Halloo, pepples, this is the first chappie in A Series of Mutants. Can you guess what it's about? A SERIES OF MUTANTS.
Oh my gosh.
laughs Anyhoo, this is Paul's 'bio,' a.k.a. how he became a mutant. If any of you have interesting ideas for his name (anything w/the root 'pyro' is strictly out of the question unless it's so fantastically good you can't keep it quiet), put them in the review section. I can't just keep calling him Paul…
(be happy, Annette – this isn't Harry Potter!)
"Oh, yeah, and then when you winked at the professor like that she nearly threw you out of class…"
Paul and Stuart laughed heartily at the memory of their last day of classes at their elite acting school. The two of them had a lot in common: short, dark-haired and eyed, wealthy families, they even came from the same city in their homeland of Great Britain….both had also just recently departed from the annual end-of-year party. It being past midnight, they had finally said goodnight to all their friends and were now walking on their way back home to the apartment that they both shared.
Neither of them noticed the group of men eyeing them from across the street in the shelter of a dark alleyway. At least, not until they began following the two young actors.
Staurt glanced over his shoulder and turned around again, his eyes slightly worried. "Paul, there's some guys following us…I don't think they look too terribly friendly…"
Paul glanced back at the men also, but shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing to worry about. The apartment's only a block up, and those guys could be going anywhere – stop being paranoid."
"I'm not paranoid, I just don't want to get mugged," Stuart protested "and I've got a full wallet on me…"
"Yeah, me too," said Paul, "but those guys aren't doing anything to us-"
Three men suddenly came around the corner in front of the two friends and stood there, looking very solid and menacing. Behind Stuart and Paul the original four also halted, leering and cracking their knuckles.
"I told you…" whispered Stuart as he and Paul glanced around at the circle of men. One of them stepped forward, a nearby lamppost illuminating his harsh features and scraggly beard. "Pull out your money. All of it now, and we'll let you go." Paul's heart was beating furiously as he quickly thought up an answer. "We don't have any money," he told the man blandly, putting all of the acting abilities he could summon into the lie, "we just spent it all on dinner."
"Liar!" the man laughed roughly, launching himself at Stuart and knocking him down. Another man came up behind Paul and pinned his arms behind his back while yet another rummaged in his jacket pockets. Paul tried yelling, but received a gigantic undercut to his jaw, which was heavy enough to knock him senseless for a few seconds and cause his teeth to slam down on his tongue. Start was still yelling but still trying to fight while the other man continued to try and kick and punch him unconscious, only intent on getting money. Soon the other men were doing the same to Paul.
"YOU BASTARDS! GET – OFF – ME!"
Paul suddenly collapsed against the man who was holding his arms, shivering uncontrollably. He wondered vaguely where they had hit him so hard. But the next thing he knew the man had dropped him, screaming and blowing on his fingers as though he had been burned. Opening his eyes, Paul thought he was hallucinating – his entire world was red. It was like in the spy movies he used to go see, the infrared goggles and all that sort of junk. But the only difference was that this red made everything seem more vibrant. He could almost see better – which meant it was a considerable improvement, as he had to wear glasses. He shivered again, moving weakly from his position on the sidewalk. He sat up and heard a sizzle from behind him. Spinning his torso around, he saw the smoking impressions of two hands on the cement.
Where his hands had been moments before.
Holding them up in front of his eyes, Paul saw white sparks dancing across his fingertips, lighting up his crimson world. He felt very warm. He looked u and saw that the men were all staring at him, and had even broken off their attack on Stuart. With a sharp hiss, Paul felt the blood running out of his mouth from his bleeding tongue evaporate, leaving only a slight copper-colored film on his chin.
"YOU FREAK!! YOU MUTANT!!"
Paul saw the man who had first asked for his and Stuart's money pull a gun from his pocket and shoot. Almost as if someone else were controlling him, Paul raised his hand as though to halt the whirling bit of metal, and it burst into flame and fell in a puff of ashes to the street. The man screamed like a madman and ran, his companions quickly following him. As Paul watched the men pelt down the street, he collapsed again, the heat draining from his body as he shivered on the sidewalk. After a few seconds, he gathered enough strength to stand up, and he staggered over to Stuart, who was staring at him, his mouth gaping in shock.
Or fear.
Paul extended his hand to help his friend up from where he was still lying on the ground, but Stuart yelled and jerked away, regaining his feet by himself, though still needing to seek support from a nearby building. "What the hell are you?" he whispered, his voice hoarse. "What the hell are you?!"
Paul shivered again and fell to his knees, but Stuart remained distant. Paul forced his head up, tears forming at the corners of his eyes as the cold tremble receded into a wave of fiery pain.
"Please…help me…Stu, help…"
Stuart shook his head, his voice high and quivering as he stared at his best friend. "Stay away from me!" he shouted, and ran down the street toward the direction of the apartment. Paul's fingers gripped the sidewalk, burning holes in them as the tears evaporated from his cheeks.
God help me, I'm a mutant…
wowie, the first version of that was really crappy. I hope I cleaned it up, tho – and I'm finally glad I've got this off my belt! I've wanted to type this little bit up for so long, but I just couldn't figure out what was going on. Did I make Stuart good (well?)? Real? I hope so…
anyhoo, this is the 'intro' to my Xmen fanfic. I actually joined for Xmen, not Harry Potter (though it's easier and less painful to find up plot bunnies for him!!), but my copy of the first story kept getting deleted…and then I can only type it when I'm alone b/c certain people I know - coughJoChelseMorganIlyaHarryHannahJocough - would think I named one of my characters (Greg) after someone else we all know…BUT IF ANY OF YOU PEOPLE I JUST MENTIONED ARE LAUGHING STOPPIT BECUASE I DID NOT NAME THE FREAKING CHARACTER AFTER GREG!! sighs I still know I'm going to get burned for that one, tho :-(
R&R, ya'll know the deal…
morough