Chapter One: New Beginnings
As I stare out the window into the greenery, a grin begins to form across my face. Out in the distance, a majestic building begins to take shape. My excitement builds even more as this mansion takes shape and I think about all of the new adventures that await me at this place. But before I get too much into that, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Charles Howlett, and my mother Jean Gray-Howlett and dad James "Logan" Howlett are driving me up here. Soon enough we pull up to the school and park.
"Alright mom and dad, see ya!" I said as I try to leave quickly.
"Just a minute young man" Jean said telekinetically holding the door closed. "Now I know you are excited about school, just be sure that you don't get into any trouble."
"I won't mom." I said
"And make sure you call us everyday." Jean said.
"Alright mom." I said impatiently.
"And if you need anything-" Jean started.
"Jeez Jeannie, let the boy go." James growled.
"Don't you take that tone with me." Jean replied in like.
"I'm just saying, let's let the boy do his thing." James said winking at me.
"Thanks dad." I said rushing out of the car.
Both Jean and James wave goodbye to their son as they drive away. Eagar to start exploring, Charles runs through the doors and down the hallway bumping right into Scott Summers.
"Whoa there, slow down." Scott said helping the new boy up.
"Oh man, it's Scott Summers." I said rushing to his feet. "I am so sorry."
"It's alright, who might you be?" Scott asked.
"Oh, my name is Charles Howlett; Jean and Logan's son." I said proudly.
"Ahh I should've guessed." Scott said. "You seem to have inherited your father's head first into things attitude."
"I guess so." I laughed feeling a bit confused.
"Well let me show you around the place." Scott said ushering the young man down a hall.
Scott proceeded to show me all over the mansion. He started off with the dining area where there were several tables situated in a large, café styled area complete with a large kitchen area through the back doors. From there, we made their way through several game rooms each designed for a different purpose, one being pool and darts, another being arcade games, another being a television room, etc. They next went outside to see the Olympic sized swimming pool, garden maze and large lake. Soon enough, they looped back inside and up to the dormitories. Scott led me down the men's wing until they reached Charles' room.
"Sweet, I get my own room!" I said excitedly.
"Don't get too excited, everyone is assigned a roommate." Scott informed the young teen. "Yours will be arriving later on in the day.
"Aw man, I hope it's someone cool." I said.
"I am sure you two will get along, now I have to go and take care of some stuff." Scott said. "Feel free to explore and get settled in.
"Alright, see ya later then." I said as Scott walked down the hall.
I left my room after basking in the surreal reality of being at the Xavier Institute and wandered around. All of a sudden a darked hair girl, with a face that looks to be a younger version of her mother X-23 and a very athletic built body comes around a corner at the far end of the hall. To me, I know her as Jennifer Guthrie aka the pain in ass. I quickly tried to maneuver around her but similar to me, she has heightened senses which made the plan all but pointless.
"Hey Cuz! I have someone I would like you to meet!" She yelled.
"Alright" I said lowly.
Suddenly a younger brunette girl, who appears to be in her early teens phases through the wall. She is dressed in bright blue jeans and a pink tank top. Her face reflects very strong Russian features and her body is quite slender.
"Charles, this is Amy Rasputin." Jen said
"It's nice to meet you." Amy said shyly.
"It's nice to meet you too." Charles said beginning to turn red.
"Well, I have to get going but I hope to see you around." Amy said phasing through the floor.
"Same here" Charles replied slowly.
"Well if I didn't know any better, I would say that somebody has a crush." Jen said mockingly.
"Shut up Jen or I'll tell your friends that you had to sleep with a night light until last year, and what did you call it, your ni-ni light." Charles said quietly.
"You wouldn't dare tell anyone about ni-ni light." she said.
"I just enrolled here, so the quickest way to the charts of popularity to take down the most popular isn't what you told me in middle school, Jen." Charles said boastingly.
She laughed and whispered to me,
"I'll do whatever you want, but don't tell anyone about my ni-ni light." Jen said.
"Ok, Jen just remember I have you on an IOU." Charles said.
I walked off with a pimp-like attitude, knowing that I can start off fresh. I am assuming that Jen had something else on her mind because normally she would've ripped me to shreds for talking to her like that. Well might as well enjoy my good fortune or I would have until I ran into my old nemesis John Creed, yet another pain in my ass.
"Hey everyone, look it's the walking cry baby. Where's mommy, Charles? Or is she too busy being a bitch to be here?" John said mockingly.
Suddenly it was as if a switch in my brain clicked and I found myself with claws unsheathed lunging for John's throat. I couldn't think of anything else but to taste his blood and hear his heartbeat slow to a sickening stop. I managed to slash John across the face and he reacted by growing his claws and retaliating. Soon enough a crowd formed around us started chanting,
"Fight!"
The fight began to get really intense as we fiercely slashed each other. Blood gushes out of wounds that quickly work to stitch themselves together as our healing factors try to work through the punishment we are dealing each other. Before too long I finally get the upper hand and pin John to the floor. I raise my claws ready to land the finshing blow until a hand grabs my arm. I turn around and move to strike this interloper until I see a glowing red diamond and red eyes. I hear a voice that sounds calm and authoritative.
"That's enough" Nathaniel Essex says forcefully.
Suddenly I feel extremely docile and thoroughly exhausted.
"Charles, walk with me." Nathaniel said pulling me up forcefully. "What do you think you were doing?"
"He insulted my mom and you know I can't stand that." I said when we were far enough away from prying ears.
"Charles, I understand this complex of trying to be tough like famous Wolverine, but you can't just go losing your temper like that." Nathaniel said.
"It's not like that." I said.
"Then what is it like?" Nathaniel said.
"It's just he get me so mad, I could just-" I said as my claws begin to reveal themselves.
"Charles look, you have the same berserker genes that your father has which can be quite dangerous." Nathaniel said. "You need to be careful and learn to keep your temper in check."
"I know but-" I began.
"No buts. Now why don't you go back to your room and do something relaxing." Nathaniel said as he opened the door to a classroom that revealed a red-haired woman bearing a striking resemblance to his own mother.
"Alright, hey Aunt Maddie." I said as Nathaniel closed the door leaving me standing outside.
I walked back to my dorm thinking about what my uncle Nathaniel said. I thought it was weird that I could be getting such poignant and caring advice from someone who used to be one the X-men's most nefarious foes. But when Apocalypse fell, he and Maddie joined the X-men and have been on their side ever since. My musings brought me to my room quicker than I thought and I decided that a great way to relax would be to take a nap. When I awoke, my phone went off and it was my sister, Rachel.
"Hey Bro, how are you doing?" Rachel asked.
"Alright, just woke up from a nap." I replied.
"How could you be sleeping, it's your first day at the institute!" Rachel exclaimed. "Besides, our brother Cable is going to be dropping off his son Brent soon."
"Oh man my nephew Brent; I haven't seen him in a while." I said. "And speaking of Cable, how are he and Ororo doing?"
"Great, they just planned their second honeymoon while Brent starts classes." Rachel said.
"Cool!" I said.
"Yeah, so make sure that you are awake long enough to catch up with him." Rachel said.
"Yeah, I will." I said as a new kid walks into my room. "I'll talk to you later sis, my roomie just walked in."
"Alright, have fun and don't be a stranger." Rachel said.
"I won't, bye!" I said as I hang up the phone. "Hey man, my name is Charles. I guess we are going to be roommates this year. What's your name?"
"The name's Tyler LeBeau, people call me Ace." Tyler said with an unmistakable southern accent.
"Oh man, our parents were on the same team together!" Charles exclaims excitedly.
"Well duh, they were part of the X-Men at the same time." Tyler said sounding annoyed.
I was going to try and break the ice by talking about our powers but Nathaniel walks in and informed the both of us that it was freshman training time. As we walked out, he handed us both black uniforms with giant crimson "X's" in the center. He then led us down to the lower levels of the mansion until we arrived at the Danger Room. Once there, Professor Summers appeared on a huge LCD monitor and told us to gather up in a line and say our name, potential code name and powers. Tyler started,
"My name is Tyler LeBeau. My codename is Ace and my powers are charging up any object kinetic energy causing them to explode and absorbing others powers through touch."
Mr. Summer pointed at me and said,
"You're up."
"My name is Charles Howlett. My codename is Phoenix X. My powers are heightened senses, superhuman stamina, agility, and reflexes, regenerative healing factor, telepathy, telekinesis, and Bone claws that pop out in-between my knuckles."
While the others were telling Mr. Summers about their powers and code-names, Tyler and I were talking,
"Dude, lets get out of here, so we can get some girls." Tyler said.
I laughed and agreed. So during practice, we managed to duck out when an explosion went of. We walked down to the train station and headed into the city. Two hours later, we had seen all that we wanted to see and decided that we should head back to the school.
"Man, all these ladies and none of them want the Ace." Tyler said.
"Maybe, if you stop macking game to girls who are already on dates, Ace." I said.
"Well, they trying the rest, they should just have best." He said.
I laughed and walked down the streets. Suddenly my nephew ran into us and I said,
"What's good Brent?"
He looked very mad at Tyler and me and said,
"Where the hell were you guys, Mr. Summers is pissed and sent me and Jen to find you guys."
"Well, we thought a night out would be a good idea, but it was it turn into a drag fest." Tyler said.
But before we could finish explaining ourselves, a giant robot walked over the building we were next to. It looked at us and its eyes turned bright red. It said,
"Mutant genome found, starting termination sequence."
I looked at Brent and Tyler and I said,
"Damn what a crappy first day huh."