Oh man, this is just great. Here we are staying in the crappiest, most rundown flea bag of a Motel 6 in the entire country. We've got 30 people cramped into 10 rooms. I'm sharing with Beast and Nightcrawler. You know what I've realized? They both shed!



All the dormitories in the mansion were destroyed along with the upper floors. All we have left are the below ground levels, but that's the war room, the danger room, Cerebro, the labs, the X-Jet hanger and some of our more hightech vehicles. Classes are about to start in a couple of weeks and all of the students will be coming back. We have no place to put them!

As it is, we still have a few students still here. The ones with no place to go. So we've been running a summer school for them. Storm took the 7 of them to the war room to conduct a class while the rest of us met in the main bio lab to talk about what we were going to do next.

The should we or should we not kill Gaia debate was getting a little stale, not to mention moot since we had no idea where she was, so I decided to talk a walk. I passed by Storm's class and peaked in. She was lecturing on the significance of internet memes.

"You all studied the social contract theories put forward by Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau last semester," she said to the students. "There is therefore no need for me to go into detail about the moral obligations we assume to each other when we chose to join a society. By receiving the benefits of being part of a group, we must a binding contractual sense, provide services in exchange. For those who belong to the vast Internet community, this means, in part, promptly responding to memes. Though some view memes as nuisances, the fact is that if we ignore our obligations, we will be breaking our contract. Without that, the entire basis for a social union collapses. In this case, the very Internet would cease to be. It is therefore vital to immediately respond to any and all memes that - oh damn! I just got a meme from Pantha." A sly smile crossed Storm's face. "And I see she sent it to you too, Elixir."

"Oh boy! My second meme!" Elixir jumped to his feet and ran up to Storm side.

Storm read outloud. "1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of it and the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions. 5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest. 6. Tag three people."

Reaching for the book on top of the stack on the table, Storm flipped through the pages. "The Constitutional Rights of Students," she announced. "Page 123, fifth sentence. 'Sex seems even closer to achieving the status of a suspect classification than does wealth. Four Supreme Court Justices have already shown a willingness to so classify it. 'Sex, like race and national origin, is an immutable characteristic determined solely by the action of birth. The imposition of special disabilities upon the members of a paticular sex because of their sex would seem to violate' the nastic concept of our system that legal burdens should bear some relationship to individual responsibility . . . . ''"

Storm then handed the book to Elixir. "Your turn."

The poor boy looked rather confused. "But it's the same book," he said.

"So?"

"So the passage will be the same."

"That doesn't matter. The rules are quite clear. Pick whichever book is closest to you. That's this book."

"Okay," he replied with a shrug. He then read out the same passage. "'Sex seems even closer to achieving the status of a suspect classification than does wealth. Four Supreme Court Justices have already shown a willingness to so classify it. 'Sex, like race and national origin, is an immutable characteristic determined solely by the action of birth. The imposition of special disabilities upon the members of a paticular sex because of their sex would seem to violate' the nastic concept of our system that legal burdens should bear some relationship to individual responsibility . . . . ''"

'Now what about picking three other people?" he asked Storm.

An evil glint filled Storm's eye. "First I will choose -"

BAA-BBOOOMMMMM!!!!

A huge crashing sound rang throughout the underground complex. The sound of rending metal from above left no doubt that someone or something was breaking in. I rushed towards the sounds and saw - the Hulk!!