Flickers (Charles Xavier)

Chapter 21

A/N - 

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is safe and well :)

I have some amazing news - I managed to get my storage back!!! It took a lot of fiddling around with my old laptop, think I might be a pro computer technician now ;)

Anyway, here is my first new update for you! I hope you enjoy :) This part of the story is set ten years after the previous part.

Stay safe :)

"Do any of you know who the first mutant was?"

Iris leant against the desk at the front of the room, looking out at a selection of blank faces. She laughed.

"I don't know if anyone does- not truly. Our species started showing signs of mutations much more frequently in this century than any other, although it is entirely possible that there were others prior to this."

"Miss?" A voice came from the back of the classroom, and Iris straightened up to see who it was.

"Yes, Anna?"

The young light-haired girl sat up, "How could these mutations have formed in earlier centuries when in some textbooks we're described as 'children of the atom'? Nuclear power didn't exist in previous centuries."

Iris nodded, "You are right, Anna. However, it's possible that there were other causes of mutations. In order to understand that, we'd have to meet the first mutant to ever exist. And I doubt that's likely." The class laughed quietly. She glanced down at her watch, "I'll let you all leave five minutes early. Don't tell the Professor."

"Like he would care," Jubilee muttered with a smile, and Iris rolled her eyes.

"We can always tighten up the rules if you want us to, Jubilee. You'll all be the ones complaining. Anyway, class dismissed."

The students were out of the room quickly, and Iris waited for a couple of minutes before leaving the classroom and closing the door behind her. She quickly descended the stairs and made her way down the brightly lit corridor towards Hank's lab.

"Hank?" She called out, "Are you in there?"

There was the sound of a bang followed by a groan, and Iris laughed, taking that as a yes as she walked in.

Hank looked up, rubbing the back of his head as he did so.

"Did you finish up class early?" He asked, putting the blowtorch in his hands down.

She nodded, walking towards the warplane that Hank had been lying underneath. It was quite an astonishing thing, and somehow gave the impression that their school was a cover-up for something else entirely. Which it wasn't. Charles, Iris, and Hank had re-opened the school together following the event ten years before with Erik and the sentinels. Mutants had become even more feared than before, and the three of them had decided the time was right to reopen their gates and allow mutant children to feel more comfortable in their own skin again.

"Does Charles know about this?" She asked hesitantly, gesturing to the warplane.

"I've never directly mentioned it," Hank muttered, avoiding her gaze, "But he can read minds. I've been building it for years. And it's huge, he can't really miss it. He knows."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Iris told him honestly, "We should be prepared in case something is to happen."

He nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't say we're anywhere near peace just yet, would you?"

Iris kept her mouth shut, unsure of what the right answer to that question was.

*

Iris stood at the edge of the basketball courts, her eyes skimming over the grounds. The school appeared to be a paradise on a day like this, where the sun streamed down and lit up not only the plants and trees but the faces of the students that went there.