Hayashi Ren spent more than two hours in the headmaster's office.
When he stepped out, he headed straight for the academy's main field.
"Pass, pass!"
"Hey, we said no powers!"
"Cheater!"
A pack of younger kids were playing basketball.
Farther off, several upperclassmen sparred with their abilities.
On benches along the edge, figures sat reading in quiet, while hormone-fueled boys and girls whispered sweet nothings.
From Ren's vantage, it was a peaceful scene.
Xavier's truly was a paradise for mutants.
Sadly, these calm days were nearly spent.
"Too few mutants feel any sense of crisis."
Ren sighed.
His eyes shifted to two students reading on a nearby bench. "Kitty, Ichikawa Chika, time to pack."
They looked up at once, two lovely faces with very different charms.
They were Ren's only close friends at the school.
One was Kitty Pryde, the phasing prodigy.
The other was a lesser known female mutant in the X-Men roster, named Ichikawa Chika.
Her power was to create colored energy orbs that detonated. She called them fireworks.
In the films she barely registered.
Because they shared an immigrant background, Ren and she became friends quickly after he arrived.
Chika's parents had both been PhDs, model knowledge immigrants, but they died in an accident. Compared to classmates still deep in adolescent rebellion, she understood how knowledge could change a life.
She studied harder than most.
Under Ren's influence she doubled down.
With his memory spells sharpening her learning, she advanced even faster.
Now she was nothing like her cinematic counterpart. Her control over her powers outstripped most students, and in mechanical engineering and AI she was already accomplished.
As for Kitty Pryde, she was a born talent in computing, combat, and languages, and with Ren's magic boosting her, her growth was astonishing.
Oasis could be built only because both girls had lent their strength.
"Ren?"
They dropped their books at once and ran to him.
Excitement lit Kitty's face. "Are we leaving the school?"
Chika asked curiously, "How much did Professor Charles give you?"
"Not much. Only one hundred million."
Ren smiled. "He is an elder after all, a bit short on fire and daring. He wants to be cautious and see results before charging ahead."
"One hundred million is not much?"
Both girls stared, stunned.
They had never even dreamed of such money.
How many people launch a first venture with a hundred million in seed capital?
Professor Charles had some nerve.
"Close your mouths, or people will get the wrong idea."
Ren joked.
He had never thought much of it before, but now that the funding was secure and his mood soared, he looked again at Kitty and Chika and suddenly noticed something.
The two little buddies had grown up.
They were not unrivaled beauties, but their figures were lithe, waists slim, hips full, and the curves of their chests already taking shape.
He shook his head, schooled his face. "Go pack. Once hiring wraps up, we leave."
"Hiring?"
They exchanged a look, cheeks going pink. "You are recruiting from the school besides us two? Professor Charles agreed?"
Ren nodded.
"With a school this big and more than a hundred students, there have to be a few standouts."
Unlike the films, Xavier's did not have so few students. Setting aside the youngest, there were about thirty mutants who were grown or nearly so.
That was normal. Professor X had run the school for decades and rescued mutants from all over the world. If there were only as many students as in the movies, that would be failure.
Kitty was about to speak when Professor X's voice rang in their ears.
"All students eighteen and older, assemble on the main field in five minutes. Mr. Hayashi will conduct selection and hiring here."
Mr. Hayashi?
Who?
All over campus, students blinked at the voice, then the meaning sank in.
Shock followed.
Why did Professor Charles's tone sound faintly courteous?
Was that how he spoke to students?
"Wow, looks like our little library trio just got bumped up the headmaster's priority list."
Several older mutants who had been sparring ambled over. One of them glanced at Ren, voice lazy. "Mr. Hayashi? What did you do to the headmaster? Recite books in his office all day?"
Laughter rippled through the crowd.
"Idiot."
"He thinks he is funny?"
Kitty and Chika frowned.
Ren did not need to look to know the speaker was John, Pyro, the classic American campus bully: tall, talented, very pleased with himself.
He was Alpha level, able to control fire but not create it.
Mutants were commonly grouped into six tiers: Omega, the strongest; Alpha, strong and controllable; Beta, strong but uncontrollable; Gamma, strong with major defects; Delta, the ordinary and common; Epsilon, monstrous yet not strong.
This was roughly a measure of potential.
Everyone knew potential and strength were not the same.
Iceman was a true Omega, yet after years at the school his development lagged behind Pyro, an Alpha.
In sheer combat today, Iceman was only tier two.
Pyro had reached tier three.
Wolverine before augmentation and Storm sat at tier three as well.
Professor X was tier four.
No wonder John, gifted and developed, felt good about himself.
He looked down on Iceman, so a Delta like Ren hardly registered.
He had no idea.
In Ren's eyes he was not even background filler. A hothead who worshiped brute force and had no brains, once outside Professor X's shelter he would die faster than anyone.
"John, my time is valuable. Do not get in the way."
Ren did not bother to be polite, his gaze still sweeping the other mutants racing in from all directions.
John's face darkened at once.