A couple of days later…
"Gather 'round, impressionable young minds. Professor Beast's Biology 101 is now in session."
The voice of Hank McCoy echoed across the strange, surreal landscape where the students were floating—not in a classroom, but inside the living body of a mutant. The walls around them pulsed and glowed faintly, veins branching through the flesh-like tunnels as the hum of life echoed all around. The air shimmered with microscopic detail blown up to gigantic proportions.
"Today, we'll be exploring the many majestic wonders of the mutant body," Beast announced, clasping his clawed hands together. "Quiet. Stop laughing."
Dante hovered midair in his specialized bio-suit, drifting gently beside Owen, both wide-eyed at their surroundings. The moment Beast stepped aside to reveal the enormous strands of DNA spiraling ahead of them, Dante couldn't help but stare in awe.
This place… this is insane, he thought. Learning biology by actually being inside a person? No wonder the X-Men produce geniuses. You'd have to be an idiot not to learn something this way.
He floated closer to one of the oversized DNA strands, poking at it cautiously as Owen mimicked him. All around them, the other students were reacting in their own unique ways.
"I didn't know something so… small… could be so beautiful," Idie murmured, her voice reverent as she floated past a glowing helix.
"Bah," scoffed Kid Gladiator, swatting aside a floating protein. "This DNA is weak and flabby. Shi'ar DNA is vastly superior."
"Would someone please take a photo of me with the nucleotides?" Broo asked, beaming as his claws clicked together excitedly. "This is amazing!"
Genesis floated silently, eyes fixated on the spinning strands of life. "It's all right here, isn't it?" he said quietly. "This is what makes a man. This decides who he is, who he was… and who he will become."
Dante glanced over, thoughtful. That was deeper than I expected…
Meanwhile, Quentin Quire drifted closer to Idie with his usual smug grin. "Hi there. Idie, isn't it?"
She raised an eyebrow.
If you want to be my boyfriend, just know up front—I'm not interested in having very many children. Five should be plenty."
Quentin froze, his face immediately going pale. "…On second thought, I think I'll just… be over there." He backed away without another word.
Quentin blinked. "Right, well… I'll take that as a maybe."
"Pardon me, friend Quentin," Broo interjected politely, "but according to regular human custom, are not you and Ms. Idie both considered far too emotionally immature to be engaging in any sort of intimate physical—"
"Remind me never to ask you to be my wingman, sleazy," Quentin groaned.
"Alien-boy-whose-name-I-do-not-remember!" Beast shouted from nearby. "Please stop punching the DNA! Everyone, follow me. We have many more sights to see."
The students shuffled along—or rather, floated through the bloodstream-like tunnels—toward the next location.
"Please stay on the path," Beast called. "We're not studying brain surgery just yet—that's next quarter."
They entered a massive chamber that pulsed like a neural cathedral. "There are almost 100,000 miles of blood vessels in an adult human body. That's enough to circle the entire Earth four times over."
"Gah!" Kid Gladiator cried. "Unhand me, stupid antibodies! Kid Gladiator is not bacteria!"
Nearby, Owen fought off a few antibodies that tried to grab at him too. "Why are they targeting us like germs?!"
"No need for alarm, children," Beast said calmly as the environment lurched. "We've simply fallen down into the stomach. Do not panic. This is only hydrochloric acid."
A few students began to panic anyway.
"I found the way out! Underwater!" someone yelled.
"That would be the intestines, genius," another responded. "We might wanna head in the opposite direction."
After hours inside the body, drifting through organs and learning in the most hands-on way possible, Beast finally addressed the group again.
"Well, that about wraps it up, class. A tour of the mutant body in only five and a half hours. Who says learning can't be fun?"
A student vomited loudly in their helmet. "Is this okay, Mr. Beast?" Owen asked, concerned.
"Don't worry about it," Beast replied with a chuckle. "Everyone all together? Good."
He flipped a switch, and all the students' suits lit up. A shimmering light engulfed them as the Pym Particle reversal activated, returning them to normal size.
Dante stumbled slightly as they materialized back inside the school lab. "We are back… safe and sound," he muttered, brushing himself off.
"Homework assignments are in your email inboxes," Beast said, already walking away. "Telepathic pop quiz is scheduled for sometime tonight. And tomorrow we begin studying the reproductive organs."
Quentin grimaced. "Count me out of that field trip."
Dante laughed as he walked out of the lab with Owen, both of them still buzzing from the insane lesson. "This school never runs out of surprises…"
Later that day, Dante and Owen were lounging on the common room couch, surrounded by a handful of students. The energy in the room was a mix of fatigue and lingering excitement after the biology class field trip. Broo, seated upright and still visibly thrilled, practically buzzed with enthusiasm.
"Wasn't today's biology class the most amazing experience?" Broo asked, his eyes glowing behind his glasses. "I cannot wait to detail my thoughts on the matter in the form of an essay!"
From across the room, Quentin didn't even look up from the book he was half-heartedly pretending to read. "We just took a vote, Sleazy. It's official. We all hate you."
"Come on, Quentin," Dante said, giving Broo a supportive pat on the back. "You don't have to be a jerk just because he actually cares about his studies. He's passionate."
"Says the guy who barely attends the actual classes," Quentin replied dryly. "You, Owen, and Mr. Gladiator-in-Training over there spend half your day breaking school property in the name of 'training.'"
Owen shrugged, casually tossing a chip in his mouth. "Hey, Dante and I already finished the standard high school curriculum. We've got the grades. Might as well spend our time getting stronger instead of reviewing algebra for the third time."
"And Kubark," Dante added, gesturing at Kid Gladiator, who was currently levitating in place and shadowboxing the air. "He'd rather wrestle a space monster than open a textbook. We all have our strengths."
Truthfully, Dante had grown significantly stronger in the past few days. After unlocking the embers of the Flames of Life that remained in his body, he'd experimented during solo training sessions and late nights in the danger room. He'd learned how to shape those remnants into actual skills—though their power was limited compared to the original flames.
The first skill was one Ray had hinted at from the beginning: a sensory ability that allowed Dante to feel the life around him. It wasn't precise like radar, but the warm pressure of nearby beings was enough to detect movement, even through walls.
The second skill was inspired by his admiration for Wolverine. He attempted to replicate Logan's healing factor. Ray had explained that with only embers, he couldn't duplicate it fully. It came with a choice: either half Wolverine's regeneration with a full lifespan or full regeneration with a drastically reduced lifespan. Dante, unsurprisingly, chose to live. His healing was slower than Logan's, but again it's still half as strong as wolverines and if what he learned about what he survived is true then even half is incredible and the nature of the skill is passive, so it's constantly active
The third skill was riskier—a passive enhancement modeled after Domino's luck. Again, he couldn't copy it exactly, but he managed to generate a strange sort of charm. It wasn't powerful enough to guarantee success, but it made things tilt ever so slightly in his favor. Dice would roll his way just enough to feel like more than coincidence. It wasn't obvious, but it was suspicious enough that others might wonder if he had some kind of cheat code active it's also a passive skill.
As you can see all these skills are physical skills he hasn't actually figured out how to apply the embers of life on construct type skills
Across the room, Genesis sat silently, his eyes unfocused. Idie noticed and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Genesis, are you all right?" she asked quietly.
"I find myself… troubled by today's lesson," Evan admitted. "By many things, in fact. I feel like my life was simpler before I came to this school."
"I think you're wrong about that," Quentin muttered from the corner, not even looking up. "Ignorance isn't the same as peace."
Quentin then stood, stretching dramatically. "So who's up for skipping the next class and tying firecrackers to the tails of Bamfs? I got some stuff online that's supposed to be illegal in thirteen galaxies."
Before anyone could answer, a gruff voice cut through the buzz.
"Dante. Quentin."
Both turned to see Headmaster Wolverine standing by the door.
"Come with me."
Dante raised a brow. "Sure. But what did we do this time?"
Quentin rolled his eyes and got up reluctantly. "Let me guess. I dared express an honest opinion or generate an original thought. That's practically illegal here."
Wolverine didn't even break stride. "You think you're clever, huh?"
"Clever doesn't begin to cover it. I was clever in diapers. These days, I'd say I'm inching into the territory of unappreciated genius."
Dante chuckled and glanced at Logan. "Can we mute him for the rest of the walk? I'm sure Jean left a button somewhere."
"I got a better idea," Logan smirked. "Next time he gets mouthy, we put him on Bamf poop duty."
"Oh come on, that's cruel," Dante said, grinning. "Even for him."
They walked down the hallway, trading light banter until Logan led them to what looked like an ordinary room—until the door sealed shut behind them and the subtle hum of machinery filled the air. They were inside a craft, sleek and silent.
Quentin looked around, suddenly wary. "Okay… What the hell is this? And why does the floor feel like it's vibrating?"
Logan sat down and crossed his arms. "Hope you two don't get space sick."
"Wait. What?!" Quentin's voice rose in pitch as he scrambled toward the window.
Dante stood in place, already feeling the subtle shift in gravity. As the low hum grew louder and the vehicle trembled beneath their feet, he peered outside and watched the Earth begin to shrink from view.
A grin slowly crept across his face.
"We're in space," Dante said calmly, excitement bubbling under his words.