Chapter 3: Welcome to Bayville
I tested my new found control on a small scale by aiming at a few targets Forge set up in the lab, he and the professor gave me the go ahead to head out with the rest of the students. Hardly wasting a moment I sprinted out the door only to knock over kitty and landing on top of her. As we recovered and looked at each other face to face a small blush crawled across both our cheeks before I helped her back up, a jolt of electricity running from me to her .
"Were you eavesdropping on us?," I asked not really mad but put on airs as if I was. She seemed to retreat within herself either from nervousness or she was coming up with a witty retort.
"They say curiosity killed the cat, so I guess that's what I get for checking up on you. Look some of us are heading out if you want to come, we're doing some shopping and no offence to your wardrobe but you could use an update," she flicked the collar of my shirt and gestured at my ensemble , which was the same as yesterday since I was brought here from a prison. I was about to respond when I noticed that she was bleeding a bit from her lip and I pulled out some napkins from breakfast and dabbed it away.
"Before we go anywhere maybe we should have you checked out , make sure I didn't do any real damage to that pretty little head of yours," I tried to stop myself and fell a little short, so instead of speaking anymore I started walking to the med bay where I first woke up. As we came upon the med bay door a noticed a lone figure standing there waiting, the closer we got the more I noticed the skirt, combat boots, and mesh shirt that the girl was wearing. Rogue was there reading a play by Shakespeare as if it were a magazine at the doctor's office, I was about say something when she suddenly began speaking lines from the infamous balcony scene. And being an actor myself I thought it rude to interrupt so I let continue.
"…Retain that dear perfection which he owes. Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself," she spoke with surprising eloquence and gestures that reminded me of a professional troupe I once saw. I couldn't help but join in.
"I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo," I walked over to her and took her non-book hand. As I spoke dropping to one knee to emulate how the show went. Both Rogue and Kitty were surprised by my outburst and blushed as the words flowed from my lips. "Umm please forgive the intrusion, but you can't do the balcony scene alone," Kitty walked over and gave a small clapping applause and told me that was impressive. As the three of us began to speak more we slowly forgot why we were at the med bay and made our way upstairs to the garage for the little expedition in town.
We all arrived to find Scott giving a lecture about proper safety with driving and how we aren't allowed to use our powers out in the open, he gave me and Rogue a second glance as he knew hers was accidental and I was untrained in how to properly utilize my gifts. Nonetheless eventually we all climbed into the van and jeep to get to town. I who had never stepped so much as one foot on east coast soil was giving myself whiplash trying to see all the restaurants and stores I'd never seen before. The girls were laughing both with and at me while Kurt understood my being excited since he came over here from Germany. I got the feeling that I was home again or at least I could easily find myself fitting in with the locals, a feat I thought I was up to the task for. Bayville looked like most of the small towns I'd grown up in; a strong football team to cheer, well kempt lawns, small shops lining the streets and a big mall in the center of town where all the teens spent their free time.
When the groups converged as we arrived at the mall I couldn't help but find a strange pattern emerging as it was Kurt, Kitty, Rogue and I in a group again. It was well enough it just meant I could talk without the added pressure of a large group to impress, I didn't do too well with strangers let alone a bunch who've known each other for a while.
"So… where to first," let me just say this I thought I could handle almost anything. I've been bullied, beaten, humiliated and utterly worn down but, to face the gauntlet that Kitty devised made Dante's Inferno look like stroll through an English garden. We'd only been there for 20 minutes and had already hit 30 stores, I was prodded and paraded like a fashion slave through more outfits than any man let alone woman had ever tried on ever. As I collapsed a bench in the central nexus of this shopping hell, Kitty reprimanded me.
"What are you doing lazy bones? We haven't even been to the second floor yet not to mention the third," I looked over at Kurt and Rogue who looked as if they had just woken up from a nice nap. As I would later learn the two of them have been training extensively to keep up with her pace. So the day went on like that for a while, until the car was too full to get all of us back, I volunteered to walk back so I could get the lay of the land. Rogue had left a while ago to look at some new gloves I caught up with her just as she pulled her old ones off and grabbed her hand, the color drained from my face and I almost fell to the floor but as I was about to pass out I sent a bolt of electricity shooting up her arm to her brain. She and I were both dazed and hurt from the experience, as I helped her off the ground by her hand I noticed that I wasn't being drained dry. Her eyes flew wide and I held back a surprised scream.
"What did you do to me," Rogue exclaimed as people began to take notice of us, I absentmindedly grabbed her hand again and sprinted as fast as I could with her away from the mall. The two of us sprinted until we were about half a mile away and out of sight cutting through the park for cover, we both collapsed to catch our collective breath.
"I don't know what happened but, I think we need to call for a ride back to the mansion before something else goes wrong," before I could pull out my cell a sedan pulled up and the professor rolled down the window in the back seat. We didn't question how he knew we needed a ride, the two of us hopped in just as a group of shoppers from the mall was coming to investigate what happened.
Storm was behind the wheel and expertly evaded our tail and resumed a normal driving pattern. Meanwhile I could feel the professor probing my mind and most likely Rogue's as well to get the situation as it happened. A flash of both surprise fear and suppressed joy was trying to come to the surface of his face as he grasped what I had done. The ride was relaxing as I felt my strength come back to me, all the while I sensed a plan being formulated in the back of the professor's mind. We arrived back within fifteen minutes and as Rogue and I were going to go our separate ways for now the professor spoke.
"Hold on just a minute I wish to speak with you two about what happened, I believe Ryan; that you may have inadvertently discovered a new talent that has affected Rogue here," he gestured to the fact that we were still holding hands and I wasn't dead. I quickly let go of her and the two of us went straight to beet red. We were led back down to Beast's med bay for further examination and didn't quite understand the surprise as they went over the charts and results of the tests, until Beast told us what was going on.
"Ryan…you may have just discovered a new ability, from what the professor has told me about the incident and from these results... When you sent that jolt of electricity up to Rogue's brain it zapped the area which houses the control over mutant power genes and paralyzed it; In other words you turned her powers off... at least temporarily. Based on the size of the jolt she should be getting them back within the next thirty minutes." Both Rogue and I were in a state of shock and at a loss for words, this was monumental almost unbelievable. I didn't have anything to say to this news so I took Rogue with me as we left to grab food with the rest of my new found friends.
"How am I like this? A few weeks ago I was just a guy living on my own and trying to have a safe life now I'm at a mansion with so many others like myself. Now I have a way to control my powers slightly and I go and turn your powers off, am I a freak or do I just keep getting weirder by the second?" Rogue listened in stunned silence and as I finished speaking stopped me and gave me a small peck on the cheek; as if to say thank you for this small gift. She actually smiled wide unlike the other night and took off towards the dining area so she could show everybody what had happened so I wouldn't have to. "Thanks….. I guess I did something right" Slowly I began walking the same way to get caught up with my friends, little did I know Rogue left a lipstick mark on my cheek that I'd quickly have to explain away.