New X-Men

The next day, Nick spent the morning with Stella, under the watchful eyes of Alexis and his Kitty, one of Lorna and Alexis's close friends. When lunch came around, Nick brought Stella to the canteen where he passed her off to Lorna. As much as he wanted to eat with them, he had to prepare for the first training session of the New X-Men which would be held after lunch.

Nick went to his room and logged in to the private network Scott had given him access to. This gave him a large amount of information that the X-Men, X-Factor, the Genoshan mutants, and many other mutants groups had gathered and collected. The information he needed was about his new team though.

Most of them were members of the old training squads the X-Men created when the school was at its peak but after M-Day, they had far fewer students so choose to only allow the best into the New X-Men.

- Noriko Ashida/Surge: The team leader. She had the power to subconsciously absorb electricity and would occasionally release it in random discharges. Her powers were regulated thanks to special gauntlets that Dr. McCoy had created for her.

- Celeste, Esme, Irma, Phoebe, and Sophie Cuckoo/Five-In-One: Clones of Emma Frost that had weaker versions of her powers. Their weaker powers were made up for by the fact that when they used their powers in conjunction with one another, they were able to compare or even surpass Emma herself.

- Laura Kinney/X-23: Clone/Daughter of Wolverine (Status Unconfirmed) with similar powers to him including healing factor and retractable claws. Weapon X altered her body in a different way than Wolverine, only bonding the Adamantium with her claws, not her entire skeletal system.

- Sooraya Qadir/Dust: A young mutant that has a humble personality. Has the ability to transform into sand. Resistant to telepathic and magical detection in this form, weak to heat, wind, and water as well.

- Joshua Foley/Elixir: A potential omega-level healer. Ability to manipulate biological structures of his and others' bodies. Can repair damage and create diseases in others. Afraid to use his powers beyond certain levels. Medical knowledge is suggested for expanding his skill set.

- Julian Keller/Hellion: Protege of Emma Frost and former leader of the Hellion Training Squad. Arrogant but skilled. Proud to be a mutant. Potential leader. Powerful telekinetic but lacks finer motor control.

- Cessily Kincaid/Mercury: Mutant with a liquid mercury body that she can control at will. Magical and telepathic resistance. Weakness to electricity.

- Santo Vaccarro/Rockslide: A mutant with an inorganic body. The heavy-hitter of the team, being the only one with high levels of physical defense and strength. His body is able to be repaired if shattered as long as his 'core' is undamaged. Weakness to those who can manipulate rocks or granite

These were the 8/12 members that Nick would be in charge of. Nick looked over the team and noticed that most of the members were from the two strongest training squads the X-Men led, with the exception of Five-In-One and Laura, the latter not even a student at the time.

'This looks like it will be troublesome. These kids will most likely be proud of their skills since they are the elites as they have been told. Guess I need to put them in their place first so that it will be easier to teach them in the future,' Nick already started thinking of ideas on what he was going to do during their first meeting.

---

The members of the New X-Men gathered on the training field. They were wearing their new uniforms which resembled the yellow and black uniforms worn by the New Mutants, but with bullet-proof armor on some portions of them to provide better defenses in these dangerous times.

Off to the side, Lorna, Alex, and a few others who were interested in seeing the first training session stood to the side. They wanted to see just what Nick would do.

Nick was the last person to arrive but still a few minutes before the meeting time. He looked around and saw that all of his squad was there. He also noticed that Stella wasn't there and felt grateful. He didn't want his daughter to see him act like a drill sergeant.

'At least they know to be on time. Scott probably drilled it into their heads,' Nick thought before standing in front of the group.

"Leader of the New X-Men, step forward," Nick ordered, not even giving them a greeting

Noriko walked out and stood in front of Nick with her hands behind her back. Nick first noticed her neon blue hair, reminding him of his younger self.

"Name and powers."

Noriko looked nervously at Nick, turning her attention to Lorna and Alex who nodded at her. Once she got confirmation from them, she began to speak.

"My name..." but soon, Nick interrupted her

"Let me be clear with you and the rest of the team. I am the one supervising the squad while these two are my assistants," he said pointing at Lorna and Alex. "You will respect the chain of command, understood?"

The New X-Men mumbled in agreement. Seeing that they had yet to take him seriously, Nick unleashed a wave of telepathic energy that made everyone nauseous.

Alex and Lorna wanted to rush ahead and stop him but felt a hand on their shoulders. They turned to see Logan holding them both back.

"You guys might not like it but this kid is doing the right thing. These brats start questioning the chain of command and acting disobedient during training, imagine how bad it can be on a mission where their lives are at stake," Wolverine had been in every major war over the past 150 years. He could tell when a commanding officer was being an ass and instilling proper discipline in their unit.

Hearing Logan speak up for him, Lorna and Alex stopped trying to go forward, both standing in place with their arms crossed.

The New X-Men looked over and saw that the others were not helping them. Seeing this, they knew that Nick was allowed to do this much and maybe even more if they acted out.

"I don't like repeating myself. You will respect the chain of command! Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" they answered together. It was not perfect but there was no longer any hesitation

"Good. Then once again, I want the team leader to state their name and powers," Nick nodded. He knew that a little discipline was all the kids needed.

'But they are gonna hate the next part,' Nick could already tell that he was going to scar these kids as he made them the next generation of X-Men.

"Noriko Ashida, I also go by Surge. I absorb electricity and can release it as discharges through my hands," Noriko explained her powers. But when she saw Nick frown, she was not sure what she did wrong.

"Then if I shoot you with a blast of electricity, can you absorb it?" Nick asked cautiously

Noriko nodded her head proudly. She had yet to meet the limit of electricity that she could absorb.

Nick held up one hand as blue electricity gathered around it before being discharged from his hand toward Noriko. When the electricity struck her, Noriko let out a scream of pain before collapsing to the ground.