ISSUE #2

" So, I can see your of Asian decent. Japanese maybe?"

Johnathan asked the girl.

" Correct."

Noriko replied to the boy.

" I must say your English is pretty good. How long have you been in the country?"

Johnathan asked the girl again.

" I ran away from home when I was thirteen. I came to the United States. Then lived on the streets till I came here."

Noriko explained to the boy.

" Oh, I'm sorry Nori. I know how rough that can be. My father kicked me out of the house when I was two. Thankfully not all strangers are bad people. I was taken in by a hermit, he raised me and when my powers started coming in, he helped me learn to control them."

Johnathan explained to the young woman.

" Oh, I'm sorry John. That must have been rough."

Noriko said to the boy.

" Yeah, we moved around a lot. And most of the time things were good. Got used to living in sewers and sleeping in trash by the time I was three."

Johnathan explained.

" Guess, neither of us had fathers of the year."

Noriko joked.

" Yeah, but if he hadn't been such a piece of shit, I never would have met the people I have. I would have never met you. So, I guess he did help me out in his own sad and pathetic way."

Johnathan explained with a smile on his face.

" Seems like you two are having a good time? Mind if we join?"

Sofia asked as she, Josh, David, and Laurie walked over to the two at their table.

" Sure, why not? The more the merrier!"

Johnathan exclaimed.

" Thanks, nice to meet ya new guy I'm Josh foley. I can heal almost any injury."

Josh explained as he shook the young man's hand.

" I'm David. I can memorize any skill, information, language, anything you can think of or do, so can I."

David explained as he introduced himself.

" I'm Laurie. I have pheromone-based powers. I can control your emotions basically."

Laurie explained as she too introduced herself, grabbing a seat at the table next to Josh.

" And I'm Sofia. I can control the wind and the sounds carried on it. I help keep her pheromones in check."

Sofia explained as she sat next to Laurie.

" NEAT! I'm Johnathan. I can control Lightning."

Johnathan explained as his hand started crackle.

" So, you're like Nori then? no wonder you two hit it off so quickly. She's real grumpy with most of everyone else."

Josh said to the boy making sure to whisper that last part.

" You could say that."

Johnathan said to the boy before the lights shut off suddenly.

" Hey, whoa did the lights go out?"

David asked.

" No, I think Emma just moved her fat ass in front of the sun."

Johnathan joked.

" No, you didn't."

Noriko grinned at the man's joke as Josh and Sofia laughed.

" Oh, come on dude, not appropriate."

David said sternly.

" Oh, come on David lighten up."

Johnathan joked as small sparks of electricity danced around David.

" Hey, man knock it off."

David demanded.

" Okay, fine. Jeez. I was only joking."

Johnathan said to the boy when suddenly the lights came back on.

" And we have light again."

Johnathan declared.

" Do you guys think that was me?"

Noriko asked

" Didn't seem that way. Seemed like a normal power outage."

Johnathan explained to the girl.

Suddenly Nori's gauntlet started sparking drawing Nori's attention.

" What the? There's a piece missing from my gauntlet! That can't be good."

Noriko stated in a panic and once again the lights suddenly went out.

" Okay, that had to be me."

Noriko stated sadly.

" Food fight!"

One of the students yelled in the background.

' Attention, students! This is miss Frost. Please remain calm. There seems to have been a power outage in the cafeteria. The emergency lights should be on in a moment.'

Emma said to the students telepathically.

" Oh, that was not a nice feeling."

Johnathan said as he held his head strangely.

" Does she have to go inside people's heads and freak them out like that?"

Noriko asked.

" You get used to it."

David explained.

" Doubt it."

Noriko and Johnathan said in unison.

" Hey, one of my regulator's knobs came off! I'm going to get in major trouble if I don't find it! Miss Frost already has it out for me as it is."

Noriko explained sadly.

" Hey, now. Don't think like that Nori, sure Miss Frost seems like a total jerk. But I'm sure that's just how she is with everyone."

Johnathan said to the girl as he rubbed her hand.

And don't worry about your regulator knob, we can go look for it together. And worst-case scenario, if need be, you can discharge all that energy into me. I can regulate it safely."

Johnathan explained to the girl with a smile on his face.

Off to the side, David was uncomfortable with how close Johnathan was getting with Noriko.

" You'd do that for me?"

Noriko asked.

" Of course! We're friends right? That's what friends do for each other! HAHAHAHAHA"

Johnathan explained to the girl.

" All right, do you know when you might have dropped it Nori?"

Sofia asked

" I think I heard something drop in the danger room. I thought there was a problem with their equipment, but it must have been my gauntlet instead. We have to go find it before Miss Frost finds out. But we need a faculty key card to get in."

Noriko explained to the group.

" No problem. David can just use his telepathy to find out where one of them keeps it!"

Josh said to the girl as he looked at David.

" Doesn't work that way, josh. I absorb skills... Knowledge. Anything memorized or learned by rote. It would have to be someone who organizes their office meticulously. Obsessively even. Someone Anal retentive, and..."

David was explaining and as if on cue the biggest boy scout Cyclops walked into the room drawing everyone's attention.

"Heads up, students! Everyone accounted for?"

Scott asked

Johnathan stood up and yelled.

" AYE AYE! CAPTAIN!"

Johnathan joked as he saluted the man.

" Carry on soldier!"

Scott said before leaving the room.

" I think we have a winner."

David said as he watched the man leave.

" Let's go my squadron. To the frontlines."

Johnathan said to his troops.

The teens laughed as they got to their feet, they quickly exited the cafeteria and made their way to Scott's office.

" The lights don't seem to be flickering anymore."

Sofia said to the group.

" I think I'm all full of electricity. I'm gonna have to release soon."

Noriko explained to the group.

" I'm right here if you need to let loose."

Johnathan said as he grabbed the woman's hand.

" I'm gonna have to ask you not to encourage her to do that here. Nori save the discharge for the danger room. With only one gauntlet, you might not be able to control it. The danger room's built for that sort of thing."

David explained to the girl as the group continued their journey to the boring office of Scott Summers.

" Nice work on the distraction you two. Summers left his office unlocked."

David said to Noriko and Johnathan as he opened the door to Scott's office.

" Haha! I am the worlds greatest male prankster. Add in the help of the worlds greatest female prankster and you get an unstoppable force of nature."

Johnathan joked as he and Nori fist bumped each other.

" It's over there. I've never done that before! Gotten the knowledge I wanted."

David stated as he pointed out the location of Scott's keycard.

" You're the man Brainiac."

Josh said to the boy.

" Got it!"

Josh yelled as he found the keycard.

" We must hurry! I hear Cyclops's voice on the wind. He is coming back."

Sofia said to the group as she used her powers.

" Hey... What's this?"

David asked as he looked at the Scott's computer.

" David, let's go!"

Josh yelled to David as the group left the X-Man's office.

David turned around and quickly followed his friends out of the man's office.

The group of students swiftly made their way to the Danger Room.

" Outstanding!"

Josh said as the door to the Danger Room opened allowing the teens access.

" Stopgawkingandstartlooking! I'malreadywayoverloaded!"

Noriko talked so fast her words were jumbled together.

" Are you okay, David? You've been so quiet since Mr. Summers office."

Laurie asked the boy.

" I'll explain later."

David said as he looked around for Noriko's regulator piece.

" Can'twaitanylongerIneedtodischargenow!"

Noriko declared in a hurried panic.

Electricity began bursting from the girls hand. Seeing the electrical charge coming Johnathan grabbed the girls hand and pointed two of his fingers out with the other hand and redirected the flow of energy. All the electricity that was flowing freely surged through the boy's body and out of his fingertips.

" Whoa! That was cool dude!"

Josh said to the boy in awe.

" Are oyu okay Nori?"

Johnathan asked the girl as she caught her breath.

" Oh, what a relief! I feel so much better. Thank you, Johnathan."

Nori said to the boy in relief.

However, unknown to the girl the room around them had started to change.

" Uh-oh. I don't like that."

David said as the room changed.

" An X-Men training session has started! Okay, don't panic. David, you're absorbing all these guys' fighting skills, right?"

Josh asked the boy in panic.

" No, they're not real. My power is telepathic, and they don't have minds!"

David explained to Josh.

" Okay, maybe we do panic!"

Josh yelled as he and David dodged Sentinel fire.

" However, the soldiers should be programmed to respond like real humans, Laurie, use your fear pheromones."

David said to the girl.

" Shouldn't be too hard. Because I'm feeling pretty scared right now!"

Laurie said to the man.

" Don't be. If the controls are working, there should be safety protocols in place."

David explained before the program shot him in his shoulder.

" Okay that's very real! Defend yourselves!"

Johnathan yelled to the group.

" Sofia, see if you can get to the controls! Nori, Help me send this things to the scrapyard."

Johnathan said as he passed a surge of electricity into Noriko powering her up.

" GreatIjustgotridofafullchargeandnowI'mback."

Noriko complained as she ran towards one of the sentinels.

" Then, again... I don't plan on keeping this charge."

Noriko stated as she let the charge loose on one of the sentinels destroying it.

Johnathan ran towards one of the sentinels and charged up lightning into the palm of his hand. The lightning condensed and a sharp sphere of lightning covered his hand.

" LIGHTNING BLADE!!!!!!!"

Johnathan yelled out as he drove his hand through the programs chest destroying.

" Whoa! That's so cool."

Josh exclaimed as he healed David's shoulder.

" Thanks for the quick heal... Josh."

David said in pain.

" Any time, chief. Just remember you owe me one."

Josh said to David.

As the others fought Sofia flew up to the Danger room controls and turned them off/

" It's over I shut it down!"

Sofia yelled to the others.

Johnathan was in the process of attacking another sentinel when the machine turned off. He dropped to the floor and landed on something hard.

" Ouch."

Johnathan grumbled as he fell on a hard object, when he looked down it was Noriko's knob. Johnathan picked it up and walked over to the woman.

" Here you go Nori. I think this is your knob."

Johnathan said to the girl as he handed over her knob.

" Oh... So Drained."

Noriko groaned as she sat on the floor.

" Oo, not feeling too good huh. Wanna charge?"

John asked the girl.

She held her hand out and shook her head.

John grabbed her gauntlet and passed his lightning into her body. Noriko seemed to have pepped right up afterwards. She took her knob and placed it back onto her gauntlet.

" Feeling better?"

John asked the girl.

" Yeah, thank you John."

Noriko said to the boy as she hugged him.

John blushed and smiled as he returned the gesture.

" So, the gauntlet working again?"

John asked.

" This should fix it. But I'll get my gauntlets checked out in a couple days. When the cafeteria incident blows over. Will you help me again if I need it?"

Noriko asked the boy.

" Of course!"

John exclaimed as he hugged the woman again.

" Hey, got room for a few more?"

Josh asked as he and the others approached the two.

" Guys, I... I should really thank you. You didn't have to come down here and get mauled by sentinels."

Noriko said to the group.

" Of course, we did. We are your friends."

Sofia said to the girl.

" I'll try to remember that."

Noriko replied.

" Um, well... Maybe we shouldn't get so comfortable hanging out together, guys."

David suddenly said to the group.

" Why? What're you talking about, David?"

Noriko asked in confusion.

" Well, in Mr. Summers' office... I saw something on his computer. Something about reassigning students for Monday's assembly. A lot of them. Putting them into squads of some sort... And I think he's going to break us up."

David explained to the group much to their shock as Cyclops sat in his office questioning whether or not to reassign Noriko and the others.