by Orkoad
Based on characters and situations created and/or owned by Marvel Comics, Sunbow Entertainment, Kids WB and John Proft.
Special thanks to Red Witch for the use of her character, Spyder.
Next chapter: Explanation attempts
Jack groaned as he stumbled up the stairs and headed for his room. He knocked before opening, since he shared the room with forge, he wanted to atleast be a polite room mate. When there was no answer he opened the door a crack, and peered in. No one there. He sighed, a little relieved, he was to tired to talk to anyone right now.
He was about to just lay down and drift off, but there was a set of pajamas, a stick of deodorant, shampoo and all those bare essentials one needs to keep clean. Jack couldn't help but snicker. He wondered if this was either forge's way of telling him he needed a shower, or the professor trying to make him feel at home.
Either way it was enough for jack to realize he needed a shower, bad. He collected the items on his bed, and carried them across the hall to the rest room. As he walked down to the bathroom he saw one of the kids he had seen while mowing the lawn, jubilee, walking to her room. He smiled and waved. She waved back, but she didn't smile. In face, she seemed to suddenly race off and almost dive into her room.
Jack stood there in the middle of the hall for a moment. Had he done something to upset her? He just knew this was going to bother him for awhile, but for now he decided to try to let it go, and continued to the bathroom.
He felt weird as he pulled his shirt off. He hadn't realized how long it had been since he was able to finally clean up like normal again. As he was about to take off his pants, he pulled out his wallet, when something fell out. He bent down to pick up the small piece of paper and looked at it, and his heart stopped for a moment. It was a picture of himself, his dad, his brother, and his sister who had died in a plane crash a few years before. He hadn't realized it, but he had slid down the bathroom wall to sit against it in the corner, tears flowing from his eyes.
Just then there was a knock at the door.
"hey, are you okay in there?" A voice asked. Jack jumped, and looked at the clock on the wall. He thought he had only been there for a few minutes, but he had been crying for a full hour.
"um.. Yeah, I um.. I'm fine." Jack replied, sniffling and wiping his tears as he stood up and opened the door a crack. There at the door stood a tall boy, a few years older than him, wearing a pair of bright red shades. "I um.. I'm sorry but I may be another minute..." Jack said nervously. The boy however gave a concerned look.
"Your jack right... Are you alright? I thought I heard crying?" the boy said, when he noticed the picture in jacks hand. "Your family?" He asked. Jack sighed in defeat.
"Yeah... They um... They died... Bout a month ago." Jack said weakly. The boy in the shades nodded.
"I know how you feel, me and my brother lost our parents a few years ago. We even lost track of eachother for awhile, but we found eachother a few years ago." Jack just looked down, not sure what to say, he wished he could have hope that his family was still alive, but he had watched the last members of his family die in front of him, finding them alive wasn't likely.
"I'm Scott." The shaded boy said, holding out his hand. Jack took it and shook his hand threw the door.
"Jack Carson."
XxXxX
X sat in the small chair in the center of the small office, facing an empty desk. She didn't like small spaces, it bothered her, made it feel like someone was going to try to trap her. She pit her lip. She had promised Logan she would give this a try, and as difficult as it was to just sit there, she was tired of running.
There was movement behind her, she turned, half ready to release her claws, but calmed herself when she saw it was only the professor. She sighed, maybe she was wound a little too tight. She took a breach as her eyes followed the wheel chair bound man as he made his way to behind the desk.
"Now, X is it? Logan tell's me your ready to try talking to me," X nodded, "well x, we have very much to talk about, with school about to accept you into its next semester, we need to prepare you for the way one acts in the public light." X wasn't sure if she liked the sound of that. "Now, the first thing we must do is give you a name, I'm afraid a name like x will simply raise to many questions we don't want to answer." X grumbled, She liked her name and didn't feel it needed changing, but again she promised to give this a try. Xavier pulled a book out of a drawer from his desk and set it on his desk between them. "Here is a book of names, id recommend picking one out from it.
X hesitantly took the book and looked it over, this felt so... Unimportant, as if she could just as easily pick out a book to read. She glanced at the long list of names but after the 3rd page she groaned and set the book back on the desk.
"I'd like to think about it and pick one more... Personal when I find it." She said evenly, but a hint of nervousness in her tone. Xavier nodded with a smile.
"Of course my dear, but we have much more to discuss... This may feel a bit more private and I understand if you do not wish to continue with this but... As you know I am a telepath, and with your permission id like to... Look into your childhood and if necessary place in mental blockers, to help you to control your emotions." This did scare her, and her look of fear showed. Xavier gave a gentle smile. "If you wish me to stop at any time you simply need to tell me." X nodded nervously, she wanted to trust him, but it would take time.
"alright professor... Lets get started..."
XxXxX
It took him a minute to finish a short talk with Scott, and a long shower, jack was finally able to forget about the photo in his wallet, and the pain that came with it. He gave a weak yawn as he carried his cloths and bathroom essentials to his room, and knocked, again, making sure forge was presentable if he was in.
This time forge was in, and opened the door wide, he gave jack an odd look as he opened the door and let jack in. Jack's eyes followed forge as he walked in, closed the door behind him and set his things down on the dresser, forge's eyes locked on his with a look of confusion on them.
"What?" Jack finally asked, tired of the uneasy quiet.
"Jack... There's a roomer going around that you were part of an anti mutant group... Called the friends of humanity, is that true...?" Forge asked. Jack gave a weak sigh as he slumped on his bed, looking at the ground.
"yes... But there was a reason...," Jack said, hoping forge wouldn't snap, when he didn't jack continued, "My... My dad and brother were killed by a group of mutants... I didn't know any mutants at the time and... At the time I had nothing... No where to go, no one... And a guy from the foh approached me. At the time all I could think of was revenge and... I lost who I was for a little while... I'm here now trying to make up for it..." Jack said weakly, looking up at forge, who was looking back, his mood impossible to read.
"did you hurt any mutants?" He asked evenly.
"No... When they took me out on what they called their "hunt" I met Spyder and... I couldn't do it, she didn't hurt anyone, and I fell like a sick monster ever since... That's why I asked you for your help with that stuff." Jack said weakly.
"Okay..." Forge said sitting beside him, resting a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Then, we're cool, I don't know if the rest of the school will feel the same way thought, but on the subject of your stuff, I got the prototypes ready for your look over."
Jack leapt to his feet, eager to see what forge had come up with. The night before he had asked forge to make him a few special items to help him with a "hobby" he had been thinking about, and followed forge to the corner of their room where a big bag worthy of Santa Claus sat in waiting. Forge was just about to open up the bag, when there was a knock on the door.
Jack stopped forge and went to the door, he opened the door and fell to the floor, when his vision cleared, he found Spyder on top of him, hugging him tightly.
"I missed you big brother, I haven't seen you all day." She said cheerfully. Jack snickered, and looked up to forge, who was fighting a snicker. Jack hugged her back, then pushed her off and stood up. "Come on, lets go play a game or something in the living room." Spyder begged, giving him that puppy dog face that always broke him. Jack grumbled internally, he really wanted to see what forge had put together for him, but decided it could wait.
"alright, one game but then I need to get some sleep, I got more work tomorrow." He said with a weak smile. "Want to join us?" Jack asked back at forge as Spyder pulled at jack already. Forge chuckled.
"Na, I'm gonna stay here and look over some notes for some more of my... Tinkering." Forge said with a wink, and a nod towards the bag of items. Jack nodded and let Spyder pull him out.
"See you later." Forge called out as jack disappeared threw the door.
XxXxX
Jack groaned as Spyder took yet another one of his checkers. Spyder on the other hand was giddy with joy as she continued to dominate him in checkers. Jack had been noticing odd looks from some of the other students. He honestly felt uncomfortable with it, but he was trying hard to keep as much of that part of his life to himself.
Meanwhile, Logan was walking by the front door when the buzzer from the front gate went off. He groaned as he pressed the 2 way talk button.
"Yeah?" He said evenly.
"This is the New Jersey police department, we're looking for a Jack Carson." Logan fought the urge to keep from growl at the thought of that kid, but buzzed the police in, and wend off to warn the professor, and the kids.
XxXxX
Scott and jean sat in the corner love seat together, watching Jack and Spyder from afar. Scott was lost in thought, Jean holding an arm around his shoulder.
"I can't believe he was an f.o.h." He said aloud, but not loud enough for jack to hear.
"No one can, he even saved bobby and jubilee from a mutant Linch Mob earlier today." Jean added, as she watched along with Scott. After a moment of silence, Scott stood up, and started walking up to jack, jean stood up, unsure whether she should follow or not.
"Ollie, could you leave me and Jack alone for a minute?" Scott asked. Spyder looked at Scott, almost angry, but jack caught the look in scott's eye. It was hard not to, he had been starring at jack the entire time. Spyder was about to tell him no, when jack spoke up.
"It's okay ollie, we can play again tomorrow, you should be getting to bed anyway." Spyder looked back at jack, wanted to argue, but nodded weakly, collected the game and headed upstairs to bed, passing jubilee, bobby and kitty on the way out. The three students exchanged looks and went to see, from the hiding spot of the doorfraime, what had upset the young girl.
"Is it true? Were you really a member of the friends of humanity?" Scott was heard asking, causing the three onlookers to gasp collectively, hoping they weren't heard. Jack sighed, wishing this wouldn't have come up again.
"Yes..." Jack replied wealkly, slumping in his chair, looking down at the empty table before him. Jack was hoping it was wrong, hoping for some explanation, something that made sense, not a straight yes.
"W.. Why?" He asked simply in shock. Just then there was a knock from the entryway. Scott, jean and jack all looked up to see Logan standing behind the three eavesdroppers, Causing the three watchers to jump, then walk into the room in defeat, waiting for Logan to punish them. But no punishment came, atleast not yet.
"On your toes kids, cops." Logan said in an irritated tone, glaring at Jack as he followed the kids into the room. A moment later, Two policemen walked in.
"There a Jack Carson here?" One of the two cops asked evenly. Jack gulped and stood up, and walked over to the policemen. Everyone strained to hear what Jack and the officers were talking about, but Scott noticed the sudden emotion in logan's face, apparently he heard something the others couldn't.
"Is it alright if my friends come with.. Please..." Jack asked, with a hint of what sounded like a whimper in his voice. The lead officer nodded.
"As long as they have an adult with them." The cop asked, glancing at Logan. Logan seemed lost for a moment, but nodded, silently volunteering. Jack then turned.
"You guys want to know why I... Made that mistake... I'll show you..." He said as he turned to face Logan and the five other students, tears streaming down his cheeks.
XxXxX
The next day, jack stood in the middle of the burned down charred shell of what was once his family home. He struggled to keep from breaking down as he slowly walked threw the blackened shadow of what was once a happy home. As he walked threw he noticed an old photo of himself, his brother, his father and his sister.
The two policemen had been following him at a few yards away, with Logan and the students looking on from the edge of the dead house. Logan looked around from where he stood, and sniffed the wind. It had been a few months since the fire, and even longer since he last saw them, but he knew the smell of Toad and Quicksilver anywhere, and he wondered, She no longer had a scent he could lock on to, but if those two were involved, he had little dought that Mystique was far behind.
The group was surprised when they finally heard Jack speak.
"This is why I did what I did..." Jack said evenly, weakly, as the cops walked up to him.
"You still need to answer a few questions for us, son." one cop said. Jack nodded, turning back to face the cops.
"Did you see the attackers at all?" He asked. Jack shook his head.
"No... They all wore masks." Jack lied.
"Alright, come on, one more thing for you to do son." The cop said, leading them all back to the cars. An hour later the group found themselves in the new jersey morgue, the mortician pulling the thin blanket over the chard burned body of Ashley Carson. Jack bit his lip, looking down at the charcoal husk of what was once his brother.
"Can you identify this as your brother, Ashley Carson?" the cop asked. Jack nodded, not trusting his voice. The answer giving the mortician the signal to cover the body up, but then walked over to the other body on the next table over, and pulled the blanket off of it, revealing the body of Jack father, his skin was pale, cold, with a long slit spanning down from the bottom of his hair line, down to the center of his eyebrow's, a ghastly reminder of the blade that had pierced his skull and ended his life.
"And this, is this your father, Alex Carson?" The cop asked. Jack nodded, noticing jean and Kitty gasping, covering their mouths in horror as they saw this.
"can.. Can you give us a minute alone please." Jack asked. The cops nodded, motioned for the mortician to follow, and left the room. The mortician covered the face of Alex Carson, and walked out. Jack leaned over the table, struggling to keep on his feet, tears falling freely, but he wouldn't cry, not again, not now.
"I watched them die you know..." Jack said, a whimper in his voice, " I watched my My little brother burn to death as he tried to get out of the house, I watched as they... They plunged the knife into my dads head... This is why I joined the F.O.h., a group of mutants did this and... At the time I didn't care about what was right... I wanted revenge... I... I forgot about right and wrong... It wasn't till I met Spyder that I... I realized how far down the wrong path I had gone..." He said weakly, fighting hard to keep from breaking down. He looked up when he felt an arm on his shoulder, and saw Scott there, giving him a weak smile.
"We're here for you Jack." Jean said, weakly, fighting tears. She could feel the pain in his mind, it was deafening, and it was times like this she had a better control of her telepathic powers.
After a moment they stepped out of the morgue and down the hall, the cops were waiting for them.
"Do you need me for anything else sir?"Jack asked weakly, wiping the stray tears away.
"Nope, we're done son, time for you to get some rest." Jack sighed a sigh of relief.
"I'm looking forward to going back to the institute sir." Jack said with a deep breath.
"I'm sorry kid, but we got orders, we're sending you to a foster home, can't just let you stay anywhere you want." Jack's eyes went wide. He was being sent away, he wouldn't see his friends away. Some how he felt he'd let Xavier down. He wouldn't see forge or Spyder... or X ever again.
"Excuse me officer, but I'm afraid I may have to disagree." Everyone turned to follow the new voice, to see The Professor coming down the hall. He had come all the way to jersey to somehow save jacks bacon a second time.
"Professor, I'm afraid we can't just let him go where ever you want either." The cop said, a small hint of irritation in his voice.
"This says I can officer." Xavier said, handing the officer a file. The cop looked it over and was genuinely surprised, as he read the file aloud.
"This document states that I, Professor Charles Xavier, officially adopt a one Jack Meredith Carson, and in all legal channels, obtain rights as his sole legal guardian." JAck's eyes widened in joy and amazement, not only because he no longer had to hide where he was staying from the law, but the professor seemed to have some kind of faith in him, so much so that he actually had adopted him.
XxXxX
Jack was riding back to the institute, with Xavier in his private car, while Logan drove. The younger teacher, Ms. Munroe, who had driven Xavier there, was driving the other students back in the car behind them.
"You.. You adopted me, professor.. Why?" Jack asked, still in shock.
"Young man, I have a great amount of respect in you, as well as a great deal of expectations. You have a great deal of potential, now not much will change at the mansion, you still have to work hard, and you will be starting school in a few days." He said evenly. Jack nodded with a beaming smile.
"So... This makes you my dad?" Jack asked with a smile. Xavier chuckled at this.
"In a sense, for now lets just see what happens." Jack and Xavier both laughed at this, and when the laughed had ended, Logan chose to speak up.
"Why didn't you tell the cops that your brother and dad were killed by mutants?" He asked out, not turning to face them, focusing more on the road. Jack looked up in shock, as did Xavier, not seeing this coming.
"How.. How did you know?" Jack asked in shock.
"the nose don't lie kid. Now why didn't you tell the cops?"
"I.. I didn't want any more anti mutant news to slip out..." Jack said weakly. Xavier had to admit he was impressed with how often Jack showed signs of selflessness.
"Chuck... It was Mystique." Xavier's eyes bugged out in horror.
"Logan, are you sure?"
"Not 100%, but I caught a wif of toad and Quicksilver, I dought they would kill people for no reason." Logan said evenly, chewing on a cigar as he spoke, the window cracked down a bit.
"Jack, did any of the attackers happen to change shape?" Xavier asked. Jack nodded.
"It was a woman... Blue skin... Ill never forget those eyes." Jack said, biting his lip, tasting his blood, fighting back the anger he felt for those eyes. Jack took a deep breath and looked up at Xavier again.
"Professor.. I... I'd like to address the school about... My F.O.H. past... I don't want any more rumors..."
XxXxX
Jack stood in the middle of the danger room, the student body and faculty all leaning against the walls of the circular room, surrounding him as he stood there. He took a deep breath, he was about to tell a whole school full of mutants that he was at one time a part of a group determined to kill the mutant race. He wasn't looking forward to this, but he needed to get it out of the open.
"A lot of you have been hearing rumors about me... About... How I was once a member of the friends of humanity..." The room gasped in shock, not a good sign, jack thought, " For those of you who don't know, the F.O.H. is an anti mutant hate group... And they are not the nicest of people... Well.. The rumors are true... Something... Something bad... Happened in my life... And it screwed me up pretty bad... And for a long time.. Yes, I blamed all mutants for the actions a few had done... I realized almost to late the mistake I made, and I'm hoping you will all forgive me for my mistakes..." Jack said weakly. And then he waited, waited for someone to say something, anything. A word of comfort, of anger, anything. As if a knife to cut threw the silence. She walked up to Jack, stood there about a foot in front of him. Her eyes locked on his, her face a complete mask. And then again there was nothing for a moment. It only lasted a fraction of a second but it felt like days.
And then, X'es hand came up to slap him hard in the face, sending him sailings hard to the floor. Jack almost passed out. It took Jack a moment to realize what had Happened. He looked up to see her walking out, watched as her hand raised up to wipe at her face. Was she crying, about him. Did she actually care about him. Had he lost something before he even had it. He sat there for a moment, feeling the sting on his cheek where there was sure to be a hand shaped welt there soon.
He was about to pick himself up when he noticed everyone else was still around him. He gulped, waiting for someone else to hit him. Then something Happened that terrified him. Spyder walked over, slowly, nervously. He gulped, waiting for her to hate him to. He looked away, awaiting the attack.
"It was when you met me... Wasn't it..." She asked. Jack looked up, saw her hurt little face, like a child who was just told there is no Santa clause. Jack nodded weakly. She took a deep breath, and hugged Jack weakly, her face buried in his shirt. "Your still my big brother, and we all make mistakes." She said, in a gentle, angelic voice. That was it, the last bit that pushed him over the edge. Jack hugged her back, tears streaming down his cheek, breaking down.
End of chapter
Next chapter: School house Drama
