young, somehow, and shimmered with power as he glared up at her indignantly. Calmly she returned the helmet, "Here." "You fool," Magneto pulled the helm on, "without this Xavier might sense me." Madelyne smiled comfortingly, "Magnus, it's all right. I've shielded this room descretely, there is no way Xavier or Jean can sense us." Magneto studied her a moment, "So, what do you want from me, Pryor?" "Madelyne, please," she corrected him. She smiled sadly, "You know, I would have thought you'd learn your lesson by now." "Oh?" Magneto asked. "You're taking your special class and training them to be a new Brotherhood," Madelyne said calmly, "but you know it isn't going to work. Why keep doing it?" Magneto scowled up at her, "It WILL work this time! When I launch my sneak attack within the X-Men, they will fall!" "Do as you wish," Madelyne said with a shrug, "but Jean and Scott are mine." "No, I can't let them..." Magneto staggered suddenly, trailing off. "I just telekinetically cut off the blood to your brain," Madelyne said conversationally. She released him a moment later, "Don't try anything, I can easily shield myself." "I won't be controlled by you," Magneto growled. Madelyne shook her head, "It's not control, just a warning." Her expression darkened, "If you interfere with Jean or Scott, I will kill you." She seemed to fold in on herself, teleporting out before Magneto could even react. Resealing his helmet 'Xorn' thought, 'She's clearly become very powerful, possibly stronger than when she was using a Phoenix fragment. But how? Why?' Hurrying from his room Xorn saw Xavier and Jean hurrying up the hall. Charles looked concerned as he said, "I felt a odd ripple in the astral plane near here..." "It might be my fault, Professor," Xorn lied smoothly, "I was experimenting on turning my powers inward earlier." "I suppose that might do it," Jean conceded after a moment. "I'll desist from such experiments," Xorn added politely. "Thank you," the Professor said, though he continued to bear a thoughtful expression as they walked away.
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