At the park,

Val and Storm talked about a few other things while eating. At times, they would see each other blushing and looking away with a smile.

Then, finally, Val decided to move the conversation to the one topic he wanted to address.

"So,", Val said while wiping his mouth, "How was life before Xavier's?"

Storm finished the food and was taking a sip of water when he asked. She almost spit the water out but managed to avoid doing that. She had only thought about this possibility once in a while when they entered a serious relationship. She even imagined various situations and options she could do to counter such scenarios...

But, one must know when they are destined to lose. And, this was one of those times.

She sighed internally while thinking, 'A little while earlier, we promised each other that there would be no lies between us. He's opening himself to me. If I decide to lie to him or hide things from him and he found out, he wouldn't believe me anymore and that is the worst possible outcome.'

"You can say it to me, you know.", Val softly said with a small smile on his face, "I won't judge you. Ever."

She was lost in thoughts for a while before she looked at him, the cup in her hand halfway to her mouth, and took a deep breath.

She closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts, ready to tell him anything.

But, suddenly, something completely different came from her mouth, "I had a normal life before it, I guess. Nothing interesting."

Val's smile wavered but he held on to it as he heard her. He closed his eyes and Ororo stared at him.

'Was that disappointment?' Storm thought. However, not a moment later, his eyes opened, and they were as clear as water, without a single tinge of judgment in them.

That's when she knew.

"Val...", Ororo put her cup down and said with a heavy heart, "I'm sorry. I know we decided to be more open toward each other but.. it's just difficult to talk about it."

"Alright.", Val nodded with an understanding smile, "You can tell me whenever you're ready."

"T-Thank you.", Ororo gazed into his clear eyes which showed nothing but affection for her as she said, "Okay, let's get out of here."

-----

Back in Canada,

The experiment had finally reached its end. But, it was nothing of the sort the Professor had imagined.

"What the heck just happened?!", He shouted while wearing safety glasses. He stood in front of the machinery and stared into the flask in his hand in astonishment.

"This flask...", He said and continued, "should hold the serum that should have been 1,000x powerful!"

"How the hell is this the Super-Soldier Serum mixed with Alpha particle stabilizer and liquid alloy?!"

He gently placed the flask on the floor and the flask and watched as its contents started evaporating.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"It seems like the magnetic flux increased the reaction time, which caused it to have unforeseen effects which resulted in the mixture of these chemicals! Ahh!", The man took off the lab coat and ran his hand through his hair in frustration, then walked back towards the console and then leaned forward.

A bead of sweat rolled down from his face onto his cheeks and then dropped onto the floor as he muttered, "My entire thesis is invalidated... Even if you took it this way, the molecular properties of it will never equal that of the unaltered serum and alloy!"

He stood up straight and exclaimed, "From now on, all my research of Serum 26 is invalidated and now there's nothing!"

"Arrrgghhhhhhh!", The man bent forward and roared to himself, "I should have used the Serum 24 like I predicted! All those wasted years of research! MY RESEARCH! NOOO!"

*BAM*

The Professor kicked the console with great force as sparks emerged from it and black smoke rose from it.

His breathing was very rough, and he was panting. Gradually, he calmed down and said, "Hey..."

He swiveled and stared at the deep freezer and continued as he had an epiphany, "Alpha Particle Stabilizer is a chemical that can attract other chemicals' energies, including the chemicals' strengths. And also, the magnetic flux didn't overstimulate it!"

"Instead, it attracted the Alpha Particle Stabilizer more...", He quickly began planning while rubbing his chin, "Maybe, if we increased the flux amount and the ratio of Alpha Particle Stabilizer even further, it can have the desired effects! Then! Success!"

However, he got a bit excited and started his experiments with excessive energy.

"I have spent so many hours, days, and years on this. So, why waste all of my discoveries now? Now, it's the breakthrough."

Saying this, he slowly moved towards the freezer with a dark glint in his eyes and took out a large collection of jars that contained the so-called Alpha Particle Stabilizer.

"I shouldn't fail. My path to success is still there, waiting for me!"

-----

Xavier's School,

Emma sauntered as confidently as possible towards Havok and Logan, who were busy talking to each other while smoking cigars.

'Ah! There he is.', Emma smirked as she set her eyes on Havok and thought, 'Time to enact the mission...'

"Hello, Alex!", Emma seductively said as she walked forward.

Havok and Logan turned to look at her in confusion.

"What's she doin' here?", Logan whispered to Havok who whispered back, "I don't know."

Judging by the attire she usually wore to school and the things he had heard about her, Logan whispered, "She's bad news, bub. You better steer clear of her."

"Uh-huh.", Havok nodded while shaking his legs.

"I must go.", Havok turned around and walked away as Emma neared them.

"Wait! Alex!", Emma called out to him who pretended to ignore her until she grabbed his arm.

"Hello! Alex! I know you can hear me!", Emma shouted at him angrily.

"It's Havok for you.", Havok said with an unfazed expression and shrugged her off his arm, saying, "What do you want from me?"

"Now, now!", Emma grinned creepily, "Don't be in such a hurry to get rid of me, Mr. Havok."

"Look, Ms. Frost, I ju-", Havok began, but before he could finish his sentence, he felt something weird in his head.

It wasn't a physical touch. He knew what this was.

'No, no...', He cried mentally when he felt the psychic intrusion creeping inside his brain and sifting through his memories. For a second, he thought that it was Emma but when he saw a blank look in her eyes he knew that it wasn't her.

'T-Then.. w-who?'

He shook his head violently in a futile attempt to regain his sense of mind and try to throw off whatever presence was inside his head. However, the more he struggled, the sharper the pain became.

"Grr. Arrghh!!", He groaned as he fell to the ground, grabbing his head tightly.

Sensing a telepathic attack, Logan understood the gravity of the situation and grabbed a beer can from the car beside him and rushed toward Emma, who just stood there in her trance.

"Frost! Wake the fuck up, already!", Logan called out to her but received no response. "Shit."

'Logan!', Logan suddenly heard Xavier's voice in his head.

'Professor! It's Frost! She's trying to pry into Alex's head! It doesn't look like she has started yet but-'

'This is terrible.', Charles exclaimed in shock, 'Logan. It's not her.'

'What? Then who?'

'Don't worry about that. You need to get away from there immediately! Run! NOW!'

'Professor. Would you mind telling me what is happenin'?!'

'There's not much time. There's a powerful psychic heading this way and judging from the information gathered by Cerebro whatever it is... it's... extremely powerful. You need to get away from there or else-'

*BOOOOM*