To Find A Spider

“I bet Beast could help,” Storm said.jist as Beast had stepped up to them. “So this is our new recruit. It is good to meet you Serena Stark,” he said and gave her a right bow.

“We were just wondering if her bracers could be timed to emit different kinds of energy,” Nightcrawler said. “You are the scientist, what do you think?” Colossus asked.

“Well is need to examine them to find out, Serena, could you part with them for an evening?” He asked.

Serena had seen Beast, also known as Hank McCoy, around but had not yet had the chance to formally meet him. She found him to be pleasant and friendly. She knew that he was a scientist as well. She nodded when he asked if he could take a look at her bracelets. She thought about asking if she could join him in the examination, but she still had some preparation to do for her first class. She took them off and handed them to Beast.

"I'll be interested to learn what you find. I never considered seeing if they could be tuned to other types of energy."

Hank took them and smiled T her. “Excellent, I’ll get started on them right away,” he said and then left them abruptly.everyone chuckled and saw that Serena looked confused by their reaction.

“It’s like giving a child a cookie” Gambit said and they all chuckled again. Rogue appeared and stepped up to the table. “He tall, Gambit could I speak to you for a moment?” She asked. “Ofcourse,” He said and got up and they stepped away to talk.

“Charles has added extra security recently, why do you think that is Storm?” Colossus asked. Storm’s eyes flicked to Serena for a moment then she focused back on him. “I’m not certain, I’ll have to ask him,” she said plainly.

In the distance Serena could see Gambit and Rogue having an argument. It was fairly civil but she was obvioisly angry. “This is nothing new Serena,” Storm said. “They always argue,” Nigjtcrawler confirmed. “I do not understand it,” he said.

Serena looked up at Rogue as she walked over and glanced at Gambit when she asked to speak to him. As they walked away she heard Colossus ask Storm about the extra security that Charles had installed since Serena had arrived and she knew that it was because of her. She then watched Rogue and Gambit begin to argue and she knew that that was about her too. She sighed and excused herself and got up and deposited her tray before leaving the cafeteria. She went upstairs to her room and decided to try and work on her course work for her first day of teaching. She was going to have two different age groups and so she had to develop two different lesson plans.

Gambit came just before she went to bed. He knocked and when she said for him to come in he did.”I’m sorry you had to see that. Rogue Nd I are officially on a break though I thought we had an understanding before. I let her do the breaking up part,” he said then shrugged. “She has a temper,” he added. “I just thought you should know. Your not breaking anything up. We’ve always had problems,” he said.

Serena looked over at Gambit as he walked into her room. She was sitting at the desk she had in there finishing up the lesson plans. She listened to what he told her about his relationship with Rogue. She sighed a little and looked away before looking back at him.

"I just think I'm causing more problems here than I'm worth. There is a price on my head and I'm putting lives at risk by being here. Charles is apparently stepping up security because of it and now I'm causing problems with you and Rogue."

“No, all mutants can come here to feel safe. It doesn’t matter if your in danger or not. In fact it is precisely what I always thought that directive should mean, Cherie Mwen,” he said.”And you coming here only exposed what was wrong between us. You brought haste to inevitability. And you allowed me to search my feelings and sort the out. It isn’t fair to her for me to have such strong feeling for another woman. And in any case, you coming here...seeing you again, feeling you love for me...and feeling my love for you, I know in my heart I would do anything for you Serena,” Gambit said. “But I will not force this either. If you tell me to stay away...I will but That won’t change how I feel,” He said.

Serena looked up into Gambit's eyes and he would see how truly vulnerable she was right then. She was dealing with a lot emotionally and was confused by her feelings. "I don't know what I want right now. I do know that I love you Gambit and at this very moment I need you, but I cannot make any promises to you that I may not be able to keep."

Gambit made crazy, passionate love to her or was it her to him? She could never really tell when it came to him and then he had to leave early that morning though he wanted to stay and hold her for a while.

Hank came over the intercom and asked her to join him in the testing room. After she showered and dressed he was there waiting for her eagerly.

“So I did a little reverse engineering and a little tinkering of my own. Did you know that Tony Stark already had a lot more built into these than you realized? It was a huge surprise to me as well,” he said as he handed them back to her. They were slightly different than before. There were 5 circular buttons on each, one red, one blue, one violet, one white and one yellow. He explained to her that the red was her native mutation enhancement, the blue converted that to electricity, the yellow to light, the white to repulsors and the violet to sound. What he discovered was that she could create fields of energy around her hands and use them to fight in hand to hand. She could also form orbs. Bolts, beams and shields.

“I think they were designed to call a suit to you but O decided not to try that inside. Maybe outside?” He asked. “You do that by touching the inside of your wrists together then turning them 90 degrees,” he said.

Serena was awoken by Hank's voice on the intercom in her room asking her to join him in the testing room. She was laying on her stomach on her bed with a sheet barely covering her. Gambit was gone and she slowly got up and got into the shower and then dressed. She walked down to the testing room and found Hank there with her bracelets. He had made some adjustments to them and she listened carefully as he explained what each circular button did. When Hank suggested that they go outside and call one of her suits to her she sighed a little.

"I'm not sure I still have access to those suits...if they even still exist."

Hank looked at Serena. "I highly doubt that your father would have destroyed them. Let's just see what happens."

Serena nodded and walked with Hank outside. It was a bright, sunny day with only a few clouds in the sky. Serena touched the bracelets together and then turned her arms 90 degrees. She had no idea what to expect, but in the city Tony would be alerted to one of Serena's suits launching. Westchester was a ways away from the city and so she and Hank had to wait a while. However, Serena did notice that there was an indicator light on her bracelets that was flashing. She knew that meant that a suit was coming. Suddenly, she heard the unmistakable sound of the suit approaching and she looked up to see it flying towards her. Immediately, she could see that it was...different. As it got closer she could see the changes more clearly. The suit looked brand new and had been redesigned. The colors were no longer her 'Solstice' colors, but the colors of the X-Men team. The suit broke apart and reassembled around her in a matter of seconds. By the time it was done there were tears in her eyes. Her father had made this suit for her for the X-Men.