Chapter 12
Strange sensations
Dean decided to go in the Danger room this morning to go through his exercises. He was getting more and more used to doing things in there where nobody would disturb him, except maybe Logan once in a while but that was still ok. There were so many things that the Danger room could do that he almost never wanted to leave, but he had a few ideas of his own. Like maybe the Danger room should have a gravity simulator, a simulation where there is increased gravity to provide enough resistance to actually give Dean a really tough workout. If that guy Forge ever comes to visit he's gonna definitely ask him if he can do that, because that would be awesome.
Right now Dean is working on his technique; Logan's sessions with him are really paying off. He speed definitely improved which it should when you have to keep up with someone like Logan. His strength probably increased a little bit too but probably not by much, the majority of the session is trying to catch up with Logan. Also he's slowly adapting Logan's style of 'randomness', it helps by being less predictable.
He punches with his right, then with his left, then he back spin kicks the invisible opponent. He presses his advantage by using a good combination of jabs and low kicks, he then jumps into the air and he throws a heavy downward punch but once he landed he felt something weird in his gut. All of a sudden his stomach is engulfed in pain, he grabs his gut hoping to comfort it but to no avail. Then the pain seems to move from his stomach all the way to his palms, he extends his arms outward hoping to be rid of this feeling when something jolts out of his hands and forms a sphere in front of him. He looks at it closely and for a moment he thought he saw a different place but then the sphere closed.
'What was that?' he thought to himself. The pain inside of him was gone just as fast as it came; he looked around to check if anybody had seen what just happened, nobody. He gets up, his hands were feeling sore for some reason, he's gonna have to talk the Professor about this later on. This could be trouble.
Later on at Bayville High
Rogue was on her way to chemistry thinking about something that had been happening lately. She had been having this dream of a woman with a baby running away from wolves for a while now, ever since she came to the institute actually. It's been getting worse every week. It seems to be getting longer as if it was a memory, but that's impossible because Rogue has never been chased out of a castle.
Rogue happens to see Dean around the corner, she motions to wave to him but stops when she spots Jean right next to him. She frowns, 'Why does she always get the attention?' she thought to herself. It seemed like whoever Rogue started to like Ms. Popularity would get all the attention from them and Rogue would remain invisible.
First it was with Scott, now the same thing was happening with Dean. Is she destined to live alone her whole life? She wishes she never was a mutant so she could have lived a normal life. Then out of nowhere, "Hey Rogue". She looks up and spots Dean waving, 'did he just notice me when he was with Jean?' she thought. "Um hey" she waves back, 'maybe there's hope after all' she thought with a smile on her face.
"So what do you have next?" Jean asked
"I have Global history, could be worse." Dean said optimistically.
"It could definitely be worse, I have physics. But lucky for me I find physics easy" Jean boasted.
"I'm sure that it does" Dean comes to a stop outside Jean's classroom, "So here we are"
"Thanks for walking me to class, so will I see you at lunch?" Jean asked.
Dean smirks, "It seems like somebody wants my company".
Jean can't help but blush, "Well maybe a little" she admits.
"Tell you what, I'll see what I can do but I'm not making any promises." he said.
"Ok then, see you later." She goes into the classroom. Around the corner someone else was watching this, Scott. Dean was really starting to replace Duncan, at least in his eyes. Why couldn't he ever just catch a break with Jean? It isn't like he hasn't been patient enough. They were the first two members at the institute, they grew up together. She and the Professor were there for him when no one else was.
Flashback
Scott opens his eyes and gasps, "Mom, Dad" he says out loud. He notices a man standing right in front of him.
"Shhhhhh" he comes up to Scott and pats him on the back, "Its ok son. You're fine" the man said.
"Where am I?" Scott asked looked around.
"You're in the hospital" the man said. "I'm Dr. Brooks, I've been-"
"I want to see my parents. Please, where are they!?" he asked.
The Doctor puts his hands on Scott's shoulders, "Scott, you need to calm down, okay? I'll explain everything."
"Now tell me the last thing you remember" the Doctor asked.
"My family…we were getting on a plane. We were in Alaska and…I don't remember what happened"
"You were in an accident. A plane crash." The Doctor explained.
"Where are my parents!? Where's Alex!?" Scott pleads.
The Doctor's face darkens, "I'm afraid your brother and your parents were not found."
Scott's eyes widen, "But-"sudden images come to his head, "But me and Alex had parachutes, I made sure I opened Alex's before mine."
"I'm sorry Scott but we didn't find him."
"No! He has to be alive, I know it. He can't be." He gets out of bed and falls to the floor due to his legs being too numb.
The doctor helps him up, "I'm afraid he had no choice Scott"
"Why?"
The doctor sighs, "Listen Scott, you've been asleep for a long time. We thought we lost you"
"How long?"
"One month". Scott's eyes widen with shock.
A few years later at the Omaha meadows orphanage
Scott walks out of the building and into the cold winter weather. As he's walking away some jocks purposely bump into him. The bigger one comes back and stands in Scott's way, "Tough guy, huh, Summers?" Scott tries to keep on waling but his path is blocked, "You trying to start something?"
"Just leave me alone, guys."
"What?" he grabs Scott by the coat, "You started it." he pushes him into the jockey behind him. "What's the matter? Can't back it up?" the other one says before pushing him back into the bigger one, then he punches him in the back and Scott falls to the ground. "Do something about it, punk."
Scott grunts in pain, "Come on man let's see it" the jockey said before kicking Scott in the head knocking him into the mud. They start to laugh at him.
Scott forms a fist in his hand and his eyes start to glow red, "I said leave me alone!" he blasts the bigger one into the air and he lands rock hard on the pavement.
Scott's eyes widen in shock and start to turn back to their normal color, "Oh man, oh man" the second one said. He starts to back away, "What are you? Are you some kind of monster?" he runs away.
"No. No, I'm not. Wait! Help me!" Scott yelled. He then clutches his head from the sudden jolt of pain and he grunts. "AAAAAHHHHHH" he yells out as he opens his eyes, red once more, a blast shot and hit the orphanage splitting it in half. He closes his eyes and yells out, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
A few months later
Scott is sitting inside some kind of mental institution, inside his cell he sits with a blindfold over his eyes. A man speaks from outside his cell, "Hello, Scott."
"Who's there?" he asked as the door opened and in comes rolling in a bald man in a wheelchair, but Scott couldn't see this. "My name is Charles Xavier. I understand you're frightened, but all is not lost. This is the first day of a very important journey in your life."
Scott doesn't answer. "Scott, I know what you're going through." The Professor said.
"No, you don't." Scott replies. "I'm a monster" Scott mutters.
"If you are" 'Then so am I" Scott heard the man's voice inside his head. 'At one time my telepathy was uncontrollable. I heard everyone's thoughts. I couldn't shut them out, couldn't think.' "I was losing my mind" he said out loud.
"What changed?" Scott asked.
"I learned that my abilities could be controlled, as can yours." He goes to remove the blindfold, "Don't!" Scott said.
"Just keep your eyes closed, son." He removes the blindfold and replaces it with a red visor, "Now look at me."
"No, I can't."
"It's alright, I promise. Just open your eyes."
Scott does so and when he does everything looks red, he looks around the room until he's staring at the man. "Now Scott, I'd like to take you away from here. To a place where you can see how truly special you are."
At the Institute
Scott exits from the danger room all soaked in water from the simulation, the Professor waiting outside for him. "I don't know why you even brought me here." He says while trying to get the water out of his uniform.
"You're too hard on yourself, Scott. This will all take time." The Professor pleaded.
"You're wrong about me. I'm no hero. I'm not cut out to be an X-man."
The Professor smirks, "Tell you what, that's enough training for today. Go dry off and we'll take a little drive."
On the road
"Where are we going?" Scott asked now wearing a more casual red visor.
"To meet a special friend of mine." The Professor said. He turns left and what Scott sees amazes him. Floating cars, "Whoa" Scott said.
"Indeed." They come to a stop outside a nice home and are let in by a middle aged man who then goes upstairs.
Scott leans closer to the Professor, "Him?" he asked.
The man comes back down but this time with someone else, "No, her."
Scott notices who the Professor is taking about and his jaw drops. He sees a beautiful young girl about his age, with red hair and green eyes wearing a pink shirt.
"Charles" The man says abruptly before giving out his hand.
"Good morning, John." The Professor shakes his hand. The Professor turns his attention to the young girl, "Hello, Jean". Jean stays silent behind her father.
"I'd like you both to meet a student of mine, Scott Summers." Scott shakes John's hand; Jean still remains behind her father.
"Jean how are you feeling?" The Professor asks her.
Her father bumps in, "You saw what's going on outside. She's a mess."
"Can you tell me why?"
"It's because of your old friend Eric. He came to visit her."
"What did he say?"
"I don't know. She got scared and ran inside. She won't talk about it."
"You must understand, this changes everything." Jean moves a little away from her father as to not be directly behind him so she can look at Scott. Scott notices this.
"What does he want?" John said. Jean sends him a warm smile.
"He wants her on his side" The Professor replied. Scott returns the warm smile. "Eric goes by Magneto now. And he's trying to assemble an army of powerful mutants."
"Does that mean he'll come back for her?"
"Most assuredly. And next time he won't ask first. He'll just take her."
"Jean won't let him" He puts his arm around Jean's shoulder and leads her to the couch.
"She may not be able to stop him. John…..I need more time with her. My weekly visits aren't enough. I'd like Jean to come and stay at the institute."
"No, she's too young."
"But you can't protect her like I can."
Jean puts her hand on her dad's shoulder, "Dad, I'd like to go with them."
End Flashback
After that they became best friends. She was there for him when no one else was. She made him forget about his own troubles. So why can't he seal the deal with her already? It's been almost two years since that day.
Dean had just sat down right by the window so he could look outside instead of listening to whatever the teacher was saying. He didn't feel like paying attention today, for some reason he just felt tired. He looked outside and he could see the students who had Physical education right now. Some were running track; others were throwing javelins, a bunch of stuff.
He spots Jean in the middle of all this holding a Javelin. Wait what? He looks back again and it really is her, didn't she have physics this period? He literally just dropped her off. Jean notices Dean from far away and waves to him, he waves back. Then all of a sudden she lets go off her javelin and falls to the ground as she clutches her head as if she was in pain. Her javelin floats up to the air and suddenly shoots straight forward like a bullet going towards a bunch of girls getting ready to race on the track.
Dean notices that among the girls there is Kitty, he fears about what is going to happen. The javelin plunges through all the girls killing them instantly. Dean's eyes widen with shock.
Then as Jean tries to move away she comes across some small metal balls, they float to the air and shoot out into different directions. One decapitates the phys. Ed teacher, the other one gets a random student, then another heads towards someone else. Scott, the metal ball takes his head off before going through another random student, Duncan.
He then notices a faint glow around Jean, it continues to grow. It grows to the point where Jean is engulfed in flames the shape of some kind of bird. It is then that Dean wakes up in the middle of class; he must of fell asleep or something. He looks out the window and everything is fine. 'What the hell was that? I never had a dream like that before' he thought to himself.
Crazy visions weren't part of the whole Achilles deal, or were they? There were so many things he needed to learn that were left out of the 'Legend' of Achilles that maybe it was. Maybe he has some secret ability that was never mentioned in the old stories, or maybe some ability that none of his ancestors could acquire. And Dean isn't even considering what the gauntlets might be able to do.
All of a sudden someone walks in to the classroom, obviously late. He notices that it's Eileen. "Excuse me young lady, but why are you so late?" Mr. Teacher asked. Dean couldn't remember his name.
Eileen turned to face him and gave him a look over. She approaches him and runs her finger down his shirt, "I was a little busy, you think that you could let it slide?" she said with a pretty smile.
Mr. Teacher was turning pale white. "I'll take that as a yes" she said before sitting down right next to Dean. The rest of the students started laughing and staring at Eileen.
"Miss me?" she said to Dean.
"It seems like you just can't get enough of me, can ya?" he asked.
"It seems like it" she said. "So what can you do? The other guys don't like to talk much about you but Mystique told me you beat them all at the same time."
"I did. And I'm sure that you'll find out soon enough just what I can do." He replied.
"Oh but I want to know what you can do now" she said as she put her hand on his chest feeling his physique, "That's a nice body you got there."
Dean takes her hand and gently places it on her desk, "That's not gonna work on me. Unlike 40 year old virgin there" he points to Mr. Teacher "I've actually been around women."
She smirks, "I thought so, and you look like the type that gets a lot of girls. So I figured I would have a little fun with you."
Dean raises an eyebrow, "Just a little fun?"
"Oh who am I kidding, I want you all for myself" she moves her desk closer to his. "I want you to be my little boy toy." She said licking her lips.
"Yeah, I don't do boy toy on the first date." 'At least not with someone as hormonal as you' he thought to himself.
She moves closer to the point where they're typically touching, "Then how about the second one?"
Dean pushes her desk away from his, "I don't think so". The bell rings signaling the end of class, "Well see you around" he said walking away.
"Definitely stud" she said before she smacked Dean's ass as he was walking away making him stagger a little.
Later on at the Institute
Everyone had gathered in the Danger room suited up for their daily training. Logan had yet to come out and inform them of what they were doing or what their objective was so they just sat there for a few minutes.
"What is taking so long?" Kitty complained.
"I know right, I don't think I've ever actually wanted to do a danger room session." Evan admitted.
"Don't jinx it, he might give us some crazy vorkout that ve're going to feel for weeks." Kurt said.
"Relax guys; Logan's probably setting up the simulation or something." Scott said.
"I just hope he hurries up because I'm getting bored." Dean said holding himself in the air with one hand.
Jean giggles at the sight of Dean, "What are you doing?"
"I'm keeping myself busy, plus this improves balance. Eventually I'll be doing push-ups like this." Dean said.
"I want to see what you're going to do when you run out of ways to push yourself." Scott said with probably a little too much satisfaction in his voice.
"Well there will always be ways to push yourself. But I get what you're saying and I already came up with an idea for that."
"And what's that?" Rogue asked suddenly interested in the conversation.
"Increased gravity" Dean said before pushing himself off the ground. He flipped in the air and landed safely on the floor like it was easy.
"Whoa wait a second that could be really dangerous. Do you realize how many things could go wrong with that?" Jean said sternly.
"Yeah I do, and like I said it's just an idea for now. It has the potential to be very helpful and very destructive; luckily my body can take a beating." Dean said with pride.
"But until then you'll just have to settle for me" someone said.
Everyone turned and saw Logan, "I was talking with the Professor about what I have planned for today and he agrees with me that it's ok."
"Uh-oh, this doesn't sound good for us." Kurt said.
"This is what's gonna happen, Achilles versus the rest of the team. I want to see how the rest of you do against him." He then looks at Dean "No swords".
"I wasn't even considering using them, it would be overkill." Dean said with a grin.
"Wait you actually think like that you stand a chance?" Kitty said.
"Well let's just say that I have faith in my ability." Dean said.
"I think this could be good for the team, yeah let's do it." Scott said. Dean noticed how Scott had no problem with the idea and was eager.
"Scott what are you talking about? This is a terrible idea, someone could be injured." Jean pleaded.
"We haven't seen much of Dean's abilities on the battlefield against real people so this is a good opportunity to test them plus it's a good team exercise." Scott said.
"We're doomed" Kurt and Evan said on unison.
"Alright everyone take your positions. Once the simulation starts you go, it ends when I say so." Logan walks into the observation room.
Dean stretched out, "Well guys good luck and no hard feelings."
"Wait, you have no problem with this?" Jean asked.
"Like Scott said" he looks over to him "This could be interesting".
"Alright X-men, be ready." Scott announces and they all take their positions. Dean goes into his stance, now looking slightly different. He's crouching less as to be more prepared to move.
The simulation turns into an open outdoors with a forest in the background and a lake behind him. The first thing that happens, Cyclops shoots an optic blast at Achilles, he dodges it with ease. He maneuvers quickly so he could be closer to the tree's, Spyke shoots spikes at him hoping to pin him to a tree, Achilles catches two of them and throws them back at Rogue who was trying to sneak behind him hoping to end things quickly by absorbing him. Rogue gets pined to a nearby tree.
Marvel girl telekinetically moves a boulder and throws it at Achilles, he ducks underneath it only to be met with an optic blast from Cyclops. Luckily he put his hands in front of him letting his gauntlets take the hit but as Cyclops keeps him busy Shadowcat phases behind him.
Achilles had stopped paying attention to Shadowcat due to her being one of the weaker ones, something he shouldn't have done. Shadowcat phases him through the ground leaving him buried down to his waist.
Achilles tries to deflect some of Cyclops' blast, he successfully does and it hits Marvel Girl knocking her down. "Jean!" Cyclops goes to check if she is ok, Achilles takes advantage of the situation and pushes himself out of the ground. It is then that Nightcrawler teleports behind him and grabs him before teleporting again.
Nightcrawler teleports about fifty feet above the lake and lets him go, luckily Achilles got a hold of Nightcrawler's tail before he teleported away. "Aaahhhh" he yelped.
They teleported back to the ground and Achilles slammed Nightcrawler into a tree knocking the wind out of him.
In the meantime Spyke had freed Rogue and Marvel Girl was back on her feet. They all started to come closer, and out of nowhere Achilles gets a familiar pain in his gut. He tries to ignore it as much as he can but the pain is too great. They surround him, "Rush him!" Scott announced as they got closer to him but before they could do anything there was a flash of light and they all vanished.
The simulation ended and Logan ran into the danger room looking around to see what happened but there was no trace of any of the X-men.