(Disclaimer: I own Paul/Surge, but X-Men Evolution is the property of
somebody else.)
"You remind me of what I really am." Kitty sang along to the CD softly, the
volume on her wireless headphones jacked up to ear-splitting. As the song continued, the
music suddenly skipped a beat, then stopped, Kitty groaned and reached down by her side
to the MP3 player hooked to her belt, whose signal was synched with her headphones.
She twiddled the tiny stud on the side of the MP3 player in hopes of getting it working
again, but couldn't. [Goes to show, never buy an MP3 player from a pawnshop.] Kitty
thought dejectedly. Suddenly Kitty heard a gunshot, or what sounded like it. She giggled
softly to herself and turned around. Lance, or more specifically his oversized jeep, had
crapped out, again, in the middle of the street. Ever since Tabitha had blown out the
engine while using the jeep for target practice, and ever since Lance had done the really
crappy repair job the engine was always conking out. "Damnit!" Lance swore as he
thumped his hands on the steering wheel. Usually all it took was a tweak of Lance's
power to get the engine started, but not this time. "Yo, you want me to play 'Taps' for the
dang jeep, or, are you gonna like, you know, FIX it yo." Toad lamented from the
backseat. "Chill, alright? It just needs a little work." Lance snapped. Toad knew better
than to REALLY piss Lance off, he followed the anarchist cardinal rule: Look out for #1.
He bounded out of the jeep and into the bushes, all in order to escape Lance's wrath.
Lance groped blindly beneath the driver's seat and removed a wrench. He was prepared
to step out and try to make a temporary engine fix, when the engine started up again.
"What the-" Lance started to say before Kitty phased through the dashboard and seated
herself in the passenger seat. "It was just a loose ignition wire." Kitty explained. "I take it
you need a ride? After all, a girl like you shouldn't be walking down the street this late at
night." Lance said. "Yeah, school. Football game." Kitty said, ignoring his comment.
"You got it." Lance said, stomping on the accelerator and the newly repaired jeep raced
down the street, all the while bouncing like a bronco.
* * *
"BAYVILLE! BAYVILLE!" was the current chant of the roaring crowd as the
kickoff began. A handful of the X-men were also in attendance, seeing as how they
attended the school, they were practically required by an unwritten law to go to the home
games. "Voohoo! Touchdown!" yelled Kurt as Bayville scored. He was high up in the
stands, right by Evan and Scott in their somewhat isolated usual spot. He awkwardly
performed a one-man wave before freezing, seeing the looks the people were giving him.
"What, just trying to act pro-football." Kurt said sheepishly. "Why bother, nobody cares
really." Scott said, keeping one eye on the game and the other on Jean down on the
sidelines, all the while rolling a coin atop his fingers with practiced ease. "Yeah, it seems
so.tame compared to what happens in the Danger Room." Evan said as two Bayville
players clotheslined an opponent. Losing interest in the game, he too tried to roll a coin
atop his fingers, but screwed up and dropped it. "Aww man.there goes my last quarter."
Evan said. "Hey, do you hear zat?" Kurt said. "I can't hear a thing over the damn crowd."
Evan said. "It sounded like.a cry for help." Kurt said, pressing his ear to the
bleachers. At a momentary lull in the crowd's roar, all three of them heard the same
shout. "Help me! Help me please!" coming from right below them. "Vell?" Kurt asked.
"Lets go." Scott said. All three of them slipped between the guardrails on the rear of the
bleachers, dangled a moment before dropping onto an X-shaped girder that connected
two main support beams. Below, in the dim light coming from the field, they could make
out four thugs clad in ripped black denim beating the crap out of a fifth guy. When they
stopped momentarily, their victim lifted his head to look up at them. It was Duncan, the
jackass Captain of the Bayville football team. "Oh my god." Scott said softly,
remembering the incident when Duncan had been in the same situation, but on the other
end.
~Flashback~
"Damnit, he's getting away!" Duncan's cronies shouted, giving chase after Toad. Duncan
slowly picked himself up from the mud, wiping his face clean. "BIG mistake Summers."
Duncan threatened and hurled himself at Scott, who was thrown hard against a support
beam. Slowly, as if time itself had slowed to a crawl, Scott's sunglasses fell away and a
pair of twin red beams lanced from his revealed eyes, hitting Duncan with a glancing
blow and destroying the propane tank. Later, as Jean came to replace Scott's glasses, he
wept silently. "Jean, I'm so sorry.."
~End Flashback~
"You ready to give us what we want?" One of the thugs asked, lifting Duncan by his
hair. Scott, Evan, and Kurt could now see the multiple cuts and bruises on his face,
revealing how long they had been beating him for. "Please.just two more days. I can get
the money by then. "No, it's now or else." The same thug threatened. "I-I'm sorry."
Duncan wept. "Bring him, maybe talking to the Boss will change his tune." The thug
ordered. The other three lifted him up and began dragging him towards the chain-link
fence. "Problem gentleman?" The two words rang with an air of challenge as a large and
muscular teenage boy strolled calmly towards the thugs, seeming to materialize from the
shadows beneath the bleachers. He wore all black, save for two items. One was the silver
chain he wore around his neck. The other was the pair of sunglasses he wore. They
seemed identical to Scott's, but the lenses were an electric blue. The lenses seemed to
shimmer in the light with each step the newcomer took. "None of your business so just
turn around and leave." The thug threatened. "Four on one seems a little one-sided, don't
you think? How about we even the odds?" He replied, ignoring the threat. The fact that
he hadn't given in to the threat only annoyed the thugs, but the fact he had no fear or
respect for them royally pissed them off. With surprising speed, they produced
switchblades and chains from their pockets and attacked the guy. "I'm going to cut you!"
One yelled as he came up behind him. With a blur of motion, punctuated by a single kick
to the chest, the aforementioned thug was put of commission. The others were smarter,
attacking from three sides at once. However, they could only watch in delayed awe as the
guy grabbed first one, then another, and crashed them together. The final thug took this
opening to attack head on, intending to slit the guys throat. He ran at him, making wide,
lethal slashes in the air as he ran. The guy turned and ducked, grabbing the hand that held
the knife. Then, a sizzle was heard as a blue flash escaped the guy's fingers. "Vhoa!"
Kurt exclaimed as the flash briefly lit up the area. "Leave now." The guy said to Duncan,
who practically tripped over himself racing away. "You can come down now." He said.
Not very surprised, Evan, Scott, and Kurt slid down the supports to the ground and
introduced themselves, saying they were simply specialists with 'mutual talents'. "That
was amazing dude!" Evan said. "So, what exactly is your power? Energy shots from your
hands, enhanced strength, what?" Scott asked. "Its something I've dubbed 'The Taser
Touch.' Watch." The guy picked up a discarded light bulb from a broken penlight and
held it between two fingers. He tensed those fingers and suddenly the light lit up to a
blinding white, making the lenses of both his and Scott's sunglasses flash their respective
colors. The light continued for a couple more seconds before he dropped it, it
immediately went out. "Damn that's hot." He said, blowing on his slightly burned
fingers. "Well. I'm Scott, this is Evan and Kurt. We're part of the X-" Scott was cut off
by a elbow to the chest, courtesy of Evan. "Don't go there man, not yet." Evan
whispered. "The Xavier Institute, it's a school where we help mutants control their
powers. You're welcome to come and stay if you want." Scott finished, shooting a glare
at Evan. "Eh. I'll have to check it out then." The guy said. He started to walk away.
"Vait, what do we call you?" Kurt called after him. The guy seemed to pause for a
moment, as if wrestling with an internal decision. "Surge." He said.
Came the calm, confident reply as he walked away.
[To Be Continued]
"You remind me of what I really am." Kitty sang along to the CD softly, the
volume on her wireless headphones jacked up to ear-splitting. As the song continued, the
music suddenly skipped a beat, then stopped, Kitty groaned and reached down by her side
to the MP3 player hooked to her belt, whose signal was synched with her headphones.
She twiddled the tiny stud on the side of the MP3 player in hopes of getting it working
again, but couldn't. [Goes to show, never buy an MP3 player from a pawnshop.] Kitty
thought dejectedly. Suddenly Kitty heard a gunshot, or what sounded like it. She giggled
softly to herself and turned around. Lance, or more specifically his oversized jeep, had
crapped out, again, in the middle of the street. Ever since Tabitha had blown out the
engine while using the jeep for target practice, and ever since Lance had done the really
crappy repair job the engine was always conking out. "Damnit!" Lance swore as he
thumped his hands on the steering wheel. Usually all it took was a tweak of Lance's
power to get the engine started, but not this time. "Yo, you want me to play 'Taps' for the
dang jeep, or, are you gonna like, you know, FIX it yo." Toad lamented from the
backseat. "Chill, alright? It just needs a little work." Lance snapped. Toad knew better
than to REALLY piss Lance off, he followed the anarchist cardinal rule: Look out for #1.
He bounded out of the jeep and into the bushes, all in order to escape Lance's wrath.
Lance groped blindly beneath the driver's seat and removed a wrench. He was prepared
to step out and try to make a temporary engine fix, when the engine started up again.
"What the-" Lance started to say before Kitty phased through the dashboard and seated
herself in the passenger seat. "It was just a loose ignition wire." Kitty explained. "I take it
you need a ride? After all, a girl like you shouldn't be walking down the street this late at
night." Lance said. "Yeah, school. Football game." Kitty said, ignoring his comment.
"You got it." Lance said, stomping on the accelerator and the newly repaired jeep raced
down the street, all the while bouncing like a bronco.
* * *
"BAYVILLE! BAYVILLE!" was the current chant of the roaring crowd as the
kickoff began. A handful of the X-men were also in attendance, seeing as how they
attended the school, they were practically required by an unwritten law to go to the home
games. "Voohoo! Touchdown!" yelled Kurt as Bayville scored. He was high up in the
stands, right by Evan and Scott in their somewhat isolated usual spot. He awkwardly
performed a one-man wave before freezing, seeing the looks the people were giving him.
"What, just trying to act pro-football." Kurt said sheepishly. "Why bother, nobody cares
really." Scott said, keeping one eye on the game and the other on Jean down on the
sidelines, all the while rolling a coin atop his fingers with practiced ease. "Yeah, it seems
so.tame compared to what happens in the Danger Room." Evan said as two Bayville
players clotheslined an opponent. Losing interest in the game, he too tried to roll a coin
atop his fingers, but screwed up and dropped it. "Aww man.there goes my last quarter."
Evan said. "Hey, do you hear zat?" Kurt said. "I can't hear a thing over the damn crowd."
Evan said. "It sounded like.a cry for help." Kurt said, pressing his ear to the
bleachers. At a momentary lull in the crowd's roar, all three of them heard the same
shout. "Help me! Help me please!" coming from right below them. "Vell?" Kurt asked.
"Lets go." Scott said. All three of them slipped between the guardrails on the rear of the
bleachers, dangled a moment before dropping onto an X-shaped girder that connected
two main support beams. Below, in the dim light coming from the field, they could make
out four thugs clad in ripped black denim beating the crap out of a fifth guy. When they
stopped momentarily, their victim lifted his head to look up at them. It was Duncan, the
jackass Captain of the Bayville football team. "Oh my god." Scott said softly,
remembering the incident when Duncan had been in the same situation, but on the other
end.
~Flashback~
"Damnit, he's getting away!" Duncan's cronies shouted, giving chase after Toad. Duncan
slowly picked himself up from the mud, wiping his face clean. "BIG mistake Summers."
Duncan threatened and hurled himself at Scott, who was thrown hard against a support
beam. Slowly, as if time itself had slowed to a crawl, Scott's sunglasses fell away and a
pair of twin red beams lanced from his revealed eyes, hitting Duncan with a glancing
blow and destroying the propane tank. Later, as Jean came to replace Scott's glasses, he
wept silently. "Jean, I'm so sorry.."
~End Flashback~
"You ready to give us what we want?" One of the thugs asked, lifting Duncan by his
hair. Scott, Evan, and Kurt could now see the multiple cuts and bruises on his face,
revealing how long they had been beating him for. "Please.just two more days. I can get
the money by then. "No, it's now or else." The same thug threatened. "I-I'm sorry."
Duncan wept. "Bring him, maybe talking to the Boss will change his tune." The thug
ordered. The other three lifted him up and began dragging him towards the chain-link
fence. "Problem gentleman?" The two words rang with an air of challenge as a large and
muscular teenage boy strolled calmly towards the thugs, seeming to materialize from the
shadows beneath the bleachers. He wore all black, save for two items. One was the silver
chain he wore around his neck. The other was the pair of sunglasses he wore. They
seemed identical to Scott's, but the lenses were an electric blue. The lenses seemed to
shimmer in the light with each step the newcomer took. "None of your business so just
turn around and leave." The thug threatened. "Four on one seems a little one-sided, don't
you think? How about we even the odds?" He replied, ignoring the threat. The fact that
he hadn't given in to the threat only annoyed the thugs, but the fact he had no fear or
respect for them royally pissed them off. With surprising speed, they produced
switchblades and chains from their pockets and attacked the guy. "I'm going to cut you!"
One yelled as he came up behind him. With a blur of motion, punctuated by a single kick
to the chest, the aforementioned thug was put of commission. The others were smarter,
attacking from three sides at once. However, they could only watch in delayed awe as the
guy grabbed first one, then another, and crashed them together. The final thug took this
opening to attack head on, intending to slit the guys throat. He ran at him, making wide,
lethal slashes in the air as he ran. The guy turned and ducked, grabbing the hand that held
the knife. Then, a sizzle was heard as a blue flash escaped the guy's fingers. "Vhoa!"
Kurt exclaimed as the flash briefly lit up the area. "Leave now." The guy said to Duncan,
who practically tripped over himself racing away. "You can come down now." He said.
Not very surprised, Evan, Scott, and Kurt slid down the supports to the ground and
introduced themselves, saying they were simply specialists with 'mutual talents'. "That
was amazing dude!" Evan said. "So, what exactly is your power? Energy shots from your
hands, enhanced strength, what?" Scott asked. "Its something I've dubbed 'The Taser
Touch.' Watch." The guy picked up a discarded light bulb from a broken penlight and
held it between two fingers. He tensed those fingers and suddenly the light lit up to a
blinding white, making the lenses of both his and Scott's sunglasses flash their respective
colors. The light continued for a couple more seconds before he dropped it, it
immediately went out. "Damn that's hot." He said, blowing on his slightly burned
fingers. "Well. I'm Scott, this is Evan and Kurt. We're part of the X-" Scott was cut off
by a elbow to the chest, courtesy of Evan. "Don't go there man, not yet." Evan
whispered. "The Xavier Institute, it's a school where we help mutants control their
powers. You're welcome to come and stay if you want." Scott finished, shooting a glare
at Evan. "Eh. I'll have to check it out then." The guy said. He started to walk away.
"Vait, what do we call you?" Kurt called after him. The guy seemed to pause for a
moment, as if wrestling with an internal decision. "Surge." He said.
Came the calm, confident reply as he walked away.
[To Be Continued]