TITLE: Boy's Dorm

SERIES: Superhero Bootcamp; Part 2

AUTHOR: Scorpio

ARCHIVE: Scorpio's Constellation, WWOMB, The Warren and all list archives.

FANDOM: x-over [The Sentinel/X-Men 616]

RATING: PG-13 (a naughty word or two)

PAIRING: None [features: James Ellison, Henri Brown, Brian Rafe, Scott Summers and Logan]

CATEGORY: Crossover, Sentinel-AU in the X-Men Universe

WARNING: I've changed the age of Jim to make him a student at Xavier's. He's a 16 year old mutant in this story.

DISCLAIMER: Everything "Sentinel" belongs to Petfly Prod. and everything X-Men belongs to Marvel Entertainment Group. I own nothing and am making no money from this work.

A/N: This is an idea that I've played with off and on since the first X-Men movie was released. I've finally decided to go with the comicbook version of the school instead. The cast will probably be a mix of "New X-Men" and "Uncanny X-Men" with a few cameos from various "Sentinel" characters.

A/N 2: ~denotes telepathy~ #denotes empathy# *denotes emphasis in spoken words*

SUMMARY: Logan and Jim arrive at Xavier's and Jim finally gets a look at his new "home away from Home".

Boy's Dorm
by Scorpio

The place was huge. And old. Huge and old. The school was a converted mansion from the Civil War era. He had known that before he arrived and yet it hadn't really made an impression on him. Until now. Places like this just didn't *exist* in Cascade Washington. This place was probably older than his entire city and it showed in the Colonial style architecture and the grand elegance of the grounds.

There were *some* things that took away from the atmospheric feel of the school, though. Jim was positive that the original owners of the place didn't have to punch in a code at the front wrought iron gates just to get them to open. And while it was possible that the stone and brick wall that surrounded the grounds was there way back when, it mostly likely didn't carry the faded legend of 'Die Mutie! Die!' in washed out and sandblasted spray paint. Jim was fairly sure that only someone with enhanced sight would be able to still see it, but both he and the leather clad Logan tracked it silently with their eyes as they drove passed it.

Still, despite the old and faded signs of protest and prejudice, Xavier's seemed like a beautiful and inviting place. When the gates opened, Logan drove them through and then up a long and winding driveway towards the massive building. It was three stories tall and was divided into three main wings interconnected on the ground floor by smaller corridors. With a grunt, Logan pulled his cigar out of his mouth and gestured to the mansion.

"Well, Kid," he growled softly, "there it is. Xavier's School. The middle wing has the kitchen, the dinning room an' the offices on the ground floor with the classrooms on the second an' third floors. The right wing is the girl's dorm an' the left wing is the boy's dorm. Students on the second floor, teachers on the third. The ground floor on each o' the dormitory wings has recreational rooms an' lounges."

Jim studied the building for a moment trying to picture the layout even as they pulled up by the front steps. Then he glanced over at Logan, some of the surliness melting out of him in his curiosity. "What about a gym? I was on the football team back home. Any sports here?"

Logan's grin was little more than a flash of fangs and his dark eyes glittered dangerously. "Well, we ain't got no football team an' no real gymnasium. At least, not like any *you've* seen before. When the weather's right, the kids sometimes organize a game of hoops or touch football. Sometimes even a game of volleyball an' o' course there's a pool swimmin' an' a lake for fishin'." Logan turned off the vehicle and grinned viciously at Jim again. "Then there's the self-defense classes. They're mandatory so ya don't hav'ta worry about not gettin' enough exercise."

Before Jim could even think of something to say in the face of Logan's apparent enthusiasm, the man opened the door and jumped out of the jeep. For a long moment, Jim sat there blinking and considering everything he knew about Logan, which wasn't very much. The man was rude, uncouth, intimidating to the max and probably more than just a bit dangerous. Despite all that, or maybe because of it, Jim decided that he liked Logan. On the outside he was so different from his Dad and all his Dad's business partners as to seem as if he came from a whole different planet and yet he had that same fierce determination that his Dad brought to the boardroom. It's just that Logan seemed to have it all the time. He wasn't afraid of the world and he didn't hide from it. He made no excuses and no apologies. That attitude was a refreshing change from what Jim was used to.

"Hey, Kid!" Logan's deep gravely voice came from the back of the jeep. "Ya plannin' t' come get ya bags anytime soon? They ain't gonna float in by themselves...well, not unless ya bribe Jeannie t' carry 'em in with 'er TK."

Startled out of his thoughts, Jim scrambled out of the vehicle and dashed around the back to find Logan already had Jim's heavy travel trunk braced up on one of his massive shoulders again. Blushing, Jim reached in and pulled out his two suitcases and rushed to follow the short heavily muscled mutant up the steps and into the front doors of the school.

A few students seemed to be milling around in the building and as they walked passed a few called out hello's to Logan to which he replied with a toothy grin and a grunt. They turned a corner and walked down a wood paneled hallway that was lined with oak doors. Each door was labeled with a brass nameplate and Jim figured that these were the offices that Logan had told him about. Towards the end of the hallway, one of the doors opened and a tall man with red sunglasses and brown hair popped his head out to look at them.

"Hey, Logan," the man said, "that James?"

Logan grunted and gestured to Jim with a jerk of his head. "Likes t' be called Jim, an' yeah, that's him."

The man smiled. "Good. I've got him set up in room 2-10. I'll grab the keys an' his student info folder."

Logan grunted and kept on walking passed the door even as the man stepped back inside his office. Just as Jim was walking passed, the man stepped back out and took one of Jim's bags from him. "Hi there. I'm Scott Summers, the Headmaster here at Xavier's. Welcome, Jim."

Jim tried to smile at the man, Mr. Summers, but it wasn't easy. He was tired from his long plane trip and there was just so much to take in all at once. His attempt at friendliness must have worked, however, since Mr. Summers smiled back.

"Here," Mr. Summers handed Jim a glossy black folder with a bright yellow X inside of a circle on it in the bottom right hand corner. "This is for you. Inside, you'll find a listing of your scheduled classes with all the information on where, when and with which teacher. You'll also find some maps of the school and the grounds as well as the school handbook which lists all the rules, regulations and basic procedures."

Jim took the folder and wondered about all the stuff that he would need to memorize just to prevent himself from getting lost even as he and Mr. Summers followed Logan down a narrow hallway that connected the main wing of the school from the boy's dorm wing.

"Classes won't officially start for week or so as we wait for more of the students to arrive. However, because a lot of our courses aren't offered at most schools and because a lot of the things that we do here are based around various mutant abilities, there will be a few placement tests for you to take. Your transcripts from your old school simply don't cover those topics."

Jim was so busy trying to comprehend what Mr. Summers was saying that he almost walked into Logan's back when the older mutant stopped in front of an elevator and pushed the button for the car. Jim simply frowned in confusion.

"I don't know what you mean? What classes could I be behind in? I mean, I know I'm not a genius or anything, but my marks have always been good. And my old school was a real good one. It's not like we were learning out of twenty year old books."

Logan grunted and shot him a serious look. "I have no doubt it's a good school...for flatscans." Mr. Summers glared at Logan over the use of the derogatory slang and Logan ignored him, "but the truth of it is, human schools don't teach ya how t' hold mental shields against a psion. Human schools don't show ya how t' recognize a metamorph or how t' feed an energy welder. Human schools teach ya how t' play football, but they don't teach ya how t' survive in a world where 90% o' the population wants ya dead."

Jim saw Mr. Summers open his mouth, but whether it was to agree or disagree, Jim didn't know because right then the door to the elevator opened up and all three of them stepped inside. The ride up to the second floor was swift and then Logan led them down the hall to a plain wooden door with the brass numbers '2-10' on it. Mr. Summers stepped over to it and pulled out a keychain with the X within a circle hanging from it and unlocked the door.

Logan stepped inside the room and put Jim's trunk down even as Mr. Summers handed over the keychain. "Here you go, Jim. This is your key."

The room wasn't too much bigger than his own bedroom back home. There were two single beds with a dresser between them. On the far wall were two desks separated by a large closet and on the other side of the room was a set of bookshelves and another door.

"Right now you have this room to yourself." Mr. Summers smiled at him, "enjoy it while you can because if we get anymore students then you'll be getting a roommate." Jim nodded, but Mr. Summers merely pointed to the door and continued. "That's the bathroom. You'll be sharing it will the boys in room 2-12. There's another connecting door that leads to their room from the other side of the bathroom, so knock before you enter."

"Hey, Slim." Logan growled, "When d'ya got the kid scheduled for Danger Room placement testing?"

Scott frowned, "Tomorrow at two. Why?"

Logan grinned, "I wanna be the one t' test him."

Danger Room? Jim blinked in confusion as he stared at the two older mutants. He wasn't too sure he liked the sound of that. Everything that he'd been taught up until now told him that he should be either afraid of these mutants or flinging insults at them. It didn't help that he was one of them and that they were his teachers...old lessons of distrust and prejudice ran deep.

Mr. Summers merely shrugged at Logan, though. "I was going to have Bobby and Warren test him since they are both in house, but if you want to do it..."

Logan grunted and nodded even as he gazed at his cigar stub thoughtfully. "If ya wanna have Wings an' the Icecube there, that's fine. I just wanna be a part o' it. The boy has the potential t' be a feral an' I wanna see how much he's got it under control."

Jim's head snapped up in shock and even Mr. Summers looked surprised. "You sure about that, Wolverine?"

Logan grunted. "Yup. All five senses heightened an' a jaguar totem is a big hint, but not a fact. I can smell it on him, though. He smells wild. Like a cub, yeah, but it's a predator's cub."

Jim couldn't take them talking about him like he wasn't even there anymore. With a scowl, he snapped at Mr. Summers, "What the hell is a Danger Room?" Then he turned his glare on Logan, "And I am *not* an animal!"

Logan snorted, a look of irritation in his glittering eyes. "Being feral ain't about being an animal, kid. It's about losing ya humanity. There's a difference. Goin' feral doesn't make ya stupid or less intelligent. It's about seeing the world from a whole different perspective. It's about thinking o' people as prey." A haunted look flashed across Logan's face, "*I'm* a feral mutant. An' trust me when I tell ya that it isn't losing ya humanity that's hard, it's learnin' t' live with what ya done in that state o' mind when ya get that humanity *back* that's rough."

Jim didn't have a comment for that. He didn't mean to blink stupidly at the older mutant, he just didn't know what to say or do that could ease the old pain that he could see behind those dark eyes. What's more, he suddenly realized that he really didn't know very much about mutants. Not really. He'd heard of feral mutants before, but he'd only ever heard of them being described as animals; a step backwards on the evolutionary scale. He'd always been taught that feral's were mindless killing machines that were little better than rapid dogs. He'd never before heard feral's described as intelligent, thinking, human predators. Superpowered hunters that hunted their own kind. Feral's suddenly seemed to be less like the bad practical gene-joke and much much more dangerous then he'd ever thought. He didn't even want to consider that he had the potential to go feral himself.

"The...the Danger Room?" Jim turned to Mr. Summers in hopes of changing the subject. To anything else.

The Headmaster must have noticed his discomfort since he smiled and laid one hand on Jim's shoulder for a brief squeeze. "The Danger Room is where we practice self-defense and where those students with the more...volatile powers can practice their skills without risk of injury to others." He shrugged lightly and made a vague gesture to Logan, "The testing simply tells us what skill level you are at now so that we know what we need to teach you. Logan here usually
only works with the advanced students, however, he's also an expert with heightened senses and with feral abilities since he's lived with them and has mastered them himself. I think that if you listen to any advice he shares with you that you'll find that you adjust to your...gifts more easily."

Vaguely, Jim merely nodded, his head swirling with an overload of information.

Logan grunted and stuck the cigar stub in his mouth even as he headed for the door to the hallway. "Ya get ya'self settled in an' get a good night's sleep. I'll see ya tomorrow at two, kid."

And with that, the two older mutants let themselves out of Jim's dorm room.

*

It didn't take too long to put away all of his clothes and toiletries. He wasn't what his Dad referred to as a 'clothes horse'. Not that he didn't have nice stuff, it was all brand name latest-fashion stuff. There just wasn't a lot of it. The stuff in the trunk that Logan had carried up, however, took time to put away.

The laptop went on the desk closest to the window and the television with the Playstation 2 hookup went on the dresser between the beds. The stereo system, Jim hooked up on the top of the bookshelf with his CD's lined up on the top shelf. His team poster of the Cascade Jags he hung on the wall over his bed and the framed picture of him, Sally and his younger brother went on the desk by his laptop. The photo of his Dad he tucked in the top drawer of the dresser.

When it was all finally done, Jim figured he would have enough time to clean up before dinner was served downstairs in the main dinning hall. The school manual said that it was usually served at 6:30 and it was 5:00 now.

Walking into the shared bathroom, Jim once more noted that it was neat and clean. That wasn't so surprising for this early in the year and, in fact, Jim figured that it was fairly new since he could still smell sawdust and caulk under the strong scent of tile cleaner. Hitting the switch to turn on the vent fan, Jim could only hope that the guys in room 2-12 that would be sharing this
bathroom were both neat freaks. Nothing wigged out his sense of smell and his sense of vision worse than a dirty disgusting bathroom.

Stripping off, Jim stepped into the small shower stall and turned on the water. The water pressure wasn't the best he'd used, but it certainly wasn't the worst. A quick shampoo and condition, followed by a quick lathering down with soap was all he could stand. It got him clean, but if he lingered too long, his skin would break out in a rash of dry irritated patches. Just as he was rinsing off, Jim heard the two guys that lived in the room next door come in.

"Hey, H! Someone's in our shower, man."

A hand banged on the door loudly and Jim winced at the echoing noise even as he turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist. The door swung open.

"What the..." A tall, slightly overweight black kid with a bald head stared at him in surprise. He kid's face wasn't quite right, his features were just a little too smooth. Just then, a shorter skinny white kid with brown hair and green eyes peeked around the bigger black kid.

"Hey, you new here or something?"

Jim nodded and gestured to the other door behind him. "Yeah. Name's Jim and I'm in 2-10."

The black kid smiled. "Cool. I'm H and this," he jerked his thumb at the shorter kid, "is Brian Rafe, but everyone just calls him Neon."

Jim nodded at both of them, but he couldn't help but blink at the short kid's nickname. It was... well, it was weird.

"Hey, man. Gowan and get some clothes on and then come over. We'll fill ya in on who's who around here."

Jim smiled and nodded in agreement. "Sounds good. See you in a few."

He walked back into his own room and quickly dried off. He pulled out the unscented hypoallergenic hand cream that Sally had sent with him and spent the time it took to rub it into every inch of his body that he could reach. It was expensive and he went through the stuff like wild fire, but it sorta helped counteract the effects of his soap and it soothed and eased the feeling that his clothes were made out of sandpaper. When he finished slathering on a layer of
moisturizer, Jim finally pulled out a pair of track pants and a Cascade Jags jersey. Slipping on a pair of white socks and his sneakers, Jim turned to his desk to grab the black folder that Mr. Summers had given him and then walked back through the bathroom and knocked on H and Neon's door.

"Come on in, Jim."

One half of the room was decorated heavily with posters of rock bands that Jim never heard of or listened to. From the names and the pictures displayed on those posters, Jim was pretty sure that they were mutant bands. The other half of the room was decorated with lots of pictures of a giant green woman with flowing dark green hair. At first Jim didn't recognize her, but after a moment it clicked in his head; She-Hulk. Admittedly, the woman was an amazingly beautiful amazon...she was also just very very...green. Jim could only goggle at the sheer number of photos of her.

"Awwww man! Another one drooling over the green bitch!"

Jim's head snapped around to see H rolling his eyes where he sat at his desk and Neon looking all indignant while lounging on one of the beds. "Hey! Don't be dissin' Jennifer, H. She's a beautiful and classy woman. And she'd kick your ass all over the town."

With one last glance at the wall sized tribute to green toned breasts, Jim chuckled and sat down at the other desk. "Man's got a point. She'd definitely kick your ass if she heard you calling her a bitch."

He waved the folder to get the guy's attention. "So...did either of you come here last year or are you guys new too?"

H shrugged and tried to look wise and experienced. "Naw, man. We ain't new here. We were both here last year and you're lucky that you weren't."

Jim raised up one eyebrow. "What do you mean, I'm lucky."

H shrugged, but Neon started talking first. "The rooms weren't set up like this, man. They were all bigger and there was only one shared bathroom per floor. They had contractors come out over the summer to change things to try and cut down on the amount of stuff stolen. Eight guys in one bedroom, even a big one, sucked. Plus there was always these big queues waiting for the bathrooms. Now with the place set up in suites it's two guys to a bedroom and four to a bathroom."

Jim grimaced. He couldn't help it. The thought of sharing a bathroom with that many strangers just wasn't right.

"So, Jim man, what kinda mutant are you? Neon glows and I shapeshift."

H's question jerked Jim out of his thoughts quickly. His first reaction was to deny being a mutant at all, but before those words even left his mouth out of habit, Jim realized that they would *know* he was lying. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't a mutant...and neither would they.

"I got heightened senses and I dream of the future."

Neon blinked and sat up in excitement. He also began to glow very lightly. "Pregoc? Hey, man, that's cool. So, can like you tell me my future? Am I ever gonna meet Jennifer for real? Like, in person?"

H snorted even as Jim shook his head. "Neon, man. Chill out, dude. You're glowing again."

Neon blushed lightly and then closed his eyes in concentration. Slowly, the light shining out from within him began to dim and fade away.

H snorted again and jerked a thumb over at Neon. "Don't worry about that, man. He loses it when he gets excited. It's a bitch in the middle of the night when you're sleeping and he starts in on a She-Hulk dream. Lights up the whole damn room bright as day."

Neon blushed even harder. "Shut *up*, H."

Jim grinned. "I'll keep that in mind." He shared a chuckle with H and then turned a cheeky smile on Neon. "I don't know if you'll ever meet her, man. It don't work that way. I just sorta...follow wherever the jaguar leads me." He shrugged then. "Well, I try to. Sometimes it's hard figuring it all out. Dreams are mostly symbols and stuff, so it's hard to understand."

Neon nodded even though he looked disappointed. H, however, was giving him an odd look. "Heightened senses, huh?"

Jim nodded.

"You a feral?" H tilted his too smooth head and looked at Jim sideways. "Most mutants with heightened senses are."

Once again, Jim had to bite back the automatic denial that he wasn't a mutant. It was just something that had been ingrained in him so long that it was going to take time adjusting to this whole attitude of genetic pride that seemed to be so prevalent here. He didn't want to offend anyone by seeming rude and ashamed, but it was a habit he'd been taught ever since he began to manifest.

"I...I don't know." Jim shrugged as that worry came back to nag at him. "Logan thinks that I am, but...I never...."

H nodded, a serious look on his face as if he knew what Jim was trying to say. "Well, Logan would know, even if you've never gone feral yet. If he thinks that your gifts swing that way, it's probably just a matter of time."

Just then, an idea hit Jim. These two knew the teachers here, so it probably wouldn't hurt to get the dirt on everyone. It just might help keep Jim from making too many social faux pas'. With a slight frown, he opened his folder and pulled out his class schedule and looked at it.

"So...what do you guys think about Logan? I mean, it has written down here that twice a week I'm supposed to meet up with him for training on controlling my senses and he's specifically asked Mr. Summers to put him in the group that would be evaluating my...um...fighting skills."

Neon and H shared a long look and then broke out in smug grins. "Oh, man! You, my friend, have caught the Wolverine's eye. I don't know whether to be jealous of you or to feel sorry for you."

Jim wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that. "What do you mean, H?"

H shrugged even as Neon stifled his giggles. "Wolverine is the biggest bad-ass on campus. He only teaches the advanced combat classes and the machine shop. He's also an active member of the X-Men combat team and hires himself out as a merc on occasion."

Neon was nodding his head in time to H's words until he began to glow and burst in with his own babble. "No one really knows what it is he does when he heads off on his own solo missions. Speculation around the school ranges from he's doing wet-work for S.H.I.E.L.D. to he's running a company of merc's with Cable and Domino."

Jim knew what S.H.I.E.L.D. was. *Everyone* did. The Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate was who the U.N. called when the superpowered terroristic shit hit the fan. But who or what was Cable and Domino?