Soft, padded feet slid soundlessly over the polished wooden floor. A lone figure, tall and dark, made its way slowly down the dorm hall of Xavier's School for the Gifted Young. The young woman made the routine trek to the kitchen, following the well-known route in the dark with flawless accuracy. A smile touched her pale lips when her eyes landed on the sight before her.

There was no place Alexia Wheaton loved being away from more than her dorm room. It wasn't because the rooms were sparse and uncomfortable, for the exact opposite was true. Xavier's school provided for its students the things necessary to survive and more. The rooms weren't lavish, but homelike, with more than enough space to move around. No, it wasn't the room itself that Alex despised. It was her roommate and the sickening essence she had spread over everything that laid behind their mahogany door.

Tiffany Wells was, in Alex's opinion, one of the hardest students in the school to deal with. Besides being an egotistical blonde who believed that the sun rose and set in the palm of her hand, Tiffany was condescending—albeit in a ditzy, mindless way—to everyone younger than her twenty-two years. People say that with age comes wisdom. Apparently, it wasn't always true. Alex had been rooming with the blonde for a little over a year—a year in which she was forced to endure the constant smell of bubble gum from morning to night, the snotty remarks, the mindless chatter, and the heated arguments.

As far as Alex was concerned, it was about time to get a new roommate. She relished in every moment that she was out of her room, savoring the sweet silence and unpolluted air of the normal world. Every moment like this one, a time in which she was able to venture out of her personal hell of room 224 and meet with Peter Rasputin, was a momentary piece of heaven on earth.

"Hey, stranger," she greeted, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. Two sets of chocolate brown eyes met and she smiled almost shyly, making her way slowly to the barstools around the marble island in the middle of the room.

"Hey, yourself," Peter replied, his eyes looking tenderly over the girl he had grown to know well over the past few weeks.

Their relationship wasn't any easy one to understand, and all the difficulties that they faced were spawned from one simple fact: they were both mutants. Peter, who was also called Colossus, could turn his entire body into metal and Alex, also known as Livewire, had an electric charge coursing through her body like blood. She could control her powers at times, but for the most part refused to do anything that would endanger others—which often included physical contact.

Peter's watchful eyes noted the circles under her eyes and the weariness that lingered in the depth of her dark brown orbs. His eyebrows creasing with worry, he frowned. "You look tired. Are you okay?"

"I am tired," she admitted as she sank down onto the stool next to him. "Think we could switch rooms?"

He chuckled, the deep sound reverberating through her and easing the tension in her shoulders. "I'm sure Bobby would like that, but I don't think the professors would approve. I'm not sure I'd like the thought of you in my room with him at night, either," he laughed, reaching out to take her hand in his. The thin material of her gloves kept him from feeling her skin on his, but he tried not to show his disappointment. "Tiffany getting on your case again?"

She shook her head, letting out a long breath. "I'm just getting tired of this life with her," she said, fighting to find the right words to express her emotions. "She chews gum all the time. She sprays the room with her bubble gum perfume. I smell like bubble gum and I don't even like gum that much. You've seen my room—you know how her half is plastered with posters or Metallica and Marilyn Manson?" He nodded, looking half amused and half frightened about where she was going with this topic. "It's all an act. She's a Britney Spears fan. I wanted to know what she was always listening to so one day I checked her Discman when she was gone, and, what do you know, it's Britney."

Peter tried to stifle his laughter, but it was too much for him to contain—the mental sight of Tiffany, who tried to convince people of her "toughness" by dressing in black and using too much dark makeup, singing to Britney Spears was too much to take with a straight face. "Well, you know, that Britney is…"

"If you say anything good I’m going to leave," Alex threatened teasingly, raising her eyebrows at him.

"…fake and overrated," he finished with a cheeky grin, releasing her hand and getting up to go to the refrigerator. "What did you think I was going to say?"

Her eyes sparkled as she watched his every move, amazed at how a person as strong as him could move with such simplistic grace. "I’m not even going to answer that," she stated, her eyes widening when she saw him remove a carton of ice cream from the freezer. "Oh, you know how to get out of trouble…"

Chuckling, he pulled two spoons out of the drawer and plopped the ice cream down in front of Alex. "With a girl like you, of course."

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and opened the carton, licking her lips in anticipation. Sugary bliss and Peter… what more did she need?

A loud crash rang through the air as Alex was about to dip her spoon into the ice cream, making both she and Peter look at each other suspiciously. Xavier’s School was built so that it would be safe for the students, but that didn’t necessarily ensure security. "Stay here," Peter told Alex softly, getting up from his seat and cautiously walking towards the living room, where the sound appeared to have come from.

Alex wasn’t the type of girl who was content to sit around and hide while trouble was brewing. Instead of following Peter’s directions, she followed him with a frown etched across her face. "We finally get to relax and this happens… this better damn well be good," she grumbled beneath her breath.

"You never listen, do you?"

"Nope," she answered honestly, trying to peek around him to see what was going on in the living room. Her heart dropped when she heard a familiar voice and she stepped out from behind Peter with a scowl on her face, eyes completely devoid of any fear.

In the living room of their floor stood none other than Tiffany, an angry look in her blue eyes. She was glowering down at Hayley, or Camo, a mutant whose power was to camouflage herself. Alex wondered momentarily why Hayley wasn’t using her powers to hide from Tiffany’s apparent wrath, but when she saw the glazed look in Hayley’s eyes she knew exactly what was going on. Tiffany, also known as Trixie, was projecting images in Hayley’s mind to keep the younger girl from defending herself. Not that Hayley necessarily would. She was entirely too passive, a trait that often grated on Alex’s nerves. Still, no one deserved to be picked on by a blonde bitch on a power trip.

Alex let out a disapproving growl. "Leave her alone, Tiffany," she said, her voice steady and clear with irritation.

The petite blonde spun around, her eyes glowing pink before returning to their natural blue. "Stay out of this, Sparky. It has nothing to do with you," she snarled. "Go off and play with your boyfriend. Oh, wait. Metal, electricity… you still haven’t figured that little problem out, have you?" She frowned mockingly. "Too bad for you."

Peter’s annoyance was practically radiating from his body as he took a step forward, but Alex shook her head and placed a gloved hand over his arm. She could fight her own battles, and Tiffany was definitely hers to fight. "That’s none of your business, Pixie Stick," she snapped back. "Just let Camo go."

"Yeah, let me go. Can’t we all just be friends?" the brunette cowering on the floor squeaked. "We don’t need to fight…"

"Shut up," Tiffany barked, glaring down at Hayley.

How does she put up with this kind of treatment? Alex wondered silently, turning her eyes up to the ceiling as if looking for an answer. "Tiffany, leave her alone."

"Go to hell."

"Hey, be nice!" Hayley wailed.

Alex looked at the younger girl and frowned. Something about people who cowered rubbed her the wrong way. Call it violent, call it empowered, it was Alex. "If you bust out singing Kumbaya or something, I'm out of here," she warned, half serious. Turning to Tiffany, who didn’t look like she was going to back down, Alex focused her energy and her eyes glowed with angry warning. "Don’t tempt me, Pixie Stick…"

Hayley, seated on the floor, let out a small squeal and scurried back against the wall. When she had nowhere else to go she camouflaged herself to match the wall and watched silently.

"We both know you can’t control your powers, you pathetic excuse for a mutant," Tiffany mocked, a wicked smirk on her face. "What are you going to do to me? You’ll probably kill yourself before I even get a buzz." Her stance was tight as a coil ready to spring loose, her fists clenching and unclenching by her sides as a silent encouragement to fight. "Leave your boy toy out of it and fight me, if you think you can."

Peter sensed his girlfriend’s tension and laid a hand on Alex’s back, shaking his head. "Don’t let her do this to you, Alex," he told her softly. "Just walk away. You have nothing to prove to her."

"See? Even your boyfriend doesn’t think you can do it. Of course, with a sad little relationship like yours, I can’t say I blame him," Tiffany taunted.

Alex’s jaw tightened and her eyes met Peters. The tall man sighed, knowing that this was something she had to do whether he liked it or not. "I'll get Camo out of here," he told her, dropping a quick kiss on the top of her head before she could react. Then he went over to where Camo had shown herself to be and quickly ushered her out of the room.

Tiffany acted suddenly, hurtling herself over the couch and shocking the brunette with a viscous kick that sent her sprawling. Alex flipped herself back onto her feet and launched herself at the blonde, her fists flailing with dangerous precision. Adrenaline and anger pumped through her body, sending her into a wild frenzy of frayed nerves and out of control emotions. The woman could insult Alex, she could think of herself as a god, she could infiltrate their room with the scent of bubble gum, and she could listen to Britney Spears, but Alex would not tolerate her picking on the weaker mutants or making smart comments about her relationship with Peter. That was a line that never should have been crossed.

Tiffany was a trained fighter, but she was no match for Alex on a rampage. Punches and kicks were exchanged and parried. Furniture that was in the way of falling bodies was broken to useless shards. Trixie, in a panic when she began to see that she was going to be beaten, resorted to yanking on Alex’s long locks of hair and trying to scratch the small expanses of skin left exposed between her gloves and shirt sleeves.

Eyes blazing with fury, Alex grabbed Tiffany by the back of the neck and forced her head down to meet the floor with a resounding thud. Her heart raced in her chest and Alex realized with a small bit of fear that she was losing control. If she didn’t force herself to stop, she would soon be lost to her emotions. She refused to kiss; she was violent and passionate, but she was not a killer.

Her head throbbing and panic seizing her heart, Tiffany took a frantic swipe at Alex’s arms to make the other girl release her. Her strong, sharp nails ripped into the flesh of Alex’s arms and the brunette let out a shriek of surprise and pain. Then Alex’s eyes began to glow and the lights flicked before going out. Tiffany’s suffering scream rang through the room and neither girl could pull away. Both remained on the floor, shaking uncontrollably from the power of Livewire’s shock.

It wasn’t until Nightcrawler, Hayley’s boyfriend and a teleporter, appeared to drag Alex away from Tiffany that the electric charge diminished. Livewire fell to the ground, breathing heavily and breaking into a sweat, while Tiffany lay spasming only a few feet away.

"What the hell is going on?" a male voice demanded from the doorway.

Nightcrawler looked from Alex to Tiffany and then turned his deep blue eyes to Wolverine, the rugged art teacher who stood in the doorway with a flashlight in his hand. "I’m not sure," he admitted, "but Camo said that Trixie tried to attack her and Livewire came to help her. Colossus took Camo back to her room."

Tiffany slowly stood, her eyes wide and alarmed, the hair on her head a sizzling puffball. Alex could have killed her without even trying… it was her resistance that had kept them both alive. The knowledge of this incensed her even more. "She tried to kill me. That… that bitch, she tried to kill me!"

Ignoring the whiny girl’s voice, Wolverine went to the light switch and tried in vain to turn on the lights. "Looks like she short-circuited the entire electrical system," he noted, kneeling down by the twitching girl on the floor. "Kurt, get Jean in here now."

Nightcrawler watched in concern as Wolverine gently tried to relax Alex, who still glowered with the intensity of her powers. Shaking his head, he disappeared into a cloud of blue vapor to go get Jean Gray, the school’s doctor.

"Aren’t you going to see how I am?" Tiffany demanded, her voice rising with indignation. She stared down at the handsome, strong man trying his best to tend to Alex and scowled. Wolverine just didn’t understand. Trixie knew that they could be wonderful together, but he was oblivious to it all. "You stupid mutants! You’re all the same here—cowering in your special school, acting like you owe the world because of who you are. You’re pathetic! She’s pathetic. You should just let her die and save the world some trouble."

Wolverine looked over his shoulder, barely able to see her in the darkened room. But he could tell she was angry and she was making him furious. "I don’t know what the hell happened in here but I would bet anything that you were the cause of it. Now if I were you I would just be quiet and wait to see what the Professor decides to do about it."

"You think I need the Professor? You think I need you?" she shrieked, so caught up that she didn’t notice that she was beginning to draw a crowd of sleepy-eyed mutant students. "I thought you were different, Logan, but you’re as stupid as the rest of them. You’ll be sorry—you’ll all be sorry." Growling, she whirled around as quickly as she could on unsteady feet and stomped out of the room.

Wolverine let her go without a second glance. Had he been in the mood, he would have gotten into an argument with her, but there were more important things to deal with. Alex’s skin was loosing its color at an alarming rate and her breathing hadn’t returned to normal. "Hold on, kid," Logan told her softly, avoiding contact with her pallid but electrically charged skin.

Nightcrawler appeared in the room with Jean in his arms. Immediately the doctor rushed to Alex’s side and with thick gloves on her hands pushed the hair back from her face. "She’s been like this since it happened?" she asked, looking at Logan with worried eyes. He nodded, getting up to give her more space. "I need to get her to the clinic, Logan."

Students blocked the doorway, watching the scene before them with solemn looks on their faces. Colossus tried to carefully push his way through them, almost tripping in the dark. When he could finally see what was happening, his heart stopped for a moment and he froze. Guilt immediately began to chew at his insides; he had known that he should have stopped her, kept her from fighting when there was nothing to win. He, too, had been swayed by the emotionally-touching insults that Tiffany tossed his way, but he should have known better.

Things went by in a whirlwind of movement. Alex was rushed to the infirmary with Jean and Logan. Storm and Cyclops came to the floor to usher the other students into bed. Professor Xavier came to the rooms to ask those who knew anything about the occurrences of the night. Colossus waited outside the clinic with Fern, Xerox, and Phase, some of Alex’s friends, hoping to hear some good news.

Only Professor Xavier saw the note sitting on Alex’s bed when he went to see if Tiffany was still around. Her things were gone and a feeling of foreboding settled on him as he opened the letter.

Sparky,

This isn’t the end and you know it. That is, if you don’t kill yourself before I get the chance. I'll be back for you and you’ll regret ever getting in my way. You and everything you stand for disgust me. Until we meet again, kicks and scratches.