Project 26, Chapter 2
by
Verbum
Author's Note: I own the following things: Psion, Aquarius, Switcher, Nova, Micromass, and Matrix, as well as the Ascension island research Station, Dr. Sharon Blevens, and project 26, and the plot. The X-Men belong to Marvel (though when I take over the world, I'll own them, too...). This is the second part to Project 26.
The blank metal doors that led to the mess hall opened and Aquarius entered, followed by a pair of armed guards.
'Wholly unnecessary,' the Asian girl thought, 'as they have these power inhibiting chips built into this uniform. She looked down at the plain white bodysuit that housed all of the 'mutant control' equipment: augmenter, power inhibitor, pain modules for when rules weren't followed.
'I was never one for following the rules,' she thought, smiling, as she sat down at the P26 table. The other occupants of her table raised their eyebrows. The first to speak was the red-headed boy.
"Are you okay?" What was his name...Switcher....yeah, that was it. The grin fell from Aquarius' face.
"Psion won't eat." Switcher looked at his tray for a moment, then put down his fork, muttering something about inedible food. The African American boy was next to speak.
"It was her turn, wasn't it?" he asked softly. Aquarius nodded. The quiet girl in the corner of the table slammed her fork down, sending a loud clatter go through the room.
The guards stared, and the girl shook her head.
"Matrix!" Switcher yelled.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had a test yesterday." She pulled up the left sleeve of the bodysuit, revealing a fresh marking: the symbol of Project 26. The table looked away, except for Aquarius.
The Symbol. It was given only to those classified as dangerous mutants, to those that would be given the most rigorous testing, and to those who would eventually disappear, without bang or whimper. It happened all the time. Psion had the symbol, Aquarius remembered the day she got it--she was the first. Aquarius was next, though she never told anyone. Then Switcher, Micromass, and now Matrix. There was only one person left...
"Has anyone seen Nova?" Matrix shook her head, her dark brown curls bobbing as she spoke.
"He was tested today. Remember? With Psion?" Aquarius nodded and pushed her tray away. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Switcher staring at her. Matrix and Micromass stared down at their food. Standing up and turning on her heel, she stood by the entrance to the mess hall and waited for he guards to take her back to the cell.
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She dreamed of white picket fences and the red curtains that her mother used to hang on the window, and of the smell of chocolate cookies. In fact, she could almost touch her mother in the dream, like she used to be, before father moved to Ascension. Before the POWERS. Before she was able to look at Johnny on the corner of Miller Street and know what he thought of Maria Helmsley, or why mom was mad at Daddy. Before she could move the posters in her room with her mind.
The scene changed to her first day at Ascension, and her facing the cold metal doors. Her first meal, with Aquarius, Micromass, and Matrix. She remembered seeing the test chair for the first time, with the head operations lady...Ms. Bleevins, or something like that. And the Symbol, given to her after the first test. The images began to slowly swirl together, the faces of her mom and that Bleevins lady, the chair and the house...faster and faster it turned, and she felt drawn into the abyss. Psion screamed into the darkness..................................
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Professor Charles Xavier awoke in a cold sweat, his head throbbing from an unusually vivid dream he had just had. It almost ended with...a scream? It couldn't have.
'Perhaps I should visit Hank on this one,' he thought, as he crawled into the hoverchair and made his way down the stairs and into the Mansion's expansive kitchen. Jean was sitting in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water and staring off into space. The Professor smiled; she had done a lot of this since she found out about her recent pregnancy. It was almost like a Mary Cassatt painting. Jean looked up from her glass of water and smiled at him.
"Hello, Charles."
"Are you feeling all right, Jean?" the red-headed woman nodded.
"I just have a slight headache. I couldn't sleep too well, so I thought that a glass..." Jean looked down and frowned.
"You too, then." Jean Grey-Summers nodded and looked into her water.
"It almost seemed like... a cry for help." The Professor nodded, stopping at the refrigerator.
"I think it was a psychic shockwave of some sort, given off by a very powerful telepath."
"But why?"
"I don't know, Jean. We have to look into it later...it seems important, but now just isn't the time." Jean nodded as the professor poured himself a glass of water and went back to his room.
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Nova stared at the machinery in front of him, memorizing every different little wire and switch that went along with it. The test was hard, but he'd been through worse. The mental impulse to touch the little buzzing wire overpowered his mind, and he involuntarily began to outstretch his hands towards the open panel. The first touch was excruciating, but he relaxed his mind and let the pain flow through him, feeling the now familiar sensation of the power coursing throughout his body, letting it build up until it exploded in a shower of plasma and shrapnel. That old sensation was coming back, as he felt his nerves begin to sizzle with the electricity coursing through his body. In another second....
The room was lit up by the sudden explosion given off by Nova's power; he felt power in the explosiveness and volatility of his talents. Even if he didn't have the symbol. He frowned. The others had the symbol. Even Aquarius and her paltry water tricks. The anger filled his body with more raw power, a painful process, but it augmented it in ways that even Switcher couldn't dream of. Nova smiled to himself.
'I know who I am. I know what I can do. Knowledge is power, and nothing can stop me now....'
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Switcher lounged on his bunk by the door, absentmindedly looking off into space. He needed a haircut, the red curls that he had always had were starting to show up again. They would always cut it into that short military style. Micromass raised his eyebrows at his comapnion.
"Are you okay?" Switcher looked at him, eyes half open.
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, really." He broke out into a wide grin. "It's Aquarius, isn't it?"
Micromass had a naturally thick African accent, making it rather hard to understand him sometimes. Therefore, it took a moment for his words to register to Switcher.
"Aw, come on. Of course I'm not."
"Yes, you are. I can see it." He winked at him. Switcher felt a blush coming to his cheeks.
"And if I am?"
"Then I know I've been right this entire time. You're always thinking of her. I can sense it in the way you speak to her, look at her at dinner." Micromass smiled at him. "Don't even try to deny it." Switcher laughed. A real laugh.
"I can't keep anything from you; I sometimes suspect you purposely look through my things to get information on me." Micromass' face fell.
"If we say anymore, the suit will respond." The joviality in the room dampened.
'Micromass is right, though,' Switcher thought. He felt the small tingling sensations that accompanied the occasional outbursts of happiness that found its way into the cell and he sighed. 'If only freedom was possible...'
End, Part II
So, what did you all think? It's been awhile since I worked on this fic, and I decided to pick it up again today. So thanks to wolvie, who got me up off of my butt to get me to do it. Read and review is a Must! Later!