X-Men: Strife

The Intellect

Illiana Rasputin was bored. She almost wanted to cry because there was nothing to do and it was no use listening to the teacher lecture on and on about the book sitting on her desk.  "A Christmas Carol".... She quietly groaned and tried to look at the outline in front of her with interest. Mrs. Elderburt had not only forced them to read the book, she had required them to fill out an outline for each individual section. Illiana had filled in all the little blanks within the first fifteen minutes of class after it was assigned to her. Everyone in the school new she was "smart", but they weren't aware that she wasn't just extremely talented. Talent could never give her the aptitude that she had.

She twirled the black pen between her fingers and exchanged a foolish glance with her best friend, Lucy. Lucy was actually engaged in the socratic seminar and seemed to be having a good time in the discussion.

"...I think Scrooge is a metaphor for time and frailty of life.....just like Scrooge adults must......What do you think Illiana?"

Illiana's eyes focused on the voice that had broken into the daydream that was filling her head. Someone had called her name and she needed to know who it was now. The whole class had turned to look at her as she quickly tried to collect her thoughts and put them into words.

"I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that? What was it you said?"

Angela, a classmate of Illiana's who had a particular dislike for her and was always looking for an opportunity to embarrass her, promptly responded.

"She was just asking if you thought that Scrooge represented something else?"

Illiana stared at her for a moment. That was the dumbest question she had ever heard. Of course there was a second meaning to Dickens's work. The gears all clicked in her head and she was ready to defend herself. People rarely addressed her in class, because once she began to talk it was difficult to get her to stop and often her words went over her head.

She launched into a ten minute speech on the literary value of Dickens's work and the allegory that she perceived it to be. Mrs. Elderbert listened to her every word and wished she had thought to record the words that were tumbling out of her student's mouth. Illiana sensed the boredom and aggravation in the classroom so she came to a conclusion, restated her thesis, and stopped talking. If the class had paid better attention they might not have needed to do any research for the essay that was due next week.

She could almost feel the tension in the room and it unnerved her. She didn't like to show off, but sometimes it just....happened. There was no one to stop her and she certainly wasn't going to allow her class to miss the words of wisdom that sometimes escaped her. She fiddled with the color of her uniform polo shirt and stared at the pencil laying on her desk. It had a nice yellow color and she could see that the pink eraser was a little worn off. Whoever had used it before her must have.... Yet again, her deductions were interrupted by the loud ringing of the bell that would signify that it was time for her to exit English I Honors and travel to Algebra II.

After gathering all of her things Illiana briskly walked out of the classroom and pushed her way to her locker. She kneeled and unlocked her bottom locker so she could retrieve the awful math book. She hoisted it out of the shelf and stood up. There was about two minutes until she would be late for math. She shoved her way through the hallway and rushed to her seat in Mr. Johnson's classroom. Illiana cursed under her breath when she remembered that he had been assigned the seat next to her.

Mr. Popular, Trenton Bridges, was her arch nemesis. In every subject he always competed to beat her and he always lost. His fiery temper showed up quite often around her and she had bruises to prove it. She could only hope that he would be too distracted by the pretty blonde beside him to notice her. The deafening ring of the bell echoed through the school and she nearly giggled in glee when she saw that the seat beside her was empty. Trenton wasn't there.

Just as Mr. Johnson started to assign the class bellwork the phone rang. The students waited in suspense as the waited to hear who would be summoned down to the office. When a classroom was called it could be a kid's dream or their worst nightmare. Both good and evil were delivered after the phone rung.

"Illiana Rasputin. You need to go down to the office. Take your stuff."

She gulped nervously and packed her things in her bag. She couldn't be in trouble...could she? Nothing had happened in the past few days that would amount to a trip to the principle's. Maybe her mom or dad had decided to pick her up early. She solemnly left the classroom and made her way to the front office. It took all her nerve to turn the knob and step inside. She was greeted by the smiling face of the secretary, Mrs. Johnson who just so happened to be married to her math teacher.

"Go right through there. Go on into the conference room. He's waiting."

Who is waiting? She walked through the doors that would lead to her joyful celebration or disgraceful failure. At least she had learned that it wasn't her parents that had come to free her from school. She pushed open the door to the conference room and stepped inside.

"Who are you?"

The young man sitting alone at the table smirked and clasped his hands together.

"A friend."

She looked at him suspiciously and would have left the room if not for the aura of peace that she felt clinging around the room like a fog. His face was thin and his eyes were the brightest blue she had ever seen. She found herself intrigued and no matter how hard she tried to pull away she couldn't. Though he was flattered by her unwavering gaze he lifted his arm and pointed to the whiteboard which had drawn on minutes ago. Her attention was directed to the board and she read the single word that was written in bold letters.

"X-Men" she whispered.

Her parents had been a part of the X-Men. They told her stories and even promised her that one day they would take her to see the great mansion that had once been their home. The boy leaned forward and watched as her expression slowly changed. He gained great satisfaction at the surprise on her face.

"I'd like to invite you to be a part of something special...."

A/N: What do you guys think Illiana's power is? (It has a technical term!) Also to clear any confusion if there is any: There is a MARVEL canon character named Stryfe. My "Stryfe" is not associated with that one in anyway (other then maybe the fact that they would be "related" :P)