(I'm not updating this, but I thought I'd share this unfinished chapter!)
For Tom, the next few days were a blur as he drifted in and out of unconsciousness. He remembered being hurriedly transported in the X-Jet, remembered Laura watching him. He remembered his friends stand next to his hospital bed, watching him.
It was what must have been about five days later, when he found full consciousness, lying in a hospital bed. Mr McCoy was nearby.
"Ah Tom, you are with us once again. You will not be able to move for a few minutes, while your body adjusts to being awake. You took quite a thumping. Severe blood loss, as well as having lost a good part of your forearm. Don't worry, it is better now." he added reassuringly at Tom's startled face.
Tom looked down at his arm. A long thin scar circled it, where it had been.
"Anyhow, while you have been in the land of dreams, I have been researching your power." Mr McCoy said with a smile.
"First of all, your absorption of energy. Your body passively absorbs almost all types of energy. However, constant pressure or repeating pneumatic attacks may penetrate through your mutation. Fortunately, your enhanced durability seems to deal with that. The strength of your hardened skin depends on the energy absorbed, while even without outside energy sources your body can reach a hardened state, though this may prove straining for a prolonged period of time. You may have noticed the notable exception to your durability to be adamantium, however, I believe that with enough energy, you may be able to resist it, much like our old enemy Mr Shaw.
Your body reacts adaptively to your surroundings, healing you to your physical peak, replenishing your energy reserves, and honing you for combat. I am currently running an electric charge through you to help your healing process. This is the reason you can go without sleep or food for an indefinite period of time, providing you keep charging yourself with energy. Any excess energy is stored, and there is no limit for this.
This leads me onto my second point, your blue energy. This energy is a physical manifestation of your energy, and is incredibly powerful. The energy vibrates at a very fast rate, and is a very high temperature. There is a huge amount of potential in that, and it can slice through almost any material. By increasing the vibrations, you can try to knock out enemies, whereas by decreasing it, you will fid yourself able to burn or damage them permanently. This means you must be very careful in the free-for-all later on today." Mr McCoy warned.
"The free-for-all is today?" Tom asked, incredulously.
"Yes, you are still taking part, are you not?" the mutant asked him.
"Oh. Erm, yes I suppose I am." Tom said awkwardly.
"Good. The final item I wanted mention with you, is your sword. It psychically recognises you, and is configured to your brain. It responds to your commands, and can feel like an extra limb at times, just much more resilient. The shape is slightly malleable, though the range of forms it can take is unknown to me. The material seems to be made of an unknown alien alloy, my guess some form of uru-forged gold held together by mystical forces. Of course, I am no master of the occult, and this is merely a theory. The bonding forces between molecules are nigh-indestructible, and the melting point seems off the charts." Mr McCoy rattled on
Tom blinked. "So what you are saying, is that my sword is good." Tom said.
The blue mutant sighed and raised his hands exasperatedly in the air. "Why do I bother? This generation seems to have no scientific aptitude whatsoever." he complained, but in good humour.
"Alas, time flies when you are explaining valuable information to a potential X-Man!" Mr McCoy exclaimed. "Is there anything else that you may require before I summon thy brother?" he asked.
Tom smiled to himself. "Yes. Do you think you could increase the electric voltage on me? I think I better be prepared for the free-for-all later." he said.
Mr McCoy's eyes twinkled. "Of course, my dear boy. I would hope that you succeed in the brawl later, though my bet would be on your female companion." he said.
"Laura?" Tom asked, intrigued.
"Yes. She trains like no other. We will be watching her though, as she has a tendency go 'overboard' sometimes when fighting." Mr McCoy said.
Tom laughed. "Trust me, I know." he said grimly.
Tom settled back down, and was still lying in the bed when his brother arrived.
"Bro, you're alive!" Paul exclaimed. "I knew you'd make it. That girl hit you pretty hard though."
Tom smiled at his brother. "Hi Paul. How's things with you?" he asked.
Paul shrugged. "All right, I suppose." he said.
Tom was struck with a sudden idea.
"Paul," he said. "You know ... our parents."
Paul tensed.
"What happened to all their stuff? Was there a funeral?" Tom asked.
Paul nodded. "Yeah. Local thugs apparently. Their stuff is divided between us when you are eighteen, or when you get married. I am renting the house out now to some people, as we're not using it." he said.
"Were there any relatives or anything?" he asked.
Paul looked at him blankly, then realised. "I forgot you lost your memory. No, our nearest relative is mum's brother in law, our Uncle Pete. He didn't want anything, so we got it all. He offered to take us in though. He's got a son, our cousin, Will. He's about your age, probably younger." Paul told him.
Tom frowned. "I never knew." he said.
Paul placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did. And you will. Your memories will come back." he consoled.
People kept saying that, but would they actually? Tom thought about his, then changed the subject.
"So, what's going on between you and Kitty?" he asked with a smile.
Paul looked at him, alarmed. "Is it that obvious?" he asked, clearly worried.
Tom laughed. "No, don't worry. I was just speaking to her earlier to thank her for saving your life. She cares for you." he told Paul.
His brother still looked unsure. "She does?" he said uncertainly.
"Yeah, course she does." Tom said.
Paul frowned. "I'm still not sure though, that idiot Bobby Drake seems to like her. I can't wait to beat him up in the free-for-all later." he said.
Tom tried to suppress a smile. "Bobby Drake? Iceman? The omega-level mutant? Paul, what did you say your mutant power was?" he asked.
Paul hung his head. "I can see stuff." he admitted.
"So that means you can see Iceman pulverising you in the free-for-all later?" Tom said. "Paul, he's an X-Man. No offense, but you don't stand a chance."
"He's still an idiot. And you can help, right?" Paul asked hopefully. "You're, like, super-powerful, right?"
Tom bit his lip. "I suppose I can help. But I think a lot of X-Men will want to get revenge on me and Laura after we beat them up that time." he said.
"Yeah, you and Laura." Paul said with a smirk.
Tom looked at him suspiciously. "What?" he demanded.
"Oh, nothing." Paul said, feigning innocence. He stood up.
"Erm, Paul, one last thing." Tom said.
"Yep?"
"When's my birthday?" Tom asked.
Paul bit his lip. "The twelfth of February I think." he said uncertainly.
Tom nodded. "Thanks."
Tom settled back down and let the electric charge flow through him.
"Master Blackhurst, I have a little something for you before you leave." Hank called to him, as Tom was about to leave the hospital area.
Tom turned back, and went over to Mr McCoy.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Why so impatient? This is a gift, that I give to you." Mr McCoy said, and handed Tom a small piece of fabric.
Tom held it up. It was some sort of stretchy black and blue spandex. It looked too small for him.
"This is your uniform for the free-for-all later." Mr McCoy said, like Tom was supposed to be impressed.
"It looks a bit small." Tom said, frowning.
"They are very stretchy. Try it on in the changing room." Hank advised.
Tom did so, and found that it did fit incredibly well. He looked in the mirror, and was amazed.
It was mainly black, with dark blue markings on. It covered his entire body, with the exception of his head.
It looked awesome. He also realised that he had not looked at himself for a long time. He now had some stubble on his chin, and his hair was longer than it used to be. The suit exposed his muscled body, and for some reason seemed to be very thin. He put his other clothes back on top, and walked back outside the changing room.
He went over to Hank.
"Why is it so thin?" he asked the mutant.
"Ah well, this suit is specially designed to not restrict your powers. It is made out of unstable molecules, which were discovered by Mr Richards and have now become standard issue X-Men uniform. The suit is incredibly durable, and is almost impossible to tear or rip, therefore giving you the most fluidity to use your energy. The suit is very thin to allow vibrations to pass through to give you the most energy. It will also conduct heat and electricity into your body. However, the downside of this is that if you are at any point to lose your mutation, then you will feel the full force of any attacks." Mr McCoy informed him.
Tom nodded. "Thank you." he said appreciatively.
Mr McCoy beamed. "Now you better use it well later, otherwise it will have been some very expensive work gone to waste." he warned.
Tom smiled to himself. "Don't worry, I will."
"Hey, Hannibal, you're okay!" came a voice from behind him. Tom was waiting outside the Danger Room, where the free-for-all would take place. He had no official 'allies', though he probably would not attack any of his friends. He was wearing his suit underneath his normal clothes, but was not allowed to take his sword with him. It was apparently 'too dangerous'.
When Tom turned around, he would see that the voice came from Domino, who was also waiting to go in.
Tom smiled. "So you decided to stay here." he said.
She shrugged. "It's better than that hellhole you busted me out of. Thanks for that, by the way." she said.
"You're welcome." Tom said.
"Anyway, I may as well pay you back, so I won't kill you in this brawl." she said with a wink. Tom didn't know whether she was joking or not.
"You're not allowed lethal weapons." Tom told her.
"Yeah, they confiscated my pistols. Oh well, I can still beat the hell out of them." she said, smirking.
Tom noticed Laura standing nearby. She nervously approached him, looking at the floor.
"Hi Laura," Tom said. He smiled at her.
She barely acknowledged it. "I ... I ..." she cleared her throat. "I apologise for assaulting you." she said awkwardly.
Tom laughed. "Laura, it's fine. That wasn't you. You don't need to apologise. I forgive you." he said.
She seemed relieved.
"Just, don't go psycho on me like that again, alright." he said, jokingly.
She frowned. "Surely you know I cannot control my trigger scent." she said, alarmed.
"Laura, it was a joke." Tom said, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
She flinched at the contact.
"Don't worry about it." Tom said reassuringly.
She nodded slowly.
"Please could all participants please enter the Danger Room." a voice on a megaphone sounded.
Tom looked around. There was about forty contestants. The only X-Man was Bobby Drake, and everyone apparently expected him to win. The referees were Beast, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Storm, Cyclops, and Emma Frost.
Tom noticed Emma Frost and Julian looking at each other, as though they were having a telepathic conversation. Julian looked at Laura and then looked back at Frost, and then his shoulders shrugged, as though he were pouting.
What on earth could have they been talking about?
When everyone was in the Danger Room, Cyclops cleared his throat and spoke into the megaphone.
"The purpose of this exercise is to test your physical aptitude and problem solving, as well as to let you kids beat each other up for the pride of being able to call yourself the best. Remember the rules. You must attacking when an opponents submits. To submit, hit your fist on the floor, or shout 'I submit'. You are automatically submitted when you are knocked out or dazed. No telepathic attacks allowed. Most of you are novice telepaths at best, and I will not allow any tampering with other people's minds. No permanent or long lasting injuries allowed. Anyone who breaks these rules will be dealt with harshly. Also, you must obey the referees at all times. The referees have full licence to interfere whenever they want, so if anyone is doing a little too well, we may have to even the score." Cyclops said, then looked at Bobby Drake.
"Prepare! The match will start in sixty seconds!" Cyclops announced. Tom went over to his friends. He looked around. Sophie was here, as were Michael and Paul.
"Laurie and Josh didn't fancy it?" Tom asked.
"No. They're more of the peaceful type, they were needed to help the wounded." Paul said.
"Wounded?" Tom questioned.
"After the free-for-all. There'll be a lot of injuries." Sophie said.
"So, who are we targeting?" Tom asked them.
They looked at each other. "The Hellions." they all said together.
"Who?" Tom asked.
"Julian's gang." Michael said, pointing to a group of students.
Tom looked at them. He could see Julian, as well as some other people.
"Rockslide." Paul said, pointing out a mutant who looked like he was made of living rock. "He's got strength and durability."
He pointed to a girl that seemed to be made of metal.
"Mercury. She's a shapeshifter with superhuman strength. Her mercury form can shift into whatever she wants. Watch out. She's deadly."
He pointed to a girl who was covered in black clothing.
"Dust. She can turn into dust." Paul said with a smirk.
He pointed to an Asian boy with black hair.
"And Tag. he can place psychic imprints on people that attract or repel others."
Tom nodded. "Anyone else to watch out for?"
Sophie spoke up. "The Guthries. Cannonball, Husk and Icarus. They're a deadly team, and some people say they are almost X-Men."
Tom saw them. Two boys and a girl. One of the boys had wings, but the other two had no visible mutation.
"Right." Tom said. "Anyone else?"
"Armour." Michael said, pointing to a girl. "When the fight starts, she'll gain an impenetrable exoskeleton of energy."
"Okay. So, anyone else on our side?" he asked.
"Yeah, hopefully we have an alliance with the Chevaliers. That's the team over there." Sophie said, pointing to a group of people. Tom recognised Angela amongst them.
"Thanks." Tom said. "Let's win this fight."
Cyclops spoke up.
"The match will start in ten seconds." he said through the megaphone.
Tom tensed himself up. He would attack the Hellions first. He eyed up his target: Rockslide.
"Five!" Cyclops announced.
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"BEGIN!" he roared, and all hell broke loose.
Mutants everywhere threw themselves at one another. Tom charged into the Hellions, tackling Rockslide to the ground.
Rockslide got up and began pounding Tom relentlessly, which Tom absorbed. He was about to blast Rockslide with blue energy, then he remembered Hank telling him to go easy.
Oh well. He could win this fight without his energy. When Rockslide tried to punch him again, Tom rolled to the side. He looked up, and saw Sophie fighting Dust, and Paul fighting Mercury. Julian must have been fighting someone else.
He noticed Tag running towards him, and time seemed to slowed down as Tom punched him in the face. Tag fell back onto the floor, with blood pouring out of his nose.
Tom's eyes widened. He hadn't meant to punch him that hard. He heard Rockslide moving behind him and turned to see the mutant charging at him. Tom brought his arm back and swatted him away, catching Rockslide in the face and bringing him to the ground.
He then looked around. He couldn't see his brother or Iceman.
But he could see Julian.