The New and Improved.

Biting his lower lip softly, Artemis' eyes fell to the floor. "Alex, I'll explain after you clean up--at the very least, shower." He said, pulling away with an uneven smile. "I'll go change, meet you here?" He offered, gathering his helmet, unsure of how to handle the damage.

"Y-Yeah.." Alex said, as he lingered for a moment, before heading to the back of the lab, getting a outfit and then heading to his personal shower.

Once leaving, Artemis quickly reassembled his helmet, before rushing off to Breakstone lake. After his apparent death and the Black Wasp incident, he had set up a temporary base near the mansion in an attempt to keep guard of the school. After changing, Artemis returned to the subbasement, dodging the sight of the school's staff.

Thomas sighed and walked out. Let's see. What and/or who could he do... There was that teal haired girl Leia. As far as he could tell she was single. He could go to that bookstore in Brooklyn he heard about. He could just stay here and watch TV. He decided on number 2. Maybe someone there would provide some - ahem - entertainment.

Alex changed into a black V-neck, and dark jeans. He shaved, and fixed his hair. His arms were bulging with new muscles, he had worked out alot alongside working non stop, feeling as if he was weak, that being the reason artemis had died.

Shifting in his place, Artemis waited in front of the lab's door, continuing to search the hall to waste time. Finally, with a nervous whimper, he knocked on the door, each knock a few seconds apart.

Kris roamed the hallways of the mansion, Lucas following behind her. "Where are you taking me again?" Lucas questioned, attempting to keep up with Kris' long strides. "To meet people, you're antisocial." Kris replied with a glance over her shoulder. Lucas raised his eyebrows, "Oh, I'm antisocial? You're always locked in your room with Colin." He said. Kris laughed, rolling her eyes, "Which is why I'm making you my new best friend, in memorial to Artemis." She replied. Lucas scoffed, and continued to follow Kris through the building.

Alex yelled. "Come in." He sat as his desk, writing something down.


--

Colin came down the hallway, smiling and waving at Kris and Lucas. "Hey, Lukas, have you been down to check on Drake today? I heard him yelling earlier, not sure what was going on." He didn't feel jealous when Kris and Lucas hung out, Kris was loyal, and Lucas was a really good guy. One of Colin's good friends.

Slipping into the lab, Artemis adjusted his cap, clearing his throat. "Uh, hey. What're you up to?" He asked, eyeing Alex.

"Just writing down something." Alex replied, then put the paper up in his desk and stood up, back to his normal self, besides the enlarged muscle mass and the large scar down his face. "Explain. Everything." He demanded, his eyes narrowing.

Leia walked back into the kitchen, her mind processing what she just saw. Artemis was alive. "X-men really Don't know the meaning of death," she mumbled to herself as she made a glass of orange juice and sat at the small table by the window.

Thomas was just about to leave when he saw Leia walk into the kitchen. Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone so to speak. He slid next to her and turned on his 'charm'. "Hey there, what's up?"

"Chill, beefcake." Artemis said with an uneasy chuckle, developed grin quickly dissipating. "Well, ah, during the whole MRD thing, rogue'd a few powers at once." He began, moving onto a counter. "Hurted like hell, though. Ahem, Anyway, dead guy's a clone, I think. Original body, maybe." He continued, shrugging as he began kicking his legs. "Met a few guys, wasp thing happened, now I'm here." He finished, running a hand through his hair. "Does that work?"

"No, it doesn't." Alex said, his lip twitching. "It doesn't explain why you let me suffer for two months. Let me believe that it was my fault." He snapped.

"Oh nothing much. Just saw a dead man walking. Ya know how that gets the blood going," Leia looked over her hand, giving a small smirk.

"I didn't know you were going to go insane over some student you hardly know. Came back as soon as I could, when the rest of the team learned what morality was." Artemis muttered, slipping off of the counter.

"Well excuse me for someone dying while trying to save my life. Maybe next time I'll just die instead of fight back." Alex shouted, and walked out of the room.

With a hard growl, Artemis dashed out of the room to follow Alex, gripping the door frame before he could begin. "Spending months on a revival attempt isn't a sane reaction to death!" He called, nearly tripping over himself.

"WELL IT IS TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE!" Alex shouted back, as he disappeared down another hallway.

"I see, I see. Well, I was going out to see this bookstore everyone was talking about. I heard they have live music and coffee too. Did you want to go?" Thomas asked flashing his patented 20 gigawat smile.

Artemis' eyes widened, jaw dropping soon after. His face grew bright red, skin tingling slightly. His grip on the frame weakened, as did his stance. Almost entirely supported by his own telekinesis, he mouthed the most shocking word with a weak mind and useless lips. After overcoming the initial shock, he took off to follow Alex.

Alex had entered the second part of the lab. He stayed in his human form, but began destroying machinery, equipment, and projects he had been working on. Throwing them across the room, and breaking them apart.

"Books, not my thing. Music, however, is. Lemme go change. Also, kill it with the smile; it's an overkill," with a nod she headed upstairs to her room. She took a quick shower, not bothering to blow dry her hair she tied it into a messy fishtail. She went into her room, putting on black jeans, a black cami under a light blue button up shirt. She had on black combat boots as well. She put on black mascara and a dab of black lipstick before heading down.

Once he had caught up, Artemis watched Alex destroy, still shocked. Within seconds, he threw a field around Alex, attempting to scream for him to stop, although he couldn't force his voice out.

Alex turned to look at Artemis, his eyes were red, and tears were streaming periodically down his face. He wasn't just angry, he was heartbroken. And enraged. His hands were bloody, and gashed from breaking apart the machinery.