Young X-Men: Crossroads
Chapter One: Standing at Midnight
The Canadian air is crisp. There is a light breeze that could chill a person to the bones. A large mid 1800's style mansion resides in the center of acres of forest. The sun beamed in a room on the second floor in the east wing of the former plantation of the Howlett family. The light reflected off the floor to the ceiling of the room. In the room, there is a large bed. There are comics splayed all over the floor with some open to various pages. On the side of the room, Charles sat and combed through some of the issues he had; looking for something to read. As he dug through a large crate for one of his favorite comics, he threw the rest behind him.
"No, not that one." Charles muttered as he continued to dig deeper into the crate for a few more minutes. "I don't want to read that one either."
As Charles looked deeper in his comic collection, his large, wooden door opened wide and his blinds became drawn. Sure enough, his mother appeared; eyes glowing.
"Charles, Breakfast if ready. I need you to come down stairs." Jean Grey said as she walked over to her son.
Charles looked up from his crate and towards his mother with a smile on his face.
"Ooo food" Charles exclaimed. "Just give me a few minutes to clean some of this up and then I'll head downstairs"
Charles stood up and started to clean up his comics as his mother left the room and headed downstairs.
'It's been two weeks since the whole school thing and I have to stop pretending that I'm ok with this.' Charles thought as he put the last of his comics in his crate and headed out of his room and downstairs.
When he walked downstairs, he went into a large dining room with a glass chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Charles took a seat at the table and looked around waiting for his mother to bring in breakfast. As he waited, he heard a set of wheels squeaking down a long dark hall way. Charles turned his head and saw his father, the once great and proud Wolverine of the X-men, now bound to a wheelchair coming down the hallway coming towards the dining room.
"Hey dad, what's up?" said Charles as he looked at his father.
Wolverine just looked at his son, wheeled himself across from Charles and picked up a mug of coffee that was left for him by Jean.
"Jean, what are we having for breakfast?" James said with a hint of aggravation in his voice
"James, we are having eggs and bacon and if you don't quit that attitude you'll be wearing it." Said Jean as she carried a plate in each hand and one with her telekinesis.
She placed the plates in front of Charles, then James and then seated herself next to her husband and started eating. The breakfast was awkward as no one really spoke to each other. The family just looked at each other as they continued to eat until Jean looked at her son and husband and had enough of the silence.
"If no one is going to talk, I'm going to say something. We came here to get away from Manhattan and Westchester after all of the loss and grief we had been put through. We came to your home James so we can have some time to grow as a family but all you seem to do is brood and pity yourself now that you're bound to the wheelchair. I'm sorry that you can't fight alongside the X-men, but you can still be a great figure in your son's life now." Jean said as she walked away from the table, went to the porch and looked at the sky.
James looked at Charles, wheeled himself down the same dark hallway from which he came from. Charles sat in shock as he looked at both of his parents leave the room. He got up from the chair and walked outside and stood next to his mother.
"Mom, what was that all about at breakfast?" Charles asked as he looked at the sky with his mother next to him.
"Charles, I can read you and your father's mind. I know neither of you wants to be here, but don't want to talk about it. Your father doesn't because he is too proud to admit that he is now weakened and embarrassed because he has to use a wheelchair. You, my little Charlie, are still saddened by what has happened with the school. I am upset to, but we have to try to live our lives without the X-men" Jean said with tears welling up in her eyes.
Charles looked at his mother and hugged her. Then he walked inside the house, ran upstairs to his room and grabbed a backpack. He looked around his room, grabbed some clothes and one issue from his crate of comics. After stuffing his bag, Charles walked into his closet, pulled out his Young X-Men uniform and threw it in the bag. Charles put his bag under his bed, walked out of his room and closed the door. Charles walked downstairs down the dark hallway which his father always went down. Charles sniffed the air and located his father in a locked room at the end of the hall. Charles tried to look for a key around the door but couldn't find one.
"Ok, I'll make my own key" Charles said as he released one of his claws, cut off the lock and pushed the door open.
The room is large and very exquisite. The walls are covered with trophies of dead animals and a bear skin rug covered the floor. Towards the back of the room is a fireplace that was lit and close to it is James, sitting in his chair, looking at the fireplace with no sense of time nor a care in the world.
"Father, you can't stay in here the whole time we are living here; this place is your home too. Mom understands why you're acting up and I can read your mind too. Dad we are a family." Charles said as he looked at his father by the fireplace.
The light reflected off the chrome wheels of the chair and the flames danced in the fireplace. Charles stood there until he heard a grunt from his father.
"You and your mother have a bad habit to invade my mind when I don't want you to." Said James as he turned to face Charles, he face darkened by the lack of direct light. "Did you know what I was doing at your age, I was working in a quarry. I was more mature at your age then you are now. What are you going to do without the X-men? What do you want from life son?"
Charles stood in shock as his father pushed him away. Charles clenched his fist and with a stern look in his eyes they started to glow.
"At least I know what I'm going to do now dad. I won't waste my time or my breath, but you're going to live your long, long, life without me in that chair." Charles said walked out of the room and slammed the door with his telekinesis.
James turned his chair towards the fire and opened a letter that was sitting on his lap.
"Do what you must son. Find your place in this world on your own. Don't be someone else's pawn." James said to himself as he finished reading the letter.
He wheeled himself over to a small table and dialed the phone number that was in the letter. After a few moments, James spoke into the phone..
"I'm in" James said.
He hung up the phone, wheeled himself towards the fire again and with anguish flowing though him; James, the former X-men known as Wolverine, unsheathed his claws for the last time.
Charles stormed into his room and sat on his bed for a few moments. Jean came into the room and sat next to her son. Charles looked at her and then at the floor, his breath increasing, trying to keep himself from crying. Jean put her arm around her son to give him comfort, but Charles didn't give into his emotions. Jean looked at him and said,
"I know what you're planning to do and I respect your decision."
Charles looked at his mother and hugged her. He reached under his bed and grabbed the bag that he had prepared. Charles ran out of his room and left the large estate that had been "home" for the last two weeks. Jean stood at the window to see her son leave the family that they were trying to build Charles' intent was not to destroy it, but to better it and him. Jean put her hand to the window as tears rolled down her face as she saw her son leave the grounds and head into the deeper forests of Alberta, Canada.
The day turned into night as Charles continued to walk throughout the woods. The sounds of the forest resonated through the night along with the sounds of wolves, birds, and caribou as they travelled through the night. Charles was on his own, no team, no help for untold miles. All he had was his natural abilities and his goal in mind. Charles stopped by a small creek, placed his bag down and took a seat next to it.
'I don't know what to do. I left home because I felt that I wasn't doing anything. I have no place to go now. Ace is with his mother, Amy is in Russia and everyone else is just scattered all over the place. I just feel so lost right now and father was a total dick to me. I'm not even sure why he is pushing me away, but I have to do this on my own for now. I guess I'm going to follow down the same path that my father took.'
Charles opens his bag and puts on his old X-men uniform.
"It's time for the world to see what I can do!"
Charles picked up his bag and started to run through the darkness. The moon traversed the night sky as the light from it reflected off the creek that Charles was following. Charles felt more in control than he ever had as the wind blew from the north and hit his back. It was as if the wind itself is pushing Charles toward his goal of independence. As the hours past, Charles started to grow tired from his hours of walking and decides to rest. Charles sits near the creek, uses his bag as a pillow and closed his eyes as the moon was still high in the sky. After several hours Charles woke up on his journey of self discovery. He picked up his bag and walked down the creek stopping every once and awhile for a drink of water. Charles continued on this journey for three more days as he went deeper and deeper into the Canadian wilderness until he hit the Canadian city of Calgary. On the outskirts of the city, Charles changed out of his X-men uniform and put on some of his civilian clothing. Charles put on a hat, hoping not to attract any enemies that maybe in the town. Charles walked into the metropolis with hunger in his stomach but a sense of pride leading him on and on. Charles looked around and was amazed that the city was a lot like New York. Charles was in luck as he went into the city because the city was having the annual Mosaic Cultural Festival. The city erupts as Charles sees the many different cultures of the city. In the heart of the city, the booths for that night's celebration were being set-up and Charles looked on deciding to stay in the city for the days' festival. As Charles went to kill time, he found himself on a bench on Stephen Avenue. It is full of metal trees and was one of the largest malls in the city he was in. Charles found a vending machine, put a few coins in the machine and grabbed a chocolate bar. He walked back to the bench and took a seat.
'I have to kill more time; I'm guessing that the festival doesn't start till after dark.'
Charles looks around and saw a flyer for a new arcade that had opened in the mall.
"Cool!"
Charles walked down the street, trying to find the address of the arcade. Every so often he would ask people from the town where the street was, but couldn't really understand where they were sending him because he didn't understand French very well. Charles wondered for about an hour, unknown to his knowledge the street cameras were rotating and zoomed in on Charles as he walked towards the arcade. When Charles walked into the arcade, also known as The White Hot Room, Charles looked at the sign, shook his head and proceeded into the place. The arcade was filled with games and flashing lights; the place sounded like a club for teenagers with their own DJ that was hanging from the ceiling. Charles went over to the counter and placed a few Canadian Dollars on it as the cashier handed Charles a small bag of tokens for the games.
'I'm lucky that worked, but I guess all arcades are the same all over the world.' Charles thought as he walked towards the Tekken: Forever, the latest installment of the long running Tekken franchise.
Charles started playing the game for a little over an hour as the security cameras were zooming in on him and recording his every move. Charles was deep into the game, already setting high scores on two of the characters and working on his third until a person with a black and white hooded sweat shirt, their face being covered by the hood, came over and placed a coin into the machine. Charles turned quickly at the new opponent with anger in his voice because he was in the last level with this character. The person next to Charles said nothing as he screamed in anger as the person next to him chose their character.
"You couldn't have waited till I was done with the match." Charles said as he looked at the person next to him.
"Well are you going to play the game or just waste my time" said the person next with a female voice.
"Fine, let's get this game on!" Charles said as he picked his character and the game started.
A few games later, Charles was on a losing streak. Charles stood in shock as he reached into his pocket trying to find more tokens for the machine. However, he found out that he had used all of them up against this girl.
"Well I guess I'm done here." Charles went to turn around, but the girl opened her mouth and said,
"So you're giving up Weapon XV?"
Charles stopped and went to grab the girl by the hood, but felt a hand on his shoulder. Charles turned around and saw an old friend standing there, Timothy Rivers, also known as Warrior of Alpha Flight. The girl took off her hood to reveal herself, Gail Beaubier, also known as Corona of Alpha Flight. Charles let go of Gail and took a step back as Timothy and Gail smiled at him. He was confused as to why they were in that city.
"Hey Guys!" Charles said happily.
"Hello Charles." Said Timothy as he reached his hand out and shook Charles' hand and Gail waved at him.
"So what are you guys doing here?" asked Charles as the three teens walked to a small table inside the arcade.
"We were going to ask you the same thing." Timothy stated and waved over a waiter.
"We heard about the incident at the Xavier Institute and we've been on the lookout for any terrorists that might be targeting mutants." Said Gail as the waiter placed glasses of water in front of each of them.
"No, we know who attacked us, but we haven't been able to find them. Plus the X-men are no more." Charles said as he put his head down on the table.
Gail and Timothy looked at each other, not knowing what to say in response to the news.
"Look Charles, I know that this is all of the sudden, but you know since your father was on the team and we can always use another person on our team." Timothy said as he placed his hand on Charles's shoulder.
"Your family with Alpha Flight, always XV" said Gail as she got up and headed for the door of the building. "So you are coming with us?"
Charles looked up as he saw Gail and Timothy start to leave. Charles grabbed his bag and followed the two of them out of the building. In the distance, a security camera zoomed in onto the teens as they left the building and headed down the street towards one of the hotels in the city.
"So this is where you're staying?" asked Charles as he walked into the hotel with Gail and Timothy.
"Yea we are. We're here for the Cultural Mosaic Festival." Gail said as she went into the bathroom to try on a few dresses for the festival.
"Most of the time, the whole team comes to this festival, but since we are spread out to find this terrorist. Since we haven't had any leads. Hopefully now that you're here we can see if they had fled up north to avoid capture." Timothy said as he sat on the bed waiting for Gail to come out of the bathroom.
"We have time before the festival and to be honest I don't want to even think of the whole thing that happened back in Westchester. That's why I left home. I wanted to get my mind off of the whole thing and find my own place in the world without the X-men." Charles said as he went through his bag to find a fresh pair of clothing.
Gail came out of the bathroom wearing a blue and white dress which has small diamond studs in it. Timothy and Charles looked at Gail stunned by her beauty..
"Well I guess I look kind of ok. I guess I don't have to ask you guys your opinion." Gail said as she went back into the bathroom to change out of the dress.
A few hours past as the teens caught up with each other and talked about the recent events in their lives to bring themselves to this point. As the time passes, the teens get ready for the festival and leave the hotel shortly after. As they arrived at the festival, the town was in frenzy. Most of the people in the city were taking parts in carnival type games and indulging themselves into the different cultures of the area. The teens started to play games. Charles for the first time in about three weeks was finally enjoying himself.
"Charles looks like he is having fun." Gail said as she threw a ball at a couple of pins that were sitting on a small table.
"Yea he is. He is like a little brother to me. I've known Charles since he was born when his parents brought him up here for a trip." Timothy said as he saw the ball fly past the pins and he started to laugh.
Gail pointed her finger at the pins and fired a small light blast to knock over the pins. The man that was running the booth started to scream as Gail walked away with a smile on her face. Timothy followed Gail as they went to find Charles who was eating a large plate of fried dough. There is powdered sugar on his face and a smile,
"So what have you guys been up too?"
"We have been playing some games" Gail said.
She smiled at Charles and took some of the fried dough off of Charles's plate. The three walked to the center of the festival where the Mayor stood at the microphone surrounded by a bunch of civilians.
"Welcome to the Mosaic Festival! Today I want to welcome to the festival two members of Alpha Flight. Please Welcome Corona and Warrior to the stage." The mayor stated as the crowd started to applaud more and more as the two teen heroes walked onto the stage.
Charles looked confused as his friends walked onto the stage.
"Hello city of Calgary, I am Warrior and my associate here is Corona as you all may know. We come here every year to celebrate the great diversity in your town and in our great nation. We have the privilege to serve you great citizens everyday of our lives and I hope that you guys are proud of us and our services." Said Timothy as the crowd was clapping and screaming things like "Our heroes!", "Warrior your amazing!", "Corona you're so hot!"
Charles looked as Timothy and Gail walked off the stage and became surrounded by all of the citizens. Charles was trying to make his way through the crowd until he made it to the members of Alpha Flight.
"I didn't know you guys were guest of honor at this festival." said Charles as he walked with Timothy and Gail pushing through the crowd.
"We aren't really guests of honor; the mayor always knows we come here every year. He told us we could come as guests of honor this year because of all the times we come." Gail said as she grabbed hold of Charles.
Gail and Timothy took flight and headed to the top of the hotel. When they landed Gail let go of Charles and the three of them made their way down to their room. After the day of excitement the three teens went to bed and took a long rest that they had deserved. Hours later an alarm clock went off, startling the three teens. They woke still in their clothes from the night before and were tired. The teens gathered their clothes and changed from last night's clothing into something more comfortable. Charles, Timothy and Gail then went down to the main desk and checked out of the hotel, not even paying for Charles, whom they had snunk into the room.
"So where are you guys are headed to now?" asked Charles as he walked down the street with Gail and Timothy.
"We are going to head back to Department H HQ so we can tell them some of the info that we found about the Institute incident." Timothy said. "What about you, Charles?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll figure something out" said Charles as he smiled at Gail and Timothy.
"Why don't you come with us back to Department H? You're always welcome onto Alpha Flight." Gail asked.
"Right now I'm going to follow my own path" Charles said.
"Alright Charles" Gail said as she took off into the sky.
"Hopefully you will change your mind. Good-Bye" said Timothy as he shook Charles's hand and he took flight.
As Charles looked at the sky and saw his friends fly off into the distance, he began to think about the incident at the school. He started to breathe heavier and his eyes started to well up from all the emotional pain that he'd been burying deep down inside since the day of the explosion.
"I don't know what to do in my life. I don't want to be just like my father and I don't want to be like anyone else. I want to be myself and be the hero I know I can be. I will hunt down those that hurt me and my family and find my place in the world"
Charles started to cry for the first time in a while. The flood gates to his heart were finally open and he allowed himself to feel the pain that he had been hiding from his father. A few moments later Charles was walking up to a counter at the airport. After purchasing a ticket, Charles placed his bag over his shoulder and headed for the gate. Over the loud speaker a female voice could be heard saying,
"Last boarding call for the 12:15 to Moscow, please proceed to gate 31"
Charles, with a smile on his face, walked towards Gate 31 with a picture of Amy in his hands.
'I'll see you soon Amy'
Charles boarded the plane and took a seat knowing that his future was in his hands.
Elsewhere in the Department H Headquarters, a wall of monitors light up showing Charles in various places and times. In a monitor in the center showed Charles boarding the plane.
"So what is so important in Russia?" ask the Director as he turned towards the door in the room.
"I couldn't tell you" said Gail as she walked into the room and stood in front of the Director. "We offered him a position with Alpha Flight, but Weapon XV declined."
"He needs to be watched and monitored. One day he might end up like his father."
The door then opens again and Timothy walked into the monitor room in his Warrior uniform.
"Director I want you to back off of Charles."
"He is our weapon. He got away and he needs to come back to us, either by force or not!" the director said as he slammed his fist to the ground.
"I said you won't" Timothy stated as he fired an energy blast at the director, knocking him to the ground. "From now on, he is under the care of Alpha Flight. Now stay away from Charles. He has to find his own path in life." Timothy then flew out of the room and looked towards where the plane that carried Charles might have been and silently wished his friend luck on his mission of self discovery.