Daniel (An X-Men Story)
Chapter Six: Punishment
Several hours have passed since Ororo received the phone call from Daniel. She informed Logan who is angrier than he's ever been. Jean, Scott, Alex, Rion, Emma and Professsor Xavier are there in the Howlett living room waiting on Daniel to return home. They heard a car pull up in the drive way of the Howlett home.
"Uncle Tony hey." John said going to hug him.
"Come here college man." Tony hugged him back. "John this is my friend Dr. Bruce Banner."
"Nice to meet you Jonathan." Bruce said shaking his hand.
"Same here." John said.
"Hey bro." Daniel said climbing out of the car. John rounds on him.
"Do you know how pissed off mom and dad are at you?" John asked yelling. Daniel lowered his head.
"Now now, let's get inside and talk." Tony said as the four made their way into the house.
"Look who's home." John said.
"Hi mom, hi dad." Daniel said.
"Daniel, Oh thank god." She said hugging him. Then she slapped him across the face. Everyone was shocked by that including Daniel who held his face. "Do you have any idea how worried we were?" She yelled.
"Where the hell were you?" Logan asked angered. Daniel knew they were upset but didn't realize his disappearing act would affect them. He doesn't realize their worrying for him was because Daniel isn't like other normal kids and can easily be taken advantage of. He's slow that way.
"He was with me. He wanted to talk and well something came up that couldn't be helped." Tony said.
"Dr. Banner thank you for joining us." Professor Xavier said. I'm professor Charles Xavier." He introducing himself.
"A pleasure." Bruce said shaking his hand.
"Dr. Banner, I apologize. I'm Ororo Munroe'Howlett. This my husband Logan Howlett." Ororo said shaking his hand. Logan waved. "These are my family Jean, Scott, Emma and Alex."
"Nice to meet you all." Bruce said.
"Jean, Emma, Alex good to see you guys again." Tony said.
"Like wise Tony." Alex said.
"How's it going Scooter?" Tony asked his question directed at Scott.
"Tony." Scott said hating the knick name.
"Uncle Tony!" Kendall squealed excitedly as she came running down the stairs. She was followed by Azari, Lucas, David, James and Oliver.
"Uncle Tony." Azari high giving.
"It's good to see you uncle Tony." Lucas said greeting the playboy billionaire.
"Good to see you guys again. My god, look how big you gotten." Tony said. "Guys meet my friend Dr. Bruce Banner. Bruce these are the Howlett kids. This big fella here is Azari, the lovely lady here is Kendall, this is Daniel's identical twin brother David.
"I can see. He has the ponytail." Bruce said referring to David.
"Yeah I never understood that." Tony said.
"The ladies like it. Can't disappoint them." David smirking. Tony smiled.
"Spoken like a true ladies man. This young man the skateboarding protegy is Lucas and James and Oliver."
"Nice to meet you guys." Bruce said.
"Same here." Kendall said.
"Now that we've all met, lets get to the real issue at hand. Daniel leaving the mansion without telling us where he was." Logan said angrily. "Why the fuck did you do that?" He asked angrily.
"What were you thinking?" Ororo asked angrily. Daniel couldn't respond.
"Idiot move bro." John said.
"Look who we're talking to. He always does things like this." Azari said.
"Very dumb of you." David said.
"You had mom and dad worried." Kendall said.
"Stupid thing to do Danny." Lucas adds.
"You had us worried when we couldn't find you." Alex said.
"You can't just run off without telling someone where you are." Emma said. Daniel looked down ashamed.
"What if something happened to you?" Kendall asked. Daniel didn't respond. He didn't think they cared. "How do you think we'd feel? How do you think mom and dad would feel?" Daniel doesn't answer.
"What were you doing?" Jean asked.
"What happened in New York City?" Emma asked. She couldn't help it. Dr. Banner was projecting his thoughts. She now knew what he was and what happened.
"Well that was the thing that came up." Tony said.
"How did you get to the city?" Scott asked.
"I took the bus to Stark Towers hoping to spend a day or two with uncle Tony but he wasn't there. I figured out where he was and met him there." Daniel said.
"Long story short, Daniel helped me and my hero friends save the city." Tony said. He didn't want to go into detail fearing they'd tear Daniel down more than they already have.
"Wait he was involved in that fiasco in New York City?" Logan asked. Secret's out.
"Yeah dad. It was awesome I got to help battle the chitari." Daniel said as they all looked in his direction. He notices all the concerned and angered faces around the room. Tony and Bruce weren't smiling either. Daniel now realized why his family was angry with him.
"Tony, how could you put my son in danger?" Ororo asked.
"You know he's slow and can't understand things that well." Logan said. Daniel frowned.
"I didn't do it on purpose Roh. I didn't even know he was coming to see me...which I'm still not happy about by the way. I was in the middle of a heated conversation with my friends. It wasn't until he shows up that it was too late to call. Rest assure he was safe." Tony said. Ororo sighed deeply. "I should've called you the moment he showed up and I'm sorry for that. I promise that will never happen again because Daniel will be calling me from now on and you will get permission from your parents to visit me right?" Tony asked. Daniel nods.
"Daniel, you know how important it is for our kind to remain anonymous. You are a mutant and we don't want to run the risk of something happening to our family." Professor Xavier said.
"I understand Professor but I wanted to talk to Uncle Tony and when I figured out what he was doing, I saw an opportunity to help. I didn't mean to upset you guys. I'm sorry." Daniel said.
"What is this need you have to help everyone?" Ororo asked.
"I don't know." Daniel said.
"When are you going to realized that nobody wants nor needs your help?" Logan asked getting in Daniel's face. Bruce watched feeling bad for Daniel. He understood what Daniel wanted to talk about. He could see that Daniel was feeling ganged up on. Daniel looked down at his feet. "You're just a child Daniel. You're help is not needed." Logan said angrily. "You are not a normal boy Daniel. You are mentally delayed with a speech problem and anyone can take advantage of you and you wouldn't know it. That is the reason we do not ask you for your help. We simply don't need it." Logan said to him. Daniel stared at him with a mixture of hurt and sorrow. It dawned on the young teen that no one trusted him to do anything on his own. They treated him like a retarded child.
"I'm sorry dad." Daniel said.
"You're sorry huh? You will be cause you're grounded until further notice. Are we clear?" Logan asked.
"Yes." Daniel said.
"Get your ass up to your room. Now." Logan said angrily as Daniel grabbed his bag and headed up to his room. They watched him angered.
"Logan, again I really am sorry I didn't contact you guys sooner. I would've sent him back home." Tony said.
"I don't mind it that he visits you Tony, he should've said something." Logan said.
"So we didn't have to worry about where he was or if something happened to him." Ororo said.
"We understand. Please don't be too hard on him." Bruce said. "He means well."
"Yeah well, he'll know better by the time he's off punishment." Ororo said.
"Where's Rion and Megan?" Tony asked.
"He's on vacation with her. We're watching Matt and Owen." Logan said sitting down on the couch.
"So how's things here?" Tony asked.
"Good. Kendall's getting straight A's. Lucas is getting better grades." Logan said smiling.
"Hot teacher?" Tony asked Lucas who smiled.
"Oh yeah." Lucas said as they laughed.
"Yep. I remember those days." Tony said.
"These two are doing good. Well James is doing well. Oliver is getting straight A's." Ororo said smiling.
"And I'm happy to report that James isn't coping off my paper and doing well on his own." Oliver said as they chuckled. James playfully pushes him.
"John here is a college man and Azari's football team is undefeated." Ororo said proudly.
"David has a girlfriend." Logan said smirking.
"Yep I asked Candice out and she said yes. We're going out tomorrow night." David said bragging.
"Nice!! Way to go kid." Tony said as Bruce smiled. "These kids are awesome." Tony said smiling.
"So proud of my kids. Except Daniel." Logan said as the others looked over at him. "I'm gonna bar b que. Would you two like to hang out for a bit?" Logan said.
"Sure." Bruce said.
"Yes." Tony said as they headed out to the backyard.
While Logan bar b qued, Tony spent time with the kids. He was a tossing the football with Azari and the boys. He got to meet Matt and Owen. He played referee as the guys played a mini football game. He let David show off his pitching skills. Bruce got to chat with Professor Xavier and the ladies. Scott and Alex played coach to each of the teams. Kendall helped Logan with the food. Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, Peter, Jubilee, Evan and Theresa joined them. They were introduced to Bruce having already met Tony.
Daniel stood in his room and watched them all having fun. He was confined to his room. A plate of food was sent up to his room by Kendall. He felt bad that he had angered his parents but felt that they didn't care. He wanted to talk to Tony but because of Loki and the chitari, that conversation never took place. He was hurt that his parents hadn't come up to the room to talk with him but then again they never had. Daniel watched as his parents, aunts, uncles and the professor all smiled at his siblings. Even Tony and Bruce seemed impressed with his siblings. He truly did feel alone. He turned off his light and went to bed.