Chapter Text
“You young men have certainly been through quite a lot,” Headmaster Munroe said, sitting with her leg crossed. She and the other teachers had called in Taeyong and Yuta for a sort of therapy session following the traumatic events they’d recently experienced, “we’ve already spoken to the rest of Paragon Class and it’s clear that you’ll all be needing copious amounts of counseling after all that’s happened,”
“We don’t want you two thinking its all seriousness though,” Professor McCoy said with a warm smile, fixing his wireframe glasses as he spoke, “we are certainly proud of you all and your momentous accomplishment,”
“Hank is right. You guys did something amazing and you defended yourself against overwhelming odds and truly proved why you are the top class here at Xavier’s Institute,” Ms. Frost chimed in.
“I’m glad you all feel that way,” Yuta finally replied, taping his fingers against his knee, “because Taeyong and I aren’t going to stop until we completely destroy the Circle of Purification,”
Taeyong expected the teachers to be stunned or shocked by what Yuta said, but Headmaster Munroe simply cracked a smile and nodded her head.
“We figured as much, and your classmates seem to share your conviction. Even the usually timid Doyoung appeared very eager to deliver the justice that Mutantkind so sorely needs,” Headmaster Munroe stood up from and waved for the boys to follow her, “come with me,”
Taeyong and Yuta followed the headmaster to the underground portion of the school; the same area Taeyong visited on his first day. Instead of going to the Cerebro Chamber, she led them to a spacious atrium. The room looked like a massive dome and the walls were completely devoid of detail. Taeyong had no idea what this space could be used for.
“This was the original danger room,” Headmaster Munroe said, almost as though she’d read Taeyong’s mind, “the teachers and I once trained here when we were students. In those days we had the same appetite for social change as you all do, but as we aged we settled into our roles as instructors instead of continuing the fight we’d begun,”
“You guys used to fight too?” Taeyong asked.
“Absolutely. We even had a silly name for ourselves. The ‘X-Men’, of course named for the fact that we were students of Xavier’s Institute,” Headmaster Munroe chuckled, “the most significant thing about our past exploits was the fact that Headmaster Xavier was completely supportive of our actions. Without him supplying us with resources and much-needed emotional support, we would have never accomplished as much as we did. The other instructors and I believe that giving all of you that same support is the best way to make sure that you can accomplish your goals and still stay safe,”
“So you’re willing to help us out? I’ve gotta admit, that sounds a lot better than going it alone,” Yuta said with a smile.
“You will have our support, but there are some rules you must adhere to,” Headmaster Munroe said, a stern quality taking over her normally comforting voice, “you will have access to all of the school’s resources, but you can only use them on officially sanctioned missions. And you must keep your identities secret so as not to endanger the other students here,”
“Deal,” Taeyong and Yuta replied simultaneously.
“Splendid. Then I’m happy to introduce you to your teammates,” Headmaster Munroe motioned to the door at the far end of the room where Mr. Summers came into the room with the other members of Paragon Class, as well as a few others. Mark shot across the room faster than Taeyong’s eyes could follow and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Hey guys! I’m so happy to see you! Did Headmaster tell you? We’re gonna be like a Mutant superhero team or something it’s gonna be so freaking sweet! Like I never even imagined that this would…” Mark’s words were cut off once again by Donghyuck clamping a hand over his mouth.
“I am q-quite excited too,” Doyoung said with a soft smile.
“You guys gotta meet our new teammates,” Jaehyun said, pushing the new members to the front of the group. Taeyong smiled at the sight of Ten and Johnny; he was so happy to see that they had enrolled at the school and would be joining the fight.
“We have cool codenames now too,” Ten said, “I’m Blink and he’s Iceman,”
“Hello, I’m Dong Sicheng,” one of the other new teammates said softly with a noticeable accent. There was a purple blindfold covering his eyes as well, “I just moved here from China. They said my codename can be Blindfold because of… the blindfold. I’m blind but the only thing I can really see is the future,”
“That’s almost poetic,” Donghyuck said, “but… also kinda sad,”
“And I’m Kim Jungwoo! Some of you may know me already. I used to be in Hellion Class but I got bumped up to Paragon after I developed some new abilities,”
“New abilities? You mean you have more than one?” Yuta said, clearly surprised, “I’ve only ever seen that with Doyoung and even then all of his different powers are just variations of one ability,”
“Yeah! Before I just had the ability to change my size. But now I have super strength and super durability too! Professor McCoy says I might even develop more powers in the future. They said my codename should be Genesis,” Jungwoo said, never losing the sweet smile on his face.
“That’s incredible,” Taeyong responded.
“It looks like the next generation of the X-Men is a promising bunch,” Mr. Summers said to Headmaster Munroe.
“Indeed. I have high hopes for them. Perhaps they can finish what we started so long ago,”
As the group of young men in front of her talked and laughed among themselves, Headmaster Munroe knew that one thing was abundantly clear…
This group and their gifts were the key to establishing a future without fear for all Mutantkind.