Midtown Technical High School. You’ll never find a more wretched-

No, wait, I made that joke already.

Anyway, yeah, I’m back in high school. Why did OAA, God, or some ROB put me here? I don’t know. But considering the school name you’d think it would be about Spiderman.

You’d be wrong.

Peter Parker isn’t here. Neither is Ned Leeds, Harry Osborn, MJ, or Flash.

I think it has something to do with the timeline I’m in.

Currently it is 2008. That means, if we’re going by MCU standards, Tony Stark hasn’t become Iron Man yet. And I know Stark Industries exists because they were on the news. (Yes, I watch the news.)

So, I’m thinking I’m in the MCU but with mutants and other comic stuff.

But, for now, I’m stuck in school, again.

I was well on my way to completing a Bachelors in Applied Mathematics, and now I have to go over basic trigonometry again.

Very frustrating, would not recommend.

Actually, I could just graduate early, couldn’t I?

Yes, I’ll try that.

===

After a lengthy discussion with my guidance counselor, and the principal, and Xavier, I was able to convince everyone that, with a month of studying the required materials, I could pass my graduation exams.

Why go through the effort?

Well for one: school sucks. Two: school really sucks if you don’t have friends. And three: I just want to move forward with my life. Especially now that I know what some of the future may hold.

I would try to get my B.S. before the Battle of New York. That’s when I expect the X-Men to intervene.

I know what you’re thinking though: what can you do with just the one template? Or shouldn’t you only focus on the templates and gaining more power?

And while I understand your point, I’m in this for the long haul. I don’t want to just be a hero, I want a stable job and a future to look forward to.

Also, College has less strict time guidelines to follow, so no 7a.m.-3p.m. 5 days a week. Which means more time to progress my template.

Don’t worry, It’ll be okay.

===

Besides studying, which I did rigorously, I was also invited to see and participate in the Danger Room.

It wasn’t the sentient one. Instead, it was more like an obstacle course, but with dangerous traps, pitfalls, flamethrowers, and buzzsaws.

Besides the obstacle course, Wolverine would teach hand-to-hand combat inside the room.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

While I know it could be great to fight against him so as to increase my template, I decided to just be in my base form while learning.

As I said before, the template only gives instincts instead of memories. Because of this, I believe it is imperative to learn something without relying on the template.

[It is good you are not relying on the template.]

‘Thank you.’

[After all, you won’t have all the skills and abilities when it is complete.]

‘Wait, what?’

[Yes, it is a restriction we felt necessary so you can learn something new from any template you receive with minimal repeats.]

‘Does that mean I’ll lose all memories of hand-to-combat should I choose something else?’

[Essentially, yes.]

‘Great, well, I’ll be choosing the metamorph power when this template is complete.’

[Understood.]

An unfortunate outcome, but I shall adapt.

Speaking of, I should explain how I’m progressing with the metamorph power.

With Adaptation I was able to change my skin to be invisible, shift my organs around inside my body, and mimic different textures (but not change the properties of myself like Colossus).

I could create scale-like armor, but nothing too dense.

I did, however, receive Accelerated Healing, Decelerated Aging, and Toxin & Disease Resistance due to my control over my cells.

My percentage is climbing, and I feel like soon I can create new cells so as to make appendages like wings or tentacles.

I know it sounds super creepy, but it’s also kinda cool, right?

“Cooper! You’re up!” Wolverine yells; his voice echoing through the Danger Room.

I sigh and step forward to the center of the ring.

‘Baby steps, Roland.’

I think Logan has it out for me. He always starts with me during sparring.

*Sniff* And he always sniffs disdainfully.

I think I remind him of Mystique.

Wolverine rushes forward, grabs me, trips me, and slams me onto the floor.

‘Baby steps.’ I think to myself, laying bruised.

===

[Template: 89%]

The month is finally up and I’ve completed my tests. I feel confident that I passed.

I was able to get my completion percentage so high because I’d go out on weekends and tortu- apprehend criminals with my shapeshifting skills and acting. Then I’d practice marksmanship whenever one of them left a gun behind.

I just shot some cans, okay? Nothing nefarious.

…

I also got Logan to use his claws in practice, and let me tell you wasn’t that a fun time.

I had so many holes in my clothes that I almost thought to go nude like Mystique does.

But with the good news comes the bad news.

It happened a few days after my early graduation.

Kitty had dragged me and a couple others to the mall to get supplies for the party happening later.

It wasn’t long we were there when we received a call to come home immediately.

We did as told and when we reached the mansion there was a somber atmosphere.

Angel (Warren Worthington III) was kidnapped.

The guy rarely leaves the mansion, so this was a big surprise.

Apparently, when he does leave, he meets his girlfriend in secret. But the problem is: he always meets her at the same place, and he always flies there. Someone was bound to find out and take him eventually. There were a lot of nefarious organizations out there.

Professor X then used Cerebro to find Angel and it turns out he was being held under New York City by other mutants.

‘Must be the Morlocks. Although I don’t know why they would kidnap Angel.’

With our destination set, we set out. Our team was: Colossus, Cyclops, Iceman, Jean, Storm, and Wolverine. Along with the teens: Mirage, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Shadowcat, Wolfsbane, Jubilee, Cannonball, and myself. Which was all of them except: Magma, Xorn, Cypher, and Magik.

The reason for so many of us was because the Professor noticed there were a lot (like a whole lot) of mutants down there.

Despite being the new guy, I was allowed to come because I convinced the X-Men that one: I could carry my weight, and two: I’d be a good spy that could find Angel while they were fighting the mooks.

‘My first mission! I’m kinda excited.’