XMen:The Electrifying Blitz

by Kabeiroi

Sparks fly when Blitz, a clumsy, cocky, lightning wielding outsider joins Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Will he ever tame his powers enoguh to fit in? And hopefully do so without frying somebody scary like, so, say, Wolverine?

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yet another really old one. My brother James came up with this idea and I wrote a story about it for his birthday. Dara Gibson/Nyx, James Gibson/Blitz, The Thunderer, & Tigress all © Chiyome, 2009.

X-MEN

THE ELECTRIFYING BLITZ

By Chiyome

James--

Happy 11th B-day!

(even though you're like 16 in the story, ;D)

It was broiling hot outside and James Gibson grimaced, glancing briefly up at the blazing sun as he stretched. Man, he was nervous enough already, he didn't need all this heat now; he was batter-up, all the bases were loaded, the score was tied, and oh, did he forget to mention that THIS WAS THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME?

A lot was riding on him, and James couldn't help but think he was going to blow it; the day had already gotten off to a bad start. He hadn't slept well again and, as a result, overslept, and was nearly late for the game. Even though he skidded into the dugout at the last second, the coach had still chewed him out.

James couldn't concentrate. He swallowed hard, readjusted his helmet, knocked some packed dirt off of his cleats, tightened his gloves, checked his grip on the handle of the aluminum bat. He couldn't focus.

All he could think about was his sister, Dara.

Well … his sister Dara, who had been kidnapped three years ago, tortured and experimented on, was returned, who had nearly killed some dumb-ass punk, ran away to Canada, was brought back, was nearly shot and killed, and now?

Now she was getting married.

Dara and her fiancé, a German guy named Kurt Wagner, had visited for two weeks--mainly, they came because Dara told their mom, and Patricia Gibson hit the roof, both outraged and overjoyed. She and Riley Gibson, their dad, wanted to meet the new son-in-law.

James and his brother Mike hadn't seen their sister in a long time, so they were excited. James remembered taking a double-take when he saw Dara and Kurt coming through the front door; Dara had put on some muscle, and she stood with a renewed air of confidence. It was a serious change from that shell of a girl that had been living here a couple of years ago.

After running her down for a hug, James turned to greet the new guy, Kurt. As he reached for Kurt's extended hand, James remembered thinking that this guy looked pretty normal. Before, James hadn't know what to expect; laser beam eyes, tentacles, two heads, what??

Then James grasped Kurt's hand. Then James felt the fur.

Seeing the kid leap back with a yelp of shock, like he had been bitten, Kurt grinned. "Sorry about that, mein freund." He glanced at Dara. "We should tell them."

The color in Dara's face drained ever so slightly. "Oh no, Kurt, not yet …"

Even as she pleaded with him, Kurt began to reach into his jeans pocket, removing a small, black remote-like object. "No, no, liebchen, we might as well get it over with." Arching an eyebrow at James, his older brother Mike, and their parents, Kurt gave them a slight bow. "A trick to amaze and delight all, I assure you."

Well, James hadn't been so sure about that.

Tapping a button on the remote-thingy, the image of the good-looking young German guy winked out, like it had been turned off. James found himself staring, his jaw agape and his eyes bugging cartoonishly out of his skull, at a tall, indigo-furred, monkey-lookin' demon thing.

Dad all but screamed in terror, and Mom cried out, clapping both hands over her mouth. Mike gave a squawk of horror, reeling backwards, but only tripping over the carpet and landing flat on his butt. Kurt regarded all this quite calmly, but Dara jerked at the noise, instinctively stepping closer to her boyfriend, as though afraid someone would lash out at him.

Only James remained standing where he was. He continued to stare at Kurt, finally thinking of something thoughtful to say to break the intense silence around them.

"Coooooooooooool."

After that, it wasn't long before Kurt won over the Gibson family. James and Mike had already been sold, and just about every night for the next two weeks, they challenged Kurt to bouts of nighttime extreme paintball. They soon learned why he was called "Nightcrawler".

At first, James had been excited about the wedding--especially when Dara said she wanted a small garden wedding, which meant he wouldn't have to dodge any of his parents' great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandaunts who took sadistic pleasure in pinching cheeks and giving wet kisses.

It had been cool with Dara and Kurt around, even after Kurt tried to pound James for pushing him into the pool (Kurt had teleported away just in time, dammit).

But then …

James hadn't told anybody this, but ever since they figured out who the guys were who had kidnapped Dara, it had freaked the crap out of him. That's why he never slept so well; he kept having nightmares about those monsters--among other things, including being in class wearing nothing but Spongebob Squarepants boxers, but that dream didn't come as often.

And then--yeah, here was the BIG thing--what if he was a mutant? True, James hadn't experienced any weirdness as of late, unless you count getting chased up and down the street by his neighbors' insane Pekingese, but still, what if he developed powers? What if he grew wings like Dara did? What if--eep--those bastards came for him?!

"WAKE UP, BEAUTIFUL!!!!"

"GAAAAH!!!" Nearly leaping out of his cleats, James spun around, clapping a hand over his ringing ears. "Jeez, Coach! Wha--?"

"You're up!" Glaring at James from under his ball cap, Coach Hannigan jabbed a gnarled finger at home base, where the umpire was dusting away dirt. "Get up there--AND DON'T SCREW THIS UP!!!"

James grimaced at the man's sour coffee breath, shooting the coach a dirty look as he reached up to wipe spittle away from his face. "Oh gee, I won't do that Coach!" he said sardonically.

Coach Hannigan redirected his gnarled finger into James' face, nearly cramming it up his nose. "I'm gonna kick your ass, you know that?" he said, his voice low and threatening. "But I'm gonna kick your ass anyways if you strike out."

"Man, come on--"

"You suck when you're the last batter!" Hannigan sneered. "You always freeze up."

Sickened, James turned away from him. "I won't freeze up!" he roared, storming towards the plate. Nearly blinded by his rage, James wasn't aware that he was snarling under his breath, "Stupid fat son of a … so fat he'd only run to first base if a donut rolled there … so fat he'd sit down on a king-sized bed and get stuck … I bet they hid Hoffa in his stomach, that lousy …"

Reaching the base, James immediately shut up, feeling his stomach plummet right to the ground--straight through the ground. Look out China, here comes James' stomach!!

James checked his gloves one final time, resisting the urge to look up to the bleachers, where his parents were sitting, or to the dugout, where his best friend Cody was watching him intently--or trying to, even though Hannigan's fat gut was blocking the view.

Bases loaded, tied score, championship game.

Oh hell, James was gonna screw it up.

He started to shake as he hefted the bat up to his shoulder. James swallowed even though his mouth went dry, and he could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He started to sweat. His hands and limbs felt hot.

He tried to calm himself by reciting his mantra quietly: "Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman …"

Suddenly, he saw the pitcher nod and his eyes widened in shock. James wanted to scream for a time out, but the pitcher's arm was already up, the ball was free, sailing straight towards him.

Gritting his teeth, James swung. He felt the aluminum belt grow hot, and start to vibrate. Oddly, he thought he smelled burning ozone. The air crackled, and static electricity tugged at the ends of his hair.

The ball met the metal bat with a thunderous bang and a blinding flash of light. James cried out in fright, reeling away and dropping the bat to the ground, where it lay smoking.

Suddenly, it dawned on James that he could hear people shrieking, cheering wildly. Dumbly, he looked up to the stands, astonished to see people cheering and leaping up and down. He spotted his parents, yelling and pointing ecstatically to the sky.

Not totally sure he understood what happened, James looked up--and felt his jaw hit his chest. The baseball was screaming through the air, unraveling, leaving a smudge of white smoke as it arced through the sky, over the left field fence, and was gone.

In disbelief, James started to trot forward, glancing back at the dugout for confirmation. Cody was grinning, screaming, slamming his palms against the chain link wall, shouting for James to go, run! Hannigan was leaning sagged against the dugout, weeping in joy.

Breaking into a grin, James raced around the bases, not believing what happened, not believing he won the game.

As he headed towards third base, he remembered all that smoke, the heat, the smell, the static--it came from the bat. It came from him.

Racing past third base, terror jolted through James; had anyone seen?

As he ran towards the waiting arms of his elated teammates, James searched their faces, and the faces of the people in the crowd.

No one looked at him strangely.

But James knew.

He was a mutant.

******************************************************************

"Two more weeks and school's history!"

"Until September again …"

"Man, you've gotta rain on everybody else's parade, you know that?"

James grinned as he watched Cody and Patrick bicker. "Hey guys, ya lookin' to leave a crater in the ground? C'mon, get outta the way before you blow yourselves up!"

"Huh? Oh!" Startled, Cody looked down at the fizzling bottle rocket he had planted on the pitcher's mound. Yelping, he spun around and collided into Patrick, who then smacked him across the head before they both ran wildly for the dugout. "Gang way!"

James hopped aside, laughing wickedly as his friends crashed into the dugout beside him. No sooner had they tumbled in did their rocket shoot into the air with a shriek, racing high into the night sky and exploding with a roar and shower of sparks.

Watching the rocket disintegrate, James felt his heart sink a little; that's exactly what it looked and sounded like when the baseball hit the metal bat the previous day. He couldn't stop thinking about it; it had been on his mind for the last two days.

He was a mutant.

Or was he? Maybe it had been some weird trick of light, or maybe somebody played a practical joke on him …

'Yeah James, you keep telling yourself that,' he thought, snorting.

To celebrate James' big homerun and the coming end of the school year, James and his friends Cody and Patrick had absconded with a big old box of fireworks that one of Cody's brothers had hidden away in their garage. They were only going to use a few of the smaller ones, and they were trying their hardest to be careful around these freaking EXPLOSIVES, but James knew that as soon as fire and gunpowder were involved, he and his friends all turned into the Three Stooges.

Cody watched the last of the dying sparks fade away. "Dude, cool." He glanced at James. "What else we got?"

James looked down at the wooden crate beside him and shrugged. "I can't tell, it's too dark in here."

"Well, let's take it outside," Patrick said, thumbing towards the field.

"Right." Stooping down, James gathered up the box and trailed his friends out of the dugout, every now and then glancing nervously at the fireworks and rockets that rattled around in there.

"Hey James, what happened to your sister?" Patrick asked, jogging on ahead to clear away the burnt paper and spent fuses on the pitcher's mound. "You didn't tell us about it."

"Yeah man, I heard she's getting married?" Cody said. "What's goin' on? What does the guy look like?"

"Does he have gills like that freshman at school?" Patrick added as James set the box on the ground with a sigh.

"Guys, I don't know," James started slowly, picking carefully through the box; man, where the hell did Cody's brother get this stuff? "I'm not really supposed to tell anybody."

"Oh, come on," Patrick snorted as Cody looked at him curiously and asked, "Why not?"

"I--I don't know. It's weird. She's been through a ton of crap, and then … this guy? An-and where she's living now?" James hesitated, feeling his hands start to grow hot and his skin start to prickle oddly. "I can't …"

Cody shifted uncomfortably as James set up the next few rockets. "James, man, have you heard what they're saying at school?"

Patrick shot Cody a warning look. "Cod, we shouldn't--"

"What?" James felt sweat gathering on his forehead and as he looked up at his friends, he felt his hair grow clingy. "What, what're they saying?"

Cody grimaced. "Well … James, I'm only telling you what I heard--and I don't believe it!"

"Me neither," Patrick added hastily.

"I have nothing against mutants or anything."

"I don't either."

"It's just …" Cody's shoulders slumped. "They said Dara kills people for those X-Men."

Horrified, James leapt to his feet. "That's not true!"

"We know it's not! It's just--remember, after that kid attacked her at the movies … she hurt him …?"

For a moment, all James could do was stare at Cody in disbelief. He knew there had been rumors, and he knew there would be the inevitable rumor about his family … he just never expected it.

Patrick slowly shook his head. "They're saying things about you too, James."

James' eyes flared in rage and dread. They were? "Well that explains why everybody seems scared of me!" he shouted, waving his hand through the air in disgust.

As his hand started to come down, James thought he felt something searing his fingertips. Startled, he looked down just in time to see five amber-colored sparks fly from his fingers …

… And land in the box of fireworks.

Cody jumped back. "James--!"

"Holy crap!" Patrick cried, his eyes, wide with terror, fixed on the box as it smoked, as the fuses started to hiss. "It's gonna blow!!"

"Run for it!!" James squawked, already turning and racing at top speed, his petrified friends right beside him.

The fireworks exploded with an earth-shaking roar, the gust of blazing hot air sending the three screeching teenagers off of their feet and throwing them face down in the dirt.

"Hack--bleargh!!" James propped himself up on his elbows, cursing and spitting out mouthfuls of fertilized turf. "G-guys?"

"I'm okay!" Patrick panted, sitting up and wiping mud away from his eyes. "Cody?"

"Never better!" Dazed, Cody rolled onto his back. "That was sick, man."

Wincing, James sat up, turning to look at the snarling, blazing inferno he had left in his wake. Every now and then there was an ear-splitting crack and another firework would blow up.

Bewildered, Cody turned to face James. "James, what'd you do?"

James stiffened, feeling the blood drain from his face. Swallowing hard, he looked at Cody and smiled sheepishly. "I uh, I … dropped a match?"

Beside him, Patrick grimaced. "Let's just keep this little fiasco to ourselves, shall we?"

James and Cody nodded in agreement before all three leapt to their feet and raced off in opposite directions as sirens from fire trucks and police cruisers sounded in the distance.

******************************************************************

SEVERAL DAYS LATER:

"Snnnnnnoooooorrrreee …"

James was out like the stars at night, slumped across his desk in the back of his class, British Lit 101. Everyone else around him on that sunny morning--one of the last few days before school let out for the summer--were mostly awake, wrapping up their finals before the bell rang to change classes.

The bell rang and James screamed, his eyes shooting open and bugging cartoonishly out of his head. He snapped right up in his seat, looking around him wildly at the vacated seats around him. It took him a moment to realize his test was plastered to the side of his face, glued there by his drool.

A little disgusted, James peeled the damp paper off of his skin, furiously wiping the black ink from the type off of his cheek.

At the front of the room, his teacher peered up from where she had been stacking returned tests and readying another set for the following class. "You all set, James? The bell just rang."

"Uh, yeah, I know I just need to--YIPE!!!" Horrified, James stared down at his damp, rumpled test before him. On every answer line, he had scrawled--instead of the CORRECT answer--"Mr. Sinister, Mr. Sinister, Mr. Sinister …"

"Oh man …" His shoulders slumping, James buried his face in his hands--then jerked them away with a squeak, afraid he might singe his eyebrows off of his face.

This. Was. STUPID!!!!!!!!!! This whole damned mutant thing, it had been keeping him up at night. He was becoming paranoid (or maybe more so than usual), constantly looking at every shifting shadow, expecting some freaky conjoined tarantula-Sumo wrestler thingy was going to spring out at him to take him away somewhere. James couldn't be in the same room as his parents when the news came on; every time he saw a Sentinel, he'd babble a terrified excuse to go scrub the toilet, then rip down to the basement, where he'd hide between the lawnmower and a canoe he never knew they had.

Being a mutant … IT WAS RUINING HIS LIFE!!!

Balling up the test, James sprang from his seat, scooping up his bag as he hurried to his teacher's desk. "Uh, I uh … Y-you did say we could come back after school and finish our tests if we ran out of time …?"

His teacher nodded. "Yep. You want to come today?"

"Yeah. And uh--" Sheepishly, James held up his ruined test. "I need a new test."

His teacher raised her eyebrows at that, but she shrugged and smiled kindly, nonetheless. "Okay James, see you then--and don't copy anybody else's answers!"

"I won't! I promise!" Relieved, James walked out into the hall, where thousands of kids were either rushing back and forth or just hanging around, trying to get to their next test or trying to clean out all the forgotten lunches from their lockers.

James sighed, a huge pressure suddenly lifted from his shoulders. As he slung his backpack over his shoulder and turned towards his next class, James started to grin; maybe things were starting to look up!

'KA-WAAAAANG!'

'Spoke too soon,' James thought as the heavy steel locker door flew open, smashing into his face and all but flattening his nose. Streaks of light--kinda like when you see the Millennium Falcon jump into hyperspace--howled past his eyes and the next thing James knew, he had slammed to the asbestos tiled floor, his back begging for mercy.

He heard people around him laughing and cackling--at his expense, of course. Grumbling a curse, James furiously rubbed at his throbbing nose and looked up … and immediately wished he hadn't.

Of course the person who opened that locker door would be Wade Paulson, the tough, heavy set ringleader of a bunch of unkempt thugs that found their life's true calling in picking on James. Of course the whole crew would be there, surrounding James and snickering like a bunch of sadistic hyenas. Of course James would be trapped!!

Seeing Wade fling his locker door shut, James cringed; Wade had been picking on him since preschool, when he shoved a box of crayons up James' nose--not one crayon at a time, mind you, BUT THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' BOX!!! In second grade, Wade made James eat his Playdough and in fifth grade, created his Wade Paulson's Ultimate Wedgie™ (patent pending) and tested it out on James. James had to go to the hospital to get his damned boxers pried out.

So, naturally, James was THISCLOSE to bawling like a baby now that Wade was towering over him.

Lately, Wade's newest hobby was antagonizing James about his sister's mutation--whatever that might be, exactly; even James didn't know.

Maybe it was better that way; Wade said things that were bad enough as it was, he didn't need to gain any verbal ammo by forcing it out of James with Purple Nurples.

As Wade advanced, James could see between the big ape's legs. Behind Wade, Cody and Patrick had seen the commotion. Patrick was currently hiding in his locker, but Cody, being either extremely brave or just being his usual boneheaded self, snuck up behind Wade. Cody crouched down behind Wade, pretending to fix his shoelaces. He shot a frantic look at James and waved him on: c'mon!

"Great, it's the Zit," Wade said, referring to James by using one of his many, unwanted nicknames. Wade must have been feeling nice today; he was using one of the better ones. "Y'know how much I hate a Zit? Every time I see 'em--" Here, Wade drove his fist into one palm with a loud 'crack!'. "--I just gotta pop 'em."

Gulping, James sprang to his feet, his eyes racing back and forth, searching for a way out. "Pop a zit! Hey that's really funny, Wade, that's a real knee-slapper!"

Confused, Wade stopped in his tracks, staring at James in slow-witted confusion, something that often ails bullies. "Huh?"

"Gotchya!!" Not truly knowing what he was doing, James sprang forward, slamming both of his hands into Wade's shoulders, rocking the big jerk backwards, off of his heels. Unable to catch himself, Wade swung his arms wildly, squawking as he tripped right over a cowering Cody and careened straight into the floor.

"YOU SON OF A---!!!" Wade roared as James bolted, sailing over the fallen giant and tearing down the hall, screaming, "Oh God, please don't hurt me!!!"

It was a blessing and a curse that the hallways were still full. Being relatively slim and pretty damned fast, James ducked and dodged and weaved through the dense throng, while the Wade Gang pretty much just barreled through.

Skidding around a corner, James spotted the gymnasium and lunged for the doors, tumbling through them and sliding across the polished floor on his stomach. Scrambling upright, James darted to a line of folded bleachers, wedging himself between the brick wall and the last set of seats. He braced one hand against the bleachers, the other against a circuit box on the wall, trying to hold himself upright and steady though his knees were knocking and he was shaking like a maraca.

James hadn't been there for more than two seconds when he heard the gym doors softly squeak open again, and several pairs of ratty sneakers clomp across the slick floor. James felt himself begin to hyperventilate as Wade seemed to sniff the air and growl, "Where'd the little punk go …?"

Oh man, how was he going to get out of this one?! James' thoughts raced and he swallowed hard, trying to keep himself calm.

And then he felt the electricity again.

The burning in his arms flared up so suddenly James didn't even time to blink. He watched in open-mouthed horror as crackling white tendrils whipped around his left arm and blasted into the fuse box, instantly short-circuiting everything in the gym and half the high school.

The gym plunged into blackness, causing Wade and his goons to yelp and swear in fright. Only semi-understanding what had happened, James tried to look down at his hands in disbelief, though he couldn't see them in the dark.

He did that? He put out all those lights?

The only light James could see were the twin squares of pale sunlight coming from the gym doors. James gulped; could he sneak over there without Wade and his internal James-detector picking him out?

Had to try.

His heart was thundering in his chest, and though James wanted to cut and run, he made himself tip-toe across the gym with agonizing slowness, squinting to see if he pick out Wade or one of the other jerks right in front of him.

God must have been smiling on him, because James made it all the way to the gym doors. When he inched one of the doors open, a ray of sunlight lanced through the gym, and the punks all spun around, roaring, "Hey!! There he goes!"

"WAAAH!!!" Lunging through the doors, James whipped around and threw himself against the heavy wood, shoving the doors closed and locking them tight. He screeched as he felt Wade and Crew fling themselves against the doors, trying to batter them down with their sheer body weight. James cringed, knowing that puny little switch-lock wouldn't stand up long against--

"Waitaminute!" His eyes flying open, James looked down at his hands, still hot, and beginning to glow strangely again. Jamming his tongue in his cheek, James clapped his electric hands over the door handles, and … well, he didn't know what to do. He just tried and focused, centering his power on the metal handles and …

It worked!! He melted them!! Wade and the others were stuck inside!

"YES!!! YEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!" All but cackling in glee, James grinned and looked back at his hands again. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing! If he could figure out how to use his mutation … then maybe he could become a superhero!!

Leaving Wade and his traveling freak show to continue to pound themselves hopelessly against the doors, a grinning James turned around, ready to begin practicing and planning--and walked right into a very pissed off looking principle.

******************************************************************

SEVERAL WEEKS LATER:

Another late summer night, another bloody smorgasbord for the pelican-sized mosquitoes.

Another attempted mugging.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, a young college student grappled with a man that was easily four times her height and width. She had been walking to her car in the parking lot, just beside the small drugstore where she worked part-time, wanting to get back home so she could change and meet her friends to go clubbing. She had walked only six feet from the store when a man in a gray sweat suit jogged by--and flung his hand out, grabbing a hold of her purse strap and tearing it off of her shoulder.

Now she was shrieking, her fingers hooked into the pricey leather and jerking the purse back, the sweat suited man swearing in disbelief and fighting to work the purse free.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" the mugger howled, yanking back on the bag. "Gimme the stupid bag!"

"No! Heeeeelllllppppp!!! Mugger!!"

Exasperated, the purse-snatcher growled in disgust and whipped his arm around, viciously backhanding the girl across the cheek and sending her tumbling, stunned, to the pavement.

"Man," the thief grunted, turning to make a break for it. "Girl fightin' back … Friggin' night can't get any weirder, could it?"

"Think again, you petty larceny stooge!!"

Gasping in disbelief, the thug skidded to a halt, his head snapping up to watch something dark drop from the roof of the drugstore, crash into a Dumpster, then scramble out and stand heroically before the thief in the lamplight.

Grinning broadly, James Gibson thrust his chest into the air and jammed his hands on his hips, praying to God Almighty that he looked threatening. He was clothed in heavy black combat boots and dark olive army fatigues, and wore a sweet black Matrix-style trench coat with a million little snaps and clasps. His hair was now so completely wild from the static that he had given up trying to tame it, and half of it hung over his black human-fly sunglasses … something he was realizing made it very hard to see at night, but hey, he had a secret identity to protect!

Hoping his voice wouldn't squeak in terror, James pointed to the woman behind the mugger who was staring at him, her eyes wide and her jaw agape. "How about you return the lady's purse, and I won't mess up your good looks?"

The purse-snatcher blinked at James. "Are you serious?"

"Now hold on, mashed potato muscles!" James snapped, darting in front of the lulking man as he tried to step around James. "I said to--Hey--HEY!! WHAT ARE YOU--?!!"

Not the least bit alarmed by James' challenge, the mugger simply reached over, wrapped his chunky hand around James neck and easily chucked the squawking kid back over his shoulder.

"OW!!!" Careening across the pavement, James skidded to a halt at the girl's feet, his eyes spinning around in their sockets like marbles. "Heeeey … Staaaaaars …"

"You're a superhero?!" the girl cried in disbelief, grabbing James' arm and hauling him roughly up to his feet.

Wincing in pain, James rubbed the back of his head and shrugged irritably. "What do I look like, Spider-man?! I'm new at this! So frickin' sue me!!"

Crestfallen, the girl spun around, wailing in despair as the mugger raced off. "He's getting away!"

"Huh? Oh, uhhh …" Looking wildly about him, James tried to find something he could use; he was NOT going to use his electricity on this guy. James tried that once on an arsonist he found on the other side of town, and had been horrified by the way the man writhed on the ground in agony--and James hadn't even used all of his power.

If he was ever going to use the electricity, it would only be against real bad guys--and as much as James would've like to zap that guy in the ass for embarrassing him, the mugger didn't qualify.

His eyes fell upon a light post and he grinned in glee. "Aha!"

Clenching his fist, James whipped his arm forward, sending a lightning bolt screaming from his hand and slamming into the light post, burning straight through it. With a shrieking, metallic creak, the lamp pitched over and--'CLONK!!!'--its extended arm clocked the mugger right across the head.

"Yeah!!" James whooped, pumping his fist into the air as the mugger pivoted cartoonishly on his foot and toppled to the ground.

The girl cringed as James raced forward. "You didn't kill him?"

"Don't think so." Inching forward, James let out a yelp and sprang backwards as the man gave a sharp groan, but did not get up.

Peering over his sunglasses, James nodded to himself and yanked the girl's pocketbook out of the crook's hands. "He's alive, but with the headache I gave him, he's gonna wish he wasn't."

James jogged back to the girl and presented her back, bowing chivalrously. "Ma'am."

"Oh, thank you." Smiling, the girl accepted her bag back. "I had all sorts of things in here … my credit cards, my keys … I was so scared!"

"Oh, well, here--" Straightening, James offered the girl his elbow. "I can walk you back to your car, if you want?"

The girl laughed and agreed, but didn't take his arm. As she started forward, James quickly smoothed back his hair (or at least tried to) and straightened his clothes. This was so cool!

As they crossed the short distance to her car, James began to tell her how tough it was being a superhero, all the bad guys he had to fight at night, having to hide during the day, all the danger, all sorts of explosions and stuff … but his favorite part? When the damsel gives a hero a kiss.

At that, the girl's flew open in terror. "EEEEEEEEK!!!" she screamed, her hand plunging into her bag and pulling out a can of Mace.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" James howled as she emptied the entire contents of the can into his face. As he reared back in agony, the girl leapt into her car, gunned the engine and sped off.

"Auck! Agh! Ow! Arrrgh!" Infuriated, James whipped his glasses off of his face and quickly wiped the pepper spray away from his burning mouth and nose. Good thing he was wearing those glasses; she was aiming right at his eyes, but none of the spray had gotten in.

You think he would have learned not to do that after the LAST five times …

Well, all in all, it wasn't such a bad night--aside from getting punted around like a football and then getting a whole can of Mace in the face. But still, James felt his shoulders slump; he was doing good as a hero, wasn't he? He was helping people … so why were they so scared of him?

His answer came from the fizzling burnt wires of the light post. That's it; it was because he was a mutant.

Dejected, James cleared away the Mace as best as he could and checked his watch; it was almost three in the morning. He'd better get home; the heck with fighting thugs, arsonists and robbers, he was more afraid of messing with his mother.

Giving the unconscious would-be mugger a good kick in the shin as he passed, James shoved his hands into his coat pockets and started home.

As he finally drew closer to his house, James saw that all the lights were on and he froze; oh, that could not be good. Did his parents find out he wasn't in bed?

Swallowing hard, James creeped forward--and felt his jaw hit the sidewalk.

Parked in his front yard was a stealth jet.

'No way,' he thought, staring at it. 'That's not rea--huh?'

Gasping in shock, James spun around, spotting a large handful of people standing at the edge of his yard, studying the plane and whispering to each other. He could see his neighbors and his friends--Good God, even some of his teachers!!

Gulping, James ducked low and slipped along the hedges on one side of his yard, darting through the shadows until he got to the front walk, where the door was wide open and the screen door was unlocked.

James heard people gasp as he popped out of the shadows and bounded inside, but he ignored them. Slamming the door closed, he ran into the kitchen--and stopped short.

Startled, his mom and dad looked up from their coffee at the dinner table. Mike was there, in his pajama pants, drinking soda and perched on the counter, staring at James uncertainly.

Suddenly, a shape shifted from the wall beside James, where she had been leaning. Spinning around, James felt his eyes bug out and he gasped in horror, backing away from the teal-colored creature standing before him, her arms crossed over her chest, partially obscured by her wings. He hands were tipped with sharp black claws, as were the toes of her arched feet. A whip-like tail snaked across the cold linoleum and she shook her pale brown hair back, unveiling small horns and slightly pointed ears. She was wearing a black jumpsuit with bright yellow X's emblazoned on her sleeves.

And when Dara smiled, it was full of fangs.

"Hey James," she said, her voice soft. "We need to talk."

******************************************************************

The whole Gibson family stayed up past dawn, listening to Dara speak. She showed them her new form, explaining that, though she had empathetic powers (she could read and somewhat control emotions), when Mr. Sinister had kidnapped her, he experimented on her DNA, using Gargoyle DNA and vampire enzymes to try to create an unstoppable mutant … that's why she looked like a demon.

Though Mom cried as Dara spoke and everyone else was hurt and a little creeped out, James felt a sudden wash of relief; he finally knew what her mutation was now. Now he knew why she ran away, and why she chose to stay at the Xavier Institute.

Dara went on, saying that Professor Xavier had suspected that there might be more mutants in the Gibson family, and when James started to demonstrate his abilities, they began to track him back at the school. Xavier became alarmed when he learned James was trying to become a superhero (Mom and Dad shot furious looks in James' direction), and when it seemed that James was progressively getting stronger, Dara volunteered to come back home and find her brother.

She told James and Mike and Mom and Dad what the school was, what she did there, who her friends were, what they taught, what the other kids were like. She said that they wanted James to come to the school, finish his high school work there and learn to develop and control his electricity powers.

By the time Dara finished speaking, James was all packed and set to go. "I'm in!" he announced. "When do we leave?"

They left that very morning, much to James' parents' dismay; it was too sudden, they said. Dara agreed, but pointed out if James didn't get training now, he could become very dangerous very quickly. She said because she had access to the mini-jets, she could probably bring James by every couple of weeks to see them and hang out with his friends. It wouldn't be permanent, Dara assured them.

Sharing reluctant goodbyes with his parents and dumbstruck older brother, James loaded his stuff onto the jet and buckled in. Calmly, Dara fired up the engines and said they'd probably be at the mansion in thirty minutes or so.

During the flight, James kept pinching himself; was this real? Or was he dreaming? Or was this some kind of waaaaay too elaborate practical joke?

James was excited and petrified, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't talk with Dara--or "Nyx", as she said her codename was.

Nyx seemed to understand and she spoke only periodically, mostly keeping her attention on the flight controls and feeding various airports and air force bases clearance codes.

Those thirty minutes were the longest thirty minutes in James' life.

After an excruciatingly long time, Nyx brought the jet lower, breaking through the clouds and surprising James with a spectacular view of Westchester and the mutant academy.

He strained in his seat as Nyx brought the jet in for a sweep, trying to get a better look at the school, and at the figures on the ground.

Nyx chuckled at his gape. "A lot of them, huh? Just keep in mind, this is only July; wait until September!"

"September? You mean when--GAAAAAAYAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!" All of his hair standing on end, James slammed back into his seat, clapping a hand over his hammering heart. "THAT GIRL'S FLYING!!!"

Nyx burst out laughing as the girl swooped by the jet, waving with one gloved hand as she swept back her dark brown and white hair with the other. "That's Rogue."

"No, that's flying!" Not believing what he was seeing, James tried to leap to his feet and rush to the window for another look, but the seat harness yanked him back. "Can everybody fly?"

"Not everybody, James," Nyx replied, grinned as she set the jet into a hover behind the school. "I can, though. Oh, and do me a favor; don't keep flipping out like that, okay? Some people are still pretty sensitive about being a mutant."

Arching an eyebrow, James glanced at Nyx uncertainly. "Uh, okay Dara … but I offer no promises."

As the jet descended, the grassy lawn beneath them suddenly opened up, sliding away and revealing a huge underground hangar. Nyx landed the jet smoothly and powered it down. Unbuckling her harness, she waved for James to follow her and told him not to worry about his stuff; they'd get later. His stomach sinking, James wrestled his way out of the harness and stumbled after Nyx, staring at the hangar in wonder.

The first place Nyx brought him was the infirmary, introducing James to the school's only human, Nurse Annie. She said the nurse's last name, but there was no way James could remember all those syllables. Nyx then introduced James to Scott Summers, a tall, imposing dude in red sunglasses (Nyx called him "Cyclops" for some reason; James could only guess), Cyclops' wife Jean Grey ("Phoenix"), and Cyclops' little brother, Alex Summers ("Havok"), who was recovering from an accident.

After greetings and handshakes, Nyx quickly gathered James up and swept him off, leading him down a long chrome hallway that looked like something out of Star Wars, like the Death Star or something. Eventually, Nyx paused before a closed door, glancing up at a flashing red light above it before thumbing on an intercom unit.

"Hey, it's Nyx!" she shouted into the comm. "Who's in there?"

Almost immediately, a gruff male voice answered her, and James had the distinct impression that this guy was smirking. "Darlin'! That was quick."

Nyx giggled. "Hi Wolverine. I got James here. Can we come in?"

"'Course ya can. Give us a minute to shut everything down."

"Okay." Switching off the radio, Nyx calmly hooked her thumb talons into her belt and leaned against the wall. "This is our training room, James. It's called the Danger Room. You come here to experiment with your powers, and you won't hurt anybody."

James grimaced as something like a muffled explosion resounded within the room. "You sure?"

The flashing light above them quickly settled into a steady green light, and a reassuring 'ping!' echoed through the hall. James straightened, bracing himself as the chrome door slid open. Instantly, sunlight flooded the hall, and the twittering of birds filled the air.

"WHAT?" James yanked his sunglasses off and rubbed his eyes hard, thinking he was seeing things; the Danger Room had a freakin' rainforest growing in it!

Grinning, Nyx bounded in. "Cool! The Mayan ruin scenario--my favorite."

"Uh …" Pretty sure he had completely lost his mind, James crept in behind his sister, glancing about warily. He could see the blue sky overhead, with trees hundreds of feet high slicing into the clouds. There were ferns and palm fronds that stood taller than his head, all dripping from rain. The floor was covered in spongy black dirt, and big dragonflies zipped by. Chatty parrots swooped through the woods as a massive green snake lazily slithered off an old fallen log. James could see a squat stone temple rising up in the distance, and a giant Olmec head was nestled in the fronds just in front of them.

Something bounded out of the brush behind the head and James yelped in terror, ducking behind his sister as a short, well muscled man with metal claws growing out of the backs of his hand vaulted up on the stone head, grinning down at them.

"Mornin', Nyx!" The dagger-like claws shot back into the guy's hands and he leapt down from the stone head, gathering Nyx up in a fatherly hug. James stared at the man blankly. "Your … did they …?"

"Huh? Oh." Giving James a lopsided smile, the man held up his fist. 'Shinkt!' Three metal claws ripped out of the back of his hand, and 'shinkt!', they went back in.

James clapped both of his hands over his mouth. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"James!" Nyx scolded, though her friend chuckled. Nearby, the ferns parted, and a man completely made out of ice stepped through. He grinned at James' amazed look. "Yo," he said, as overhead, a man with massive white feather wings swooped lower.

"Hey," the winged man said jovially as they gathered around James, who was cowering like a terrified hamster before the cat. Greeting them all, Nyx turned to James. "Don't worry James, they don't bite."

"R-really?"

Chuckling, Nyx turned to each of her friends. "That's Bobby Drake--we call him 'Iceman' for obvious reasons. This is Warren Worthington, he's Archangel. This is Logan, his codename is 'Wolverine', and that--" Here, Nyx pointed with her chin beside James. "--Is Nikku Sita Cheng. Tigress."

"Huh?" Not understanding, James turned to the jungle beside him, empty only a second ago--and shrieked like a little girl at the huge tiger-human creature standing there.

The tiger blinked her hypnotic golden eyes and smiled, tucking back a lock of black hair behind one rounded ear. "You must be your sister's brother," she said dryly. "She did the exact same thing when she first saw me."

James was literally too petrified to move.

Chuckling, Wolverine stepped forward and held out his hand. "Welcome at th' Institute, kid," he said.

"Yipe!" James jerked back, half-expecting those metal claws to shoot out and skewer him. When he didn't start spouting blood all over the place, James laughed weakly, then reached for Wolverine's hand, feeling more and more emboldened. Hey, they liked him so far …

ZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"YAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!" Wolverine's entire skeleton seemed to light up like a Roman candle as a bolt of lightning ripped out of James' hand and raced up Wolverine's arm. With a squawk of horror, James yanked his hand back, diving for cover behind a bush as Wolverine was flung back, his body smashing brutally into the stone Olmec head.

Tigress cried out in horror and shot to the man's side, all but leaving Nyx, Iceman and Archangel in her dust. The X-Men all rushed after her, gathering around the swearing and choking man and lifting him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Nyx gasped as she helped Wolverine dust his uniform off. "It was an accident!"

"I know it was, darlin', but, c'mon!" Exasperated, Wolverine spread his arms wide. "Adamantium skeleton? Remember?"

"Oh maaaaaan!" James lifted up a fist and bashed himself in the head; he just fried a guy with a metal skeleton and huge claws!!

Certain Wolverine was going to race over and flay him alive, James lunged for the Danger Room doors, scrabbling frantically for a button to open the stupid things. "Lemme out! JAMES WANTS OUT!!!!"

Apologizing again to Wolverine, who just snorted in irritation and waved her away, Nyx bounded across the Danger Room to James' side. "James, relax!"

"Relax?!!" Risking one last look back at Wolverine, James dove under Nyx's folded wing. "Dude, there's gotta be a pretty good reason why they call him 'Wolverine'!!"

Hearing that, Iceman choked on a laugh, quickly turning his head aside so a scowling Wolverine couldn't see his grin. "Man kid, that was pretty cool!"

"Yeah," Archangel said, swallowing his chuckle and quickly hiding his smirk behind his hand. "I don't think I've seen anyone get the drop on Wolverine the first time they meet him!"

Wolverine's good humor was quickly fading as the two X-Men fought not to double over laughing. "Keep it up, Baby Blue …"

Though a smile tugged at her mouth, Tigress didn't laugh. She glanced at James and shrugged. "Logan's okay," she said, her voice surprisingly kind despite the fact it came out of a tiger's mouth. "He can shake it off. Don't be scared."

"Er …"

Seconds before Wolverine chased him back into the jungle, Iceman grinned at James and gave him a thumbs-up. "Dude, you zapped Logan--I like you already! How 'bout we meet back up in the kitchen, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, okay."

Dazed, James had to be led out of the Danger Room and back through the hallways by the hand. It took him a minute to realize that Nyx had actually touched him without cringing in fear, but he was reluctant to ask her why. Instead, he stayed quiet as they traveled and met other mutants in the institute, so many it was basically impossible for James to keep track; Beast, Rogue (the lady that had been flying around outside), M, Emma Frost, Husk, Bishop, Chamber, Shadowcat, Juggernaut, Sage … oy.

Before she brought him to the kitchens, Nyx swept James through an elevator and up to the mansion proper. James briefly considered grabbing Nyx's tail to keep from getting lost in these labyrinthine corridors, but to his relief, she suddenly paused at a set of French doors, peering out into a courtyard outside. "Ah, there he is."

"Who??"

Nyx didn't answer, only opening the doors up and stepping through, treading silently over the manicured grass, keeping to the shadows of the trees so her skin wouldn't burn from the sunlight. James hesitated in the doorway, watching his sister stealthily approach an utterly bald older man who was sitting on an iron patio chair, reading a book, a cane propped beside him.

James gulped, fearing that his sister was about to pounce on this unsuspecting man when suddenly, Baldy chuckled and glanced up, his eyes meeting James from across the courtyard.

"Don't worry, James," the man said, his voice accented in cultured English. "I knew Dara was there. And I don't appreciate being called 'Baldy'."

"EEP!" Horrified, James clapped both of his hands over his mouth; how did this guy know?!?! James didn't say that out loud, did he?!!

Again, the man laughed, reaching for Nyx's hand as he snapped his book closed. "No, I read your mind, James. Please, come closer; I am Professor Charles Xavier."

James all but jumped out of his trench coat. "YOU? You're the dude Dara and Kurt were talking about all the time?!"

Nyx rolled her eyes heavenward, but the professor grinned, amused. "Yes, that would be me."

"Oh, uh, er, I--I--" Not knowing what else to do, James promptly clapped his arms firmly to his sides and bowed.

There was such a howl of laughter that James cringed, knowing he had just done something stupid. Uneasily, he glanced up at Xavier and Nyx over his sunglasses, watching as they just about fell over each other laughing.

Shaking her head so hard that her hair whipped through the air, Nyx wiped away a tear from her eye. "James, just because the professor is British doesn't make him royalty!"

"Oh no, no," Xavier admonished, grinning widely. "Please, do that more often. Most people aren't that respectful."

James was about to think up a colorful curse, but then remembered that this Xavier guy was a mind reader, so he stopped just in time, mentally kicking himself instead.

Still grinning, Xavier held out a hand. "But in any case, a simple handshake will do."

Straightening, James eyed the extended hand dolefully. "Are you sure? I don't want to zap you like I did to Mr. Logan."

"I trust you, James," Xavier answered mildly. "You didn't mean to do that on purpose."

Oh. Well, that didn't make James feel like such a dork. As he grasped Xavier's hand, the professor smirked. "Besides, I was mentally blocking your powers for a moment."

"D'oh!"

Offering James a seat on the--oh-ho, a PLASTIC seat instead of an iron one, how cute--Xavier sat back in his own chair, his hand resting on his cane beside him. Behind him, Nyx unfurled her wings, crouched to the ground and suddenly launched herself into the air, flipping backwards and landing neatly on a low tree limb, completely enveloped in shadows.

All James could really do was blink. "Sweet."

Xavier chuckled again. "James, I assume I don't need to explain to you what a mutant is?"

Surprised, James shook his head. "No, I learned about it in school. It's when somebody is born with a mutated gene that gives them powers, right?"

"Yes, that's true. And Nyx explained to you what this is school is for?"

James lit up like a light bulb. "To become a superhero?!"

Xavier's face fell at that, and from the darkened tree branches high above, Nyx gave a growling sigh. "I tried to tell him, Professor …"

"Er … Well, no, James," Xavier said, arching his eyebrows in partial amusement, partial exasperation. "We do not train you to become a 'superhero.'"

"Huh? Then why's Dara--"

"It was better for her to remain on the team than to try and live in the outside world." James got the distinct impression that Xavier was disappointed. Sad, even. "Her abilities are too dangerous and at times too unpredictable to make it safe for her to live among humans."

James shifted in his seat, suddenly not liking this at all. "Soooo … what? Are my powers too wacky or something?"

Xavier nodded. "I'm afraid so, James. They come in massive waves, and there's little you can do to stop them. This is why I was so worried about you staying in Cambridge, trying to fight crime with powers you can barely tame. And then, after last night with the lamp post …"

James sat bolt right up in his seat. "How did you know about that?!"

Xavier grinned at James' horror. "James, I am psychic you know."

"Oh … oh yeah."

"James, all humor aside, the fact of the matter is this; you have a very strong ability to produce and manipulate electricity, and we must find a way to help you harness it before tragedy strikes."

James felt like sinking through the chair and into the ground. "What if you can't?"

"Oh, we will," Xavier assured him, and James could see Nyx's slightly glowing eyes bounce up and down, as though she were nodding enthusiastically. "You're not the first mutant to come here with massive powers, James, and by no means the last. And if I can help people like Nyx, or Chamber--or even Wolverine--I'm sure I can help you."

"Oh … heh." James tried to smile, but he felt his stomach suddenly wrap itself up in knots. Suddenly, things looked a lot more daunting.

After speaking with Professor Xavier for a while, James followed Nyx back into the house, his head hanging heavily. Though the professor was really cool, all the guy seemed to talk about was doom and gloom, and now James wished he hadn't come. Argh, he wished he didn't have these stupid powers!

By now it was lunchtime, and Nyx was dying for a drink. She tried to talk with James as she led him into the kitchen, but James was too miserable to … to …

Seeing the woman at the counter across the room, James' jaw smashed through the floor and his eyes popped out of his head. "WHO IS THAT?!?!!!"

Surprised, the black woman turned, her long white ponytail slipping off her shoulder as she did so. She smiled kindly ad him, and suddenly, James felt weak in the knees. It was like looking at a goddess!

"Hey 'Ro!" Nyx said cheerily as she crossed the kitchen and gave the supermodel a hug. "When did you get back?"

"Oh, very early this morning," the lady replied as Nyx helped herself to a seat on the counter. The woman glanced back at James and smiled warmly, and all James wanted to do was melt into a puddle and crawl under the refrigerator where he couldn't be seen. "And who's this?"

"Oops! Sorry!" Beckoning James closer, Nyx said, "This is my little brother James. James, this is Ororo Munroe--her codename is Storm."

James tried to speak, but all his dry mouth could force out was, "Hamana, hamana, hamana …"

Storm laughed. "Hello James. Are you finally going to be joining us here at the Institute?"

James swallowed hard and nodded furiously, not trusting his voice.

Nyx smirked slightly at his flustered behavior (stupid empath!!). "I just brought him here. He's a little overwhelmed, I guess."

"I would think so! And it's not even September yet." Smiling once again at James, Storm turned back to the array of breads and meats she had lined up before her. "I was about to make lunch. Would either of you care for some?"

"Sure. Here James--" Nyx pointed to a row of stools along the counter, mercifully far from Storm. "--You can sit there."

"Thanks!" James shot over to the stools and plopped himself down on one, heaving a sigh of relief. He kept his mouth firmly shut as Nyx and Storm talked. If they asked him questions, he either nodded or shook his head. He was NOT about to make himself look like a dork in front of Storm.

As she was handing him his sandwich, a tiny little radio at Nyx's collar beeped, and Cyclops' voice boomed out, asking--no, ORDERING--Nyx to head down to their meeting room or something. Nyx rolled her eyes and sighed in disgust. "Not even here for two hours, and already he's on my ass …"

Snatching up her soda, Nyx glanced apologetically at James. "Sorry, James, I gotta go see what Cyke wants. I won't take too long--I don't want to leave you alone."

Terrified, James shook his head frantically. 'No, no, NO!!! Don't leave me here!'

Not heeding his telepathic pleas, Nyx told Storm where she was going and then promptly disappeared into a hall.

Curious, Storm turned to James.

James gulped.

"So James," Storm said, pulling one of Nyx's Cokes out of the fridge and holding it out to him. "What is your power?"

Meekly, James reached for his soda. "Uh …"

Storm chuckled. "It's all right, you can tell me."

He could tell her? Well, okay then.

James opened his mouth, and words poured out in a torrent. "Icancontrolelectricityandit'.LoganandI'mafraidtoevenshakeyourhand'cuzifIdoI'llmakeallyourhairstandupandthenyou'llgetmadandI'llfeellikeajerkandIdon'twantthat!!"

It took several minutes for a dumbfounded James to realize that the noises coming out of a doubled-over Storm was laughter. For a second, he thought he sent some sort of invisible lightning bolt and fried her on the spot.

Wiping tears away from her eyes with her palm, Storm tried to stand up on shaky legs but promptly careened into a set of cabinets, her hands scrabbling for a handhold while she cackled.

James frowned; why did everybody here laugh at him??

Fighting for breath, Storm managed to stand up. Her blue eyes were sparkling. "James, don't worry so! You'll learn to control your powers in time. And if you do happen to shock me, I'll just hit you back with one of my lightning bolts!"

James grinned. "Cool! I--no, wait, what?"

As Storm began to explain what her mutation was (duh, STORMS), the back door to the kitchen opened and a scruffy-looking man shambled in, a trench coat clutched in one hand, his dark brown hair hanging messily in his bizarre red and black eyes.

Seeing the man lope in, Storm arched a semi-amused eyebrow at him. "Lovely night with your lady friend, Gambit?"

Hearing his name, the man lifted his freaky eyes to hers and smirked. "Oh oui, 'Ro cherie. Annette is very kind to Gambit."

Storm frowned while James looked between the pair and blinked. "Er, should I be hearing this?"

"Huh?" Startled, Gambit spun around, spotting James for the first time. "'Ey! Whose de freshman?"

Sighing, Storm gave James a slight smile before returning to her lunch. "Remy, this is James Gibson--Nyx's little brother."

"Ah, oui! Gambit r'members!" Grinning roguishly, Gambit swept over and dropped onto a stool beside James. "Yous be de kid Gambit be workin' wit, huh?"

James stared at Gambit in disbelief. "I … I didn't get a word of what you just said."

Laughing, Gambit clapped James heavily on the shoulder and James leapt in his seat in fright; he didn't zap Gambit?

Gambit, not noticing James' shocked look, asked Storm for one of the sodas in the fridge before pulling out a cigarette and turning to James. "So, wha's up, homme?"

Immediately insulted, James sat bolt right up. "Did you just call me 'gay'?!!"

Stunned, Gambit stared speechlessly at James while Storm cracked up, nearly collapsing on the floor. From the corridor, more laughter erupted, and a now human-looking Iceman appeared, his grin wide.

"I really like this kid," he said as Gambit finally began to laugh.

Confused, James looked to each of the mutants around him. "What?? What did I say?"

Though it was TOTALLY weird, James soon discovered he had been completely accepted by these people, though Storm warned him against hanging out with the likes of Iceman and Gambit too often. At that, both Iceman and Gambit snorted in disgust.

"If you've gotta avoid anybody, James," Iceman said as he rummaged in a cabinet for Cheesy Poofs. "It better be Stacy."

Surprised, James shrugged. "Okay. Who's Stacy?"

Even as he was speaking, out of the corner of his eye he saw Gambit sink down in his seat. Growling softly, Gambit tapped out his cigarette ash on a sandwich plate. "Her."

"What?" Not understanding, James looked up towards the corridor and squeaked in fright as his eyes met the reptilian ones of a tall, black haired woman with snake-like skin.

She would have been a babe, if she hadn't shot him such a venomous look and snarled, "Whaddya lookin' at, ya pubescent maggot?"

Horrified, James couldn't think of anything seething to retort. He watched silently as Stacy smirked, then slithered silently back down the hall.

Once he was confident she was out of earshot, James gritted his teeth and jabbed a finger after her. "Her toilet seat is the first one I plastic-wrap."

******************************************************************

WEEKS LATER:

Was James having fun?

Good question.

Yeah, so James had made a ton of friends in school, and a ton of friends from the X-Men; he hung with the big shots like Nightcrawler and Wolverine (although Wolverine had been giving him a wide berth since James had electrified him like six or seven times), Gambit (still on the prowl for a new trench coat, since James' lightning bolts went haywire and punched a few dozen holes in the old one), and Archangel and Iceman (who was constantly trying to pick up girls and getting his face slapped for it). He saw his sister Nyx and her friend Tigress a lot. Beast was great, and James saw Kitty Pryde and that cool English guy, Chamber, a lot. He also saw Storm, but James mostly hid from her for fear he would do something like spill soup in his lap and look like an idiot in front of her.

At the same time, James had made PLENTY of enemies too; Juggernaut hated him with a vengeance, and the highlight of James' day was trying to see how many refrigerator magnets he could stick to the big freak's helmet before Juggernaut ripped him off and flung him across the room.

But nobody hated James more than Stacy X. Initially, James had no real intention of picking a fight with the snaky mutant, but it riled him every time he saw how Stacy acted around other X-Women, especially when she thought they were hitting on Archangel--she even gave Nyx a hard time, for whatever dumb reason. James really had to work to remember all the pranks he and his brother and his friends would pull on people, and he spared no expense on Stacy; plastic wrap on her toilet seat, gluing her phone to the receiver so she'd whack herself in the head when she went to answer, rubber bats suspended in her closet, spring snakes that lunged out of her desk drawers, knotting up her bed sheets, fake fur mice in her boots, whoopee cushions at her place at the dinner table, and, for when she was especially witchy, homemade stink bombs secreted away in her room.

Stacy had a death warrant out on his head, and even though Professor X asked--well, at one point pleaded--with them to stop fighting, James constantly found himself on the run, and Beast had to loan him a gas mask to protect him from Stacy's pheromones.

Training though, well, that wasn't going so well. James originally shared a dorm with his friend Sammy the Squidboy and some other kids, but when James' powers caused bulbs to explode in the overhead lights and huge blue flames to shoot out of electrical sockets, James was moved far away to an insulated room. Gambit had been assigned to work with James (because his kinetic powers were the closest thing to James' electrical powers), but instead of harnessing the electricity, it only seemed to grow more powerful. Gambit would always walk away from their lessons with burns and smoking clothing.

One day, Storm had been giving a lesson to some kids on the other side of the compound, while James and Gambit tried to zap targets near the woods. Storm summoned a lightning bolt--and it immediately ripped across the sky and blasted straight into James, taking him screaming off of his feet! Gambit later found his sneakers, melted to the spot where James had stood before the lightning struck.

Since then, kids at school have been calling him 'The Rod', and James was afraid that was going to be his nickname now.

He was terrified of hurting someone. The more nervous he got, the harder it was to manipulate the electricity. He couldn't focus, and things around him would go haywire. Blenders would start up, toasters would start popping, lamps would blink on and off a few thousand times then burst, the microwave would ding wildly, televisions would turn on and off while computers powered up and down and printers spat out yard after yard of paper. The first time that happened, James tore out of the mansion, screaming at the top of his lungs, "It's the Amityville Horror!!!!!"

And then, there was a whole bunch of other things that nagged at him; James liked the institute sometimes, but other times, it was just like his high school back at home. There were still bullies here, and he still struggled mightily through some of his courses. Then, there were frequent anti-mutant riots outside of the school and around the world, something that assaulted him every day. James was afraid to go out alone now, but he knew he was one of the luckier mutants; at least he looked human.

Back at home, though, trouble still dogged him; Wade and a bunch of other cretins had discovered that James and Nyx were mutants, and their parents and Mike would call the school, telling them how crowds of people had hurled things like mud and rotten eggs at their house. Wade was caught spray-painting "MUTIE TRASH" across their front porch. Their cars had been stolen and ripped apart, and at one point, Mike, the only human kid in the family, had gotten beaten up really bad three times in a week. Even Cody and Patrick were antagonized for being James' friends.

Nyx would sometimes hiss at that, snarling, "At least they're still your friends", but she wouldn't go down there like James demanded and kick some skinny human punk ass. James wanted so much to make somebody hurt for ruining his home and scaring his family, but Mike tried to assure James he was doing all he could. In fact, Mike said now he was going to study human-mutant relations when he went to college. Maybe one day he could be like Professor Xavier.

Guilt-ridden over it all, James found himself wandering through the Mansion late one night, past curfew, when everybody else was either sleeping or cramming for tests or partying like wild animals. His head bowed, his hands jammed deep into his jean pockets, James walked up to Nyx and Nightcrawler's room, pausing before the closed door. He had been going to them for help, but they weren't here tonight. They were in the city somewhere, helping Tigress rout an anti-mutant attack on some homeless kids she had found. Heaving a heavy sigh, James turned to find Professor X but he cringed, remembering that the professor had jetted off with Beast and Cyclops to, like, some freaky fourth-world country with a really long name that James had never heard of before.

He stood there in the hallway for a minute, thinking.

Well, there was one other person he could talk to. There was Jean Grey.

Deciding he had nothing to lose, really, James redirected himself and hiked across the massive school until he found Dr. Grey's office. The door was partially open and the lights were on inside, and, peeking in, James saw Jean Grey and--ARGH!!!--Miss Munroe! They were looking at bridal catalogues or something, giggling like teenagers.

Sensing him watching them uneasily from the doorway, Dr. Grey glanced up from her seat at her desk. She smiled, and James all but leapt out of his skin in terror; he forgot she was psychic!!

"Hi James," she said kindly, and Storm lifted her head, blinking in surprise.

"James!" the weather witch said, startled. "I did not know you were there. Isn't it a bit late for you to be up?"

"Uhhh, well--" His face burning furiously, James grimaced and inched the office door open a fraction more. "I--I--I--I just wanted to, uh, to talk with Dr. Grey---BUT IF YOU WERE BUSY I CAN GO!!!"

"Oh no, it's okay!" Grinning, Jean waved him in and Storm gathered up the books. "We were just looking at some magazines we had left over from Nikku's wedding."

"Yes," Storm sighed. "Two weddings in almost a year? I need to buy a new dress!"

"For--for Dara's thing?" James inquired, slinking along one far wall so he couldn't bump into pretty Storm and flash fry her.

Storm smiled again. "Yes, for Dara! You must be quite happy for her!"

James winced. "Well … I guess so …"

The huge lack of enthusiasm in his voice drew a curious look from Storm, but Jean straightened, quietly clearing her throat. "Well, you caught me at a good time, James. I've finished all my paperwork early, so I can help you with whatever you need."

"But don't stay up late," Storm added as she headed towards the door. "We have a test tomorrow in history, remember."

"Y-yeah I know." Watching the door close behind Storm, James turned to the nearest armchair and immediately collapsed in it, cupping his head in his hands.

Jean smiled gently. "She doesn't know, you know."

"Huh? Know what?" Not immediately understanding, James glanced up at Jean's mischievous smirk. "You mean she doesn't know about my cru--? HEY!!! Stop reading my mind!! It's freakin' me out!"

Jean laughed. "Sorry, kid. I couldn't resist."

"Man." Straightening in his seat, James sighed and shook his head. "The professor isn't here, so I figured I could come to you to talk."

"Oh, sure."

"I … I don't know … I think I'm starting to get sick of all of this." Glancing up at her bright green eyes, James shrugged helplessly. "It's just … these problems I have, they're giving me bad dreams again. Like, sometimes I have nightmares about the guy who kidnapped my sister Dara. They said his name was Mr. Sinister, I think. I dunno … I have nightmares about him. Sometimes I have nightmares about Sentinels too, comin' for me … usually I dream about clowns. Once in a while, though, I dream about Sinister being a Sentinel dressed as a clown, but that's usually after I eat too much Chinese. Let's not go there."

Jean chuckled. "Okay."

"But mostly, what bugs me … I can't get my powers to work right. I'm always afraid I'm going to hurt somebody …"

Jean nodded sympathetically. "I can relate. It was the same way with me when I started using my telepathy and my telekinesis. I was petrified that I'd nail somebody in the head with a lamp or something. Things flew around my house constantly."

James laughed weakly. "Yeah, but you didn't hit anybody with 6000 degree bolts of lightning, did you?"

Jean's face fell slightly. "No, I guess not … but you know you're not the only one who has a hard time controlling their abilities, James. I mean, look at my husband, Scott; if he didn't wear that visor twenty-four seven, he could carve a whole new Grand Canyon in the middle of Long Island!"

"Yeah, but he's got a visor!" James cried, exasperated. "That stops the laser from coming out when he doesn't want it--what do I have?" He looked down at his hands. "I don't think I can walk around wearing giant rubber gloves for the rest of my life. I mean, even in Manhattan, that'd be a little wacky."

Jean winced, but she nodded again. "Maybe we're not looking hard enough for a solution, James," she said. "But then again, maybe you haven't concentrated enough."

James' head snapped up, and he narrowed his eyes at Jean, indignant; how could she say that he hadn't been concentrating enough?! He was trying his best every day and night, for crying out loud!

Before he could bite off a retort, Jean suddenly smiled and winked. "And I think everything's going to start to turn around for you pretty soon, James."

Stunned, all James could do was stare at her. What the heck did that mean?

Jean didn't give him a chance to ask. Still smiling mysteriously, she shooed him out of her office and ordered him back to his room for the night.

*************

THE NEXT AFTERNOON:

"I hate malls."

"Don't complain! We had a deal, remember?"

James grinned as he watched Wolverine shoot his now human wife Tigress a playful scowl. "I still say I had seven o' them, darlin'."

Tigress snorted, but grinned all the same. "Oh no, I counted! You got only five of those thugs last night, and I chased down the other three, which makes eight! I beat you out, and now you're gonna get me those boots!"

Rolling his eyes, Wolverine glanced at James and smirked. "Don't ever get married, pal."

"Don't be putting any ideas into his head, Wolverine!" a normal human Nyx scolded as Tigress jabbed her husband hard in the ribs. Nightcrawler, swathed in his image inducer once again, grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Ja, the boy's screwed up enough as it is."

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm standing right here!" Still, James managed a half-hearted smile: after basically bombing Storm's history test this morning, James had been in a funk for most of the day. Feeling bad, Nightcrawler asked James if he'd like to go with him, Nyx, Tigress and Wolverine to one of the malls in Manhattan. It seems that a) Wolverine had lost some sort of bet last night to Tigress, and now he had to shell out sixty bucks for some new boots she had been eyeing, and b) some dork at a printing company screwed up Nyx and Nightcrawler's wedding invitations. They came to rant, and then blow off steam by hunting down some CDs.

James considered the offer; it would be nice to get out of the school, play some video games, buy some junk food … hey, why not? He needed a break.

Sighing heavily, Nyx paused by one of those mall directory things and consulted her watch. "This ought to be fun. James, you gonna be okay by yourself? This's a big mall …"

James shrugged. "It's all right. I'll just run like a screaming maniac out into the parking lot if my powers go crazy."

Wolverine snorted again. "Ya run like a screaming maniac whenever ya see Stacy walk by."

Hearing the mutant's name, James cringed. "That reminds me … did she find the bullfrog I left in her hamper? I kinda forgot about that …"

Nyx buried her face in her hands and groaned while Nightcrawler and Wolverine all but doubled-over laughing. Tigress frowned at James. "James, I'm tellin' ya, I'm not going to hold Stacy off anymore if you try anything else on her …"

Smirking, James shrugged again as he turned, heading for the escalators. "Well, okay. I guess I could just use the old dumbwaiters as escape routes again."

As his friends split up, James made a beeline up to the second floor, to, naturally, a video game store with a neighboring arcade. Cracking his knuckles loudly and scooping a handful of change out of his coat pocket, James went to work on HOUSE OF THE SEMI-DEAD 4.

Within a couple of minutes, James was already on Level 17. He had a plastic gun in either hand and a big-ass soda perched on an ignored game, a series of inserted straws stretching over three feet to his mouth. James hardly noticed a group of impressed teenagers and adults gathering off to one side behind him, watching appreciatively as he blasted apart an army of alien slug zombies that had taken over Muskrat City, which was somewhere in the Midwest.

"Say 'ello to mah lil' friend!!" James roared as he took an eyestalk off of one lumbering alien slug zombie. "C'mon! Stop tryin' to hit me and HIT ME!!!"

Spotting movement out of the corner of the screen, James swung around and took aim, squeezing the triggers of both guns …

… And outside a thunderous explosion roared through the mall, shaking loose chunks of granite and steel.

Horrified, James yelped and spun around, dropping the plastic guns. "Okay, I SO did not do that!"

The explosions resounded, harder and head-splittingly louder. James ducked, clapping his hands over his ears as the people in the arcade screamed and scattered, stampeding for various exits. Outside the arcade, the top floor swayed and trembled with the explosions, and the huge plastic signs that had been mounted above shop doors crashed to the floor, some narrowly missing people.

Through the cracking plate glass window, James could see the other stores on the second floors. Their window displays were toppling, the glass spider-webbing. Alarm sirens shrieked and flashed and burglar doors slammed to the ground, trapping terrified people inside.

More thunderous roars tore through the building. Looking about the empty arcade wildly, James dove for the entrance, crouching down in the doorway, clinging to the doorjamb for dear life. What the heck was going on?! It felt like an earthquake!

"Gayaah!" James howled and leapt back as the walkway just in front of the arcade crumbled away, collapsing and leaving a gaping wound in the floor.

That's when James saw the guy.

One the floor far below as the fog of dust began to settle, James could see somebody, some guy, easily as big as Juggernaut, with muscles that were easily as big as the Hulk's, standing atop a mountain of rubble. He had long, bright yellow hair, a goatee, and a mustache that was so long he had braided the ends. He was wearing chain mail armor, heavy boots and gauntlets and a wide leather and fur belt. A red cape was swept around his shoulders. And in either hand, he carried a huge silver mallet.

At first, James couldn't believe what he was seeing. Who the heck was that? He looked like Thor--well, he looked like Thor if Thor had gone out of his big blonde mind and then got a makeover.

As James stared in disbelief, he saw figures appearing out of the destroyed shops, fanning out and surrounding the Thor wannabe. James could see Wolverine, snarling wildly and popping all of his claws, and Tigress vaulting over a destroyed fountain, giving the air a feline-like shriek as she mutated. Nearby, perched on the side of a cracked resin column, Nightcrawler switched off his image inducer as Nyx crouched low on a pile of concrete, flinging her jacket aside and hissing monstrously as she began to change, dragon-like wings growing from her back.

Seeing the X-Men gather around him, the Thor thug spun around to face Wolverine, bellowing wordlessly as he slammed his mallets together. As the silver hammers smashed against each other, a sound like a howl of thunder filled the mall. James felt the floor beneath him shake as sonic waves ripped out of the mallets, screaming across the totaled mall and slamming into Wolverine!

James yalped in horror as Wolverine's body was snapped backwards, lifted off of his feet and pitched across the food court. Tigress shot to the side, her fangs bared and her ears flattened against her head in fury, but the sound waves continued to travel out, stunning her and jarring loose a hunk of dry wall and cement from a drugstore behind her.

"Oh crap!" James cried, his hands flying to his head as Tigress cried out in pain and fright, ducking her head as the wall toppled down on top of her, burying her alive. Nearby, Wolverine was out cold, blood trickling from his ears from the strength of the sonic thunderclaps this creep created.

Outraged, Nightcrawler teleported in an explosion of indigo smoke and Nyx roared, springing to the side as the crazy guy turned to face her, calmly wielding those silver mallets.

"Hah!" With a head-ringing "BAMF!!" Nightcrawler reappeared above Goldilocks' head, slamming his fist solidly into the guy's skull as Nyx lunged, wrenching her body around in midair and slapping her long tail across the guy's face, leaving a long red welt across one cheek.

"Argh! Trolls!" Blinded, the man spun away, one meaty arm arching up over his head. James squeaked and bit down hard on a knuckle as the guy's mallet slammed into Nightcrawler's back, flinging the fuzzy mutant back and into a soda machine, the impact crushing the plastic bottles beneath his body.

Nyx saw her boyfriend go flying, and James knew she was fighting the urge to run to Nightcrawler's side and see if he was all right. James could see his sister biting her lip hard as she sprang aside, yanking her tail clear of the freak as he slammed both mallets into the ground.

"You try my patience, demoness!" the huge man roared, prying the hammers out of the linoleum. He bared his teeth at Nyx as she snarled and darted forward, her hands outstretched for his throat.

Seeing her leap for him, the loud dude with the mallets sprang back, his left hand swinging forward while his right hand screamed down from overhead. Nyx saw the mallet in the guy's left hand and gasped, lunging into the air, just clearing the hammer, but never seeing the second mallet in time. James froze, his heart leaping into his throat as he watched the second mallet slam into the top of Nyx's head.

Nyx never made a sound. Her head snapped to the side viciously and suddenly, she was down, crumpled at the feet of the madman, her wings covering her body like a death shroud.

James couldn't move. He only stared in terror, in denial as the man sighed in disgust. Both Wolverine and Nightcrawler laid unconscious around them. Several dozen feet away, the dry wall heap shifted as Tigress struggled to dig herself free.

But nobody was there to help his sister as this whack job flipped both mallets over in his hands, shaking his head.

"The Sinister One spoke truthfully when he said you would prove a fearsome adversary," the man muttered, his hands tightening on the handles of the mallets.

Hearing that word, James' eyes flew open in rage, and a howl caught in his throat: SINISTER?

"NO!!!" Electricity crackling wildly around his clenched fists, James rushed forward, throwing himself off the broken walkway, plummeting straight for the hammer dude, whose head snapped upward at the sound of James' roar.

The man stared at James in open-mouthed incredulity as James lunged for him, shouting almost insanely, "Get the hell away from my sister, you son of a--!"

'Boink!' The big jerk simply reached up and batted James away, as though he were a gnat. James yelped in fright as he was sent sailing helplessly through the air and then bounced off a resin column.

"Ow!" he cried, landing hard on his butt. Rubbing the seat of his pants furiously, James glared at the man with seething hatred, but the guy didn't notice him. He was turning back to Nyx, raising a mallet like he was going to break her skull open.

Not truly realizing what he was doing, James leapt to his feet and flung his arm out, biting back a swear as he felt an agonizing lightning bolt rip from his hand.

The bolt nailed the man right in the chest, knocking him backwards and making his braided mustache stand straight up off of his face.

"YAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!" he screamed, all of his chain mail armor rattling and smoking.

When the guy stopped flashing like a stoplight, James blinked, risking a glance down to his arm. He did that?

Coooooooooooooool.

Coughing and choking on the smell of burnt hair, the man furiously waved away clouds of smoke to glare at James. "You! You there, the one with the dead badger atop his head!"

Insulted, James clapped a hand to his hair. It wasn't THAT bad!

Suddenly, the over evolved gorilla grinned, all of his teeth blackened with soot from James' attack.

"You have the powers of lightning!" the man said, and, arching an eyebrow uncertainly, James took half a step back. "You must be Blitz, the god of lightning!"

"'Blitz'???"

"Yes!" Proudly, the man drew himself up, quickly smoothing out his tunics and cape. "I am the god of the storms and blizzards. I am The Thunderer--Thor!"

"Huh?!" Snorting in disgust, James jabbed a finger at the idiot that towered over him. "Dude, I've seen Thor--you're not him! You can't even pass for Thor. His sister, maybe … and speaking of sisters, you just clocked mine over the head with that hammer thingy!"

"Eh?" The Thunderer looked back down to his feet, to Nyx, who was still lying unconscious there, blood drying on her face. "The she-devil is your sister?"

"Yes, she's my sister! What's it to you?"

The Thunderer blinked, dumbfounded. "I was invoked by a man who referred to himself as the Sinister One; he promised that, in return for destroying the demoness, he would help me dispose of the cur who claims to be Thor, and then I could reclaim my place in Asgard's glorious halls! You could join me, and rule the world with your lightning in return?"

James stared at The Thunderer for what felt like hours, trying his best and still unable to really grasp what this schmuck was saying. Shaking his head hard, James jammed a finger in one ear, trying to clear it out. Maybe he was hearing things???

"Sorry buddy," he spat. "You're out of your friggin' mind! You're not Thor! You're just some knuckle-draggin' mutant hero WANNABE, and BOY, am I gonna kick your ass!!"

The Thunderer's beady eyes shot open, and a roar rose in his throat as his arms snapped up, ready to smash those mallets back together. "Fool! You dare insult The Thunderer?!"

"Uh-oh--!" James bolted, tearing over the uneven ground as fast as he could (luckily, he had gotten plenty of practice trying to run away from Wade in crowded school hallways). Sliding across the plaster dust, James thrust both of his arms out and, never thinking twice about it, launched a volley of electricity ripping into The Thunderer's body.

"ARGH!!!" Knocked backwards, Thunderthighs swung his arms crazily, trying to catch his balance, but idiot that he was, smacked the mallets together, sending a thundering sonic boom screaming upwards, blowing apart the ceiling.

"Wagh! Nice going, Thunderball!" Dodging twisted steel girders and boulder-sized blocks of concrete as they rained down on him, James ran almost blindly, capping off smaller bolts of lightning at The Thunderer's turned back.

By now, The Thunderer was royally pissed, and was barreling towards James like a freight train, swinging those mallets around in huge arcs. Seeing The Thunderer charge, James cringed; boy, now he wished he hadn't antagonized the Juggernaut all those times! Sure could use his help!

James weaved in and out of the columns, squawking every time The Thunderer's sonic waves carved out huge chunks right above his head. This wasn't good! If James was going to fight this guy, he'd better do it from some place high … The second floor walkway!!

Scampering like a terrified rabbit over the destroyed mall, zigzagging his way to the escalators, which, to his amazement, were still working, James saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Howling in fright, James shot aside, realizing too late that it was Nightcrawler, finally coming around!

"'Crawler'Crawlerhelpmegetthisguyoffmyback!!!" James screamed, lunging for the nearest escalator. Stretching his legs as far as he could, James sprinted up the metal steps, taking them three at a time … but it didn't seem like he was getting anywhere fast. Wondering, James slowed, looked at the floor … and gulped.

HE TOOK THE ESCALATOR GOING DOWN!!!

Seeing that he had his quarry cornered now, The Thunderer grinned insanely and crashed to a halt at the foot of the escalator.

"Farwell, Blitz!" he roared, and slammed his silver mallets together.

James was certain he was going to die. He was certain that the thunderclaps were going to pulverize his skull. Maybe he would survive, but lose his hearing.

Either way, James wasn't willing to go out easily.

"No!" he cried, flinging his arms up, wishing he had some sort of shield.

No sooner had James thought that did his wish come true; electricity rushed out from his body, forming a snarling, sparking bubble around him. The Thunderer's sonic waves shook the bubble, but the shield held, the thunderclaps passing harmlessly around James.

James couldn't believe it. He did THAT?

He would have whooped for joy, but suddenly, the escalator dumped him on his butt, right at The Thunderer's feet.

"YIKES!!!" Screeching in terror, James shot between Thunderbutt's legs, gasping as he heard the man roar in fury and smash a hammer down into the escalator, completely trashing the stairs.

"Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman!!!" Crawling rapidly away from the lunatic, James sprang to his feet and raced for the right escalator, bounding up the metal steps and flinging bolts of lightning back at The Thunderer.

Howling, Thundergirl staggered back as the electricity ripped through his body. "You vex me, puny one!"

"Yes, you are terribly vexed, aren't you?" Scrambling to the walkway, James zapped The Thunderer again, making sure he really fried this guy as he ran along the walk.

The Thunderer started to rush forward, running like he was going to spring up onto the walkway in a single bound and grind James into a pulp. He bared his teeth wolfishly and opened his mouth to bellow in fury, but a sharp groan cut him short.

Both James and The Thunderer yelped in fright. James skidded to a halt over the debris and caught the walkway's guardrail, looking back to the food court with widening eyes. On the mound of rubble where The Thunderer had struck her, Nyx was slowly rolling herself over onto her stomach, propping herself up on one elbow as she gingerly rubbed her forehead, wincing in pain.

She moved sluggishly, and as she sat back, she swayed unsteadily, a sharp snarl hissing out through her clenched fangs. Watching his sister gaze blearily about herself, James knew she was still hurt, way too weak to defend herself.

Seeing his prey awaken in the midst of the destruction he had caused, The Thunderer's eyes narrowed in frustration. Pissed, to say the least, he shot a glare up at James and pointed to him with one silver hammer. "I shall tend to you, Lord Blitz, as soon as I have destroyed this creature!"

"What? No!" No, no, no! He was going to kill Nyx!!

Crying out in useless rage, James looked about him wildly, his head snapping left and right, looking for anything he could use, anything that could stop or slow The Thunderer down and give Nyx a chance to recover and run for it. Electricity surged around his hands and ripped from his chest, and despite all that power, James felt helpless. How could he possibly save his sister now?

The answer came in the form of pebbles drizzling down atop his head. Stunned, James jerked away from the rain of stones, glancing up, one eyebrow arching in confusion. He looked up to the ceiling, to the yawning hole that The Thunderer's sonic powers had punched through leaving …

HAAAAAAL--LEIGH--LU--YAAAAAAH!

There was a big honkin' chunk of concrete dangling from the ceiling, held in place by a single steel rod--and it was right over The Thunderer's massive head!

Pausing to give the air a 'ching-ching!', James spun around and aimed his finger at The Thunderer.

"You're goin' down, Thunderdome!!!" he roared, and snapped his arm up, pointing it skyward.

Annoyed, The Thunderer glanced up, scowling darkly. That scowl quickly evaporated, and The Thunderer gasped in horror as lightning arched out of James' arm, tore through the air and split through the steel rod. With a wail of protest, the rod melted and snapped away, and the boulder came roaring down.

The Thunderer, too terrified to move, swallowed hard. "Aw, nuts."

KER-WHAM!!!!

The boulder smashed into The Thunderer's head, instantly shattering into a zillion pieces. His eyes rolling back into his head, The Thunderer spun helplessly on his heel, then went down like a like a redwood.

"Yee-hah!" Jumping for joy, James bounded back down to the food court. Nightcrawler, still a little dizzy from his impromptu flight, scurried over to Nyx, and was fretfully helping her to sit up. Nearby, Tigress had finally burst free from the rubble that had buried her alive. She ran to Wolverine's side, helping him stand as he snarled wildly and shook his head hard, trying to stop the ringing in his rapidly healing ears.

Wolverine was out for blood, and he pierced the air with a ragged howl of rage and spun out of Tigress' supportive grip, his claws popping out all along his knuckles.

To his disbelief, and that of the other X-Men, Wolverine stared, his mouth hanging wide open, at the still bulk lying slumped on the floor. Perched upon The Thunderer's chest, James calmly adjusted his sunglasses and raised a triumphant fist.

"I am the Electrifying Blitz!"

******************************************************************

"Little more t' the left, bub …"

Archangel winced as James shifted position. "No, wait, too far!"

Wolverine snorted. "Ya were fine a second ago!"

Gambit cocked an eyebrow at James. "Try liftin' yer right foot, mon ami."

Disgusted, James, now called Blitz by the X-Men, obediently raised his right foot. "Now what? Do I shake it all about?"

"Stop talkin'!" Wolverine barked, his hearing and his attitude back to normal. "Yer shakin' the picture!"

In their loveseat nearby, Nightcrawler buried his face in his hand to stifle his chuckle as Nyx, curled beside him, giggled. "What if you tilted your head towards the window, Blitz?"

Sighing heavily, Blitz did as he was asked, fighting to keep his balance on the TV as the pictured spun and whined. "How long is it gonna be till Juggernaut gets cable?"

"He was gonna hop to it right after the game," Iceman replied, cursing sharply as the screen warped again. "Don't talk!"

"You know, when I came to the Institute, I didn't intend on being used like a pair of rabbit ears!" Blitz snapped as Tigress sauntered in with drinks, Juggernaut right behind her with an eight-foot sub on his shoulder. He had no problem carrying it.

Seeing that sandwich, Blitz felt himself begin to drool. Setting the sub down on his coffee table, Juggernaut glanced up at his living antenna and glared. "Hey! Don't go slobbering all over my stuff, half-pint!"

Knowing it was probably a very bad idea, Blitz still glared back at Juggernaut. "How long is this stupid game?"

Nightcrawler shrugged as he swiped a chunk of the massive sub away. "Dunno. Could be two hours. Three, if there's overtime."

"OVERTIME?!!" Blitz squawked, swinging his arms to keep balance. "This is stupid! Why do I have to do this again?"

"'Cuz yer electric powers draw in th' best reception," Wolverine snorted as Tigress squeezed in beside him on the old armchair.

"Yeah, well--" Blitz was about to bite off something seething when a set of giggles from the doorway cut him off. Horrified, Blitz turned to see who it was, though everyone roared when the picture winked away.

To Blitz's immense humiliation, he was right; Storm and Stacy were standing there, both trying not to laugh their butts off at his new "assignment".

Stacy grinned wickedly. "About time somebody got you back, you little creep."

"This is very cute!" Storm chortled, her blue eyes flashing merrily. "Stay there, Blitz; I'm going to get the camera!"

Blitz cringed. "Oh, please, no don't!" he begged as Storm disappeared back into the hall, her white hair floating out like a cloud behind her.

Tigress laughed, clapping her hands in glee. "Welcome to the X-Men, Blitz!"

"Aw, go use a scratching post."

THE END