A/N----JUST A QUICK NOTE. I redid a little bit of the story and fixed as many of the spelling and grammatical errors as I could find. So please go easy on me. This IS my first story after all.
As far as I can figure right now, this story starts on episode 21 where lance has just joined the x-men. Brandon is in the med-lab while Lance is at the mansion
I also have a list of present (or soon to be trained) and future powers for anyone who wants it. I will not restrict myself to only that list however. If I have a good idea, or decide to steal someone else's (just kidding….. or am I????) I might use it anyway.
The Traveler, Chapter 1
Some are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them, and some find greatness within. But all must be responsible for themselves or their greatness means nothing. This is the story of a young man who is currently being chased through the town of Bayville because the wrong people had discovered his 'greatness'.
Brandon Mathews had just wanted to rent a room at the little Motel 8, get some food, and maybe see the sights. Instead, he was being chased by what he assumed were Jocks at the school he had passed earlier, if their jackets were anything to go by. Words like "FREAK!!" and "MUTIE!!" floated to his ears from behind as he ran down Main Street from an intersection crowded with cars stopped by the accident he had been responsible for. with deft movements, he navigated his way through the tightly packed cars. The Jocks were starting to fall behind as Brandon called on his stolen energy and charged his legs with around 50,000 volts. With a slight sizzling sound he rocketed ahead at a speed that would have olympic runners gaping like fish out of water. The Jocks just stopped and stared as their quarry almost literally flew out of sight. His legs looking like the roadrunner as he passed first one street then another as he tried desperatly to control and stop the flow of energy in his legs before it drew to much and knocked him out. But he couldn't stop. His path was about to carry him through a wrought iron gate with a plaque beside it and in his energized state, his brain was working just as fast as his legs, he was able to read the plaque. 'XAVIOR'S INSTITUTE FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS'.
'the hell?' was his first thought, 'wait... I've heard of this place... oh shit!! This is where all those mutants live!!! Oh god, when they see me rocketing up the drive they'll come pouring out and ill be nothing more than a smear on the grass… Wait! Maybe if I can drain the rest of my energy I'll knock my self out! surely they won't attack someone unconsious and I'll have stopped running as well... That's it then. That's what I'll do. God I hope this works'.
With that last thought Brandon sent a strong pulse of energy out into the sky, blinding all radar equipment in a 5 mile radius and stopping him cold as he fell to the grass. unable to move. 'I hope I didn't overdo it like last time. I don't really feel like sleeping for a week again.'
When Brandon woke up, he expected to be back in that nice cushy bed at the Bed and Breakfast in the nowhere town whose name he couldn't remember, about to set off on the 92 mile trip to Bayville. What he did NOT expect was to see a reject from a Sci-Fi movie looking down on him with medical tools in its hands. the words 'BLUE MONKEY!!! BLUE MONKEY!!!' from EVOLUTION came to mind, but then he saw that the 'Blue Monkey' was wearing glasses and a lab coat and remembered that he had blacked out on the front lawn of mutant manor, and began to freak out again. The 'Blue monkey' noticed Brandon was awake and walked over to the bed that he was strapped to when the restraints on the boys arms began to smoke and char. Hank, the Blue Monkey noticed and held up his hands as if surrendering.
"Who are you?!?!" Brandon yelled. "Where am I!? Who are you? For that matter, what are you?!
" Mister Mathews, i need you to calm down and listen to doctor McCoy. All will be explained in due time. "
"And what the hell was that!?!?" Brandon was obviously not calming down and his restraints were about to break from the constant heat and energy being produced by his body." And what the hell am I tied down for???"
"Brandon! Please calm down, all the energy you're emitting is affecting the computers!" Hank all but shrieked." I'm going to remove the restraints. I need you to promise to be calm once I'm done, OK?"
"Fine, fine, just get them the hell off me!" Brandon was starting to come down off his adrenelin high and was able to think clearly 'Jesus, how in the hell did I get in this situation?
flashback
When Brandon had seen the Little Bed and Breakfast, he hadn't thought much at first. Faded outside, unkempt grounds, rundown sign etc. But when he got inside he had to rethink his opinion of the place. no one would know looking at he outside that the inside would be so cozy. It was like the stereotypical farmhouse. After settling in for a measly sum of $35.00, he had taken his first shower in a week, using up every last drop of hot water and pruning more than a raisin. After drying off, he lay down on the small but soft twin size bed and planned on reading some more of the book he had picked up the week before. Of course, he fell asleep instantly, not waking till noon of the next day.
After the complimentary breakfast and another 2 hour shower, Brandon bid farewell to the owner of the place and walked out of sight towards his next stop, Bayville. After about an hour of hitch hiking with no success he decided to hell with it and charged his legs with just enough energy to increase his run speed to about 30 miles an hour, thankfully, with a year of practice he knew how long it took for his energy to return and used little enough that it would be restored almost as soon as it was used. he would just need to take a break every two hours to be safe and make sure that he didn't overdo it again. He really hated when he passed out from overdrawn energy. The one time he had overdrawn his parents had freaked and put him in the hospital where the doctor's had been able to tell he was a mutant. Of course, they told his parents and when he woke up they, to put it simply, had kicked him out of the house. He had spent the next few months practicing manipulating energy and charging different body parts with energy. This is putting it in very loose terms but he could charge his legs for speed and electrified kicks and such, he could charge his arms for strength and electrified punches and such. Sometimes he would hold races in whatever city he was in, using his charge run just enough to win, and make six or seven hundred dollars each time from bets. About enough to last another 2 weeks or so. Brandon also had the ability to control the energy around objects to make the illusion of telekinesis, though he could only move something that weighed less than 10 lb.'s or so
When Brandon arrived in Bayville he had decided to take a break and just chill for a while. Brandon had gotten into Bayville at around noon and there was no point in checking in until later in the day so he decided to just slum around town and take in what sights there may be. After passing first the High School followed shortly by the mall, he went into a little cafe on the corner of Main street to pick up a newspaper and get some lunch. One can eat rabbits and duck over a camp fire for only so long after all. After eating his 12" Meatball Sub he had decided it was late enough to check in and began the 20 minute walk back to the motel. The only glitch in his plan was the car barreling around the corner doing 60.
'Morons.' was his first thought 'If their going to speed they could at least do it out on the back-roads where there would be less chance of someone getting hurt.'
Just then, one of those rubber balls that you can get for 2 dollars from Wall-Mart rolled out into the street followed by a 4 year old looking boy.
"KID!! GET OUT OF THE STREET!!" Brandon screamed.
But the Preschooler just looked up at the car with a 'deer caught in headlights' look and fell on his but. The driver of the car only then noticed the kid and tried to brake and swerve but was going to fast. The car was now sliding sideways along the road towards the kid and now that Brandon saw that there was no other option if he wanted the kid to live, jumped out into the road and pushed the child to the side taking the full brunt of the impact. He had charged his body with as much energy as he could without passing out, in the hopes that he wouldn't be injured to badly. The car, with Brandon plastered to the roof, slammed into the First National Bank at the end of the T-intersection. When Brandon came to, there was a crowd of people surrounding the car's remains and someone was dragging the driver out of his window while another person was checking Brandon's pulse. The first thing that Brandon did was to shuffle onto his knees and from there to his feet. The woman checking his pulse had jumped away from him as if she had been electricuted, while the crowd did a classic movie theatre gasp. For a second, Brandon couldn't understand why, then he remembered how he had ended up imbedded in the wall and mentally freaked.
'Oh god, this is bad. That kid better be okay. Oh shit! Cops! I'm outta here!'
And with that Brandon had begun running down the street back to the motel when a group of people in letterman jackets started to chase him, yelling that he was a Freak and that he was responsible for the accident.
'As if, heh, if it hadn't been for me that kid would be dead and the driver would be facing a manslaughter charge along with the reckless driving. As it is, he'll probably lose his license anyway. DAMN, Why did he have to be speeding? I could have just sat back and waited for the cops, The driver would have been able to slow down enough to miss, and i wouldn't be running again...'
END FLASHBACK
'Oh, that's right, i saved the kid and got hit by a car, no wonder I hurt...nice reward I get for doing a good deed.'
"Brandon?"
"Huh? You say something Fuzzy?" not all of his synapses were firing yet, otherwise he would have never called someone who looked like he could benchpress a tractor, 'Fuzzy'
"... Please don't call me that..." Hank Mr. McCoy did not look to pleased with his new nickname,
"Right. Um...why did you have me strapped to a table?" Brandon quarried
"Because you blew onto the grounds through the wreckage that was the front gate after causing a car wreck. We just didn't want to take any chances. I'm sure you can understand." Hank said lamely.
" Mister Mathews, will you please follow Mr. McCoy? I have a few questions for you ." A thunderous voice boomed through their minds causing Brandon to jump and Hank to chuckle at he saw Brandon's reaction.
"You never answered my question, what was that? Who was that? I'm not going anywhere until i get some answer's." Brandon said adamantly
"Fine; The voice you heard was Professor Xavior, he's a telepath, one of the most powerful in the world actually. He runs the school above us. Right now we're in the sub-level in the med lab; you were asleep for 3 days, we needed to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with you. Is that enough information for now?" He said all this very fast and impatiently. "We need to get up there soon."
Brandon's brain was numb, trying to process the new information. After a few seconds, he answered in a sullen voice, "Fine, let's get this over with".
When Brandon had heard he was going to be meeting the most powerful telepath in the world and a teacher at Mutant High, he had envisioned him to be a 7' tall, broad shouldered, caped and costumed man of mystery. What he didn't expect to find was a bald man in a wheel chair, with his eye's closed, looking like he was asleep.
"Brandon? Are you okay?" Hank was beginning to worry that the boy might have some sort of mental injury that the scanners couldn't sense. Why else would have such a stupid look on his face?
"... huh? oh..uh, ya... Just wasn't what I was expecting, ya know? I just thought the most powerful telepath in the world would have a little more poise or something.' and not looking like he was asleep.' He mentally added
"I am not asleep Mr. Mathews; Merely thinking. It's a pleasure to meet you." At this, The frail looking old man opened his eyes. "I'm Charles Xavior, And this is 'Xavior's Institute for gifted youngsters'. he chuckled a little at Brandon's reaction to knowing what he was thinking. "Also, you project your thoughts very loudly, even when you're not exited. When you first woke up, I nearly had a heart attack from the strength of your emotions." He finished, laughing softly to himself.
"Glad to know I can still make people laugh. Though Fuzzy here seems to think I'm retarded or something." Brandon said, referring to Hank A.K.A. The Beast. The Beast growled at the use of his new nickname.
"Not to worry Hank, Mr. Mathews is perfectly fine. in fact, he's something of a genius himself. His I.Q. is 186 afteralll. Someday, he might even work with you in the lab. Or maybe with Forge on Muir island. Who knows? He might even be smarter than you." The proffesor said teasingly
"Not likely Charles, not likely."
"Mr.Mathews, when i talked to the people chasing you, some of them said that you attacked a car going down the street, and then tried to destroy the bank by throwing said car through the side wall. And that then, you ran when you heard the sirens. I personally don't think that you did that, but I need to hear it in your own words if you don't mind." 'I also need to ascertain your behavioral patterns. The last thing I need is a potential killer in my school. God, the ramifacations that could have...'
"Well, it all began about a month after the start of 8th grade...
FLASHBACK
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
you know what one of the worst things about high school is? The Bully's. The Bully's always look for a quick laugh. Uncaring, unfeeling and just plain mean to boot. Despite all that the bully's can put you through, locker shoving and other things, the girls are even worse. When one gets ahold of you it's like trying to shake off the metroids in METROID PRIME. All you can do is roll into a ball and hope they go away and stop sucking you dry. (Get your minds out of the gutter you perverted morons! lol) But the all time worst is when the Jock/Bully decides that you're moving in on 'his girl', espessialy when your smaller than everyone else and to top it all, got pushed ahead a grade. Which brings us back to the present.
"You know Mathews, All the teachers think you're so smart, but I know the truth, I know that you only got here by cheating. There's no way that you could be smart enough to ace Mr. Swill's test, you only got here a week ago! We've been studying for it for a month and we're supposed to believe you can ace it no problem? Yeah right, I bet you can't even tie your own shoelaces by yourself. If you're so smart, then getting out of here should be a piece of cake, huh Mathews?"
With that last bit, the ugly face with a body attached stuffed the battered boy, in his floor to almost ceiling locker and spun the combination lock to be safe.
'You know, it would really suck if there was a fire right now.'
After about 10 minutes Brandon had decided he had had enough and tried to wiggle his cell phone out of his cargo pants knee type pocket. After rescuing his phone from the linty prison, he sent a text to his best friend who hopefully would check his phone after first period ended and before the next class started. The chances of that were slim to none but it was worth a try. With luck, Brandon could still get to second period on time, albeit a bit sore.
After an eternity of waiting for his BFF James Harrison, Brandon was finally free to stand at his full 5' 6". Unfortunatly, it wasn't until lunch that James had checked his phone, and by then, Brandon was as grumpy as could be, for spending the last 3 hours in his locker. He could have had anyone who passed hid open it for him, but he was paranoid that someone would remember his combination and steal his Molecular Reconstructor or worse, activate it! He had built it for the science fair and was thinking of patenting it, but it wasn't quite perfected yet. He still needed to find an alternate source of energy for it. He couldn't run it off of bio-electricity forever, now could he? After consuming enough food to make the Flash sick to his stomach, Brandon had breezed through the rest of his classes for the day and after collecting his Matter Converter from his locker, started to walk home. After about 7 blocks he heard someone following him.
"Hey punk."
Brandon knew who it was without even needing to turn around 'Ahh shizzit, Jock/Bully what's his face again. Maybe I could melt the soles of his shoes? No, then he'd definatly know something's up... Maybe I can bluff my way out of it. I do know a little Karate after all...'
Unfortunately. That idea didn't work very well…
The next five minutes were not very pleasant, as Brandon was repeatedly punched and kicked in the stomach and head. Finally, when the bully had had enough, he started to sift through Brandon's backpack. After a few second he pulled out the Molecular Reconstructor and waved it around like the trophy it looked like it was.
"What's this, huh Mathews? Some sort of fancy award or something? Maybe you got it from Swill for acing his test?"
While he was swinging it around, he accidentally activated it by depressing and rotating the model on top. At this point Brandon wasn't able to see all that well from the swelling and bruises, but there was no mistaking the push and pull of his own bio-electric energy charging in the Jocks hand. Only then did the moron notice that the 'Trophy' was glowing and dropped it like it was red hot, which in reality, it was.
"YEEEAAAAHHHOOOOWWWW!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THIS THING MAN??? WHY IS IT GLOWING?!?!"
But Brandon didn't and couldn't hear anything but the pulse of his borrowed energy as it finished charging with a 'BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!'
'Dear lord... with that much energy charged up, everything within 100 yards will be nothing but dust and ash... I have to stop it somehow, I HAVE TO, I'm the only one who can... I bet this is gonna hurt a bit...Who am I kidding? this is gonna hurt alot.' He sighed at this 'Hear it goes.'
From then on, everything was a blur. Glimpses of bubble shields of energy. Strobes of red and blue lights. Flashes of white lab coats... then he was in a hospital with a cute nurse telling him he had nearly comatose for a whole week.
"A week?! Jesus... I must have used a lot of energy to contain the blast huh... wait!! Did I contain it? Maybe it just couldn't hurt me because it's my own energy? I have to find out!
And with that he began the long process or regaining his energy and health while also gathering information. It turned out that the only damage had been a pit in the road that was a greyish brownish color the shape and size of a Beachball that had been divided in half.
'phew... I was getting worried there for a while' least no one got hurt'.
END FLASHBACK
'A Molecular Reconstructor?! He's surpassed all theory and proven several scientific journals incorrect!!! The Professor screamed to himself. 'This will have to be handled carefully...'
Hank just sat in his chair with his mouth open, gaping at both the professor and the 'child' in front of him.
The professor finally found his voice and suggested a tour of the facility to 'ease Brandon's troubled mind'. What he really wanted was time to ponder this new wrinkle in the story that is mutants
Outside in the pool area, Kitty was just about to do a Phase cannon ball through the diving board, when she received a mental message from the Prof. to come to his office.
When she arrived, she heard voices and stopped to enjoy one of her favorite pastimes... Eavesdropping, when the door suddenly opened and a stranger nearly ran her right through the wall.
"Oh, you must be Kitty. I'm Brandon, Brandon Mathews, nice to meet'cha."
