Okay people; let me set the timeline for you for this story. It starts just before the mutants are revealed to the public. This will diverge greatly from the cannon, sharing only a few things in common with it.
Disclaimer: I will not own X-Men Evolution for the entirety of this story. I set up the disclaimer this way because I always forget about it.
Rogue awoke to the obnoxious sound of someone, probably Scott, pounding on the door. "All right, all right, ah'm up!" Rogue nearly shouted, propping herself up on her elbow as she did so. The knocking ceased followed by the sound of steps going down the hall. Rogue collapsed back onto her pillows with an exasperated sigh. She looked at her clock, and was annoyed to see that it read 5:30. Why does the Professor always schedule meetings before school? What's wrong with canceling a Danger Room session so the meeting can take place after school? Rogue thought to herself as she went about the business of getting ready for school. The weather was too cold for her usual clothing, so instead she pulled a pair of jeans, as well as one of her few t-shirts, out of some drawers. She then looked over at the sleeping form of her roommate, sighing as she did. Nothing could wake her up. Well, nothing except one thing. Pulling her jacket out of the closet, Rogue tossed it and her other clothes onto her bed, then walked over to Kitty's side, where she poked her roommates forehead with the tip of one bared finger, maintaining contact for only a split-second. Still, this was enough to cause the unfortunate Kitty to bolt upright, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her.
Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde glared at her slightly gothic roommate. All Rogue did in response was point at the clock. Still glaring, Kitty glanced at the clock, her eyes widening at the time. Jumping out of bed, she bolted to the bathroom, running past the clock that now read 5:38. Smirking slightly, Rogue hurriedly got dressed, glad that she had taken the precaution of showering the previous night. It was better to be able to take your time to eat then to try to shove everything down as quickly as possible. That would come back to bite you later in the day. Rogue looked at herself in the mirror, and then grumbled as she took off her shirt. She may look good in the dark purple shirt, but it didn't cover enough skin. Going back to her dresser, she pulled out a long sleeved black undershirt, slipping it on before pulling back on the purple t-shirt. Grabbing her green wool jacket, she pulled it on as she went to the dining room, which was unusually empty. Still, the young teenager was often alone, and really, she preferred it that way. Enjoying a leisurely breakfast, she sauntered casually into the Professors study, where the meeting was being held, with three minutes to spare. Already in the study were Scott and Jean, the red headed beauty standing beside Scott, not a hair out of place. As usual. Rogue thought, before carefully blanking her mind. It was a reasonable precaution in a room with two powerful telepaths. Immediately behind her were Kurt, Evan, and a harried looking Kitty. Once all the senior students were gathered and the door closed, the Professor began the meeting.
"I'm glad all of you could make it to this morning meeting on time." the Professor said, with a sidelong glance at Kitty, who had been the last one into the study. "The reason I arranged for this meeting is so that I could inform all of you that a new mutant will be joining us here at the Institute today, and specifically, he will be joining the senior X-Man team once he has settled in." he said, looking at his students as the information settled in.
"Professor, why would he be joining the senior team so quickly? Wouldn't it be more prudent for him to get a handle on his powers before he joins either the junior or the senior teams? Besides, we don't even know who he is, let alone what he can do. I think it would be safer if he was put in with the junior students until he gets the hang of his powers." Scott said, trying to put the authority of his position as the senior team leader behind his words.
"Scott, the primary reason that the other students don't act as part of the senior team isn't based on whether you trust them or not, it is based on their mastery of their powers, moreover, this boy has had his ability for the last six years, and has reached a level of control over it to rival Ororoe's control over her own. This is no regular boy." Professor Xavier said, his calm words seeming to bore into the ears of those all around him. All this did was cause Scott to begome to become exasperated.
"You're saying that we will have to trust him with our lives when we don't know anything about him? Professor, how are we supposed to do that?" Scott asked in an irritated tone, crossing his arms as he did so.
"Scott, I'm going to ask you to give this boy a chance before you turn him away entirely. I believe that he will be a great asset to the team, as well as a valued companion to you all. Now, as for who he is, allow me to introduce you to him. You can come in now." Professor Xavier said, the last sentence louder than the rest.
The door to the study opened, and in walked a boy that Rogue guessed to be about seventeen years old. He was tall, just over six foot, but painfully skinny. He couldn't have weighed more than 140 pounds. He had jet-black hair, but his eyes were strangely colored. They were a stunningly vibrant electric-blue, and they seemed to carry a look that made him seem far older than his years. Rogue watched as he slowly scanned the room with his eyes. When they passed over her, Rogue couldn't help the shiver that went down her spine. There was something in those eyes that terrified her, but she was slightly startled to find that she was strangely attracted as well. She couldn't see why she was attracted to him. While he was the kind of boy whose looks would normally have been considered handsome, there was something about his eyes that seemed to say 'stay away'. She looked at him closer, and noticed that he carried himself fully erect, standing tall and proud, but giving the impression that he was a coiled spring, and he could be unleashed at any time. Looking at his clothes, most of them were normal, she decided, with just one eccentricity. His clothing consisted of a pair of black jeans, some worn out sneakers, and a long-sleeved grey shirt. The oddity she had noticed was the thin, tightly fitting vest that seemed to be made of some sort of black fur. It was then that she smelled something slightly off in the air, and she felt a warm flush go through her entire body. Hearing a whimper, she looked over to see Kitty practically drooling over the newcomer. Logan walked in behind him, then growled as he sniffed the air. "Dial it down a bit, kid." Logan said, then moving over to lean against the Professors desk.
The boy's expression never changed, but Rogue suddenly lost her short-lived desire to jump his bones, despite the very real likelihood that that would make her a necrophiliac. She gave Logan a questioning gaze, but all he did was nod in the new boy's direction. "Pheromones." the newbie stated simply. Something about the pitch of his voice, not deep, but not high either, along with the torn, ragged sound it had, sent even more shivers down her spine, though this time they were of fear, though Rogue didn't show it. "I unconsciously produce them. I'll have to work on that.
"Allow me to introduce you all to Zeke Marlin. Zeke, this is Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Evan Daniels, Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pryde, and Rogue." Professor Xavier said, pointing to each one as he named them.
Zeke's eyebrow quirked at hearing Rogue's name, his first facial expression of any kind. "That can't be your real name." he said, looking pointedly at Rogue.
"It's not, but ah don't see how my real name is any of your business." Rogue retorted, trying not to let him see that she was halfway pleased, halfway irritated, that he was talking to her.
Zeke snorted. "You know, emotions cause various chemical reactions in the body? You shouldn't bother to hide whatever emotions you may be experiencing from me, because I can smell those reactions, and I can interpret the smell. It is nothing but a wasted effort to hide any emotions from me." he said nonchalantly, studying the nails on one hand.
Professor Xavier chose that moment to speak again. "The exact nature and extent of Zeke's power is unknown to me. However, I will reveal what I do know. Zeke produces pheromones, whether he wants to or not, and these pheromones are capable of manipulating the moods of those around him based on his mood, and what he wants them to feel. The pheromones seem to be secreted from the sweat glands at the base of his neck. His senses, with the exception of touch, are all greatly enhanced, beyond anything any of you here can dream of. The most enhanced of these senses are smell and hearing. In addition, it would appear that he has a feral temperament greater than Beast's, and that aspect of his power is the only one he has difficulty controlling. Taking this into account, I would like to discourage all of you from angering him unnecessarily." he said, looking pointedly at Kurt. Kurt just scowled, seemingly affronted. Suddenly, a deep snarl cut through the air. Startled at the sound, Rogue whirled in its direction, only to find a very different Zeke, the sight of which froze her in terror. The snarl alone was discomforting, deeper than seemed possible for his thin frame, but the sound of the snarl seemed to fade as she caught a glimpse at his eyes. No longer an electric blue, they were now a dirty yellow, and had the slit-pupils of a cat, but there was something more than that that made Rogue's inside freeze, and she wasn't the only one. Kitty had a death grip on Logan's arm, and Logan, though he looked ready to fight, seemed slightly unsure. The Professor was watching the whole thing, though she could tell by his face that he was trying to reach Zeke telepathically. Scott and Jean were holding onto one another, and Evan and Kurt were on their butts on the ground, quivering in what Rogue assumed to be terror. Smelling the air, she realized it was thick with something. Those pheromones must be nasty in an up-close fight. Ah wonder why ah haven't been affected? Rogue thought to herself, starring at what she thought was the person who would end her existence, and everyone else in the room as well.
At that moment, Zeke noticed the terrified stares, and stopped snarling, his eyes quickly reverting back to their original shape and hue. He looked faintly apologetic. "Sorry, I just happen to be a really secretive person. That was how I react when some of my secrets have been ferreted out by someone I barely know. How did you manage to figure all of that out?" Zeke demanded to know, his irritation and anger dripping like potent venom from each word.
"My apologies. Part of them were found out by Cerebro, which I will show to you later, and the rest, as much as I would like to stay out of all of your heads permanently, I can still pick up the louder thoughts. This is something I do unintentionally, but a telepath as powerful as me can't help but pick up on the thoughts of all those around me." the Professor replied, trying to placate the angry mutant.
Zeke grunted in reply, then turned to Rogue, and to the surprise of everyone in the room, bowed deeply before her. "I always give my respects to the bravest ones around me. You weren't nearly as far gone in terror as the rest of them were. All of you are brave, I mean, most people I've met would have wet themselves in terror before my anger. Rogue , you were the bravest of them here. Now, if you would be so kind as to excuse me, I have things that require my attention before I go to school." Zeke said after he straightened, then he turned and left the study, leaving a shocked silence in his wake.
Ten minutes later, the meeting was officially adjourned, with the understanding that there would be a Danger Room exposition of Zeke's powers. As Rogue grabbed her backpack and got into Jean's SUV, her thoughts turned to the incident in the study. He had been lying about why he was angry. She knew, because he hadn't been looking at the Professor, the supposed object of his rage. Instead, his gaze had been riveted on something outside the window, something only he had seen. She was fairly sure she wouldn't have been afraid at all, if it weren't for his eyes. The eyes were what had seized her, those eyes that had born the weight of sorrow, and at that moment, had been filled with something else, something that only Logan and her could have put a name to. That something else had been what she knew was pure, killing, intent.
Hours later, 3:02 in the afternoon
Rogue trudged towards Jean's car, her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. Her day had really sucked. People were still looking at her like she was a freak, just because of the way she dressed. Hearing an angry shout, she looked up to see Evan being tormented by the school bullies, and this time, they looked serious. Rogue watched in horror as one of them took a bat out of a bag they were carrying, and started to swing it towards Evan. This is just great. They're going to be chewed up spat out by Evan, and then we're all going to be lectured by the Professor. Not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my day. Rogue thought, everything seeming to slow down as the bat neared Evan's arm, until the flow of time seemed to move at a snail's pace. Why then, did Zeke, who she saw out of the corner of her eye, move so quickly?
The bat was stopped a full two feet from Evan's arm, the end being gripped by Zeke so hard that Rogue could hear the wood creaking. Once again, Rogue saw his eyes fill with killing intent, though this time his eyes remained their normal color. The effect on the bullies was instantaneous. Without a word being said, they turned and ran. Seeing Rogue watching him, Zeke began to walk over, tossing the bat away as he did. Coming to a standstill before her, Zeke once again bowed deeply before her, his body bent at an acute angle, left arm bent across his back, right arm held out, palm facing upward. Rogue felt her face getting warm, and realized, with a great deal of chagrin, that she was blushing. Zeke straightened, and upon seeing the warm red of her blush, gave a slight smile. The effect on Rogue was pronounced. Her heart sped up so much she could feel her entire body thrumming with it, and her blush deepened so much that she was sure that if someone were to poke her face with a stick it would spontaneously burst into flame. Her blush only continued to deepen when she realized that Zeke probably knew everything going on with her at that moment. Stupid enhanced senses. Rogue thought. Zeke's smile continued to deepen, revealing some slightly pronounced incisors, but still small enough to look like a regular humans. "In case you were maybe wondering, I have my pheromones rather tightly controlled right now, so this is all you." Zeke said, and Rogue could hear the amusement in his sore-sounding voice.
Is it my imagination, or does he sound like his voice is doing better than it was this morning? Rogue thought to herself, looking closely at Zeke.
"Well, I should probably be going. I'll see you later, eh?" Zeke said as he began to back away, before he turned and walked away, the sway and grace of his walk astounding to Rogue. To her, it was like watching predator stalking freely among the prey.
Rogue's heartbeat resumed its normal rhythm as she walked to Jean's SUV, making sure that Evan was fine along the way. As they pulled away from the school, Rogue was stewing angrily in the back seat. Evidently, Kitty had seen the exchange between Rogue and Zeke, including Rogue's blush, and was teasing her mercilessly.
A short drive later, along with a quick change, and the X-Men, both junior and senior teams, filed into the Danger Room control booth to see the skills of their new teammate. Looking down, Rogue was startled to see that Zeke had no shirt or shoes on, though his bare feet were mostly covered by the cuffs of his black jeans. His upper body was what caught Rogue's attention, and not because it was rippling with very lean muscle, but because of what was on it. On the inside of his left forearm was tattoo of a prowling wolf, while running down the edge of his right arm, in big, block, letters, was the word 'Lycanthrope', the letters stacked one on top of the other. However, these were secondary to Rogue's gaze. On Zeke's abs and chest, both of which were incredibly ripped, were some very nasty looking scars.
From just under his right armpit, extending diagonally down to the top right of his abs, was a ropy, two inch wide, scar. That wasn't the only one. Extending from one side of his stomach to the other, running directly across his abs, were four scars, each parallel to the other, and a half inch wide each. They looked like some giant wild animal had taken a great dislike to him. Turning his back to them, he stretched, and Rogue' got a good view of his broad shoulders, and the expanse of his back. The scar she had noticed first, the one that ran from his right armpit, was on his back as well, extending in an unbroken line nearly to his spine. "What happened to him?" Rogue asked aloud, her voice filled with horrified awe.
Even Logan seemed surprised by what he saw. "I don't know, kid. It looks like something big tore through him." Logan said, glancing at Rogue.
"What do you mean through?" Rogue asked disbelievingly. There was no one that could survive that much of their body being cut into.
"How else would he get a scar like that?" Logan asked her.
Rogue couldn't come up with any answer, so she remained quit, though now she couldn't help but notice that those scars made him seem more appealing.
"Now, he said he had some sort of long range fighting ability, so we'll set up some targets." Logan said, pushing a few buttons, causing five holographic images to appear in front of Zeke. "Zeke, try to take out these targets as quickly as possible. Try to be as accurate as possible as well." he said to Zeke over the intercom. Zeke flicked his right hand forward, and the targets all disappeared as he returned his hand to his side.
Logan grunted in surprise. Turning to the camera bank, he played back the last few seconds in slow motion. Rogue and the others watched in surprise as the nails on his right hand lengthened, thickened, and turned a black color. Their full length looked to be about two inches, and they all watched as they shot off his fingers at an incredibly high speed, each hitting a separate target. "Those things have to be moving at six hundred feet per second, at least!" Spyke exclaimed, looking at Zeke in awe as Cyclops nodded his agreement.
"Let's see just how hard they are." Logan said, pressing yet more buttons on control board, this time causing materials of varying degrees of hardness to come from the floor, from a square patch of woven wool, to a steel plate that was an inch thick and two feet wide, as well as two feet tall. "Slash the hardest material that your claws can cut through." Logan informed him over the intercom.
With a disgusted air, Zeke grew his claws, this time on both hands, and advanced upon the steel plate. Stopping in front of it, he wrenched the plate from its mounting and threw it up in the air like it was a feather. As it was coming down, Zeke's arms move four times, and the pieces of the plate rained down around his feet. Looking up at the control room, Zeke glared. "Give me a real challenge!" Zeke roared, obviously angry about something.
"Kid wants a challenge, huh?" Logan muttered to himself before he stood and exited the room. The other X-Men looked with pity at the tall figure in the Danger Room. It seemed that Rogue was the only one not worried about him. She was quite confidant in Wolverine's abilities, but something about Zeke said that he knew what he was doing. When Nightcrawler started a pot on how fast Wolverine would win, Rogue was the only one who bet that he would lose to the new guy. The others looked at her as if she was crazy, but Wolverine chose that moment to enter the Danger Room, his mask pulled up and his claws unsheathed. "All right bub, you wanted a challenge, you've got one." Wolverine growled, preparing himself to fight.
"I'll be the judge of that." Zeke said, and with those words, his whole demeanor and the way he carried himself changed. He closed his eyes as he settled into a battle stance, his unclenched hands pointing fingers first at Wolverine. Rogue and the others watched as his claws grew, and he opened his eyes. The senior members were only faintly surprised to see his eyes had changed to the slit-pupiled, dirty yellow, that they had been that morning. Then he grinned, no, it was more like he bared his teeth at Wolverine. Rogue was rather surprised to see that his teeth had reshaped themselves into fangs, the incisors of which were about a half inch long, giving him a fierce appearance that Rogue definitely didn't want to see in a dark alley late at night.
Wolverine glared at Zeke. There was no need for words or instructions of any kind. It was quite clear what Zeke had to do, and he seemed very happy to oblige Wolverine. Wolverine charged at Zeke, giving a wordless growl as he did so. Zeke, by contrast, was absolutely silent as he moved forward as well. Zeke threw himself onto the ground, his momentum allowing him to slide as he maneuvered himself so that his right side was pointed towards Wolverine. Wolverine, seeing this, assumed that Zeke was trying to knock him over, and jumped over Zeke, unwittingly playing right into Zeke's hands. Everything seemed to slow down for Wolverine as he flew over Zeke's body at a perpendicular angle. Suddenly, Zeke's entire body convulsed, flinging him into the air. Caught totally by surprise, Wolverine could do nothing as Zeke hooked his left arm around the juncture of his neck, and his right arm through the fork of his legs. He began to struggle as Zeke twisted in mid-air, managing to hit the ground knees first before he hurled Wolverine into it. As Wolverine bounced, he felt Zeke's right fist connect with his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. Regenerative capabilities be damned, that didn't mean that being hit didn't hurt. The last thing Wolverine felt before he lost consciousness was a two-fingered jab to one of the pressure points in his neck.
All of the X-Men stared in open-mouthed awe. All, that is, but one. However, even Rogue was startled by how quickly Wolverine had been beaten. She'd had a felling the Zeke was good, but to be that good? The entire match had lasted maybe four or five seconds. Ah already knew he was fast because of school today, but to take out Wolverine like it was nothing? That shouldn't be possible! How did he knock him out anyway? Rogue thought to herself, glad that Zeke had retracted the claws on his left hand before making the jab that had ended the fight. Zeke stood up, looking even more pissed than before. Sending a glare in the direction of the control room, he turned and exited the Danger Room, leaving the unconscious Wolverine on the floor.
As the Danger Room door hissed closed behind him, the control booth door slid open to admit the Professor and Storm, the invalid man's nearly constant companion. Seeing Wolverine unconscious on the Danger Room floor, both of them froze in surprise, though Storm quickly recovered and began to issue orders. "Cyclops, you and Jean go see to Wolverine. Nightcrawler, you and Rogue go see if you can find Zeke. Evan, I want you to explain exactly what happened here." Storm ordered, obviously distressed to find her long-time comrade in such a predicament. All the while, the Professor simply looked on, his eyes contemplative. Leaving the control booth, Rogue and Nightcrawler heard Spyke giving a hurried explanation to his aunt.
A short time later
Rogue looked up into the branches of the tree in front of her. Twenty minutes of searching, and ah find him in a tree, of all places. Rogue thought, glaring up at the familiar figure sitting on the trees upper branches. "Hey! Get down here! There are some people that want to see you!" Rogue shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth to make sure that her voice carried to him. The figure dropped out of the trees, landing in a crouch barely a foot in front of her. As Zeke straightened, Rogue noticed with some regret that he was again fully dressed, though he had foregone the tight fitting grey sweater from the morning, wearing only the fur vest.
"Who wants to see me?" Zeke asked, glancing at Rogue.
"Probably the Professor and Storm. More than likely to ask you about how you learned to fight." Rogue answered, not voicing her own questions, though she was sure that Zeke knew she had some.
"I'm guessing they aren't the only ones with questions for me. Go on, ask. I swear, I don't bite people." Zeke said, giving a sidelong glance at Rogue as they walked.
"Well, ah guess that ah do. This morning, in the Professor's study, you weren't really growling at any of us, were you?" Rogue asked, though she already knew the answer.
"No, I wasn't." Zeke stated calmly as they continued to walk.
"Then what were you looking at?" Rogue asked, vaguely surprised that he was answering honestly.
"I suppose that you could call it a mistake. A mistake from my past that foolishly followed me. That's all I'll say about it for now. I guess I had better hurry. I don't want the Professor to wait too long for me to get there. See you later, Rogue." Zeke said, waving as he began to jog away.
It wasn't until she thought about it that she realized his voice had changed again. Now full bodied, the sore, tearing sound had been replaced by something she identified as a constant purr. Gone was the voice that had sent shivers of fear down her spine, and in its place, a voice that sent shivers of an entirely different sort throughout her entire body.
Okay, I know that some might say that Wolverine can't be taken out so easily. He has a metal skeleton and his regeneration ability. For one thing, Zeke hit a pressure point, he didn't break his neck, and also, hitting pressure points leaves nothing to be regenerated. Sometimes hitting a pressure point with enough force can knock somebody out. It would definitely work on Wolverine, as he can be knocked out, it has happened before, with alarming frequency.
If you have any questions about the chapter, I would like to hear them. Go to my profile page, and send me a message. Go on, I swear I don't bite.-Zekuran
