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“Aaaannnnd perfect!” Spencer exclaimed, jumping for joy.
“You finally finished your sculpture?” Carly asked, taking a bite of her spaghetti taco.
“Yup!” Spencer joyously confirmed, “Check it out!”
With his arms and hands splayed out in front of him, Spencer gestured proudly to his latest and greatest creation, a giant majestic mare made entirely out of hay, with apples for eyes, and sugarcubes for the teeth.
“Hey for Horses! Get it? Hey. Hay. No? S’okay” Spencer babbled, admiring his work.
“Hey hey” Freddie called out, opening the front door of the Shay’s apartment, and strolling right in, Sam hot on his heels.
“Got any meat?” Sam asked (read: demanded), skipping the pleasantries all together as she shoved her way past Freddie and into the kitchen.
“Spencer already made Spaghetti tacos” Carly informed them, finishing up her last bite.
“Sweet” Sam exclaimed, unceremoniously plopping herself in the chair next to Carly.
“Thanks Spencer” Freddie stated, picking himself up off the floor, and over to the table.
“Not a problem. I’m used to it. Not like the two of you have homes or parents or fully stocked fridges or anything” Spencer sarcastically exclaimed.
“What’s that?” Freddie asked, mouth full of tomato goodness.
“I’m glad you asked” Spencer stated, a proud grin on his face, “This is my first ever edible birthday sculpture!”
“Edible?!” Sam questioned, immediately halting in stuffing her face at the mention of more possible delicious sustenance.
“Edible for who?” Freddie questioned, eyeing the sculpture skeptically.
“Horses!” Spencer excitedly exclaimed.
“Horses?” Freddie and Sam echoed in disbelief.
“Yeah. Socko’s cousin Colt is having a birthday party at the ranch, so he asked me to make an edible sculpture the horses could all eat” Spencer explained.
“That’s cool” Freddie nodded, understanding better now that he had the appropriate context.
“Yup. And now that I’m done...Butt. Couch” Spencer exhaled in happy relief, hopping over the back of the couch and onto the cushions, lifting his feet up to rest on the coffee table and flicking on the TV with the remote.
Not two seconds later the remote burst into flames.
“Ahhh!” Spencer screeched, tossing the remote onto the floor and smacking the flames with a pillow until they completely died away.
When Spencer finished and calmly looked over to the kitchen he found the trio staring at him unimpressed and entirely unafraid.
“You fixed the remote didn’t you?” Carly deadpanned.
“...I’ll call Comcast” Spencer stated quietly, walking away to locate his phone and escape his embarrassment.
“So what is it that your students exactly do at your school? ” Dave Mercer asked, eager to know more.
“Each of the students are taught the same basic curricula that every school requires. The difference would be in the extracurricular classes based around teaching them how to control their abilities, so that by the time they are done they are able to go back into the world and play a stable and productive role in society” Dr. Xavier explained.
“I’d imagine gym class to be quite different” Dave jested, his tone lighthearted.
“Every mutant’s expression of the x-gene is different, and so are the variations in abilities, so things can get quite interesting. Particularly when students get competitive” Dr. Xavier chuckled.
“There you have it folks. Xavier’s School for the Gifted in a nutshell. Join us later tonight for a report on a new type of bagel being served at the Groovy Smoothie” Dave dismissed with a jovial camera grin.
“I gotta tell T-Bo that they’re showing his new waffle bagels on TV!” Spencer excitedly declared.
“I thought you were on hold with Comcast?" Freddie inquired, eyebrow raised.
“Eh. Just get off your butts and turn the channel” Spencer waved off, dialling T-Bo's number into his cell.
“We’re going” Carly stated matter-of-factly, her expression neutral as she stared at her older brother with a calm resolution.
“Going where?” Sam asked, mouth full of taco shell and spaghetti.
“Xavier’s School for the Gifted” Carly calmly replied, not once breaking eye contact with Spencer.
“The school for mutants? Why would we go there?” Spencer asked in confusion as he waited for T-Bo to pick up.
Suddenly, as if the universe was answering his question, the edible hay horse lit aflame, it's head burning brightly like a candle.
“...I’ll pack our bags” Spencer announced, not even bothering to look at all his hard work turning to ash.
“This place is amazing” Freddie declared in awe, astonished by the sheer size, architecture, and grandness of the school.
“Yeah no kidding. This place is really Dr. Xavier’s house?” Carly inquired in amazement as they followed Ms. Monroe through the halls.
“The mansion belongs to the Professor’s family. He decided to take advantage of the space to realize his dream of teaching and educating not only mutants, but others who misunderstand us as well” Ororo explained, a happy smile on her face at the group’s wonder and curiosity.
“The four of you can take a seat in here. The Professor is out right now, so Dr. McCoy will be with us shortly. Please help yourself to the refreshments” Ororo informed the quartet as she led them into the meeting room designed for initial evaluations and relaying information to families and guests.
“Don’t mind if I do” Sam proclaimed, immediately making her way over to the snacks and pitchers.
“Why are you even here?” Freddie questioned, grumpy and annoyed (though unsurprised) that Sam had come along on the trip though she had no political or artistic interest in the School itself.
“The free chips. Why are you here?” Sam sarcastically questioned as she commandeered the entire bowl of Lay’s for herself.
As they all sat down in their chosen rolly chairs, Spencer made a face and wriggled in his seat.
“Is something wrong?” Ororo asked curiously.
“It's just the chair’s a bit wobbly” Spencer stated, looking down at the screws, “Don’t worry. I got my trusty screwdriver and-”
“No!”
Both Spencer and Ororo jumped in their seats, startled by the ICarly Gang’s sudden desperate declaration.
“I was just-”
“The Fire Department” Carly deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest and giving her brother a stern expression.
“Fine” Spencer caved, moodily sitting back into his seat at the reminder.
“What about the Fire Department?” Hank inquired, making his way into the room.
The group stared in surprise at the man’s appearance.
Recovering the fastest, Spencer answered the man’s question, “Well we’ve reached our ‘maximum’ number of calls for the year so my little sister thought coming here would be a good idea”.
“I don’t think that’s legal...” Hank stated in surprise, baffled by the legitimacy of the statement.
“You think your brother’s a mutant?” Ororo asked, leaving the questionable ethics of their town’s Fire Department for a later discussion.
“He defies the laws of physics” Carly deadpanned.
“Really?!” Hank inquired excitedly, eyes twinkling in interest.
“I also think Sam might be a mutant too” Carly nonchalantly added.
“Huh...That actually makes sense” Freddie muttered in thought, not having actually considered that possibility before.
“Really? Why’s that?” Hank asked curiously, looking between the two of them.
“You’re out of food” Sam bluntly informed the two teachers, walking back over to the table with two giant empty bowls in her hands.
The group stared at the now decimated refreshments table. The pretzels, chips, and veggie platter cleared out, and even the bowl of hummus dip had been licked clean.
Carly merely took out a packet of Fat Cakes she’d stored in her bag and gave it to Sam, who lovingly cradled the sugary treat as if it were worth more than gold.
“Interesting...But not a definite indicator that-”
“My apologies for being late” the professor stated, wheeling his way into the room.
“Not a problem Professor. We were just discussing the possibility of Sam and Spencer being mutants” Ororo informed him, bringing him up to speed.
“Well I can assure you that-”
Poof.
Without warning a blue puff of smoke appeared directly over Sam, a figure of a blue-haired blue-skinned girl materialized and crashed on top of the blonde.
With a groan the both of them stood up.
“I’m so so sorry!” Talia profusely exclaimed, feeling horrible about landing on one of their guests, “I’m still working on where I end up when I teleport”
“Accidents happen Talia. Do be more careful in the future” the Professor assured her kindly, though there was a note of reprimand in his tone, silently informing her to work on her training.
“Uh oh” Freddie muttered in growing worry.
The teachers followed the teen’s line of vision, curious why he sounded so worried.
Sam was still on her knees bent over the carpet, and holding the crushed remnants of her Fat Cakes in stunned horror and disbelief.
“Sam” Carly warned, trying to get her volatile friend’s attention, knowing exactly where this road was headed.
Sam’s expression shifted to one of determined fury, slamming her hands down onto the rug before lifting the wood table above her head with a vengeful roar, preparing to toss it at the girl who had murdered her blessed Fat Cakes.
“Sam no!” Carly screamed, moving right between Sam and her target.
“MOVE!” Sam roared in vengeful fury.
“Drop it!” Carly shouted right back, pointing to the ground, her expression firm and unyielding.
“NO!”
“Yes!”
“She murdered my Fat Cakes!”
“I have more! Drop it!”
With a furious irritated huff Sam dropped the table back down with a slam, still glaring at the offender with all she was worth, causing Talia to cower slightly at the near feral display.
The girl kind of reminded her of Logan...Just replace food with beer.
“Freddie, Fat Cakes” Carly ordered, staying between Sam and the girl.
“Fat Cakes” Freddie proclaimed, quickly getting them from Carly’s bag and immediately tossing them to a mildly mollified Sam.
Sam tore open the package and took a frustrated bite, making an mmmm-face before giving Talia the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture and sitting back down.
Carly and Freddie let out a sigh of relief before plopping back down in their seats as well.
Crisis averted.
“Now I see it” Hank deadpanned, coming out of his stunned stupor.
“Talia why don’t you go see what Kitty and Rogue are up to?” the Professor suggested, seeing that the poor girl needed an out.
Talia gave the Professor a grateful nod, immediately teleporting away to find her friends and tell them about the School’s newest student.
“Well. Now I suppose I can get back to what I was saying earlier” the Professor stated, making his way over to the head of the table, “Both Mr. Shay and Ms. Puckett are in fact mutants”
The quartet blinked in surprise at having their suspicions confirmed.
“Your sister said that you defy the laws of physics?” Ororo questioned curiously, wanting to know more about Spencer’s abilities now that they had a snippet of an idea as to Sam’s.
“Well…” Spencer began, his face cringing a bit in embarrassment.
However before he could answer, the leg of his chair burst into flames.
“Ah! Really?!” Spencer shouted in annoyance.
Carly immediately dumped the pitcher of water onto the metal legs, snuffing out the flames.
“...I can pay for that” Spencer stated guiltily to the Headmaster, the smell of singed leather hanging in the air.
“Pyrokinesis?” the Professor inquired, brushing off Spencer’s apologies as Ororo opened the windows and manipulated the wind to air out the room.
With the varied abilities of the students and staff, property damage was not an unusual occurrence.
"You fixed the chair didn't you?" Carly stated knowingly, crossing her arms across her chest.
"It was wobbly” Spencer weakly defended, not looking his sister in the eye.
“What were the rules we came up with in the car?” Carly demanded.
“No fixing anything in the School” Spencer replied softly, sounding like a reprimanded child.
“Why?” Carly prompted, urging him to continue.
“So I don’t accidentally burn it down like I did the Fire Station” Spencer sheepishly replied.
“You burned down a Fire Station?” Ororo questioned, sounding amused at the irony, thinking back to the mention of the Fire Department.
“I was trying to get back in their good graces” Spencer grumbled in exasperation.
“So you burned it down?” Hank stated, trying, unsuccessfully, to follow that logic.
“Anything he makes or fixes spontaneously combusts” Freddie explained to them, seeing their confusion (and amusement).
“Anything?” Hank questioned, his scientific curiosity shining through, thinking up countless different ways to test that hypothesis.
“He turned our fire extinguisher into a flamethrower” Carly deadpanned.
“Set a cymbal on fire by striking it with a drumstick” Sam followed in suit, chewing on her Fat Cake.
“The home-made egg shooter that burst into flames” Freddie continued with a casual shrug at the memory.
“Wirelessly setting the printer on fire. The rollerskates” Carly mentioned with a note of amusement.
"Fascinating" the Professor muttered, looking at Spencer with immense scientific curiosity.
“Let’s cut to the chiz” Sam cut in, back to her usual blunt, rude self now that she had her Fat Cakes, “Can you help Spencer or not?”
The Professor gave a consideratory hum, looking back and forth between Sam and Spencer.
“I believe we can”
“Spencer! Hurry up! We’re gonna be late!” Carly called out, eager to get going.
It has been a year since the ICarly Gang had temporarily dormed at Xavier’s, and the School’s own anniversary date was conveniently only a few days away.
As such, all the students and staff were throwing a huge party and everyone, including former alumni, were invited to the celebrations.
It had taken six months, but Spencer finally got a handle on his “Fire curse”, and no longer had to worry about everything he touches randomly bursting into flame.
Sam on the other hand spent a lot of time with Logan, earning herself the nickname, Angeline.
“Keep your shirts on, I’m just putting the finishing touches on the sculpture” Spencer proclaimed, twisting together the last few electrical wires, “There! What’d you guys think?”
The trio gazed up at the huge X encompassed with an even larger circle, both made entirely of steel girders. The base of the structure was layered with stone and small flames licked the edges, lighting up the dark of the metal.
The strongest steel is forged by the fires of hell.
Strength through adversity.
They couldn’t have thought of a better sculpture that symbolized Xavier’s School for the Gifted even if they tried.