New Mutants (Marvel;Re)/Issue 2

The second issue of Marvel;Re's New Mutants comic.

Synopsis
Joshua investigates the rumors of the Wolf of Xavier's School, an urban legend that has been going around the school for some time.

Plot (unfinished)
We open on a flashback to Joshua Foley staring at his hands, which are slowly turning gold. Joshua looks up and sees a group of people surrounding him. Joshua turns and sees the well-dressed man from his flashback in the previous issue. The well-dressed man walks over to Joshua and grabs his arm. The well-dressed man starts shaking Joshua, getting progressively more aggressive with him. Joshua winds back a punch. However, the flashback ends and it cuts to Joshua himself getting punched in the face by Julian Keller. The punch is hard enough to knock Joshua to the ground, bleeding from his newly broken nose. Joshua looks at Julian and grins before standing up. Joshua's broken nose cracks back into place and the blood coming from his nose stops. Julian stares in disgust as Joshua's nose heals itself. Kevin Sydney also stares but more in awe than anything else. Julian starts glowing and flies towards Joshua, slamming him against a wall and punching him repeatedly. As Julian as winding back another punch, Joshua grabs Julian's face. Julian knocks Joshua's hands off of him. Julian continues coughing and ends up dropping to the ground due to how violent his coughing fit gets. A very sick Julian gets up and is instantly punched in the face by Joshua. Joshua more or less uses Julian as a punching bag, boxing him while Julian is unable to do anything in response. The other students watch on in shock at the fight. Joshua winds back his final punch only to suddenly glow green and stop. Julian looks up, revealing his eyes are glowing green. Julian punches Joshua with psychic force, sending him flying and smashing into a wall. Joshua manages to get back up but has a chair tosses at him. Another chair is tossed at Joshua while he's on the ground. More and more chairs are slammed into Joshua by Julian, who stares own at Joshua with pure rage. However, as Julian is preparing another chair, a massive gust of sand suddenly appears between the two. The sand slowly comes together, forming a humanoid shape before transforming into a woman in traditional Muslim wear. The other students stare at the girl in awe. Sooraya holds her hand out for Joshua and he takes it, with her helping him back to his feet. Julian's eyes widen. Sooraya points upwards. Julian and Joshua look up and realize that someone has been watching them from the window above the entire time, taking pictures of them with his phone. The man in the window lowers his phone, revealing he is wearing a metal helmet as he playfully waves at the two. Smash cut to Joshua and Julian being yelled at by Professor X, the student in the metal helmet standing behind him as he chews the two out. Julian puts his hand out for Joshua to shake. Joshua sits in his chair and doesn't even look at Julian. Joshua smugly smiles at Julian. Sometime later in detention, Joshua sits in a classroom of five other people, still smugly smiling to himself while writing "I will not fight on school grounds" over and over again on a few sheets of paper. Beast, the head of the class, notices Joshua smiling to himself. Joshua continues to smile at Hank only for it to suddenly drop. Joshua runs off and busts into the bathroom, charging straight into a stall. We are luckily spared from what happens and we instantly cut to Joshua washing his hands. While Joshua is washing his hands, Kevin Ford walks out from another stall behind him. Kevin notices Joshua and raises an eyebrow upon seeing him. Kevin walks over to Joshua. Joshua remembers Hellion referring to the Muslim woman as "Dust". Joshua pulls out his phone and looks at the time. Joshua bursts out of the bathroom and charges top-speed back to class. He bursts into the classroom, panting. Joshua looks up and sees a Native-American woman with a headband standing in front of him. Danielle raises her hands, regaining her composure. Joshua follows Danielle out of the classroom and through the hallways of the school. Joshua squints in confusion. Danielle leads Joshua into a room with a few other students. The students stand up one after the other and introduce themselves. Right after that, the door flies open and Lorna Dane walks in. She casually struts to the back of the room and tosses some gum into her mouth. Joshua stares at Lorna, who leans against a wall with her eyes closed, blowing a bubble with her gum. When it pops, she opens her eyes and realizes Joshua is looking at her. Joshua thinks back to when he saw her in the same room as the Student Council while she awkwardly looks left and right. Joshua looks at the others, who are all staring at him. Smash cut to Joshua standing in the middle of a forest with the other students and Danielle while rain is pouring down.
 * Joshua Foley (thinking): What...? What's happening to me? This... this isn't real! This can't be real!
 * Bald Teen: Oh my God...
 * Man in Red Hat: He's a Mutie!
 * Joshua Foley: N-no! You don't understand, I--
 * ???: You see this!?
 * Well-Dressed Man: Muties are among us everywhere! No one is safe! The man you pass by on the street! The man you go to work with! Your sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters! Any of them could be Mutie scum!
 * Well-Dressed Man: Any of them could be one of these bastards!
 * Well-Dressed Man: isn't that right, you Mutie piece of crap!?
 * Joshua Foley: What!? No, there's--
 * Well-Dressed Man: You probably think you're better than me just cause you're supposedly "special", isn't that right, Mutie!?
 * Joshua Foley: No!
 * Well-Dressed Man: Don't you dare lie to me!
 * Joshua Foley: LET GO!!
 * Julian Keller: Oh man, I straight up busted your nose! I almost feel sorry for you!
 * Joshua Foley: *kk*...
 * Julian Keller: You can give up any time you want, man. I wouldn't blame you after a swing like that!
 * Joshua Foley: You wanna see something really gross...?
 * Julian Keller: Eh?
 * Kevin Sydney: Whoa... yo, that is awesome!
 * Julian Keller: What the hell was that!?
 * Joshua Foley: Oh yeah, I never got to tell you my powers, did I?
 * Julian Keller: Huh...?
 * Joshua Foley: Well, first off, not that you asked, but my name's Joshua Foley. And my Omega-Level mutation lets me alter the genetics of anything I touch. But I'm also able to instantly alter my own biology. If you don't understand what that means, let me dumb it down for you: My healing factor is on the same level as Wolverine!
 * Julian Keller: You... you piece of crap!
 * Julian Keller: What the hell was that!? Why would-- *kaff!*
 * Joshua Foley: I just changed your biology to give you the flu. Makes for a much more fair fight.
 * Joshua Foley: Huh...?
 * Julian Keller: You told me your powers... let me tell you mine...
 * Julian Keller: I'm an Omega-Level telekinetic! I can move and manipulate anything, including inanimate objects, myself... and other people.
 * Julian Keller: What the hell!?
 * Kevin Ford: Sooraya...?
 * Julian Keller: Dust? Don't get involved in this! This isn't--
 * Sooraya Qadir: Shut up.
 * Julian Keller: Oh, let me guess, "he's had enough, Julian, don't--"
 * Sooraya Qadir: You two were being watched that entire time.
 * Joshua Foley: ...Uh... excuse me, what?
 * Julian Keller: Oh, son of a...
 * Charles Xavier: Roughhousing! On school property?! I can't believe you two!
 * Julian Keller: He started it.
 * Charles Xavier: I don't care who started it, I'm ending it! Thank God Xorn was there and saw the two of you, otherwise you could've broken a lot more than some chairs!
 * Shen Xorn: Actually, Julian did manage to break the other student's nose but his healing factor managed to protect him.
 * Julian Keller: Snitch!
 * Shen Xorn: I'm the Student Body President. Of course I'm a snitch!
 * Charles Xavier: Ugh... Look, this is both of your first offenses. So, I'll go easy on you. If you both apologize then I won't give you detention.
 * Julian Keller: Really? Sweet!
 * Julian Keller: Yo, sorry about all that. We cool?
 * Julian Keller: Josh...?
 * Shen Xorn: Headteacher Xavier is giving you a chance, Joshua.
 * Charles Xavier: Just say sorry and I'll let you move on, Joshua. This is your first day of school, you don't want to get detention on it, do you?
 * Joshua Foley: Julian bullied a guy so bad that he bled. He deserved me beating the crap out of him. And if me refusing to say sorry gets both of us detention then I'd gladly sit there, bored out of my mind writing the same five words on a chalkboard, knowing that he's stuck doing the same thing.
 * Julian Keller: Just say sorry to me, dick!
 * Charles Xavier: Is that your final answer?
 * Joshua Foley: Give us detention. I'm never saying sorry to that prick.
 * Charles Xavier: Very well... weak's detention for the both of you.
 * Julian Keller: Oh, come on!
 * Joshua Foley: Them's the breaks!
 * Hank McCoy: Proud of yourself...?
 * Joshua Foley: If I'm being honest? Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself right now!
 * Hank McCoy: Typical delinquent kid...
 * Hank McCoy: Something wrong?
 * Joshua Foley: No, nothing's wrong... uh... Can I go pee?
 * Hank McCoy: The bathroom's at the end of the hallway and to the left.
 * Joshua Foley: Thanks.
 * Kevin Ford: ...Guy?
 * Joshua Foley: Huh?
 * Kevin Ford: It is you! You're the guy who fought Hellion earlier!
 * Joshua Foley: Oh, hey buddy. Why're you still in the school after hours?
 * Kevin Ford: Oh, I needed to go to the bathroom last minute. Listen, uh... sorry, what's your name?
 * Joshua Foley: Joshua.
 * Kevin Ford: Joshua? Alright, great to meet you! I'm Kevin Ford. Listen, I just wanted to say thanks for standing up for me earlier. Nobody really does that for us.
 * Joshua Foley: You're welco... us?
 * Kevin Ford: Yeah. Me, Dust, Mercury, and Rockslide. He picks on all of us. Nobody ever stands up to him because Hellion's Omega-Level. They're afraid he's gonna do something to them...
 * Joshua Foley: Dust?
 * Joshua Foley: Oh, that one Muslim girl? She seemed pretty confident. How'd he manage to pick on her?
 * Kevin Ford: He picks on all of us in different ways. Mercury and I are the only ones who he actually does anything physically to. He pushes her, touches her in places she doesn't like being touched, like her neck, and... well, you've already seen what he does to me. Truth be told, the only person he doesn't pick on in our group is Tag, but that's mostly just cause he can't find a way of pushing his buttons...
 * Joshua Foley: Man, what a tool. Why don't you stand up for yourself against him? You know, use your powers or something?
 * Kevin Ford: W-what?! N-no, there's no way I'd ever do that! He's a jerk, but I don't wanna hurt anybody! Especially not with my powers!
 * Joshua Foley: Why? What're your powers?
 * Kevin Ford: I can, um... M-my powers let me... rot living organisms. If I touched someone or someone touched me, the part of the body that I touched would instantly wither. T-that's why Hellion calls me that... "Wither". Th-there's no reason to be afraid, though! My gloves completely shut down my powers, so I can touch anybody! You're not in danger of--
 * Joshua Foley: Nah, don't worry, dude, I'm not worried about that kind of crap.
 * Kevin Ford: You... you're not...?
 * Joshua Foley: Nah, my power lets me instantly regenerate, so I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be able to wither me even if you weren't wearing your gloves.
 * Kevin Ford: Wha... really? Awesome!
 * Joshua Foley: Oh crap, I gotta get back to detention! See ya later, nice talking to you!
 * Kevin Ford: You too!
 * Joshua Foley: Hi, sorry I'm late!
 * Hank McCoy: Mr. Foley, you're excused.
 * Joshua Foley: Huh?
 * Joshua Foley: Oh, um... hello. Sorry, but you look kinda... familiar. Who're you?
 * Danielle Moonstar: I'm Mirage. We met a few weeks back.
 * Joshua Foley: Oh yeah, you were the one who helped me get into Xavier Academy.
 * Danielle Moonstar: Still calling it Xavier Academy for some reason, I see...
 * Joshua Foley: It sounds better!
 * Danielle Moonstar: It doesn't and you know for a fact that it doesn't!
 * Danielle Moonstar: Sorry, I'm getting off-topic... Can you follow me, please?
 * Joshua Foley: Uh... sure. Where're we going?
 * Danielle Moonstar: You'll know when you get there.
 * Danielle Moonstar: So, Joshua.
 * Joshua Foley: Uh, yeah?
 * Danielle Moonstar: You got detention on your first day...
 * Joshua Foley: Y... yeah, I did... In my defense, I was helping somebody, so I--
 * Danielle Moonstar: You couldn't have helped him without getting into a giant, peace-shattering fight?
 * Joshua Foley: Um... Well, I guess I could've... But don't you and the X-Men get into a bunch of fights as well?
 * Danielle Moonstar: We fight people when there's no other option. You fight people when they piss you off. The first instinct of an X-Man shouldn't be to throw a fist, it should be to hold out a hand.
 * Joshua Foley: ...What the hell does that mean?
 * Danielle Moonstar: You'll know when you're wiser.
 * Danielle Moonstar: But I gotta admit...
 * Joshua Foley: Hm?
 * Danielle Moonstar: You've got some pretty impressive powers. I saw footage of your fight with Keller. You healed a wound on another student's head, you managed to instantly heal your broken nose, and you had several chairs broken over your head and managed to get back up. No wonder you're considered Omega-Level.
 * Joshua Foley: You heard about that?
 * Danielle Moonstar: Now... what have you heard about the Wolf of Xavier's School?
 * Joshua Foley: I know a bit.
 * Danielle Moonstar: Good.
 * Danielle Moonstar: We're hunting it later tonight.
 * Joshua Foley: Okay... good for you. Why am I here?
 * Danielle Moonstar: We don't know how strong the Wolf is. We need a healer in case one of us is seriously injured.
 * Joshua Foley: And who're these guys?
 * Danielle Moonstar: They're the people that're going to help me. Everyone, introduce yourselves.
 * Nicholas Gleason: I'm Nicholas Gleason. My wolf senses will help us track down the thing in the forest.
 * Laurie Collins: Laurie Collins. My emotion-manipulating pheromones will calm the creature down.
 * Hisako Ichiki: And I'm Hisako Ichiki. I'm one of the two combatants brought on to the team in case the Wolf attacks us.
 * Joshua Foley: Two?
 * Hisako Ichiki: The other one didn't show up...
 * Danielle Moonstar: ...Anything you've got to say for yourself?
 * Lorna Dane: I'm Lorna Dane, I'm one of the two combatants.
 * Danielle Moonstar: That's not what I... nevermind...
 * Lorna Dane: Uh... see something you like, buddy?
 * Joshua Foley: What? No!
 * Lorna Dane: Cause if you are then, sorry pal, but you're not my type.
 * Joshua Foley: Damnit, no!
 * Danielle Moonstar: Listen, are you in or out? I need an answer now.
 * Joshua Foley: Sure, I'm in.
 * Lorna Dane: Just to be clear, you're not in cause you wanna date me, right?
 * Joshua Foley: Oh my God, shut up!
 * Lorna Dane: Okay, just making sure.
 * Danielle Moonstar: Meet me later tonight. For now, everybody can go home. Or back to detention...
 * Joshua Foley: Wait, I have to go back to detention?
 * Lorna Dane: Wait, I have to go back to detention?!
 * Joshua Foley: You were in detention? I thought you were a Student Council member!
 * Danielle Moonstar: Both of you shut up and get back to class!
 * Joshua Foley: Oh, son of a--!
 * Joshua Foley: --Bitch! Couldn't we have put this off until tomorrow!?
 * Danielle Moonstar: This thing is dangerous and we need to take care of it as fast as possible. Besides, a little rain never hurt anybody.
 * Joshua Foley: Tell that to Moses!
 * Hisako Ichiki: ...Moses?
 * Joshua Foley: Yeah, the guy with the ark!
 * Hisako Ichiki: You... haven't read the bible, have you?
 * Joshua Foley: I don't need to!
 * Hisako Ichiki: You're right. You don't need to read the bible to know that it wasn't Moses who built the ark...
 * Lorna Dane: Are you two going to bicker the entire time we're here? Because I will walk away from this hunt...