"So, what is going on Professor?" Scott asked once everyone had assembled in the basement.
"It wasn't me, I paid for those donuts!" Peter said preemptively, before opening a Twinkie.
The Prof gave a slight, bitter smile to the speedster, then sighed. "It's not Striker."
"What?"
"What's not Striker?"
"What do you mean?"
"But I thought you said-"
"Was? Professor, I-"
The Professor held up a hand, silencing their questions.
"The men who we have been tracking, they aren't working for Striker." Everyone leaned forward a bit, pondering the same thing: then who were they working for? The professor answered the mental bombardment. "A man named Nathaniel Essex. He apparently orchestrated Striker's release. Striker… was found dead yesterday. And by the looks of it, he's been dead for at least a couple of weeks."
A shudder went around the room at that, not for love of the man, but fear of whatever had befell him.
"What does Mori-uh, Ms. MacTaggart think?" Jean asked, eyes troubled.
"Well, they aren't still using the base you… invaded in May. Essex is incredibly wealthy, not legally, mind you, and has manufactured weapons in the past. We also think that the sightings of Striker that happened after his death was actually the Shape shifter they have. We think the two had a falling out over methods, and Essex eliminated the threat."
"Wonderful." Muttered Scott.
"Then, what are we going to do?" Jean asked, not sure what needed to change now.
"What we have always done." The Proff answered, shrugging. "We train and prepare and keep the school running."
Terri thought that sounded much easier said than done, especially if this Essex was well funded and proven to be violent, but she didn't have any ideas, so she stayed quiet. Still, Peter and Scott shared a look that clearly said they were thinking the same thing.
"So, anything else?' Peter asked, opening a large bag of Skittles. There was something tense about his eyes, his shoulders, that made one think he was even more impatient than normal.
"No, but Mystique wanted to discuss something with you. As for the rest of you, I want Scott and Terri to train with me now. Kurt, Jean, you're free to go."
"So, what's up Professor? Why specially training?" Scott asked as he followed the man to the Danger Room. Terri trailed behind, echoing the same sentiment.
"Well, this could be an opportunity to learn about both of your powers, I'd like to take it."
"You mean, turn her light into a super laser that she fired from her hand?" Scott was sceptical- but also nervous. If some other kid could have his power, but safer, what need did the Prof or Jean have of him?
"No, I just wanted to see how your beams are different than a normal light source, see if we could find an easier way for you to control it." Now Terri was nervous- she had only learned how to sense light like that yesterday…
Professor Xavier rolled his eyes from where neither self-conscious teenager could see.
Rolling into the room, he tossed Scott a box about the size of a regular tin can. "Here."
"What's this for?"
"It's a laser pointer. I want you to hold it steady, and point it at that wall. Terri, stand over here, please."
"this kind of feels redundant." Scott joked as he clicked on the laser.
Laughing, the Prof turned to Terri. "Try to sense the light in the laser beam."
Nodding, Terri turned and closed her eyes.
It was a little different from before. The room was lit, if dimly, so many waves and bits of light filled the air. The beam was still very easy to find- a loud, buzzing string of tightly twisted red. There was a great deal of power going into this, she realized.
Her arms drifted upwards as she felt along the stream, humming softly as she marked the constants in the beam. Then, she mentally pulled.
The point on the wall drifted to the left. Prof. Xavier clapped.
"Wonderful!"
Terri smiled as she made the little dot on the wall do loopdeloops.
"Alright, alright you little showoff!" Scott chuckled good naturedly.
"Showoff?" she asked as she released her hold on the beam and turned back to them.
"Did it feel much like the red light you created yesterday?" The Prof asked, interrupting the teens.
Terri tilted her head, thinking. "Well, a bit. But, it was different. Light naturally travels put in all directions, tries to fill the space. The laser, it was like a high-powered stream of it, the red could only go where it was pointed." She bit her lip, then smiled. "oh, is that why we could see the dot on the wall"- she pointed- "but not the light getting to that point?"
"Exactly."
"Can I put this down now?' Scott complained.
"Yes, thank you. All right, am I correct in assuming that you aren't quite up to the task of creating a laser yourself?' The teacher asked the girl, who shook her head vehemently.
"Oh no! Creating red and constraining it to only move in one direction… I'm just not sure about that yet!"
Scott relaxed slightly, then told himself off for feeling that way. In his head, of course.
The Prof smiled, nodding. "That's perfectly alright Terri. Now, back up a bit farther dear. No, not you Scott."
He wheeled back to the door, and she followed him, confused. Scott had a sneaking suspicion about where this was going.
"Now, Scott, blast the wall with your optic blasts. Terri, I want you to study the light that he generates."
"Sure." With a focused look and slight tap, Scott fired a lower powered blast as far away from the other two as possible. He kept on hand by his ear, just in case.
Again, Terri closed her eyes. She reached for the thick blast, but frowned. "That's not right." She muttered. The red emitted was normal, not like a laser, and bounced out from around the stream. The stream of something that was very much not light, and equally not a laser.
"What's wrong?" the headmaster asked, concerned.
"Look." Terri said, focusing on the mental image. The red is all normal, but the blast itself is completely dark- I don't know what it is but it's not a light… it doesn't feel like heat either… she thought, highlighting the pitch-black center of the optic beam.
"Is everything okay back there?" Scott asked, worried.
The Prof was about to answer, but Terri beat him to it. "No, everything's fine. It's just not at all like the laser beam. Hold on, I'm tracing along the length of it…" she felt along the uneven tube of light emissions. She couldn't feel anything past his glasses. Hmm… "Scott, can you take of your glasses?
"What?!" he exclaimed. "are you crazy?"
"I can't see past them to the source." Terri shrugged.
With a sigh, the glasses came off. Without them, Terri realized that the beam started as a cone from his eyes that smoothed off become a mostly straight line. The black center of the blast went all the way to the tip of the cone. After she described the image to the prof and the other student, Scott put the glass back on and turned around.
"So, what did you see?"
"The beam that comes from your eyes, it glows- it gives off light- but it isn't light."
"Huh. So, what? What does that mean?" the boy asked, unsure of the importance of this revelation. He had thought he had laser beams, yes, but some other kind of mutant beam that acted like his was all the same in the end, right?
"I don't know. I'll have to asked Hank about it. Well, I will see you two at dinner then. And Scott, don't forget that you have trading with the team tonight."
As she listened to her class mate tell the teacher that he had already been in training today- then being told that holding a laser pen for a few minutes and standing still a few more don't count as his training- Terri took everything that has happened in. She had experienced an entire different kind of light, one she could not create, but move all the same. She compared the red glow of normal light and the laser. She wondered if she liked one better, or if she even should. Then she stopped.
"Professor, where did you even get a laser?"
AN: AYE first update of 2017, I'm so sorry it took so long I got distracted by like everything. I have some star wars stories up now if you want to check hem out.
How did yall like Scott? I tried to balance "Dumb Cool Teen" with "Young Leader/Boyscout" feels
Leave a review and I will see ya next time!
Oh yeah one last thing so laser pens where first used in the early 80's, but they where much bulkier and expensive than todays. lets say that Hank go wind of the idea and improved the design.