Chapter 1: The new X-Man
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution, though I do own Gareth
Gareth groaned softly in pain as he slid the steel knife blade deep into the soft flesh of his own arm, no tears nor whimpers escaping from his lips, not anymore, he'd been beyond reacting to physical pain for a long time, now he virtually revelled in it, his entire life was pain, and when all you have is agony you learn to enjoy it.
He was dishevelled, his black trench coat dirty and damaged, pockets filled full of the few meagre possessions he had remaining, a few loose coins, a spare knife, several smoke bombs and a small soft toy penguin, one last memento of his mother… His black hair hung around his face, coarse, tangled and unkempt, his features chiselled and slightly shallow, eyes a beautiful hazel, with a deep sadness buried deep within them, the eyes of a man who'd seen far too much, lost too much. His skin was horribly pasty and sickly, only marred by a long and deep scar across his right cheek. His entire body was slumped into the corner of the filthy abandoned warehouse he now called home; a few years ago he would have laughed at the cliché, now he no longer had the sense of humour.
Unconsciously his hands rubbed together, as if he were trying to clean something from them, his eyes closed in pain, contrasting with the small smile adorning his features, as if he truly believed this pain was something he needed, something he truly deserved, still trying to rub and wipe his hands as he remembered the blood he had spilled in his rage, he'd killed many times before, mostly to survive, but a few times when his rage took control, and those where the kills which drove him into the solidarity and depression he was forced to endure…
Charles Xavier looked up at Cerebro's screen, the words "NEW MUTANT DETECTED!" were flashing in bright red, a rotating picture of a much healthier Gareth clad in his black trench coat spun beneath the pictures, notes and details about him cluttering the rest of the screen, two particular flashing boxes grabbing the bald mutant's attention, causing Xavier's eyes to widen in fear, his voice a whispered as he whispered out.
"No…", one of the two boxes showing a readout of Gareth's psyche, showing how mentally disturbed the young man was, how ready to lash out, how merciless and violent this mere teenager's mind was, the other simply blaring out three words which Xavier whispered softly in dread, "Omega level mutant…", slowly moving a hand to power down Cerebro before lifting the helmet from his head, his wheelchair turning as the doors slid open to reveal a short yet burly Canadian man with wild features and a constantly dangerous expression, and beside him a stunning tall African lady, her long white hair contrasting with her dark skin, her usual kind expression missing, replaced by a worried look as she saw Xavier's grim expression.
"So what'cha find Chuck" the burly man growled out, pressing the end of his cigar into his hand to stub it out, the smell of burning flesh causing the lady beside him to give a slightly nauseous look at him before turning back worriedly to Xavier.
"Assemble the team Logan, Ororo prepare the Blackbird, we've got an Omega Level Mutant on our hands, one who appears to have no qualms killing" the telepath told them simply before placing his hands on his temples, sending out a psychic message to the assembled X-Men All X-Men suit up and report to the hanger in five minutes he broadcasted, the numerous younger mutants, with varying amounts of enthusiasm, stopping whatever they were doing at the time and beginning to get ready for their mission. As the two adults turned to step out of Cerebro Xavier raised a hand, "Ororo I need to speak with you quickly". As the African goddess turned to her mentor he gave a small sigh, "Ororo, I detected the reason this young man is so mentally warped was because he lost his mother", Ororo's eyes widening with a small whisper of
"Oh merciful goddess…", Xavier nodding at this, his eyes falling closed in regret that he had not found this poor young man earlier, Storm quickly realizing what this meant, "And you want me to try and calm him?" she asked softly, the older man nodding again, hoping that the young mutant would be able to see Ororo as a motherly figure.
The X-Men began to assemble in the hanger bay, several of the young mutants muttering or looking around in confusion as Logan and Xavier wheeled towards them, the telepath looking over the team with a serious expression.
"Cerebro detected a new mutant signature, it's in London, England, the signature belongs to a Gareth Oliver, he's an Omega level mutant so we'll have to be cautious" seeing the worried expressions of his students, they all knew full well what an Omega Level mutant could do as they had all been present when the Phoenix had first emerged in Jean's body. "Not only that, he appears to be willing to kill, if it comes to a fight we'll be forced to neutralise him and bring him back with us, and it will take all of us to match his power"
With that he gestured towards the Blackbird, the X-Men beginning to climb the steps into the plane with expressions ranging from terror in Jean's case at the realisation that they were facing an enemy as potentially destructive as the Phoenix, to an arrogant and bored look in Evan's as the youngest member of the X-Men thought out 'How tough can this 'Gareth' be?'
Several hours later the Blackbird came to a halt on top of one of the many abandoned warehouses in this grimy area of London during the darkening evening, the numerous costumed heroes beginning to troop down the ramp, awaiting Xavier's mental commands, the old telepath speaking to the numerous mutants mentally.
Logan, you take Kurt and Kitty, search the warehouses to the north. Jean, Scott, Evan and Rogue you search to the west he ordered before privately and quickly speaking to Storm Ororo, please check the warehouses to the east, your our best hope at helping him come peacefully, before once again broadcasting to the entire group Remember if you see him try not to engage him unless there is no other choice. At that the two groups of X-Men set off to the north and west as Storm lifted herself with the winds.
Storm swept down from the rooftop, her cape billowing out behind herself as she flew down towards the nearest warehouse, swooping down to the door, one hand taking hold of the rusted metal handle and giving it a hard yank, eyes narrowing as it didn't budge, taking it with both hands and simply wrenching it off it's hinges. Quickly she stepped inside, walking towards the centre of the grimy warehouse, her hair standing on end as she heard a soft and intensely creepy voice from the shadows in the warehouse around her.
"Well, hello Clarice" the voice whispered in a perfect impression of Hannibal Lector, Storm's head whipping round to a shadowy figure emerging from the darkness, the pallor of the figure's skin, the dark matted hair, the cold darkness within the man's eyes, he was exactly how the Professor had shown him in her mind, seconds later he was simply gone from her vision, yet she could sense him circling her, his voice coming from the very shadows themselves, whispering from the shadows of the room around her "I must say, it's rare for me to have visitors, especially those as stunning as you are", Storm giving a glance around the shadows of the warhouse before speaking out
"Gareth - " she spoke out, gasping as she saw him step from the shadows in front of her, the scars that covered his hands and his neck, they were far worse than she had ever seen before in all her years, and as for the huge gash across his left cheek, it made her shiver at the thought of how much agony this young man must have endured. Stepping forwards to the slightly taller man, she carefully lifted her hand to the scar across his cheek as he stood there frozen at the concerned look in her eyes and the emotions radiating from her, the worry, the concern, the fear that were rolling off the African goddess, a caring he hadn't felt in years… His tortured eyes lowering to gaze at hers, stiffening in shock as he felt her delicate arms wrapping around him, shocked by the concern this woman was showing him.
Gareth's eyes widened as he felt the kind African lady wrenched off him in a blur, seeing her smash into a wall and taking a step towards her, a silver haired youth skidding to a stop in front of him wearing an incredibly dorky looking costume, able to hear two other figures approaching him from behind and a third crawling across the ceiling, the silver haired youth speaking out to him incredibly fast.
"What do you think your doing hugging one of the X-Geeks like that? That's so not cool your supposed to be a brotherhood member like us I'm Pietro-" was all he got out before Gareth's eyes turned a pure black, Quicksilver's shadow rearing up out of the ground, solidifying and grabbing the speedster around the throat, lifting him easily against the wall as if he weighed nothing. Gareth glared into the speedster's eyes.
"Your suffering will be legendary, even in hell!" he snarled, his voice dark and ferocious, rage consuming his features, making him appear just as daemonic as he sounded. Pietro squealed in fear at the monster before him, unable to do little but struggle as Gareth's icy cold hand took hold of his throat, the shadow dissipating at it's master's touch. Gareth growled before he span and threw Pietro easily across the warehouse, smiling savagely as he hit the wall with a satisfying crunch, blades of solid shadow forming in Gareth's hands before with a flick of the wrist he sent them flying towards Pietro, the sharp blades embedding themselves in the soft flesh of his body causing him to shriek in pain. The other two mutants standing shocked in front of him, a third hanging from the ceiling.
"There ain't no way I'm dumb enough to try and fight this guy yo" the mutant hanging from the ceiling called down to the other two mutants, though smirking slightly at the sight of Pietro having been thrown against the wall like he had, clearly showing there was bad blood between the two, Gareth smirking at the wall crawler's words, thinking 'smart kid' as his fists clenched and he focussed on his powers. Solid shadows formed in mid air at his command as he looked at the two others, one huge and morbidly overweight, the other a typical bad-boy who seemed to be wearing a fruit bowl, clenching his fist and smashing together two pieces of solid shadow on each side of Blob's head, the huge mutant falling with a crash onto his back, out cold in an instant.
Avalanche's eyes rolling back as they did when he uses his powers, a single blast of shadow energy shot from Gareth's hand impacting his chest and sending him flying back into the wall with a loud crunch, the shadow mutant turning on his heel and walking away from the broken and unconscious forms of the Brotherhood, over to the prone figure of Storm. Gently he turned and lifted her torso slightly, his teeth grinding together as he saw the silver mutant had broken her nose, one hand ripping away a piece of his already torn shirt, gently and carefully beginning to dab it on her nose and wipe away the blood from her beautiful features, eyes softening as he looked at her. She had obviously cared for him, and she'd been hurt because of it, he owed it to her to at least look after her.
Quickly he used the shadows around to mentally scan the area, able to sense the two teams of mutants, but more importantly the jet with the Professor inside, gently lifting Storm into his arms before the two of them vanished in a wisp of shadow, reappearing behind Xavier as the telepath sat at the controls of the Blackbird.
"I take it you're the reason this lady came to me" Gareth stated, Xavier giving a look of great surprise, arm lifting protectively as his wheelchair turned towards the intruder, he hadn't detected nor heard Gareth at all and that scared him. Seeing the unconscious Storm in the young man's arms he wheeled back slightly, his eyes narrowing dangerously, reaching out telepathically towards the boy, only to clutch at his head, the boy's damaged and fractured mind ripping through his mental defences, forcing his probe to draw away from the pain
"What did you do to Ororo?" he demanded as the pain in his mind quickly receded, tensing himself, as if he expected the young man to lash out and attack him, Gareth's still black eyes sending the bald man an icy glare, turning and sitting on the bed as he held Ororo gently to him, as if he were unwilling to let go of the first person to show him kindness in so long, one hand lifting and moving a piece of her white hair from her face with a small whisper of "Ororo…" before he turned his head back to Xavier with another glare that could freeze nitrogen.
"I did nothing to her, she was attacked by some silver head kid who moved like a blur and was thrown into a wall" he hissed, Xavier giving a rather abashed expression at this, able to sense that this was the truth. Looking over at the young man in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I simply saw my friend hurt and assumed the worst" Gareth seemingly sensing the old man's sincerity, eyes closing and giving him an understanding nod of forgiveness.
X-Men, return to the Blackbird, Storm has found our mutant he called out mentally to the X-Men before turning back to Gareth, "The rest of the team will be arriving soon" he told Gareth simply, speaking out loud as he was still unable to contact the youth telepathically without risking an enormous headache
"Team?" Gareth enquired simply with a dangerous edge to his voice, he didn't like the idea that this man had a team out looking for him, but wasn't about to do anything rash, if this man had wanted to hurt him he would have tried something already.
"My name is Charles Xavier, I run a school for gifted youths, unique gifts such as your own. You see we all possess a gene called the X-Gene, it shows itself in a variety of ways, I myself am a telepath, while Ororo can control the weather, I believe there is a place for you at my school, if you wish to attend". Gareth nodded in understanding but didn't reply yet, to either agree or turn down the offer, as he heard three people approaching, three sets of boots crunching on the gravel of the rooftop. Seconds later he heard an American accented voice call out
"Miss Munroe! What did you 'like' do to her!" Gareth looking up at the slim valley girl storming up the ramp and into the Blackbird, followed by a burly and wild looking man and what appeared to be some kind of fuzzy blue creature, a cross between an elf, a cat and one of the Na'vi . The burly man hunching over into a threatening position, what appeared to be knives tearing their way out of his knuckles, his lips curling up in an animalistic snarl.
"Whoa, didn't know Avatar was a true story" he exclaimed lightly with a small smile, seeing the blue elf chuckle slightly at this, completely ignoring the short man, before looking back at the valley girl, his expression hardening and voice becoming cold and steely, "If you had bothered to ask before accusing me you'd know I did nothing to her, she was hurt by some loser who called himself Pietro or something", the valley girl giving a surprised and properly abashed look of embarrassment at this, turning her head down to look at her feet, the wild man simply continuing to glare as the knives retracted into his hands.
Slowly he looked back down at Ororo as she lay in his lap, seeing her stirring, one of her hands slowly lifting to her sore and still slightly bloody nose, groaning softly in pain as Gareth gently tightening his grip, whispering softly,
"Your with your friends Ororo, no one's gonna hurt you", her blue eyes slowly opening, looking up hazily at the pale skinned and dark haired youth holding her, into his lovely hazel eyes, his words bringing surprising comfort to her, feeling strangely calm as she lay there in his arms, it was strange that this boy, who had not ten minutes ago managed to scare her normally unshakable self, already felt special to her.
"Gareth?" she whispered softly, the young boy nodding and gently stroking her hair from her face, not realizing in the slightest how this must have looked to Kurt, Kitty, Logan and Xavier.
Spyke growled in irritation, he wished could be out skating with his friends but instead he was stuck out here in London's back streets looking for some loser who everyone seemed to be bowing down to because he was an 'Omega Level Mutant', the thought that Gareth could be a danger if not found not crossing his selfish mind for a second.
Slowly he tramped up the ramp of the Blackbird; eyes' turning up to where to strange looking boy was just brushing his Aunt's hair out of her face and gazing down at her, his anger quickly taking over.
"DON'T TOUCH MY AUNT!" he roared, a bone spike flying towards Gareth's head, only the young man's quick reactions grabbing it out of the air before it stabbed into his skull, his eyes turning pure black once again as he looked at Evan with an expression of rage, shadows beginning to swirl around Evan like wraiths, lifting his finger and pricking it on the sharp bone spike, seeing how deadly it could have been, his voice just as terrifying as when he had threatened Pietro.
"If Ororo didn't want me to touch her I would not. Don't. Speak. For. Her!" he hissed out as the wraiths grew in size, solidifying as they surrounded Evan, Logan's claws shooting back out as he looked over at Gareth in rage, "And don't try and kill me again!" Gareth growled out, his voice like glass on sandpaper.
A/N: Please review, and what do you think of this so far? And I'd like suggestions for Gareth's codename, I was thinking maybe Nightray?