Chapter One

Foundations

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"Professor?"

"Scott, welcome. How was your journey?"

Scott grinned at the bald man waiting at the front door of the large mansion, then he climbed out of his car. Pausing only to lock the corvette, he strode up to the front door and shook the proffered hand.

"The journey was fine, professor. Nice place."

"Thank you, I have high hopes for what it will become." Charles replied, turning his wheelchair round and re-entering the mansion. Scott walked by his side, looking round curiously as they moved through the entrance hall.

"You might be interested to know that Ororo Munroe has agreed to join us." Charles said. "She will act as my deputy here, overseeing the students. Jean Grey will also be joining us, I expect you both to act as senior students and help the others."

"Of course."

"Logan will also be joining us."

Scott froze, his expression a curious mix of horror and disbelief.

"Logan? As in Wolverine? Mr Kill-you-in-training-while-laughing? Mr I'm-the-best-at-what-I-do-and-what-I-do-isn't-nice? He's coming here?"

"As a teacher, yes." Charles confirmed, hiding a smile at the horrified expression of the sunglasses-wearing teenager. "He's going to be our physical-exercise and self-defence tutor."

Scott flinched. "When…"

"Oh, not for quite some time. He's out doing some recon for me,plus there were a few things that he wished to see to before taking up his position here." Charles replied. "Now, let me finish showing you around, there is far more to this mansion that what you saw on your way here…"

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"…and here is the library." Xavier said. Scott looked round at the book-lined room and nodded slowly as he walked round, one hand lightly drifting across the spines of the shelved books..

"That's quite a lot of books. Physics… psychology… geography… history… Mills & Boon?"

"…what?"

Xavier rolled over and stared at the books, before sighing.

"Logan. Not funny, old friend."

"Logan did this?" Scott asked, shock evident on his face.

"I asked him to stock the library. He grumbled that he wasn't a librarian… I guess this is his way of taking revenge. I'll have to place those books in storage, or relocate them into the restricted library. And then I'll have to check all the books to see what else he snuck in while I was dealing with other things."

"Logan did this?"

"Yes, Scott. Now come on, I still have more to show you."

Scott followed him out of the library, still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Mills & Boon?"

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"So, what is your opinion? Library-books notwithstanding, that is."

Scott paused, then lowered his mug of coffee back down to the table.

"I'm impressed." He admitted. "When you first approached me and asked me to help, I didn't expect something like this. The rooms up here alone are good, but the ones below? And the SR-77 Blackbird, I so have to learn to fly that. My only real concern is that once we get more students, it'll get rather hard to keep them in line. With only you, Ororo and Logan as teachers…"

"By the time that happens, I should have been able to locate more to help us." Xavier said. "Perhaps even that…"

Scott looked quizzically at him as he trailed off.

"Something I should know about, Professor?"

For several moments, Xavier didn't move, then he sighed, took a sip of tea and set down the china cup into its saucer.

"You know that until several years ago, Magneto and I were close friends and allies, at least until he decided to pursue his 'Mutant Superiority' movement?"

Scott nodded.

"Almost four decades ago, while Magneto was simply Eric Lensherr, before I became Professor X, I felt… something. An odd, terrifying feeling, as if millions of beings had died uncountable light-years away, yet I felt their terror and fear."

Once again, Xavier paused, obviously collecting his thoughts and Scott waited.

"Four, almost five years ago, I felt something similar, but here, on Earth. A single… a single beacon of unimaginable power. Moving. Not human, I couldn't read its thoughts, but… whatever it was, it wasn't hostile. I could sense that much…"

"A mutant?"

"If it was, it was no sort I've ever encountered before." Xavier mused. "But the amount of power I sensed… I have never encountered anything with so much of it. Even Cain could not match this being. I tried to find it, using Cerebro, but it was too strong, and then it suddenly… vanished. As if it had never been. Several times since, it has appeared, only to vanish once again…"

Scott's eyebrows rose above his glasses and Xavier smiled wryly.

"No Scott, I didn't imagine it. And I didn't imagine it back then either. But it scares me… what would happen if Magneto managed to find that mutant, persuade him or her to join in his movement… with as much power as I detected… it is quite possible that he could rule the world."

"That is… hard to believe." Scott managed.

"The person I detected has more power than any mutant… any dozen mutants I know of." Xavier said softly. "Cerebro couldn't work out its power, it was as if its power was in flux… or if it had many powers. Yet I haven't come across a single mutant with more than two powers, and most only have a single power."

"How many did this mutant have?" Scott asked and Xavier looked thoughtful.

"I don't know, Scott. At least four. Maybe more than that. That much power in a single individual… Should Magneto learn of this person…"

Scott shuddered.

"We need to find him or her!"

"I know." Xavier said softly. "I have Cerebro set to alert me should this person reappear. I just hope I can locate them before Eric does…"

Both men looked at each other, then Xavier sighed.

"Until that day, I need to prepare. As do you. I managed to have some goggles created for you, perhaps we should test them out. The Danger Room needs to be tested as well…"

Scott grinned.

.

The target popped up and promptly flew backwards as the beam of red light impacted on it. Scott spun round and another blast lanced out from his goggles, smashing into a turret, causing it to stop tracking.

"Not bad, Cyclops." Xavier said from the monitoring room, looking down at the black-clad teen with a proud smile.

Scott didn't bother to respond s he unleashed a volley of blasts at a trio of mechanical tentacles, forcing them back, then he dashd through the created gap and punched the final target.

"Simulation three concluded." The computer-generated voice said emotionlessly. "Total score, seven-hundred and forty-three out of one thousand. New personal best."

Scott smirked in triumph as he looked up at the transparent walls of the control pod.

"That was fun!"

"That was very impressive, Scott." Xavier said, his smile broadening.

"How did Logan do on this one?"

"Logan got eight-hundred and sixty-two on this one, but he helped to program the scenario and has more combat experience." Xavier replied, glancing at the control panel in front of him. "Seven forty-three on the first attempt, I am very impressed."

"Better than I did on my first time." A voice said from behind him and Xavier turned with a smile.

"Storm, welcome back. How was your trip?"

"My sister was very happy to see me again, as was my nephew." Storm replied with a smile, nodding to Scott. "I also got to talk to Jean, she'll be coming next week."

"Excellent." Xavier said as the doors opened to reveal an exhausted but happy Scott.

"The goggles work then?" Storm enquired and Scott nodded.

"Yep, the ruby interior absorbs my blasts, and the visor itself flips open whenever I push this button, allowing me to fire at will."

"We are still working on ways to fine-tune the beam." Xavier said. "Changing how much the visor opens is currently rather promising. We have a second visor with that modification under construction in the workshop."

"Nice." Storm said appreciatively.

"I agree." Scott smiled. "It'll be far better than the all-or-nothing that I currently have. Being able to adjust, if even only slightly, my power when I use it? Fantastic."

"Sounds like a good idea." Storm said, turning to follow Charles as he moved towards the lift. "So, have you found any students yet, Charles?"

"Cerebro recently detected one in Germany, I contacted his family and he'll be here in a couple of weeks." Charles said. "He's a teleporter, his name is Kurt Wagner. I'm working on a holographic inducer for him so that he can go into public places without causing panic."

Scott gave him an odd look. "He has a physical mutation too?"

"He does." Charles confirmed. "He's a physical enhancile with teleportation capabilities, a dual-power mutant. Physically,he has blue fur, tridactyl hands and feet as well as a tail, his agility is amazing. I believe that his childhood with the Munich State Circus helped him consideraby in that area of his development. As for his teleportation… I don't currently have many details about how it works, only that it does and that Kurt is quite adept with it."

"Interesting." Scott mused. "Sounds like he'll be a real asset should the X-men project prove viable."

"I have high hopes for that." Charles said. "I know that Eric is seeking out powerful mutants to recruit to his cause and I occasionally fear that only my X-men will be able to stand between him and the devastation that his path inevitably leads to."

All three mutants exchanged sober glances, then a beeping noise sounded.

"Professor?"

Charles glanced down at a small screen inset in the arm of his wheelchair and his eyebrows rose.

"I set Cerebro to automatically scan for the signature of the being, Cerebro has detected it, and it looks like the filters have worked. Cerebro has a location!"

"Being?" Storm asked as Scott nodded in understanding.

"Professor, may I suggest we pick up Logan? If this being is as powerful as you believe…"

"An excellent idea." Xavier said. "Come on, we should depart now. Cerebro will provide us with the location of this being."

"What being?" Storm asked as Xavier and Scott moved towards the Hangar bay. "Can I have an answer?"

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"Chuck. I wasn't expecting to see you for at least another week." Logan said as he wheeled his bike up the ramp and placed it into the storage hold.

"I'm sorry, old friend, but something came up and we might need your skills."

"So you found him, then."

Logan dropped into the pilots seat as Scott helped Xavier into one of the passenger seats. Waiting just long enough for Scott to strap himself into the co-pilot's seat, he applied power to the engines, redirecting the thrust to raise the Blackbird into the air.

"So, Chuck, where are we heading?"

"The being is headed due north, I'm re-routing the data to your secondary display now."

"And I thought your brother was the only enhanced mutant around." Logan groused as they were pushed back into their seats by the Blackbird's acceleration.

"I think the person we're after may be more than that." Xavier said slowly. "The energy levels I detected were… out of this world."

"We're after someone stronger than Juggernaut?" Storm asked, worry evident in her voice. "Professor, are you sure this is wise?"

"Would you want to risk Magneto getting his hands on someone that powerful?" Xavier countered. Storm blinked, then swallowed nervously. "No, that would be… very bad."

"Hopefully we can persuade whoever this person is to join us." Xavier said. "Failing that, we can at least warn them about Magneto."

"Sure you don't want me to… persuade him to join?" Logan growled, extending his claws for emphasis. Xavier shook his head firmly.

"No, Logan. I feel that trying something like that would be a very bad idea. We have no idea of his power level or even how many powers he may have. For all we know, he could be an Omega-level mutant, and if he is…"

Xavier trailed off and Logan nodded unwillingly. "Yeah, if he is, we may be outmatched. Damn, Chuck, you never go after the easy targets, do you?"

"But where would be the fun in that?" Scott asked, causing Logan to briefly grin.