Life wasn't easy for teleporter Nick West. When he was twelve, he found out that he could teleport, albeit spastically. It went down like this:
He was at school one day, getting ready for lunch. He was talking with his best friend Dave. They had been friends since kids in grade two. Suddenly, a large kid came up behind him and grabbed his lunch pail out of his hand. Dave tried to get it back, but ended up falling to the floor with a broken nose. In a last-ditch effort to even mildly harm the bully, Dave tripped the bully, who threw away the lunch pail while falling. Nick sprinted over, grabbed the pail, and ran for his life. The bully was hot on his tail. Suddenly, Nick tripped and fell because his shoe was untied. However, he held tight to the pail and there he was, lying on the ground. He heard the bully huffing and puffing behind him, so he laid there and waited for the worst. Right before the bully got to him, he heard a strange "vrit" sound. When he opened his eyes, he was between the space of the top of a row of lockers and the ceiling. "Freak!" The bully called out before storming away. Nick, although slow to accept at first, knew that the bully was right. He got down off of the lockers and started making his way toward lunch, when he saw the bully strangling Dave! He ran over, dropped the lunch, and drew his arm back. One second, he was forty yards away from the prepared bully, who dropped Dave. The next moment, "vrit", and he was five feet away when he threw the punch, hitting the bully square in the mouth. THAT was something that not even Nick was prepared for. The bully fell backwards and hit the floor, unconscious. What a glass jaw.
When Nick was fifteen, he was so overwhelmed by hatred from even Dave that he decided to duck out in the middle of the night and run away. He took only two shirts, two pairs of athletic shorts, and his vast knowledge of algebra. He took the name "Variable" because you never know what he is until you stay around him for a little.
In the middle of a forest, he could have sworn that he saw a girl run through a tree. After his eyes followed the girl out of sight, he heard shouting from the direction in which the girl came. He teleported into a tree and watched down. He saw a bunch of soldiers in full armor pointing guns in the general direction of the way the girl went. The girl reappeared from another tree and stood straight in front of the soldiers saying, "Go on, let me have it!" The only sound that could be heard for the next ten seconds was the sound of rapid gunfire. The girl, although she was the one and only target, never even flinched.
When the gunfire died out, the girl said with a grin, "My turn." She rushed toward the soldiers and went straight through them! She turned and punched one in the back. When he turned, a fist in the face awaited him. Another tried to punch her, but the fist went right through her. She fell to the ground and kicked up at him, hitting him in the face. A third came in and suffered the same fate. The girl yawned. She gave an extra-hard kick to the second, and got up just in time to avoid a punch in the face, grab the arm of soldier three, and disappear into the ground to the point where the soldier had only his head above ground. The girl appeared back up through the ground and bent down. She shook her head at the soldier before knocking him out with a powerful kick. The one earlier grounded by a punch in the back and face stood up slowly, only to be knocked out by a kick to the chin. A fourth fired multiple pistol shots at her, but she, unaffected, walked slowly up to the fourth, waited until he was done firing, and kicked him in the groin. As the fourth bent over, groaning, the girl karate-chopped his neck and he fainted there. "Pathetic." The girl said.
As she turned around to walk away, Nick teleported right in front of her, startling her somewhat. The girl hesitated. "That…was unbelievable. Where did you learn to do that?" He asked. She still hesitated. "I'm Nicholas West, but I go by 'Variable.'" Nick said. He held out his hand for the girl to shake it. The girl hesitated for another second, but then ran right through Nick and started to run away from him. "Wait!" Nick called after her. She kept running. Nick teleported after her.
Nick followed the girl until they arrived at a large mansion. The girl went in through the door. Literally, right through it. Nick saw a window and peeked in. Another girl, this one with green hair, asked the first girl from a chair, "Did you find him, Kitty?" "I think he followed me here without persuasion." The one referred to as "Kitty" answered.
Nick heard a noise behind him that sounded like "bamf." He turned to see a blue man staring him straight in the face. "Hallo. Wie heißen Sie?" He asked. Nick stared blankly. "Vhat your name?" The blue man asked. "N…nick." Nick said slowly. "Vould you like to come inside?" The man asked. "I can't. No offense, but I don't really trust you." Nick said. "Nobody does at first." He said. Bamf! Next thing Nick knew, he and the blue man where on top of a mountain. "If I push you off of this cliff, do you trust me to catch you?" The man asked. "No!" Nick said disbelievingly. "Wunderbar!" The blue man suddenly pushed Nick off of the cliff. Nick fell, but didn't even bother screaming, for he knew what to do. Vrit! Nick was back on the cliff's edge. Bamf! The blue man appeared in front of Nick. "Do you…?" "Ja. I am a teleporter," The blue man interrupted, "Und I have a very useful tail." "That's…interesting. Bye." Nick said quickly. Vrit!
Nick found himself in a forest, covered by leaves. "Wow. And I thought I was a freak." He thought out loud. Bamf! The blue man hung from a tree by his tail. "I don't vant to make a long discussion about this, so let's cut to the chase, ja? I am Kurt Vagner, a member of the X-Men. We are a-" Vrit! Nick was gone. "Oh, himmel erbarmen." Wagner said. Bamf!
Several bamfs and vrits later…
Nick was on top of the World Trade Center. "Ah! Is there any getting away from that guy?" Nick asked himself. "Nein." Wagner said from five feet away. "Oh, my gosh! Fine, I trust you." Nick said resentfully. "Wunderbare noch einmal!" Wagner exclaimed. He grabbed Nick's hand and bamf! They were back by the mansion.
Kitty walked out through a wall and the green-haired girl came out the door after. "Who have we here?" The green-haired girl asked. "The teleporter Nick Vest." Wagner said. "No, 'West.'" Nick corrected. Wagner sighed. "I'm Kitty Pryde. I go by 'Shadowcat.'" Kitty said. "Lorna Dane. You can call me Polaris." The green-haired girl said. "Call me Nightcrawler," Wagner said, "Or just Kurt." "Who are you people?" Nick asked. "Ve are the X-Men." Kurt said.
"Ve are an organization of mutants like you who seek out mutants in need and bring them back to this mansion. Once here, they learn all they need to know to prepare them for the rest of the vorld. Some mutants stay here and join a special mutant team known as X-Men. These are the vones who find the mutants and bring them here."
"So…you want me to be an X-Man?" Nick asked. Suddenly, heavy footsteps approached the door and a man who couldn't have been less than nine feet tall appeared out of the doorway. "Who are you?" Nick asked. "Don't you know who I am? I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, B-" "Don't, Cain. Children could be reading this." A voice said from the shadows of some trees. A man in a red suit stepped out of the shadows. Nightcrawler sighed. "Vhat do you vant, Vade?" Kurt asked impatiently. "The writer needed someone to censor out Cain's line from X-Men: Last Stand. Naturally, I was the guy." Wade said. He disappeared back into the shadows, whispering the word "Deadpool" slowly as he went. "Vade Vilson. Biggest failure this school ever made next to Jason Stryker." Nightcrawler said.
The five walked into the mansion. "Nick, Kitty vill show you to your room." Nightcrawler said. "But I don't know where his room is." Kitty said. "Vell, don't stand there like a slug. Phase to it." Kurt said. Kitty approached him, chuckling sarcastically. "So funny." She said. She threw a punch, but Kurt teleported behind her. She turned. "Frau Kätzchen, I admire your zeal, but please find the room." Nightcrawler said politely. "I'll kätzchen YOUR frau, you coward." Kitty said angrily. "Looks like you've made the cat angry, elf." Said a low, throaty voice from a shadowy corner. A guy stepped out of the corner with a hair dew that made him look like his hair expert was a devil-maker. "Hello, herr Logan." Nightcrawler said. "I will show Nick to his room." Logan said.
Next morning, Nick woke up and got a shirt and pair of shorts out of his small suitcase. His shirt was white with a green "N" on it. His shorts were blue. He went downstairs, but was on the bottom step when he heard "Why?" from behind him. He turned and saw a tall man draped in red, clad with iron shoulder pads. Hanging from the shoulder pads were a wide, red cape. "'Why' what?" Nick asked. "Why would you waste time walking when you could just teleport everywhere?" The man asked. "Who are you?" Nick asked suspiciously. "Kuruta Otoko." The man said. "Everybody calls me Sekhmet." "Why do they call you that?" Nick asked. "My mutation is rapid regeneration of cells. I am also telepathic. I can read thoughts." Otoko said. "I know that you are a teleporter and that you also have the power of aerokinesis, as do I." Sekhmet said. "Before you ask, aerokinesis is the ability to contort air into any shape you want. For example…" He made a ball of contorted air appear in his hand and he shot it at Nick. When it hit, Nick felt a huge gush of wind and was shot down the rest of the long stairs. Before he reached the bottom, he teleported to a safer fall. Otoko jumped down from the stairs and said, "Come with me. I will bring your powers to a full." He advanced on Nick, who crawled away desperately.
Suddenly, Sekhmet started to rise to the ceiling. He was half way between ceiling and floor when Polaris walked in, her arm extended. "Kuruta," said she, "you've no business here. Leave." She dropped him and he hit the floor with a thump. He got up, put his fingers to his mouth, and whistled. Suddenly, an explosion broke the door down and a woman dressed in red, along with Wade Wilson and a finely-dressed man walked through. "Lorna." The red-clad woman said. "Wanda." Lorna said back. Logan, Juggernaut, and Kitty came running to the stairs. When they saw what was going on…
"And STAY out!" Kitty yelled. Slam! The door was shut behind the invaders. The only one left was Wade, who had been hung by a foot from the chandelier. "Can we talk about this?" He asked. I had never seen such a battle in my life. One head butt from Juggernaut sent Wade flying to the ceiling. A metal sheet from Polaris pushed "Wanda" out of the door, and Nightcrawler got there just in time to teleport the finely-dressed man out along with Sekhmet.
Outside, Sekhmet scolded the others to get up. "We need an army to get that boy! Shaw, get Pietro, Emma, Archangel, Mystique, anyone you can! Wanda, get our secret weapon." "You don't mean…?" Wanda started. "GET ME AZAZEL ON THE LINE!" Sekhmet yelled. "We have to get this boy, otherwise we will never win."
"Who was that?" Nick asked. "Sekhmet and the Sekhems." Logan said hatefully. "A group who wishes to take over the X-Men and sell them to Mojo." "Who's-" "He's a monster who steals mutants and uses them as gladiators. He also funds the Sekhems. We need to prepare. They will be back for you, Nick. They want you first. Get everyone you can, Kitty…yeah, even Summers."