Chapter 16: Forbidden Memories (A Day in the Life: Ace)
"So, why don't you just meet me outside in like 5 minutes and then we can…"
"Mr. LeBeau, since it seems you don't need to listen to my lecture I guess you can come to the front and demonstrate your projectile abilities to the class" Jubilee sarcastically says interrupting Ace who was talking to one of the girls in the class
Ace hearing his professor's statement grins as he continues to talk to the girl "Give me a sec"
Ace turns away from the girl and confidently walks to the front of the class. When he arrives he puts his hands in his pockets and stares at Jubilee.
"Are you ready?" Jubilee asks
"Hmph, I was born ready" Ace answers
Jubilee takes out a remote and pushes a button causing the floor underneath Ace to shake and slowly descend. The floor continues to drop Ace until it hits the floor. Ace looks up as he sees his class and Jubilee behind a glass window looking on.
"Now class, observe Mr. LeBeau…Go!!" Jubilee yells as she pushes another button on the remote
As soon as she pushed that button turrets appeared from the ground and walls all aimed for Ace.
'Holy crap!!' Ace thinks to himself as his eyes widen from the unexpected number of obstacles
Jubilee grins as she sees Ace squirm. The turrets then start to fire giant metal spheres, and arrows. Ace starts to back flip dodging the projectiles.
'Stupid bitch, she put the level to just about max' Ace thinks to himself as he continues to dodge
After a few seconds of back flipping Ace jumps straight in the air. Two cards appear from within his sleeve and into his hand as he throws them at a turret. The two cards hit its target and destroy the turret. Ace lands on his feet as his classmates start to cheer him on.
"One down 6 more to go" Ace says as he runs straight toward the other turrets
The turrets fire once again at the charging Ace. Ace sways from side to side as he runs. Ace reaches into his pockets and pulls out more cards and throws them to his left and right destroying two turrets as he ran by them. Ace continues to run forward when something clips him in the leg causing him to fall.
"Dammit!!" Ace yells in pain as he checks his leg
His leg has been cut, caused by one of the turret's arrows. Ace looks up to see arrows just fired into the air ready to descend on him. The arrows came closer and closer as Ace stood there knowing he's not able to dodge that many obstacles.
The class all looked on in horror as they didn't know what to expect to happen to their classmate. A giant shadow from the arrows was cast upon Ace as he quickly took out 40 cards and ignited them with his powers. Ace let out a battle cry as he chucked the cards in the line of fire, causing an impact with the arrows resulting in multiple explosions.
"Oh no!!" the class yelled in unison as the explosions caused the entire training room to be covered in smoke
"Ace…Ace" Jubilee says as she picked up the microphone that emitted her voice through the loudspeakers
However there was no answer as the smoke started to dissipate. Worried expressions came over the class and teachers' faces.
"Look!!" one student yelled as he pointed to the slowly disappearing smoke
The class looked on as a figure started to come into view. When the smoke finally lifted, Ace was standing there breathing heavy. The turrets completely destroyed around him. The class started to cheer as Ace slowly walked to the platform. Jubilee pushed a button causing the platform to raise rejoining Ace with the rest of the class.
"Good job Ace"
"That was crazy" the students said as they gathered around Ace congratulating him
Ace just smirked as he looked at Jubilee deliberately staying behind her class. Ace slowly walks up to his teacher as she looks at him not knowing what to expect.
"What?" Jubilee asks as she stares at her student as he just smiles at her waiting for her to say something
"Come on teach, say it" Ace replies
"Say what?!" Jubilee answers avoiding the issue
"O I don't know maybe a compliment, something" Ace says still waiting
"I….I" Jubilee starts to become rattled as Ace and the rest of the class looks on waiting for her response "Ace…umm…goo….goo…"
All of a sudden the bell rings
"O well class is over, now everyone please leave so the next class can come in" Jubilee orders as she gives a sigh of relief
Ace and the rest of the class make their ways out of the classroom and into the halls of the academy.
'Nice, I have 30 minutes before my next class' Ace thinks to himself as he looks at the school clock in the hall 'I guess I'll go back to the room and take a quick nap'
Ace runs to his room and opens the door.
"Ace" Phoenix X states as Ace walks into the room
" Phoenix ? What are you doing here; don't you have a class now?" Ace asks as he throws his bag on his bed surprised to see his roommate
"Yea just came back to take a power nap, but now I'm kind of late so I'll talk to you later" Phoenix X explains as he grabs his bag and runs towards the door "O and by the way you got a package"
"A package? Where is it?" Ace asks
"I put it on the desk, see ya Ace" Phoenix X replies as he runs out of the room and closes the door behind him
Ace turns his head toward the desk and sees the package. Ace walks over to the desk, takes the package and walks back to his bed "To Tyler LeBeau from…it doesn't say who it's from" Ace reads as he sits down
Ace opens the box and peers inside. Ace's eyes widen as he throws the box on the floor and stands up
"Is this some kind of joke?!" Ace yells
Fueled with anger Ace walks out of his room and storms down the stairs.
'Who the hell sent that package?' Ace thinks to himself as he arrives in front of a door that read Guidance Office
Ace knocks on the door
"Come in" a woman says
Ace opens the door and looks at his mom.
" Tyler ? What a pleasant surprise for you to come and visit me" Rogue states
"Well mom I didn't come here just to visit" Ace replies
"O, then what is it honey?" Rogue asks
"I can't explain it here; I need you to come to my room for a sec" Ace pleads
Rogue looks at her son confused as Ace and her leave the office and go upstairs to his room.
"Take a look at this" Ace states as he hands the package to Rogue
Rogue takes the package and puts her hand inside the box. A shocked look comes over her face as she pulls an object from within the box revealing a photo that was apparently damaged in a fire.
"Who sent this to you?" Rogue asks with fear in her voice
"It came in that box but it didn't say who it was from" Ace answers
"I'm going to talk to the professor, but I want you to stay in your room" Rogue orders
"But mom" Ace whines
" Tyler do as I say!!" Rogue yells as she drops the photo on the floor and walks out the door
Ace just stands in his room speechless as he stares at the photo on the floor. He takes a deep breathe and picks up the photograph. Ace looks at the photo of a young boy along with his parents. The family has smiles and looks very happy.
'Why…Why did everything change?' Ace thinks to himself as his eyes start to glow pink
"Here you go Tyler my son" a man says as he hands Ace a deck of cards
"Thanks dad" a young Ace says as he takes the deck and smiles at the man
Elsewhere…
"Professor…Professor!!" Rogue yells as she runs into Professor Xavier's office
"Calm down Rogue, I know why you are here" Xavier replies as he moves his wheelchair closer to the x-man
"So what does it mean professor? Rogue asks erratically
Xavier doesn't answer Rogue's question as he starts to concentrate a concerned look coming over his face
"Professor…are you okay?" Rogue asks
"Take me to your son right now!!" Xavier orders
Elsewhere…
'I'm going to get myself something to eat, cause I'm quite hungry' Psychic Storm thinks to himself as he walks down the hall 'Hey let me see if Ace and Phoenix want to tag along'
Psychic Storm continues down the hall toward his teammate's room. When he arrives he senses a disturbance coming from inside.
"Hey guys are you okay?" Psychic Storm asks as he puts his hand on the doorknob "Dammit!!" he yells as he brings his hand back and starts to blow on it "The knob is hot"
"Life was great, why the hell would everything change like that!!" Ace yells from inside
"Ace… what's going on?!" Psychic Storm asks concerned for his teammate as he lifts his hands to blow the door down
"Brent wait!!" a voice yells causing Psychic Storm to stop and turn around
"Professor…Rogue?" Psychic Storm asks with a confused look on his face "What's going on?"
"It's Tyler …he's in a state of uncontrollable rage" Professor X explains
"I can see that" Psychic Storm sarcastically replies "But what caused it and more importantly how can we stop it?"
"There's not enough time to explain but we need to calm him down" Rogue states as she walks up to the door and starts to call out to her son " Tyler … Tyler honey it's mom"
Rogues' voice is blocked out by Ace's ramblings and flashbacks
"Son, just concentrate and put all of your kinetic energy into the card" a man says
"Okay Dad" a young Ace answers with a smile on his face
"So all of that was fake, a lie!!" Ace yells to himself as he starts to exude more kinetic energy from his body
"It's not working I can't get through to him" Rogue says to the professor
"And his mind is so clouded and distraught I can't get through to him mentally" the Professor replies
"All right I'm going in" Rogue exclaims
"But how, Ace is giving off too much kinetic energy that no one can get close enough to him" Psychic Storm points out
"Normally that would be true but I'll use my mental abilities to shield Rogue from the energy" Professor Xavier explains
"Ok let's do this" Rogue states as she cocks her arm back and punches the door down revealing the room covered in Ace's energy
Psychic Storm shields his eyes from the intensity when Professor Xavier shields him along with Rogue and himself.
"Go Rogue!!" Professor Xavier yells
Rogue trudges through the energy as she calls out to her son until she finally reaches him.
"Honey its mom…snap out of it!!" Rogue yells as she grabs Ace by the arms.
Ace just stares blankly into Rogues eyes as he thinks back.
"Dad…what are you doing? Why are you doing this?!" a young Ace yells in fear
A tall figure approaches Ace not saying a word as his hands start to glow.
"Dad NO!!" Ace screams as the figure shoots an energy blast at him
"Back away from me!!" Ace yells as he pushes his mother back
Rogue stumbles but regains her balance.
'I guess I have no choice' Rogue thinks to herself as she takes off one of her gloves
Rogue once again approaches Ace and puts her hand on his face. Both mutants let out an agonizing scream as Rogue starts to absorb Ace's power.
"Dad…Why?" a young Ace quietly asks as he is laid out on the floor with an outstretched hand reaching for the man
The tall man just looks down at Ace turns around and walks away before Ace loses consciousness.
After a minute passes Rogue lets go as Ace falls to the floor exhausted from the ordeal.
In the Infirmary…
"Ace you're awake!!" Phoenix X yells as he notices Ace's eyes open
"Hey Phoenix , Tyler " Ace says as he slowly sits up in infirmary bed
"Hey honey how are you feeling?" Rogue asks she gives her son a hug
"I'm fine mom…but I can't believe what I did today" Ace exclaims
"So you remember" Psychic Storm questions
"Yea, it's one of those things you can't forget" Ace replies
"Well guys I think it's time for Tyler to get some rest, so you guys are going to have to leave" Rogue says as she shows them the way out
"Ok see ya when you get out Ace" Psychic Storm states as he exits
"Yea and you need to pay me back for the damage you did to my stuff" Phoenix jokingly states as he leaves
"Get some rest son" Rogue says as she closes the door behind her and turns the light off
When his mom leaves Ace gets out of bed and walks over to the window. He looks out at the moon lit sky and the stars.
'I know you are out there…and I'm ready for you' Ace thinks to himself as he pulls the photo from earlier out of his pants pocket and stares at it
Outside of the Infirmary…
The trees move in the breeze as a tall dark figure with white hair is levitating looking down at the window of the room where Ace is staying.
'I'll be seeing you soon' the figure thinks to himself as a maniacal evil smile is shown but tears running down his eyes