Friday, 7:30 pm

Friday evening, all classes have finally ended in the “Charles Xavier” high school and all students were more than eager to get to their home and rest.

“Yo Mike! Wait up!” Yelled a boy and he threw his green backpack over his shoulder and hopped on his white skateboard trying to catch up to his friend. He was about 18 years old but looked much younger, his brown hair was shaven almost bald so he wore white cap, matching his white T-shirt and baggy black pants which were two sizes too big for his slim form and you could barely see his also matching black and white NIKE snickers. He was among the shortest kids in school and was often teased about it but he didn’t mind it because no meter how he looked everyone still liked him because he was a nice guy, liked to be friends with everyone and he wasn’t a jerk like some of the other guys. And it didn’t hurt that he had eyes to die for, baby blue eyes girls just loved to get lost in, full lips they just loved to kiss and small pointy nose which fitted perfectly to his too young looking face. Oh, and he was among the best skateboarders in the whole school. “Mike! C’mon dude!”

“Hey, catch up with me if you can! What’s the meter Danny? Afraid you’ll fall?” Mike smirked and continued to ride his skateboard. They called him ‘The Speed Devil’ simply because he liked going fast, and once he was on the roll nothing could stop him. Danny and him were something you could call best friends even if they were opposite in everything. Mike had long black hair which he always wore in a tight ponytail. He was very tall, about 6.3 feet to Danny’s 5.2 and well build body. While Danny was worm and open to everyone, he was mysterious and quiet and liked to provoke people around him. He always wore black. Black baggy pants which were similar to his friend’s, black T-shirt with a picture of a scull in the front, black backpack, black snickers and even his skateboard was black. It was just weird how pail he was, his skin was almost white, total contrast to his piercing black eyes and black hair. His face was also very rough and he looked older than he truly was. Only things that were common between the two of them were their love for skateboarding, baggy clothes and they were real chick magnets.

“Yea right! You forgot who you’re talking to? I’m the best there is!” Said Danny and sped up. He was almost next to Mike.

“In your dreams short-stuff, you could never beat me.” He smirked again looking at his friend, not really paying attention to where he’s going.

“No fear, you’re calling up the short jokes! You don’t hear me asking you how’s the weather up there! And watch where you’re going, will you!?”

Mike just chuckled and concentrated on the road. “I thought short jokes didn’t get to you. Oh, and the weather is just fine, no cloud in sight. How’s the ground?”

“Ha-ha, very funny and they don’t get to me” answered Danny little annoyed.

“That’s because you’re so small.” He loved doing this, annoying the hell out of people around him, especially Danny.

“Will you knock it off already!?”

“Why?”

“Well because you’re annoying me for one.”

“Good.”

Danny just sight, almost everything was a competition between them but he wasn’t going to win this one, he didn’t like offending anyone, especially Mike.

---

They road their skateboards for another 20 minutes in silence before they finally reached their homes, it just happened that they were first neighbors as well.

“Well dude, guess I’ll see you later” Said Danny while he was unlocking the door to his house.

“Yeah, whatever dude.” Was Mike’s answer as he was getting into his own home and he closed the door firmly after him.

He immediately went to his room and locked his door. He dropped down his skateboard, he took a shower and he changed his clothes into black jeans and another black T-shirt without any picture on it. His room was simple, well except that everything was painted black along with his walls. He had large twin bed in the middle of his. On Its left side there was a night stand with a lamp on it and on the right side there was a wardrobe. His desk was on the right, in front of the only window in the room and his computer was also on it. On the left side of the room was the door which led to his bathroom and that was pretty much it. His clothes, books and magazines were thrown all over his floor and posters of heavy metal bands were all over his walls. His parents yelled at him more than once to clean up the mess, but he never listened to them, and why should he? He was 18 and that meant he could do whatever the hell he wanted to do, or so he thought and it was his damn room.

“Mike! Dinner is ready!” His mother yelled from the kitchen downstairs. “Mike!”

“I’m coming damn it!” He said as he got out of his room and was headed down.

“Michel, you know we don’t tolerate that kind of language in this house!” His father said firmly while glaring at his son as he entered in the kitchen.

“Sorry dad… And DON’T call me Michael.” He answered glaring back.

“That’s your name isn’t it?”

“Well I hate it.”

“You hate everything.”

“Will you two stop it!?” His mother now glared at the both of them. “Dinner is ready, so sit down, shut up and eat. Got it!?”

“Yes ma’am” Mike and his dad said at the same time.

“Good. I swear, we couldn’t have made you more like your father if we wanted to. You two are so alike.”

“I think I just lost my appetite.” Mike pushed his plate away he made a disgusted face.

“You don’t have an appetite to lose, and really Lydia it’s just wrong to talk about those things in front of the kid” His dad said while narrowing his eyes at his wife.

“I’m not a kid.”

“And why not John? It’s not like he never had sex with some girl.” Lydia said with curiosity shining in her brown eyes.

“Mom!”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t. What girl in her right mind would want to sleep with a death-obsessed kid like him?”

“Dad!”

“And why wouldn’t they? There’s nothing wrong with him! I’m sure every girl in that school is going crazy for my little boy.”

“Yeah right…”

“That’s it! I’m out of here!” Mike get’s up and heads out.

“Where are you going honey?” His mother asked.

“Out, and don’t call me honey!” With that he slammed the door behind him and headed over at Danny’s.

When he got there he rang the bell and Danny’s mom opened the door.

“Evening Mrs. Anders. Is Danny home?”

“Daniel! It’s the Dorfman’s kid! Get down here!” She yelled at the top of her lungs.

“I’m coming mom!” Was the reply from inside.

“Thanks.” Michel thanked her.

“Whatever.” She answered and went inside as Danny got to the door. She never liked him all that much.

“Hey dude! What’s up?”

“My parents… wanna hang?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

They went to the nearby park and sat down on a bench.

“So what did they do now?” His friend asked.

“Talk about sex… over dinner.” He was making disgusted faces again. “About them AND me.”

“Dude, that’s just wrong!”

“Tell me about it.”

Danny opened his mouth to say something but Mike’s phone started ringing and cut him off.

“It’s Julie.” She was his long time girlfriend.

“Hey Jules. What’s up?” He answered.

“Mike. I-I need you.” Her usually calm and bubbly voice sounded unusually stressed.

“Jules, what’s wrong?” He asked getting worried.

“Michel, p-please!” Something was definitely wrong. She never called him by his full name, she knew how much he hated that.

“Where are you?”

“Xavier’s…” She hung up.

“Hello? Julie? Fuck! I have to go.”

“Where are you going dude?”

Danny has never seen his long time friend like this, so out of his mind from worry and fear.

“School.” Was the simple answer he gave.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not. Jules needs me, I’m going alone.”

“But…”

“But nothing. See ya tomorrow.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.” With that he turned around and left.

---

It was about 9 pm when he got to the school. He looked all over for his girlfriend but she was nowhere to be found, at least outside.

‘She couldn’t be inside, could she?’ He wondered. ‘Everything is locked when school’s out.’ But just then he noticed something. One door wasn’t locked, it was open. ‘That must be where she went but what is she doing here anyway?’ He didn’t think for too long before he went inside and started looking for her.

“Jules! Julie! Where are you!? Come on, answer me damn it! Jules!” He called her over and over again but no one answered him.

He looked in every room in the school but she wasn’t in any of them. The only place left was the gym and he hoped he would find her in there.

When he reached the gym he noticed that the always locked doors were now open and the lights were on, she had to be in there! He had no idea how right he was.

What he walked on as he got inside would forever haunt his dreams.

“Oh my God! Jules!”

There lied her lifeless, naked body. She had bruises and long, deep cuts all over her legs and arms and bruises from choking on her neck. Her once chin-long blond hair was now red from blood. Her large green eyes, once so full with life, now were full with terror and her full lips were bloody from how hard she must have bit them. What made him sick the most was the sight of her open chest and stomach. He could see all of her organs but fully damaged and cut to pieces. It was also evident that she has been raped.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He threw up all over the floor. All that blood! It seemed like it was everywhere around him, it was just too much!

He whipped his mouth and knelt next to Julie’s destroyed body. As he stared in her beautiful face heavy tears started rolling down his face. He didn’t wipe them off, he just let them fall. He couldn’t do anything but stare. All of that, it just couldn’t be real. It was just a bad dream, he would wake up any moment now and she would be there so full with life and love for him, only him. But it wasn’t a dream, he wasn’t waking up and she would never be there again. Never again would he kiss her, taste her, hold her in his arms, whisper sweet nothings in her ear in their long nights of passion, never again would he see her lovely smile, listen to the sweet melody that was her voice or hear the beautiful music that was her laugh.

‘Why?’ That was the question he repeated in his head over and over again. ‘Who did this to you? Why?’ She was his reason to live, the light in his darkness, angel which saved his soul and filled it with love, she was his savor and she was his lover, she was the one. Why didn’t he ever tell her how much he loved her? Now it was too late.

He stared at her in what seemed to be forever before he managed to find his voice and say the two words he needed to say.

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry, you will be joining her soon enough.”

He heard someone’s deep, calm voice behind him. His eyes went wide with terror and he was about to turn around to see who was behind him but he never got the chance. It felt like big number of knives cut into his chest and stomach and were quickly pulled out. He fell with his eyes still open staring at the woman he loved. His wounds were killing him slowly but, oh, so painfully. His blood mixed with his lover’s and it was so much it covered his face. He was choking in their blood. In his last breaths he managed to voice his last words.

“I love you…”

The three words he never said to her while she was alive. As he let out his last breath and darkness surrounded he heard the voice he loved so much, the one he thought he would never hear again. She said two words.

“I know.”

Saturday, 6:00 am

“Good morning people! Ready to work?” asked Lieutenant Bishop as he walked into the conference room in the NYPD.

“Not really chief… Couple more hours of sleep would have been nice.” Said detective Nathan Gray who barely kept his eyes opened and yawned every minute.”Why did you call us in at 6 am and none the less on Saturday? It’s our day off.”

“There’s been a murder.” That woke him up. “Double murder to be exact.”

“What? Where?”

“Xavier’s, two students.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah. One male, 19, identified as Michael Dorfman and one female, 18, identified as Julie Rose. They were found dead in the school’s gym, stabbed several times, well the girl was raped and cut open… ”

“Time of death?” asked det. Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock.

“It’s still unknown.” answered Bishop.

“Who recovered their bodies?” asked det. Ororo Munroe, the newest addition to the team.

“Their parents got worried when the kids didn’t come home all night, apparently it wasn’t like them to just wonder off without calling. The neighbor’s kid told them that somewhere around 8:30 Michael got a call from Julie and went to meet her at Xavier’s, so they called the police to find him. They were afraid that something has happened to him on his was over there.”

“They didn’t think that something might have happened to him in there did they?” said det. Braddock.

“No, they didn’t. Something like this has never before happened there, it’s a very well known and respected school. Usually it’s guarded and there are cameras all over the place, but last night something was different. There were no guards at sight and none of the cameras were working, it wasn’t even locked.”

“What are we doing sitting here then? Shouldn’t we be at the crime scene looking for evidence?”spoke for the first time det. Piotr Nikolayevich Rasputin with his thick Russian accent.

“I already sent some of my there and we’ll go there ourselves as soon as this meeting is over. I called you in here first for a reason. If memory serves me right, and it does, this case is similar to some previous unsolved cases of which I heard of or have investigated. Pryde, you’ll look into that. I want you to find every single unsolved case that resembles this one from all over the country.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get right on it.” said the computer expert as well as the youngest member on the team, Katherine
"Kitty" Pryde.

“Good. The rest of you can go to the crime scene.” as soon as he said that everyone got. “But…” they stopped at their tracks. “I need to tell you one more thing before you go, to be specific, the reason why I called you here. ” said Bishop while looking at det. Munroe.

“C’mon mate! What have you been doing till now?” asked det. Braddock a little bit irritated.

“Munroe, you won’t work on this case for the further notice.” said Bishop to Ororo, while ignoring Betsy.

“What!?” she yelled suddenly feeling angry.

“Before you say anything you may regret later let me tell you why I don’t want you on this case, yet.”

“Please, enlighten me.”

“Watch your mouth. You’re new here, nobody knows you yet…”

“What, people will think I did it?” Was her sarcastic reply to her superior.

“Will you be quiet and listen!? What I was going to say, before you so stupidly interrupted me, is that I may need you later on this case for some undercover work, that is if my theory is right about it. You’re perfect for it because you just joined us and nobody knows about you yet, so you could get easily in that school without causing suspicion.”

“Oh… Well isn’t it a little bit early to do undercover missions, I mean you said it yourself, I’m new at this.”

“Right now we don’t have anyone else, so IF it comes to that you’ll be the one to do it. If it doesn’t come to that you’ll join your teammates in the investigation. Clear?”

“Yes sir.” answered Munroe, feeling bad for bursting out like that. She needed to learn how to keep her temper in check.

“Alright, you can go home now, we’ll let you know as soon as we find something. The rest of you go and do your job.”
He briefly heard them say ‘yes sir’ when they headed toward Xavier’s.

“Charles Xavier” high school, gym, 7:00 am

---

The detectives just arrived at the scene. The sight in front of them would turn anyone’s stomach upside down. Dry pools of blood were around the victims’ bodies. The boy lying on his stomach with multiple knife cuts in his back and next to him the girl, naked, lying on her back with her stomach cut in half.

“Oh my God…” gasped det. Braddock “I’ve seen some pretty horrible things but this… Oh my God…”

“Poor deti (kids)…” said the giant Russian.

“Oh man… Sometimes I really hate this job. They were just kids…” said Nate, not really able to look at the bodies.

“That’s why we have to find out who did this and bring him to justice before he harms anyone else, and I have a feeling that he will. Anyway… Do you know what’s the worst part of all this?” asked Bishop.

“There’s something worse?”

“Yes Nate.”

“Like what?”

“You have to tell the parents.”

“Damn. That never goes well.”

“Telling to a parent that his child has been murdered, no I can’t really imagine that ever going well.”

“True.”

“Anyway, what have you found so far?” Bishop asked one of the officers.

“Nothing sir. There is no DNA, no foot or fingerprints, no pieces of clothing, nothing. Perhaps something will come out after the autopsy but for now there’s nothing to work with.”

“Alright, get the bodies to doc. McCoy.”

“Yes sir.”

“Braddock, you and Gray are going to pay a visit to the Dorfmans, Rasputin you’ll question the neighbor’s kid and detectives Dane and Darkholme will go to the girl’s family. Now move.” when they left he pulled out his phone and dialed Kitty. “Pryde, do you have anything for me?”

“Yes sir. I did what you asked and I found out that there have indeed been murders like this before, three to be exact from which one happened in NY three years ago at the ‘Lensherr’s’ high school.”

“I remember that case. It’s the most famous school in NY next to this one. We never found the killer. Where were the other two?”

“The first one happened nine years ago in New Orleans at the “Benjamin Franklin” high school and the second one happened in New Jersey at the ‘Millburn’ high school, both of them top rated schools.”

“The killer does have some ritual in his killings right?”
“Oh, does he ever! In the first week he kills like he did now, two students, and leaves no evidence behind. In the second week, well, looks like he doesn’t really choose who he’ll kill the second time since it has been different every time and in the third week he kills one of the professors.”

“Tell me more about the second and third week.”

“Second and third week, murder one, Hugues Martin, the school janitor and prof. Adela Bessette, she taught Biology. Murder two, Jeff Garcia, worked as the schools security guard and prof. Donna King, she taught geography. Murder three doc. Karen Walker, the school nurse and prof. Douglas Ramsey, he taught informatics and technology. I knew the guy… he was so nice…” she trailed off…

“Were any connections between them?”

“No, they weren’t connected in any way except for the fact that they went/worked in top rated schools.”

“Is that everything?”

“Yes, for now. I’ll inform you if I find something more.”

“Alright. Oh… I need you to check one more thing Pryde.”

“Yes sir?”

“Every employee from every school and see are there any matches, it’s a small possibility but maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“I’m on it sir.” as soon as she said that the line went dead and Bishop started dialing another number.

“Munroe.” answered the voice on the other end.

“You’re in. Be in my office in an hour, sharp.”

“Yes sir, I’ll be there.”

---

NYPD, Bishop’s office 8:30 am

Nock, nock…

“Get in here Munroe.”

“You wanted to see me sir?”

“Yeah, sit down.” he pointed to a chair across from him and she complied. He took some files from his desk and handed them to her.

“You have everything written down in there, but I’ll fill you in on short notes before you read them. You’ll get a job at Xavier’s as a history teacher, you’ll befriend the other professors and everything you hear from them or from the other employees you have to tell me. We can’t communicate in person, so our way of communication is written down in the files. Read them, learn everything it tells you and don’t screw up. Pick out a name you want us to put in your biography.”

“N’Dare”

“Exuse me?”

“N’dare. I want that to be my new name.” she said blankly.

“Couldn’t you pick more common name?”

“No.”

“Fine, whatever. Just pick a more common last name, will
you?”

“Yes sir.”

Just as Bishop opened his mouth to say something his
phone rung.

“Bishop.”

“We got lucky!” said the overly cheerful voice.

“Really? What’d you find Pryde?” he asked genuinely
surprised.

“I started checking out the professors and one name appeared in every single case.” He could practically see her wide smile.

“And that name is…” he urged her, getting inpatient.

“James Logan Howlett.”