Chapter 7: XStacys Touch

The Year Three's had been relieved of their duties early by Mr. Veneer and were walking back to the mansion from the large twenty car garage where they had parked the standing lawnmowers they had been using.

"Really, for your first time, you did pretty good," Stacy was telling Phillip.

"Yeah but I ate a bush..."

"Not the first ta' do that and you won't be the last and Mr. V is real understanding like."

Illyana moved between Stacy and Phillip, "So Phillip, how did your meeting with the two Heads go?"

"Well, could have been worse, I got my schedule. A lot of physical activities."

Rachael piped in, "Did they assign you a code name?"

"Yeah, Field."

"Field?"

"That would be me."

Teresa, with her Irish accent joined the conversation, "Now that be a lame name, aye."

Phillip looked from one girl to the next and had to laugh, "Yeah, it is kind of lame-o. But you know, I don't know your code names outside of Sally's and I thought hers was more of a nickname."

"Aye, nick name, code name, tis th' same thing. I go by Siryn, 'cause I can sing so pretty."

Illyana, who did not have an accent, responded, "Yeah, she can sing so pretty, she will bust your ear drums."

Phillip looked at Teresa, not sure if he should believe the teasing blonde, Teresa, squinted with her cute Irish button nose, "I am the daughter of Banshee, and I have the same sonic scream that he does."

"Ok, never heard of him, but I will remember to cover my ears when you feel like going off like a nightingale. And you Illyana, your nick name?"

Illyana, shook her head, which caused her long straight blond locks that was tied up in a French braid to swing around her shoulder and land on her chest simply said, "Magick."

"Uh, I don't believe in magic."

"Really Phillip, just like you don't believe in mutants either?"

"Yeah, well, I am just getting my head around being a mutant. And what is your ability?"

"Lots, I make things happen..."

"As if by magic?"

"Yeah, but I can do other things, the main thing is something like my brother's, where I generate armor that protects me, only mine is more ornate and not as sexy as how Peter turns his skin to metal."

"Your brother Peter is the X-man, Colossus, right?"

"Of course."

Turning towards the quiet red head following demurely from a distance, "And you Rachael, what is your nick name?"

"Well, uh, mine is more a code name, I don't like it though. It's Marvel Girl."

Ever cheerful Stacy wrapped her arm around Rachael to help explain, "Marvel Girl used to be Jean Grey's code name when she was a student here."

Not sure where the girls were going with this, "And that is a bad superstition to take another's code name?"

Stacy shook her head causing her poof'ed out hair to fly all over, "No, Jean quit using that code name when she graduated and switched over to the Phoenix code name, because she was like, not a girl any more."

Looking directly at Rachael, "Ok Rachael, I have no clue why you don't like the name Marvel Girl, outside of maybe because it has the word girl in it, you can leave it at that if you want."

Rachael shook her head vigorously, but her close cropped red hair did not flow at all, "No, it is ok, just one more thing for you not to believe in." Phillip, puffed out his lower lip while scrunching his eyebrows together, confused by her remark. "You see, at one time, one of the X-men's enemies got a hold of some of Scott and Jean's, that is Cyclops and Phoenix, blood and he used that to create a test tube baby."

Phillip suddenly understood her vague comment, "But it takes an egg and sperm to make a test tube baby?"

Nodding, "Which he was able to create using their DNA."

"Okaaaaay," Phillip didn't hide his questioning of her tale as he followed along.

"I was that test tube baby. He accelerated my age while I was still in the test tube. I was educated in the tubes..."

As Phillip saw Rachael lower her eyes slowly to the ground, her facial expression getting sadder the lower it went, he suddenly understood like it leaped into his conscious. "Jean and Scott don't know what to think of you, do they? Emma gave you the code name and you feel Jean resents it."

Wiping a tear from her left eye and sniffling, Rachael nodded her head, "Yeah."

"You know, I can't think of any kid who can come up with a worse childhood to live through. I am sorry for you. How did you end up here?"

"I was trained to be a Hound for Sinister, I used my telepathic abilities to track down whoever he wanted. I was tracking one mutant, when the X-men showed up, well Scott, Jean and Warren, that is Angel, you know the gorgeous blond guy with the wings."

"Right."

"Well, I had instructions that if they were around my target, I was to eliminate the target and return to base. So I killed the mutant and as I was getting away, I was blocking Jean, and making it so Scott couldn't aim directly at me. I thought I was home free. Then Scott, Cyclops, did one of his ricochet shots. Didn't see it coming. Broke three of my ribs. When I woke up, I was here. The Professor was trying to make sense of my brain and Jean was helping him. I think the Professor guessed at who I was, because he did a DNA test along with all the other tests he ran, but it was Jean who figured it out. Jean used to come to me everyday and we would converse telepathically and explore my psyche. Sinister had me programmed to recognize who my parents were, but then he put a blocker around it. Jean took the blocker down. I can remember opening my eyes, looking at Jean and saying, 'mom'. Jean stood up, said, 'no I'm not' and hasn't visited me since."

"Wow, that does really suck."

"Yeah. Ms. Frost took over my development and a couple of months ago, the Professor put me in with the Year Three's."

'SHIT, another one!' Phillip couldn't help but think.

"Yes, I am another one of those questionable peoples. A possible spy or a possible plant. Or maybe, I am just a fucked up little girl. Every think of that?"