The "Big Mutant On Campus" Series
By David D. Amaya
Part Three "Bridges To Burn, Crosses To Bear"
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: As always; the first step of the journey.
{EmWiz}OK, 'Watt so Lariat and the 'Lil Thingie exchange a love tap. Now that may sound exciting to ANYone else, but remember I know what happened in DC, so that can't be it, is it?
{PwrPlnt}Well this IS still school, what do you want, play-by play from the summer Koshien! You know this ain't H2 d:-) !
{EmWiz}Yea, but you do remind me of a gaijin Kunimi Hiro even down to the oversized uniform! (^.^)
{PwrPlnt}And you remind me of a deflated Noda Atsushi! :-d
{EmWiz}Baka yameroyo! (`.') You did say that went down at the booty-crack o' dawn, what happened at breakfast? I want sights, smells, DNA samples! Come on 'Watt, something had to have happened!
{PwrPlnt}Well, breakfast was subdued, Lariat wouldn't let me have another Bucket O' Bombs, so I settled for Sean's flapjacks. Blah! Remind me to get Grandma Joe's recipe from Camp, Oz. You know how much I HATE Bizquick! Well then we headed into the biosphere for our first class, a workout session with Sean. We were all sitting on a large group of rocks near a large pond….
"Good Morning to you all. We begin the new semester with six new faces so for this morning's training exercise 'tis a roll call, I'm going to ask you to please tell everyone about yourselves in brief and give a small demonstration of your mutant gifts."
"Hey, Lariat, you're in on this too, right?"
"Mr. Parkman, are you forgetting that I am not a mutant?"
"Well, lad that wouldn't stop you from telling everyone about a little about yerself."
"All right, Sean. Then I shall go first."
He walked to near Sean was standing and addressed Generation X for the first time.
"Hello, students. My name is Special Agent Kordel Nichols. I am originally from Boston. I graduated from Boston University with degrees in Journalism and Business Administration. I played varsity ice hockey for the Terriers and helped bring a NCAA National Championship to BU during my senior season.
"I have been with the United States Secret Service, since I was not much older that many of you now, going on ten years, five as a sworn agent. Attached to the First Family detail for a month, give or take. I will be teaching an economics and creative writing course. This is my first teaching assignment and I am looking forward to a successful semester."
"Now does anyone have a question for Agent Nichols?" A hand shot up. "Monet, please stand up and ask Agent Nichols your question, lass."
"Agent Nichols, why do you wear your firearm on campus?"
"Miss. St. Croix," Kordel began. "I am a federal law enforcement officer, and as such I am supposed to carry my Service Pistol while I am on duty.
"Now students, I urge you all, please not worry about them. I have been instructed in carrying and handling of weapons in a safe manner. I am also an expert marksman, so please think of it being that you are all safer with them around." There were a few snickers from the students, just before one of them raised his hand.
"Well, yea homes," Angelo Espinosa stood up to address the new instructor. "Can you really take Wolverine? I heard you vatos threw chingazos!"
Kordel looked towards Jubilee and Cyrus. "What have you two been telling them?"
"Nutin' but the truth!" Jubilee replied. "Remember Wolvie's bar fight program? He still hasn't reclaimed the top spot! Secret Agent Dude, you're an X-Man and Gen-X gotta know how tuff ya are!"
"I was just doing-"
"Oh, get off the theme song, Lariat!" The President's son cried out, then addressed the rest of his new fellow Generation X classmates. "He took four for me and one for Cyclops. Storm told me you planned the rescue, both times, and I think I've told everyone how you snuck me out of the Executive Penitentiary all those times to help me work out the mutant stuff, after-hours. If that don't make you Super Hero of the Month, I don't know what does!"
"He's right, Kordel," Sean added. You're selling yourself short, they should know the stuff you're made of. Students I've fought along side Agent Nichols, and there isn't a finer man I've met."
"Please go easy on the flattery, Sean." Agent Nichols said clearly surprised to hear such build-up. "I am neither Captain America, Superman, nor even Mighty Mouse. If it were not for the X-Men, we would not be here today."
"Yea, Secret Agent Dude, but if you hadn't walked into the mansion that day you would have gone solo, and this would have gone different." Kordel was about to protest, but Jubilee stopped him. "Don't say no, and if you say that line again, the Chief gave me, Jean, and Charlie permission to smack you around! I've rumbled with Wolvie, but I'd have you watching my back any day of the week and twice on Friday nights! He's an X-Man guys, 'nuff said!"
"Well, moving right along," The President's son spoke up. "I guess that means that I'm next.
"I'm Cyrus James Parkman, they call me Kilowatt, but it's 'Watt to my friends. I'm from Seattle, I'm a big Mariners fan. My dad's President, but you guys knew that. But besides him, I'm from a long line of lumberjacks. My granddad was a saw boss, his dad was an axe swinger, my grandma was a lumber camp cook, and even my uncle Jake played chainsaw before he joined the Marine Corps.
"I like camping, baseball, and using my computer, let's see, oh yea, my mutant power is a lot like Gambit's, I can make things blow up, and YES, and it was I who caused the explosion at the mall that day." He picked up a rock and skipped it along the pond three times before it exploded.
Jono raised his hand. What did you folks say when they found out, mate?
"That I was a mutant? Well, First Mom and President Dad said they always knew, you see my Uncle Jake was a mutant, too. He could sense explosives and was in a Marine Ordinance Disposal Unit in the first Gulf War until he went to the Naval Academy, where he switched to the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines during, Bosnia Iraq and Afghanistan. My dad said he found out about me and told them before he died last year. They're cool with it. Okay, who's next?"
Paige raised her hand, then stood in place of Cyrus. "Hi, I'm Paige Guthrie. My codename is Husk. I am from Cumberland County, Kentucky. My older brother Sam is with the X-Men. I like reading, jogging and my mutant ability is to husk my outer self and reveal something stronger underneath."
She then pulled her hair and revealed a self composed of metal. After a few moments she husked back to her normal form.
Nuff raised his hand. "Can you transform yourself into other states of matter?"
"Well, Nathan I have been studying hard to understand metallurgy, so I can for effectively change my form."
"Oui, but can you transformez into liquid, or gaseous or even other solid forms?"
"Yes, Stewart, I have, at times."
"Good," Jason called out. "Can you transform into a pitcher of OJ? Those pancakes are sitting in my stomach like a rock, and Snocone here is bogarting his."
"T'es malade mental, Jason!
Though there were some snickers from the original students, the Hawaiian smacked her boyfriend in the back of the head as she stood up.
"Kulikulio 'a'ahuã! Thank you, Peike, I'll go next.
"Aloha kakahiaka! I'm Alea Kaulalona. I was born at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station on the Island of Oahu. My daddy's a three-star Admiral and the CO at Pearl. I like skating, hockey and dancing. My mutant gift is the ability to turn into molten lava. Ahi hele ke me ia'u!"
She began to glow until her whole body turned into liquid fire.
"And the coolest part is I can FLY! Lani Makuahine, see can 'ae kikaha mehe ka pukana la!"
She hovered above the ground for a few seconds before landing and extinguishing her fire.
"I also have telepathy, and my dad showed me to how to do this with it. Pahi kaua ka Pele, hele mai a hiki ku'u lima kuhikuhi!"
Forming through force of her will, a broadsword of molten lava formed in her hand. She demonstrated her prowess with the weapon with some parries and thrusts before it vanished.
"THAT WAS WAY COOL!"
"Thanks, Jubes! Any questions?"
"How hot can you generate your flame, Alea?"
"Well, Monet, once when I was with my makuakane at the shipyards in Baltimore, I was able to burn a hole in the outer hull of a decommissioned battleship. Anyone else?"
"Yea, chia, do you know how to do the hula?"
"Why, you wanna learn, Angelo? First you have to mow and weave your own skirt. Well if that's it, let's hop to the li'ili'i hau kaikunane."
"Pas de probléme, 'Lea." Yoink stood up with his glass of orange juice. "Bonjour. Enchanté de faire votre connassance. The day I was born, I became the Yukon Territory town of Destruction Bay's 57th citizen, Steward Fairchild MacKenzie. My cousin, Nathan is sitting right over there. I like skating, camping and hockey.
"My mutant cadeau is the ability to turn things to ice, observer!" He took a sip of his juice then turned the glass upside-down pouring it out and freezing it before it touched the ground.
"Toutes questions?"
"Yea, homes, can I bum some of that Popsicle?"
"Oui," the Canadian said pointing the three-foot icicle to Angelo, who broke off a piece.
"Gracias."
"Bienvenue. And none for you, Jay."
"Can you, like, freeze into solid ice like Iceman?"
"Don't know, Jubilee. And I don't intend to try anytime soon."
"May I ask how you acquired the nickname Yoink, lad?"
"I'm sorry, Monsieur Cassidy, but even I do not know, a dearly departed doux petit ange would call me that, but she never told us what it meant. But I would consider it an honor if you were to call me by that name. Nuff, your up."
"Thank you, I'm Nathanial Donavan McPherson. I'm originally from the Prince William Sound of Alaska, I like boxing, fishing and old westerns. My mutant ability is absorbing the strength of something I touch. For example-"
He grabbed a rock and began to toss it in his hand allowing it to 'smack' in has palm, then tossing it high in the air, allowing him to retrieve the silver dollar from his back pocket. Holding it in his right hand, he concentrated on it until it was enveloped in a soft white light. As the rock came back down, he hit it with his fist, making a loud clanging as if it were hit by an aluminum baseball bat as the rock sailed over the pond.
"What other types of matter have you transformed to, Mr. McPherson?"
"Well, Agent Nichols, I really hadn't tried to absorb non-solid stuff, I have concerns about returning to normal after attempting to absorb stuff like a gas."
"Well, that's because the Big Fella's already full of hot air."
Nuff flipped his friend off. Who flipped the bird in return.
"Yea, right back at ya, naya!"
"How'd you get the nickname, 'Nuff?'"
"Well, Jubes," Alea answered. "We were living in Newport News and some hüpõ who tried to mug us whipped out a knife and asked 'You strong 'nuff to survive getting shanked?' Well the big fella broke his nose, knocking him out with one shot and said 'sho nuff to beat you.' So the name stuck."
Well, I believe it's my turn then.
I'm Jonothon Evan Starsmore, I'm just a bloke from London. My mutant power blew me up the first time.
"What do you mean, Jono?" Cyrus asked.
Take a look for yourself, Jono unwrapped the bonds that hid his mutation from the rest of the world, and showed his new classmates the fire that dwells within him.
The group of newcomers looked on awestruck, even Agent Nichols who was the only one to speak.
"Do you mean. Your internal organs?"
Burnt to a crisp, I'm afraid. I don't eat, drink or breathe, Mate. It's the fire that keeps me alive.
The six newcomers sat there silently, Jono sat back down then Monet took his place.
"Good morning, my name is Monet St. Croix, I am from the nation of Algiers. My mutation granted me superhuman strength, mental telepathy and the ability to fly."
She then grabbed a large bolder near where they all were sitting and flew with it over the pond, she then returned the bolder to its original position dropping it with a resounding thud to match the large shockwave it created in the surrounding earth.
"Does anyone have any questions?"
"Yea, does the term Kryptonite mean anything to you?"
"Why do you ask, Cyrus?"
"Nothing, M," Jubilee interjected. "It just happens to be his little sister's nickname." Monet chose to ignore the snickers from her classmates as she sat down.
"Nice comeback, chia." Angelo whispered to her then stood. "I'm up.
"Well, I'm Angelo Espinoza. I'm from East Los, I like the Lakers, video games and going on-line. As you vatos can see, I've got the worst kind of premature gray known to man. They call me Skin because I gots six extra feet of it." He projected some of his skin around a tree limb like a whip and swung off the ground.
"What kind of control do you have on your extra skin, Mr. Espinoza?"
"Well, if I concentrate hard enough, I can tighten it up to look normal, but I'm still feeling the after effects of those pancakes, too."
"Ye, didn'a have to eat them, lad!"
"Now he tells us!"
"JAY!"
"I'm guessing your on deck, Homes."
"Shit, what was the first clue."
He stood up taking Angelo's place. "I'm Jason Delano. I'm from Los Angeles as well. I like both the Dodgers and Halos, Oldies but Goodies and Ice Dogs Hockey. As for this mutant thing… Well, it helps me when I have to beat the crap outta someone!"
"IAKONA!"
"What! That's what it's for, Alea! I could be technical with this bunch, but you know I don't speak Latin. Sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade."
"Yea, but you like to call it a 'fuckin' shovel!'"
Suddenly a high pitched whistle let out. Nuff blew into a hockey whistle while raising his right arm, the signal for a penalty.
"Ten minutes misconduct the both of yous! First class and ALREADY knee-deep into the sauce!"
"Maybe a small demonstration of your unique gifts then, lad."
The look on Jason's face turned disheartened as he cast his gaze to the ground. "Sorry, Mr. Cassidy."
Sean was about to ask him what he meant but he noticed Alea, Jubilee and Kordel look over his shoulder, causing him to see for the first time the tree Jason fell the night past. The rest of the students finally noticed it as well, remembering the story they heard last night
"Do you mean to tell me that you brought down that tree, lad?"
"No," Jason replied. "I killed it."
Sean was about to ask him what me meant when Jubilee mouthed 'I'll tell you later, Irish.' Then spoke up to break the tension than had hung in the air. "Well, I guess that saves the best for last!"
"But I already finished, Jubes."
"Can it, Stitch!" she replied almost enjoying the look of anger flare from Jason while the rest of the students erupted into snickers. "Sit down and keep a lid on it before I sick Gantu after you!
"Well, I'm Jubilee Lee, resident firecracker and Paragon of Cool. Back from my second stint with the X-Men. I am what you would call a connoisseur of all things fun. And, of course, I like to toss sparks!" She then unleashed a vivid display of her mutant-born fireworks.
"Any questions from the Peanut Gallery?"
"Yea, chia," Angelo spoke up. "How much of what the chavalito's been telling us is true?"
"Well, homeboy, anything he says that sounds too dangerous and fraught with peril, all that's true, though he was unconscious through most of the rest of it, so if there's any gaps in his story just ask me, Irish or Secret Agent Dude."
That statement clearly took Agent Nichols by surprise. "You two do know that the kidnapping and everything since is classified under executive order, right?"
"No one told me, Lariat."
"And I've been telling everyone else," Jubilee replied. "Chill out, Secret Agent, Dude. That ain't even the weirdest thing that's they've been told around here! Heck, back when I was with the X-Men that story would have only rated about two and a half stars."
"You were with the X-Men when it unfolded, lass."
"Oh yea, right you are, Irish. Well, three out of five stars then!"
"Well, I suppose that means tis my turn as your instructor.
"I'm Sean Cassidy, I am from Ireland."
"You don't say?"
"Aye, lad. My mutant ability is a super-sonic scream."
He demonstrated his power by using it to crush a small bolder on the other side of the pond.
"You know," Jason interjected. "Thirty seconds with Listerine every morning will take care of that little problem."
While most of the rest of the students laughed out loud at the remark, Alea grabbed his sleeve, tugging it as to turn his head in her direction to give her ample target to slap her boyfriend across the cheek.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed bringing his hand to the reddening mark on his face. What? He thought knowing she would hear it. Someone had to say it!
Pàlè poha, my little slice of evil, she telepathically sent in return. but if you would have let Jubilee say it, I wouldn't have had to bitch-slap you!
You wouldn't've slapped her.
Of course not, I only own YOU. Now you better behave before I give you a fresh one!
"Well, to answer your smart-alecky remark, Mr. Delano, I'm a Scope person meself."
I didn't know you were teaching an oral hygiene class, Sean. Have you covered flossing yet?
Agent Nichols closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, a sign he was also receiving Emma Frost's telepathic message.
"It's like I told you, Secret Agent, Dude," Jubilee said. "It's gonna take some getting used to, but with those skyrocketing cell phone rates-"
I am confident Agent Nichols will become accustomed to mental telepathy with alacrity, Jubilation. Students I am Emma Frost, chief executive officer of the transnational conglomerate, Frost International. I also serve as headmistress and chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Academy.
I am a descendant of a Boston mercantile family who's roots are the very history of New England since their arrival from England in the early1600s. As you are no doubt aware, my mutant powers include psionic abilities.
"Psionic abilities," remarked Yoink. "You don't say?"
No, I do not, Mr. MacKenzie, which is what psionic abilities detail. Now that all of the introductions are complete, Kordel, there is a delivery truck at the main gate for you.
"Thank you Ms. Frost," he said aloud, rising to his feet. "If you all will excuse me."
"Well, we are all finished for this mornings exercise, Kordel. You will have the students at 11 a.m. for your first economics class. Students you are dismissed."
End of Chapter two
©David D. Amaya 2010
"That I was a mutant? Well, First Mom and President Dad said they always knew, you see my Uncle Jake was a mutant, too. He could sense explosives and was in Marine Ordinance Disposal Unit until he went to the Naval Academy, where he switched to the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines,during both Gulf Wars, Bosnia and Afghanistan. My dad said he found out about me and told them before he died last year. They're cool with it. Okay, who's next?"