...He'd spent a lot of time thinking about the sorts of things that he'd seen the other students do during their team exercise and had more than once wondered what it would be like to join them. He'd had his doubts about whether or not his powers were even in the same league as theirs, but today's events had proved that he really could do it.

---

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The next morning, the girls came by Chris' room to retrieve him within seconds of his alarm going off. Chris had become something of a project for all of the girls and they ran him through that morning's preparations with great enthusiasm. Jean had immediately marched him off to the shower with strict instructions on how to wash his hair, while Rogue and Kitty brought even more clothes in from their room to select from. Apparently there had been more debates on the sort of clothes they thought Chris should wear after he'd left their room last night.

As soon as he'd finished his shower, he'd barely had enough time to cover up with a towel before Kitty strolled through the wall to bring him back to his room via her personal express route. It was a good thing that he'd gotten up the extra hour earlier, because the girls had used up nearly all of that time fussing over him. When they'd finally finished, he hardly recognized himself.

They made Chris up into a sort of stylish rebel look. His clothes were a touch on the preppy side -- understandable since they were mostly Kitty's -- but his hair and slight touches of makeup gave a suggestion of a 'bad girl' potential, which had obviously been Rogue's suggestion. The result was a rather stunning young girl who looked as though she might be Kitty's wild-child cousin from her hometown. Although Kitty had tried to push for a stylish skirt and blouse combo that morning, they had eventually decided that Chris would probably be more comfortable in designer jeans and a peasant blouse. Although, after he had finally managed to squeeze into the tight-fitting pants, Chris wondered if he might not have been better off in a skirt after all.

Breakfast was the same sort of organized confusion that it had been the day before. Everyone rushed around in all directions to cram in a quick bagel or a bowl of cereal before the mad dash to school. The guys had made a few whistles of approval as soon as he'd entered the room and started to follow in the girls' example by using feminine pronouns when referring to Chris. The Professor and the rest of the adults had turned up to see them all off as usual, and sent Chris off with an additional 'good luck' as they all departed.

While they were walking to school together, they had all agreed on a cover story for Chris to tell everyone else at school. Since he sort of looked like Kitty, they decided that he could be a cousin of hers from back home. His schedule had placed him in a lot of the same classes as Kitty, so they would sit together and Kitty could cover for him in case something unexpected ever came up in conversation.

"I should probably warn you about Principal Darkholme," Scott said as they approached the school.

"Since you're a new student, you're bound to run into her sooner or later. I can't really tell you too much, but I will say that she knows about mutants and has probably guessed that you're one too. She isn't all that fond of our group from the Institute, so we usually try our best to keep out of her way."

"Yeah... her and the reject squad," Evan threw in. "Otherwise known as the 'Brotherhood of Mutants'. They like to cause a lot of trouble around school. Principal Darkholme lets them get away with just about anything and if any of us happen to be nearby, we'll get blamed for it. Man, that lady really has it in for us!"

"Uh, perhaps we shouldn't be laying this on Christy all at once," Jean advised them. "This is only her first day and I'm sure that she already has enough on her mind."

Although he didn't say so, Chris was in complete agreement with Jean. He was already freaked out enough as it was without having to consider that there would already be people at the school who might be targeting him. Since he still didn't have reliable control over his mutant power yet, he concentrated harder on trying to lock down any energy he might be carrying. It certainly wouldn't help his efforts to make a good first impression if he accidentally zapped somebody or shorted something out on his first day.

As soon as they were inside the main doors of Bayville High, the Institute group all went their separate ways to their various classes. Chris was relieved that his first class was one that he shared with Kitty and stayed close to her as they made their way through the halls. Kitty knew a lot of students and made several stops to talk with some of them.

A lot of them were bubbly, clothes-obsessed mall-rat types just like Kitty and Chris was fascinated by the amount of times the words 'like' and 'totally' came up in their conversations. They had taken notice of Chris immediately, or rather how he was dressed, and immediately sized the new girl up for style potential. Fortunately for Chris, the Institute girls had done a reasonable job on him so that he didn't appear too ordinary that he'd be considered a 'plain Jane', or too stylish and invite some catty behaviour from the other girls at school. He was polite but said as little as possible whenever the girls asked him questions. Kitty usually jumped in on his behalf and tackled most of their questions, anyways.

The girls seemed to take an instant but probationary liking to Chris. No doubt it was standard procedure that was used for all new kids. As long as he didn't do anything that the other girls thought was un-cool, he'd probably be accepted into that confusing strata of teen-girl social life.

In class, Kitty and her friends always sat together in a group. Chris habitually preferred to sit in the back of the class where he wouldn't be noticed, but the girls wouldn't have any of it. They usually avoided sitting near the back of the class ('Ugh! That's where the losers always sit!'), so Chris found himself literally in the center of the class. That was pretty much the norm for all of his classes that day. It was a much higher profile than he would have preferred on his first day in a new school. It made him feel like he was being put on display for everyone and that made him feel a little self-conscious.

At lunchtime, he felt a momentary wave of anxiety when they'd entered the cafeteria. Too many years of unpleasant experiences in such a place still weighed on him a bit, but he managed to get a hold of himself and prevent any trembling. He was relieved to see the other Institute students waiting for Kitty and himself to join them at a table.

"So, how'd your morning go so far, Christy?" Scott asked with a quick wink. "Has Kitty turned you into one of the Prep Squad yet, or do we still have a chance to rescue you from that fate?"

"God, like... you can be such a jerk sometimes, Scott!" Kitty answered a little irritably.

For added emphasis, she tossed an orange peel at him and stuck out her tongue. Everyone enjoyed a quick laugh at that.

Since coming to join them at the Institute, Chris had seen many such examples of playful banter between the other students. It was as Jean had told him the day before: they were all a family, which often included playful teasing between siblings. It gave Chris a really warm feeling inside to see how much his fellow Institute students really seemed to care for one another.

As the lunch hour progressed, everyone took turns giving Chris their own interpretation of all the 'important stuff' that he should know about the school. Topics like where the best water fountain was, where the best place to skateboard was, which vending machine had the best brands of soda and where the best ladies' room was all got thrown at him in rapid succession.

"Don't forget to tell her where the biggest losers in school sit at lunchtime... oh, wait... I guess she already knows," said a quick, nasal-sounding voice from behind them.

Immediately, the guys at the table tensed up as if they were getting ready to jump into action and the girls all seemed to shrug it off. Chris turned around in his seat and was surprised to see a huge, hulking teenager standing just behind their table. With him, stood three other guys who all wore identical sneers on their faces.

"So, here's the newest addition to the X-dweebs," said a slender teen with white hair. He spoke very rapidly and made Chris wonder if he was some kind of serious caffeine addict.

"You shouldn't start off at a new school with such an obvious handicap, girl,” he said as he waved at everyone else at the table. "You may be stuck living with these losers, but that doesn't mean you have to look as dumb as the rest of them by hanging out with them."

"Hey man," Evan spoke up, "even if it were true, it's better to look dumb than to actually be dumb. How'd you do on that math test today, Pietro? Did you finally manage to break 30% or is the teacher still docking you for spelling your own name wrong?"

Pietro didn't take kindly to that remark and suddenly moved with blinding speed around the table where he tipped Evan’s tray onto his lap. Fortunately for Evan, he'd already finished most of his lunch so it didn't make too much of a mess. Pietro moved back to his position beside the huge giant just as quickly and if anyone had blinked they might have missed it entirely. Obviously a mutant, Chris thought. This must be the infamous 'Brotherhood of Mutants' that the others had told him about earlier.

"You ought to be more careful, Daniels," Pietro laughed. "You don't want this new girl here to know what a clumsy nerd you really are."

Evan raised his arm and it looked like he was about to retaliate, but Scott put one of his hands on his arm in a restraining gesture and then glared at the other four.

"Hey, if you guys really want to have it out, we can do that. Why don't we take this outside someplace where you can't hide behind Principal Darkholme when we start beating your asses?" Scott said.

Before any of them could respond to Scott's challenge, an imperious sounding voice spoke up from somewhere behind them. The four troublemakers instantly developed smug smiles on each of their faces and parted to allow Principal Darkholme through.

"Is there some kind of problem here? Mr. Summers, fighting on school property is strictly forbidden and attempting to arrange such things elsewhere while here is also discouraged. Perhaps you and your group of troublemakers need some time in detention today to remind you not to stir things up with other students."

From behind her, the four Brotherhood teens were silently laughing and making faces at Scott and the others. Chris could tell that Scott was getting ready to lose his temper, but Jean headed the impending outburst off by gently kicking him under the table and shaking her head at him.

"We're very sorry, Principal Darkholme," she said. "Scott didn't really mean it. We wouldn't even think of causing any trouble."

"Save it, Miss Grey," Principal Darkholme said flatly.

"I think Xavier gives the lot of you far too much leeway. Well, this is not your precious Institute and here you are expected to behave accordingly. I'll see you all in detention today after school."

She swept her eyes over the table and focused on Chris for a moment. Her stare gave Chris the creeps and made him feel as though she was studying him or something.

"Ah, this must be our newest student. McGee, isn't it?" she asked coolly.

Chris silently nodded.

"Well, perhaps we might make an exception in your case. Being that you're new to the school, it would be a shame for you to face detention on your first day. You are excused, but I hope that you will take this opportunity to learn from your companions' example how not to behave here at Bayville High."

She abruptly turned on her heel and marched off in search of some other students to torment, leaving Chris and the rest of the group fuming. The four Brotherhood guys all waved mockingly and moved away while laughing amongst themselves.

"Man, this totally bites!" Evan said irritably. "Principal Darkholme is always down on us! We didn't even do anything and we still got a detention!"

"Yes, everyone except Christy," Jean added quietly.

She glanced over at Chris with a curious look.

"That's kind of strange, even for Principal Darkholme. Why would she nail us all with detention but suddenly decide to let Christy off?"

"Probably just so that we'd sit here an’ wonder about why she did it," Rogue piped up. "You know how she loves ta mess with people's heads. Ah'll bet that she's just tryin’ ta make us paranoid or something."

The others all nodded thoughtfully at Rogue's suggestion. It did make a certain amount of sense.

The bell rang to signal the end of the lunch hour, so they all tidied up their table and split up to go their classes. For the rest of the afternoon, Chris noted that Kitty was much less animated than she'd been that morning. No doubt she was a bit bummed out about the detention she got stuck with. He replayed the recent cafeteria incident back in his mind and shook his head at the unfairness of it all. If this was the sort of uneven treatment that the Institute residents could expect from the Principal, then it was a safe bet he'd be spending some time in detention one of these days as well.

At the end of the school day, he walked with Kitty to the room where the rest of the gang was waiting to serve their detention. He noted with interest that they seemed to be the only students in there. Considering how strict the Principal was, Chris had expected to see the entire room filled with students instead of just the six from the Institute.

He felt a bit weird about returning from his first day at school without the rest of them and offered to stay behind and wait with them anyways. While Kitty seemed to perk up at his offer, she was over-ruled by Scott and Jean who politely declined. They told him that he might as well take advantage of skipping this detention because the Principal wouldn't be likely to exclude him from the next one. Ironically, Principal Darkholme had suddenly arrived and echoed Scott and Jean's advice: which was basically to leave while he still could.

Chris found that he was in no hurry to get back to the Institute. Without any of the other students around to talk to, he'd probably only end up back in his room reading so he thought he'd walk around and see a little of the town of Bayville. It was a reasonable walk back to the Institute, but Chris didn't really mind. He'd had a lot on his mind for the past several days and this gave him a good opportunity to think about things.

The High School was located in a fairly residential district of the town. Chris noted a lot of houses and a few parks, but no commercial areas like shopping malls or movie theatres. He guessed that those would be either downtown or on the outskirts of town and he'd probably need to take a bus or get a ride from someone to get there. Jean and the girls had already planned his next Saturday for him with a day shopping for clothes so he figured he'd wait until then to see what else Bayville had to offer.

He decided to take a small detour through one of the nearby parks to admire the splendid fall colours. He was amazed at how beautiful everything was. He thought back to the dreary life he'd been living not even a week before and smiled as he considered how much things had changed for the better since then.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sight of four familiar teenagers stepping out of a nearby cluster of trees.

Uh oh, he thought to himself.

A wiry, unkempt-looking guy with greasy hair was the first to speak up.

"Hey sweet-thing! You never introduced yourself earlier. That's not very polite, you know. Have you already spent so much time with the rest of those Institute snobs that you think you're better than everyone else?"

"Yeah," said the massively huge teenager. "What's the deal with you, anyways? Aren't we cool enough for you to talk to?"

"Cool it, guys,” said a dark-haired guy. He seemed to be the leader of the bunch of them.

"I'm sure Christy was only being shy, this being her first day at school and all."

As soon as Chris had heard his name mentioned, he got a very unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach. How did these guys know his name? None of them were in any of his classes and the Principal had only mentioned his last name during their brief encounter at lunch. When he thought of the Principal, it suddenly became clear: She'd set him up! No wonder she'd stuck everyone else in detention while excluding him; she wanted to keep them out of the way.

He started to carefully back away from them, but the white-haired guy suddenly zipped behind him and blocked his path.

"Relax, kid," the dark-haired guy said to him. "We're only here to check you out. Obviously you're some kind of mutant if you live with the rest of the X-losers over at Freakshow Manor... so what kind of powers do you have?"

Chris was starting to get a little panicky. He knew that he couldn't deny it to these guys but he had a strong suspicion that no matter what he told them, he wasn't going to be talking his way out of this encounter. They had casually but deliberately surrounded him on all sides in a loose circle, making any attempt to escape from them very difficult.

"I'm sure they told you all kinds of crap about us," the dark-haired guy continued, "but you should really hear our side before you start makin' up your mind about us. See, that bunch of nerds you hang with all think they're a bunch of super-heroes or some crap like that. Anytime something so much as a cat stuck up in a tree happens, they come rolling in like big heroes to show off their powers. If any normal humans happen to be around to see it, that Professor guy will fix it so they don't remember anything. Just because we don't happen to agree with how they do things, they get on our case all the time."

A short distance away, a jogger was making his way along one of the paths through the trees. The dark-haired guy interrupted his speech and watched the jogger for a moment. A mischievous smile started to form on his face as he extended both of his hands towards the guy and appeared to concentrate for a moment. Up ahead, the path suddenly started to buckle under the jogger's feet, causing him to lose his balance and fall into nearby puddle. The four teens laughed at the spectacle for a moment and then turned their attention back to Chris.

"See? Just a bit of harmless fun. We have these powers, so why shouldn't we use them? That guy over there has no clue that I just did that and even if he did, what could he do about it?" he said in a smug tone of voice.

"Yeah," the big guy threw in. "Even if he did try something, I'm stronger and tougher than anyone. He'd never know what hit him!"

"...If he manages to even get this close to us, that is!" the white-haired guy added.

He suddenly took off in a speedy blur toward the jogger who had just gotten to his feet and was trying to shake some of the water off of himself. In the blink of an eye, the speedy kid had run up behind him, pulled the guy's pants down to his ankles and then ran back to re-join his friends. The jogger frantically pulled his pants back up and then ran as fast as he could back up the path he'd come from.

The dark-haired guy shook his head at the man as he ran off.

"Pathetic. These are the kind of people that do-gooder Professor and his team of social-rejects are wasting their time trying to help. Anyhow, since we're all getting to know each other, I suppose some introductions are in order. I'm Lance Alvers, but I'm also called 'Avalanche'."

He walked around to each of his companions and introduced them in turn. The scrawny guy was Todd Tolensky, otherwise known as 'Toad'. The speedy kid, who’s name Chris already knew was Pietro, had the nickname 'Quicksilver' and the really big guy was Fred Dukes, also known as 'Blob'.

Chris had a pretty good idea what each of their powers involved. In the big guy's case, it was pretty obvious what he could do. He'd already seen Lance and Pietro in action, so that only left Todd. He was curious as to why this kid was called 'Toad', but quickly got his answer when Todd shot a six-foot long tongue out of his mouth and grabbed a fly out of the air with it. Yee-uck!

Lance continued with his little speech.

"You see, we don't bother much with ordinary humans unless we're looking to have a little bit of fun with them. We do things our own way and live by our own rules. We have a lot more freedom than you'll ever have if you stay with the geeks at that Institute. What they haven't told you is that you have a choice. You don't have to live with them and get stuck playing by their rules. We have our own place, and you could live there with us and be free like we are."

Chris was quite unimpressed with Lance's attempt at winning him over. The guy would make a lousy used-car salesman and if not for the guy's powers, Chris would have bet money that's exactly the way he'd end up one day.

"So, now you know about us," Lance said to Chris. "Now, why don't you tell us about you. What can you do?"

Like it or not, Chris realized that he wasn't going to be able to get away from these guys without some use of his power. He had kept it shut off all day and had no idea how much energy he had stored up, but hoped it would be enough to get him out of there. Being that he was in the middle of a park, there were no sources of electricity nearby for him to recharge with. Whatever he was going to do, it had better work the first time or he'd be in serious trouble when the energy runs out.

"I can't really do too much," Chris said nervously.

He decided to fall back on the cover story that the other students had helped put together for him.

"I'm Kitty's cousin from Illinois, I can't really do things like she and her friends from the Institute can. I don't have that level of ability."

"Well, let's see what you can do, then! Quit stalling, already!" Lance said irritably.

Suddenly, the ground under Chris' feet started to shake and he ended up falling on his ass.

"Consider this your 'audition' for the Brotherhood of Mutants. Let's see if you've got what it takes to be one of us."

"No thanks," Chris said dryly. "I think my future looks much more promising living with the 'geeks' at the Institute than with you guys."

Lance's face contorted into a very unpleasant expression while he brought his arms up and started to focus his power again. At the same time, Chris mentally reached down into himself and unlocked his stored energy. Instantly, he felt the familiar tingling running through his entire body. Just as Lance started another large tremor in the ground, Chris quickly picked up his school bag and tumbled under the huge legs of Fred Dukes. Before Fred could react, Chris had gotten to his feet and took off as fast as he could for the street.

He could sense that he was moving pretty quickly -- possibly enough to keep the other three off his back -- but he knew he'd never be able to outrun Pietro. He had the element of surprise in his favour at the moment, but as soon as Pietro caught up with him it would be a different story altogether. Though speed may be Pietro's specialty, as soon as Chris could get to a larger source of electricity he'd have access to a specialty of his own. As it was, he was using all of the energy he'd been carrying just to move at his current speed and he was already starting to feel himself slow down.

He had just reached the street when Pietro ran by him so fast it felt like a large gust of wind had blown past him. He suddenly realized that he was no longer holding his knapsack.

"Not bad, girl," said Pietro's voice from up ahead of him.

He was reclined on the hood of a parked car with his foot resting on top of Chris' knapsack.

"You've got a little bit of speed, but you're gonna have to do a lot better than that!"

Chris glanced back over his shoulder and saw the other three running to catch up. Todd seemed to be way out in front of his two friends and was making large leaps that propelled him forward much faster than his two companions could run. At that rate, he'd catch up in moments and then the odds would just keep getting worse. He lunged forward to try to grab his knapsack back, but Pietro moved away with it too quickly.

Chris gave serious consideration to abandoning his knapsack and just getting the hell away from there, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn’t have anything terribly valuable in his bag; certainly nothing that couldn't be replaced with little effort. It was the principle of the situation that bothered him.

He'd been in situations like this more times than he cared to count and he was really sick of being victimized. He had come to this place to have a new beginning and he was determined not to allow himself to become a target for bullies again.

He made another attempt to get at Pietro, if nothing else but to prove that he wasn't giving up, but he was stopped abruptly by something that had seized him around the ankle and he fell to the ground instead.

He rolled onto his side and saw that Todd had caught up with them and had ensnared his leg with that grotesque tongue of his. Just behind him, Lance and the big lumbering form of Fred were approaching. In a quick burst of speed, Pietro ran back to them and tossed Chris' knapsack to Fred. If he wanted his bag back now, it wasn't going to be easy trying to get it from that big giant.

Okay, he thought to himself, enough is enough.

This was the sort of confrontation that they'd been after right from the beginning, so he had little choice but to play it their way for the time being. Back at the park these guys may have had a huge advantage over him, but now he had a chance to level the playing field a little.

"So, is that all you've got?" Lance asked as he got closer. "I'm disappointed. I was expecting something a little more challenging from a resident from Freakshow Manor."

Chris closed his eyes and focused his remaining energy to the surface of his skin. It wouldn't be enough to seriously harm Todd, but it would be more than enough to make him release his leg. A blue-green aura of light suddenly snaked down the length of Todd's tongue back to his mouth and briefly lit him up. Todd made a strange squealing noise and quickly retracted his tongue before collapsing on the sidewalk.

Now it was three against one.

"Holy shit!" Lance said as he quickly took a step backwards. "Well, it seems you do have a few more tricks up your sleeves. Get her, Pietro!"

Pietro looked down at their fallen comrade and then back at Chris.

"No way, man! I'm not touching her. I've had my fun so I'm outta here. See you guys back at the house!"

In a flash he was gone, leaving just Lance and Fred.

As the other two advanced towards him, Chris reached back and touched the side of the nearby car. He sensed the battery power from within the engine and quickly absorbed it. Not a lot of power to work with, but it was better than nothing.

"Okay little miss lightning-bolt, let's see you try that on me," Fred taunted. "Nothin' hurts me, but you're welcome to try!"

Despite his large size, he managed to charge towards Chris fast enough that he’d barely dodged out of the way in time. Fred plowed into the parked car that was just behind him and flipped it over onto its roof from the force of the impact.

Lance used the distraction to cause some violent tremors that cracked the sidewalk and sent a spray of water gushing up into the air. It felt to Chris as if he was caught in a full-scale earthquake and he had to fight to keep his balance.

He looked over at Lance and was stunned to see the look of pleasure on his face. The guy was actually enjoying this!

Chris looked around at the damage they'd caused and shuddered when he thought about what could happen if there had been any people around. They could easily be injured and he doubted Lance would even care.

Fred seemed to feel that another demonstration of his strength was in order, so he picked up the car that he'd just totalled and threw it towards Chris. Fortunately, Chris had seen it in time to re-direct his energy to his reflexes and easily tumbled out of the way. Behind the spot where he'd just been standing was a Hydro pole, which snapped like a twig when the large projectile plowed through it.

Instantly, the overhead wires broke loose and fell to the street. They jumped and sparked around on the pavement looking like menacing snakes and just as deadly. With all the water now flooding the street, the entire area was quickly turning into a high-voltage deathtrap.

Lance and Fred suddenly looked a bit frightened as they clued in to the fact that they might have gone a bit too far. Without so much as a backwards glance, they quickly turned tail and ran off back into the park.

Chris went to retrieve his knapsack and was just about to follow their example when he stopped and looked at Todd's limp form on the sidewalk.

The coolness of the water that was flooding the street had started to bring him around, but in moments that same water would probably kill him when the expanding puddle connected with the live Hydro wires. Whatever kind of idiot this guy might be, Chris wasn't going to leave him to get electrocuted. He knew that he wasn't strong enough to lift the guy and he wouldn't be able to pull him clear of the water in time. He only had mere seconds to act and there seemed to be only one choice open to him.

He quickly threw his bag clear of the area and then ran towards the fallen Hydro wires. The only chance that Todd guy had was if Chris could somehow reach through the wires as he had during his training sessions and overload a nearby fuse or circuit breaker. There were three of them sparking angrily on the pavement and he didn't have enough arms to pick them all up at once.

He grabbed two of them in his hands and felt the rush of high voltage coursing through him. He reached out with his powers and traced the energy back through the cables and then used it to blow out the circuit breakers on a pole one block down the street. He dropped the two dead cables onto the wet pavement and turned towards the last one an instant before the water reached it.

In that split second before the contact was made, Chris knew he wouldn't reach it in time. Out of desperation, he instinctively sent his awareness though the open air to the cable and back through it to its nearby circuit breaker. In the brief moment before the circuit breaker shut down, a large arc of electricity had shot through the open air to Chris as though it were traveling via an invisible wire. It disappeared as soon as the circuit was broken, but not before Chris realized with a certain amount of amazement about what he'd managed to do.

He looked down at himself and saw that he was brightly generating the blue-green aura again. He'd never drawn this much energy before and he was a little frightened at the implications of it. Just how much could he hold?

Behind him, Todd had come to his senses enough to shakily rise to his feet and stagger away. Although he was still really out of it from the jolt he'd received earlier, he paused long enough to look back at Chris. Something in his eyes seemed to relay an un-spoken 'thank you', and then he trudged away without a word.

By then, the action in the street had caught the attention of a few people who had come out of their houses to see what all the commotion was about. No doubt a few of them had probably seen the whole thing, and they were pointing at Chris while talking excitedly to each other. He felt a little sorry for them about the destruction on their street. That demolished car had to belong to someone, but it wasn't as if the damage was his fault and he wasn't about to stick around for anyone to pin the blame on him.

He moved at high speed back to where he'd thrown his bag -- no sense in leaving any clues about who the strange glowing girl was -- then ran back through the park and disappeared through the trees.

---

With the amount of energy he was carrying, it didn't take Chris very long to make it back to the Institute. The high charge enabled him to run incredibly fast, but it was also causing that really noticeable glow around him. He didn't want to attract too much attention to himself or to the Institute, so he made his way through several parks and wooded ravines before finally reaching the main gates.

As soon as Chris had returned to the mansion, he was fortunate to meet Mr. McCoy right away. It was plainly evident from the bright glow around him that he would need to discharge a significant amount of energy, so he brought Chris back down to the testing area to see what could be done.

Chris still needed to work on his control over the rate at which he discharged any energy he was carrying, because he fried a number of high yield rechargeable power cells before he was able to feel his power level drop to more manageable levels. He decided to hold back a larger level of energy than he'd been keeping over the past few days in the event that he might suddenly need it. His experience that afternoon with Lance Alvers and his gang was very effective in proving the need for him to be better prepared.

He had just finished burying the power levels within his 'reserve' area when the Professor and Mr. Logan came into the large room.

"I understand that there were some problems today after school," Xavier began. "Would you care to talk about it?"

Chris explained as best as he could about how the Principal had railroaded the other students into detention after school but had deliberately excused him from it -- setting him up to be confronted alone by the Brotherhood gang.

"Huh, that's typical of her. That Mystique doesn't miss a trick, does she?" Logan said with a bit of a growl.

Chris looked at him with a shocked expression on his face.

"She's Mystique? She's the one that was messing around with Rogue in the past?"

Xavier and Logan each exchanged surprised glances and then carefully took a moment to consider how to best explain the situation to him.

"I see that you've heard of her from the other students," Xavier began. "We didn't want to burden you with too much information so soon after your arrival here at the Institute, but I hadn't anticipated that Mystique would show an interest in you this quickly, either. Raven Darkholme, your School's Principal, is also known as 'Mystique'. She's a shape-shifter who is often closely tied to other factions of mutants whose views on co-existence with normal humans are quite harsh, to say the least."

"She's one of the reasons that we're trainin’ you kids to use your powers in a combat environment," Logan added.

"She and other mutants like her. They don't care who they hurt to get what they want -- and that goes for other mutants as well as for normal folks. To them, anyone who gets in their way is fair game."

Xavier nodded in agreement.

"She'd undoubtedly arranged this afternoon's encounter with her special students to see what sort of mutant you are and whether or not you might be useful to her. Cerebro had detected excessive mutant activity nearby, but I had no idea that you were involved since your power signature hasn't been fully integrated into the databases yet. Christy, will you allow me to probe your memory of the events so that I may have a clearer understanding of what happened?"

Chris was a little surprised that the Professor felt he needed to ask. With his own power locked down, he knew that his shielding from the Professor's telepathy was also turned off, but he nodded his consent.

Instantly, he felt a strange buzzing in his head. It was over within moments, after which the Professor rested his chin on his hands while he considered what he'd just seen.

"I am quite impressed with the way you handled yourself in that situation, Christy," Xavier finally said. "That is precisely the sort of unpredictable circumstances that we are training the students to be prepared for. Now that you have seen what sort of events can and often will unfold, would you consider joining the team?"

The question was so straightforward that it surprised him into silence. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about the sorts of things that he'd seen the other students do during their team exercise and had more than once wondered what it would be like to join them. He'd had his doubts about whether or not his powers were even in the same league as theirs, but today's events had proved that he really could do it. Add to that the fact that this Mystique person and her gang of powered misfits were targeting him along with the other students, what did he have to lose by joining the X-men? At the very least, the safety in numbers rule certainly seemed to apply here.

"Okay, I'll give it a try," he finally said. "I hope I won't let you down."

Xavier smiled and patted him on his arm reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I know that you won't. Welcome to the X-men, Christy!"

---

In another part of Bayville, far away from the Institute, Raven Darkholme was furiously pacing around the living room of her large boarding house while she occasionally glared at her four students.

"I don't believe this! I'm surrounded by incompetents! How could you let that mousy little girl get the better of you? No matter what her powers were, she was just one girl against the four of you! Are you all stupid or just incredibly careless?"

Lance started to explain, "Uh... it wasn't actually our fault. She kind of surprised us and..."

"Save it, Alvers! I gave you four a simple task and not only did you fail, but you've probably guaranteed that girl will now join Xavier's team!"

She paused as she looked at Todd, who was cringing in the corner of the room. She grunted at him disapprovingly and turned her attention back to the other three.

"Your clumsiness nearly got one of your team-mates killed today. If that girl hadn't done what she did, I suspect Mr. Tolensky would be a very public news item right now. Up until now, there’s only ever been rumours and unsubstantiated mention of mutants in the tabloids which most people don’t take seriously. Try to get this into your heads: we can't afford to have our cover blown to the general public yet!"

Lance and Fred exchanged uneasy looks with each other, knowing full well that they'd screwed up. Despite having powers of their own, they were afraid of Mystique and were especially nervous around her when she was angry.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we are at quite a disadvantage compared to Xavier's team," she continued in a slightly calmer tone of voice.

"They already outnumber us. I'm trying to increase our ranks so that we can properly deal with Xavier and his people. We have to take whatever advantage we can when any new mutants show up so that we can get them to join us. Clumsy demonstrations and Neanderthalic threats don't make a very convincing recruitment pitch."

"What do you want us to do about it, then?" Fred asked sullenly. "Why don't we just grab this new girl and bring her back here? Maybe you'd have more luck trying to convince her."

"We don't know enough about her to risk a full confrontation with Xavier's people by kidnapping her," she said dryly. "Just keep watch on her and try to find out more about the extent of her powers. If she shows enough potential to be useful to our cause, then perhaps we'll resort to cruder methods of recruitment."

Without another word Mystique stomped out of the room, leaving the four teens in her wake to breathe a collective sigh of relief. They all remained seated in the room quietly, each seemingly immersed in their own thoughts. Finally, the silence was broken when Todd spoke up.

"The girl was kinda hot, wasn't she?" he said.

"Definitely!" Pietro agreed. "I loved her moves, and I don't just mean her speed."

The lecture from Mystique was already fading from their short-term memories while they gleefully discussed their appreciation of the new girl's figure. Even Lance, who had a bit of a thing for Kitty, couldn't help but notice that this new girl had definite babe potential. They didn't need Mystique to tell them to watch her; they were already eager enough to do that on their own.

---

Later that evening, Xavier's students were all gathered together in the recreation room after dinner and discussed Chris' recent encounter with the Brotherhood Boys. They'd been suspicious that something might have happened because Principal Darkholme had released them all from detention after only 20 minutes, saying that she had some important matters to attend to.

"She probably changed into a bird or something so she could watch the whole thing," Kitty spoke up. "That woman really likes to spy on people... she totally gives me the creeps!"

"If she was there, why didn't she show herself when the fighting was going on?" Chris asked.

"That's not her way," Scott answered. "She rarely gets involved in fights herself. She prefers to let others do that for her while she watches from a safe distance and looks for weaknesses that she can exploit later on. Besides, she never tips her hand unless she's ready to trump you. She likes to be mysterious. That's probably why she calls herself 'Mystique'."

"I guess after this little mix-up with the Retard Squad you have a pretty good idea what the score is, right?" asked Evan. "Are you gonna join the team and train with us?"

Chris nodded his head affirmatively.

"Yes. The Professor already discussed it with me before all of you got back from school. Mr. Logan thinks I should have a few more solo training sessions before I start joining the team exercises, though."

"That's, like, totally awesome!" Kitty bubbled excitedly. "Have they picked a codename for you yet?"

Chris looked back at her blankly. "A 'codename'? What do I need a codename for?"

"Everyone on the team has a codename," Jean explained. "We use these names whenever we're doing any official X-team stuff. The idea is to keep our real identities separate from whatever work we do as X-men. Scott is known as 'Cyclops', Kitty is 'Shadowcat', Kurt is 'Nightcrawler', Evan is 'Spyke' and Rogue is... well, she's just 'Rogue'."

Chris looked over at Rogue who smiled briefly and gave a single 'thumbs up' sign.

"What's your codename Jean?" he asked her.

"Uh, well... mine's..."

"Jean Grey! The rest of them all said at once and then broke into fits of laugher.

Jean sheepishly explained how she was one of the first students at the Institute and the concept of codenames didn't come up initially. When Scott and the others started to arrive, she'd meant to think up a codename for herself but never got around to it.

"With the exception of Jean," said Scott with a friendly wink at her, "the codenames usually have something to do with whatever your mutant power is."

Chris scratched his head slightly.

"That could be kinda tough for me. I just draw energy and sometimes zap people and objects when I'm not careful. How do you make a name out of that?"

The others thought about it, but none of them could come up with any decent suggestions. Finally, Scott suggested that they ought to just leave it up to the Professor and then changed the subject.

They'd spent most of the night talking and since they all had school in the morning again, he suggested that everyone turn in for the night. The group grudgingly agreed, so everyone headed back upstairs to their rooms -- with Kurt and Kitty taking their usual shortcuts.

Before getting undressed for bed, Chris spent a little longer in front of his mirror and admired his appearance. The girls had really done a great job on him that morning. Eventually he was going to have to learn how to do the hair, makeup and clothes coordinating by himself, but they all promised that they'd help him until he got the hang of it.

Reluctantly, he took off the feminine clothes and hung them up in his closet. Thanks mostly to Kitty, there were a number of other clothes hanging up in there for him to experiment with until the girls took him out shopping for his own things.

He was quite pleasantly surprised to find that someone had placed a very silky nightgown in his top drawer. He held up the garment to his chest and relished the feel of the material against his bare skin. Over the past few days, he'd been sleeping in little else than his underwear since his pajamas still made him feel itchy. When he slipped the new garment over his head and let it gently fall into place, it almost felt as though he was in seventh heaven. A glance in the mirror confirmed that it looked as good as it felt. It was a modest-length item that fell down to just past his knees. Its gentle green shade seemed to set off the colour of his eyes and made them appear as though they were shining. He looked absolutely gorgeous!

A quick tapping on his bedroom door brought him back to his senses. He felt as though he was practically floating as he moved across the room to answer the door. He was a mildly surprised to see Jean standing out there by herself, dressed for bed in her own nightgown and holding a small bag. Her eyes widened in surprise as she took a good look at what Chris was wearing.

"Wow! That looks amazing on you! I thought you didn't bring any girls’ clothes with you?"

"I didn't," he said as he invited her in and closed the door behind her. "Someone put it in my top drawer for me. I figured it was one of you girls."

Jean shook her head.

"Nope. It wasn't me, that's for sure. If I got my hands on something like that, I'd want to keep it for myself -- and that goes double for Kitty. Rogue never wears anything like that, so... maybe Storm gave it to you. She has really good taste in clothes."

"Storm?" He asked.

He was momentarily confused, but then remembered whom it was that Jean had been talking about. They seemed to be pretty liberal with those codenames at the Institute!

"Oh... Ms. Munroe. Why would she give me something like that? I mean, isn't it a bit weird... me being a boy and..."

"Whoa Christy, stop right there," Jean interrupted him. "I know it’s a little confusing for you since you've grown up mistakenly thinking that you're a boy, but you are really a girl. You have to stop thinking of yourself as a male or eventually you'll drive yourself crazy."

Chris nodded in agreement. He supposed that did sort of make sense.

"...Anyhow, your hair was a bit difficult to work with this morning. I'm betting that you don't have much experience with properly caring for longer hair so I came over to show you what you should be doing with it before going to bed each night."

They both sat down on the edge of his bed while Jean explained about brushing the hair out properly and then either braiding it or just carefully spreading it out evenly on the pillow when getting under the covers. Jean's hair always looked perfect so Chris took her at her word, even though he thought that perhaps she might be going a little overboard. Was it really necessary to do 200 strokes with a brush?

Now in full 'big sister' mode, Jean sat behind him and took it upon herself to gently brush out Chris' hair for him while they casually chatted about school things. Although he'd never really known what having a brother or sister was like, he closed his eyes and couldn't imagine that it could possibly be any different than how things were with Jean and the girls. They were truly like sisters to him. They hadn't even known him for a week yet and they'd already welcomed him into their lives as one of them: as a part of their family. A week before, he never would have thought that he could feel such an emotional bond with anyone other than his mother. The more he thought about how happy he was, the more the emotion started to overwhelm him.

Jean stopped her brushing when she sensed his emotional state shifting and moved to sit in front of him.

"Christy? What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked softly as she reached over and gently wiped a single tear from his cheek.

"Nothing's wrong," he sniffed. "In fact, everything is wonderful! I never thought there could be a place like this or people like you anywhere in the world! Before I came here, it was so awful... you don't know how hard it was... "

He started to cry harder and then finally broke down in Jean's arms. She held him gently and spoke soothingly to him while he let his emotions run their course.

The many unpleasant memories of being shunned and ridiculed flooded through his mind in a confusing jumble. It was almost as if his entire life up to nearly a week ago was flashing before his eyes. He'd often heard that sort of thing can happen just before a person is about to die. Perhaps in one sense a part of him was dying: the miserable, unhappy part of him that had been Jinx McGee. The stream of memories started to slow down and finally stopped with the infamous incident in the washroom at his old school.

In his mind, he felt as though the incident became a dividing line between all that he had been and all that he was destined to become. It was still an incredibly painful memory, but it was that incident that had finally opened the door to his future.

He'd thought about it a few times since then and had always assumed it was an important event because it had been the first time that his mutant powers had fully manifested. In truth, the incident was really so significant because it was the precise moment that Christy had been born.

When Robbie was trying to force Chris to blow him, in his mind it wasn't a boy that he was attempting to assault, it was a girl. It was a girl's sense of fear and vulnerability that Chris had felt at that moment, and it was her emotions that triggered his mutant power. That was when he'd truly become a girl and hadn't actually realized it until that moment sitting there with Jean.

Jean, sensing that something really important had just happened within Chris, gently lifted his chin so she could look into his eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

Christy nodded her head and flashed a dazzling smile back at her. She wrapped her arms around Jean and gave her a sisterly hug.

"Yes. Everything's just fine now."

---

Over the next few days, Christy quickly adjusted to both her school schedule and her training at the Institute. At school, she had started to fit in really well with Kitty and her group of friends, but she absolutely refused to start talking like them. She'd even gone as far as making a pact with Jean and Rogue to give her a quick swat on the arm if she starting saying 'like' and 'totally' too often.

The Brotherhood Boys seemed to keep turning up practically everywhere she went, but she refused to let it bother her. After her last encounter with them she had a lot more confidence in herself and her own mutant powers so she felt more mentally prepared for anything that might come up. They didn't really say too much to her, but always seemed to be following her every movement with hungry looks in their eyes. She conceded that she couldn't really fault them for that since, at Kitty's urging, she'd started to wear skirts to school. Lance and his gang certainly weren't the only guys who had noticed, either.

At the Institute, the guys had all gone out of their way to let Christy know how much they appreciated her new look. Evan and Kurt would occasionally compliment her with a few wolf-whistles while Scott tended to be a little more reserved, particularly after receiving stern looks from Jean. Any notion that Christy had ever been a boy seemed to be completely forgotten.

She'd had a few more solo training sessions, both with the Professor and with Mr. Logan, where she'd gained more mental control over her abilities as well as picked up some basics in martial arts training. She'd gotten a little more adept at focusing her stored energy to different tasks, such as enhancing her reflexes or building up a surface charge on specific parts of her body so that she could deliberately 'zap' something.

For physical training, Mr. Logan gave her a hard workout both before and after she'd energized herself so that she wouldn't become entirely dependant on her mutant enhancements when it came to defending herself. By the end of the week, she was finally ready to join the rest of the group in her first team training exercise.

The rest of the students were suited up in their specialized costumes and were waiting outside of the training room for their cue to begin the exercise.

"Vhere's Christy?" Kurt spoke up. "I thought she vas going to be joining us today?"

"Yeah man," Evan said to Scott. "I was looking forward to seeing her in her new team uniform. What's the deal?"

"Hey, don't look at me!" Scott replied defensively. "The Professor assured me that she'd be here. I hope for her sake that she gets here soon or she's going to find out how much Wolverine hates it when anyone shows up late for training."

Suddenly, the large doors in front of them began to open and they heard the Professor's voice speak within their heads.

'Come in everyone. Before today's group exercise begins, I've arranged a brief demonstration to introduce you to your new team-mate. Please stay well back against the wall while the demonstration is in progress.'

They all entered the room and found a place against the wall to settle down. They chattered away to each other in excited whispers, while they took note of the gymnastic equipment that had been set up amongst the rest of the usual machinery that was used during their own exercises. There was still no sign of Christy yet, though.

A few moments later, Mr. McCoy's voice could be heard over the loudspeakers, "Training exercise: 'Alpha', begin!"

The team all looked over at the main door and simultaneously gasped when Christy entered. She walked gracefully over to the starting area and extended one arm into the air while placing the other on her hip in a magnificent pose. She looked like a professional gymnast, waiting for the cue to begin her routine.

Like the rest of the team, she was wearing a similar style of black, form-fitting uniform. She had a few points of yellow trim on her collar and sleeve cuffs, as well as on the belt that fit snugly around her tiny waist. The black & red 'X' symbol that was common to all of their uniforms was situated in the center of her belt where the buckle would be, as well as on each of her shoulders. Along each of her arms were a couple of intertwined green and blue lines that gave just the right amount of colour without looking too flashy. On her feet, she wore black boots with a low heel that extended mid-calf up her legs. Her auburn hair was tied back into an elegant ponytail that suggested style and a little bit of playfulness. She was truly a vision of beauty!

As soon as the large doors to the training room had closed, the lights dimmed slightly and Christy sprang into action. She charged towards the tumbling mat and made a series of handsprings and tumbles across it, then vaulted up onto the balance beam where she performed a few perfect back-flips. When she'd dismounted the balance beam, she moved towards the uneven bars but was stopped in her tracks by one of the pieces of team equipment that suddenly came to life and tried to grapple her with long, metallic tentacles.

The rest of the team could tell from the look of surprise on her face that she hadn't been expecting that. They knew that Wolverine often set stuff up like that to keep them on their toes, but Christy didn't.

Her surprise was short-lived, however, because within moments she was moving again. They were amazed as they saw her speed increase while she tried to dodge past the tentacles. Unfortunately for her, they also sped up accordingly and were very effective in blocking her path. Eventually, a couple of them managed to snare her and quickly coiled around her to hold her down.

For a few moments, it seemed to the others that the exercise was over. Each of them had been caught by those things at least a few times themselves and they knew it was almost impossible to get loose without help. Christy had stopped struggling and it seemed that she had accepted her defeat, but then she started glowing. Rogue immediately recognized the blue-green light and had a pretty good idea of what Christy was about to do.

Christy was using the metallic tentacles as a conductor back to the machine that was controlling them and was drawing energy through them. She found that she wasn't able to interrupt the power source as she had with the Hydro wires, so instead she channelled a burst of energy back through the tentacles that were binding her. Instantly, a shower of sparks erupted from the back of the machine and the tentacles released their grip on her.

Now that she was free, she moved with incredible speed to the uneven bars and performed a dazzling series of pivots and turns before finally making a triple-somersault dismount into a perfect landing.

The rest of the team wildly applauded from their position along the wall. It was every bit as impressive a demonstration as it had been entertaining.

Christy, believing the demonstration to be over, started to walk back towards the rest of the team when Wolverine suddenly jumped out at her from behind one of the other machines. In a swift motion, he'd extended the blades out of his knuckles and charged at her while roaring at the top of his lungs. The rest of the team was stunned. Had Wolverine completely flipped?

He made a number of quick slashes at her with his blades, but she was able to avoid them thanks to the power boost to her reflexes from the extra energy she'd absorbed. While he wasn't able to actually touch her, he was moving fast enough to keep her on the defensive. She knew that at her present power level, she'd probably be able to keep dodging him for quite awhile, but questioned the logic of continuing to do so. She’d been taught that being held up by a single attacker for too long was tactically dangerous. If the attacker had any friends with him, she could find herself in a bad situation very quickly. If nothing else, his attacks were preventing her from going back or moving forward, so she had to put an end to them.

Using some of the techniques the Professor had helped her to develop during her solo training sessions; she charged the surface of her hand with what she hoped was enough energy to stun Wolverine without damaging him. She then slowed her movements down just enough to allow him to get closer to her and then she moved with as much speed as she could to grab his arm. There was a brief flash the instant she touched him, and then he collapsed in a heap onto the mat.

Christy became aware of the intense silence in the room, save only for the rapid pounding of her heart. The other students were staring at her with shocked expressions on their faces and didn't utter a sound.

She looked over at the damaged machinery that was still spewing smoke from its vents and then down at the prone form of Wolverine. She started to worry about the damage she'd caused to the equipment and possibly to her instructor as well. Had she gone too far?

The lights in the training area suddenly returned to their normal level of illumination and the large doors slid open with a big, heavy rumbling noise. The Professor entered, flanked on either side by Mr. McCoy and Ms. Munroe. Christy was surprised to see him smiling proudly.

"Well done, Christy! Well done!" he congratulated her. "I was reluctant to allow Mr. Logan to add his 'surprises' to your demonstration run. I was concerned that you might not be ready for that sort of thing yet, but you performed spectacularly!'

"I told you the kid was a fast learner," said Wolverine's strained voice from behind Christy.

She turned around and was amazed to see him slowly rising to his feet. The guy was a hell of a lot tougher than she thought!

"I'm... I'm sorry about the machine, Professor," she said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I didn't mean to damage it like that, it was an accident."

"Such things are commonplace here in the 'Danger Room', child," Ororo told her with a slight laugh. "You would be surprised to see how much damage Wolverine often inflicts on the equipment during his own exercises."

At the mention of his name, Christy turned towards him, still amazed at how quickly he'd recovered from the shock she'd given him.

"I'm really sorry if I hurt you Mr. Logan, but... I didn't see any other way and..."

He held up a hand and quickly interrupted her.

"Whoa kid, hang on a sec. First, it's just 'Logan' or 'Wolverine'. Second, don't worry about that little jolt. I was testin’ you to see how you'd react and you did exactly what I hoped you'd do. Good thinking, kid."

Xavier signaled the other students to come over and join them. As soon as they had all gathered around, he formally introduced Christy to the team.

"X-men, I am pleased to present to you the newest member of the team, codename: Jynx."

Everyone then turned towards Christy and began to applaud. She blushed and bowed slightly in return. For a moment, she had a quick flashback to the dream she'd had the week before. It was truly amazing... her dream really did come true after all. Though she felt reborn, she would not forget the person she’d once been. Her deliberate choice of codename would always serve as a reminder to her of those who are oppressed just for being different. She was determined to do her part in helping others in the same way that the X-men had helped her. She was proud to join alongside them as a member of the team.

She and the rest of the students were quickly snapped out of their jovial mood when Logan loudly cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Okay kids, fun time is over. Now it's time for the team exercise -- and don't think for a minute that I'm going to go easy on any of you."

They all groaned simultaneously and headed back towards the starting area. Xavier, Ororo and Henry all returned to the control room to watch as Logan explained to the team what was expected of them in the upcoming exercise.

"She is an excellent addition to the team, Charles," Henry said after a few moments of silence. "In time, she will undoubtedly develop into a fine young woman. Have you had a chance to discuss any surgical options with her yet?"

Xavier shook his head.

"Not yet. She had a lot of internal battles that she needed to fight on her own before I felt comfortable enough to talk to her about it. Now that she has fully accepted the truth about her gender, she may finally be ready to hear about the possibility of corrective surgery."

They looked back through the large vista window and watched as Christy and her team-mates worked together through the obstacles that Logan had set up for them. Christy was as beautiful in her actions as she was in her appearance. Where there was once a frightened and fearful young boy nicknamed 'Jinx McGee', there was now a beautiful and confident young teenage girl full of hope and determination. She shone with an inner glow that was completely separate from any of her powers, and was truly a wonderful sight to behold.

---

Author’s note:

Thus ends the XX-Factor.

If you, the reader, have been even a little entertained by my tale, then I am pleased to have succeeded in my goal. That said, I hope you’ll forgive my pretension as I conclude with some parting words by the immortal Bard of Avon:

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.