Chapter 21: Power Up
A week passed since the Brotherhood made the stupid mistake of revealing the existence of mutants and at the same time causing the X-Men to bend over backwards to fix the whole mess. Gavin had received word from his brother that their grandparents had been killed and actually felt crestfallen. Sure, he may not have liked his grandparents, but he never wanted them dead.
Luckily though, Rouge and Chelsea were more than happy to help cheer him up. Well, Rogue was. Chelsea's approach was of the 'you'll survive' variety.
Right now, he and the others were in the auditorium for an award ceremony, and Jean had just been called up to give a speech because she had been voted as the MVP.
The red haired telepath started to say a few words, before she suddenly stopped. Her words seemed to be caught in her throat. That was when the pseudo vampire felt the familiar sensation of someone trying to glimpse into his mind. This made him realize just what was wrong with her.
"Uh oh." He whispered before elbowing Rogue. "I think something's up with Jean." He mentioned to the auburn haired goth.
"Whaddya mean?" She whispered back, trying to keep her voice low to not alert her friend, Risty.
"You see how Jean can't seem to speak?" The vampire fan asked.
"Yeah? What about it?" Rogue asked in aggravation, she wasn't too fond of how Jean was so much better than her.
"Rogue, it's because she can't control her telepathy, she's firing off at random. If that same effect happens to her telekinesis-" His statement was cut short when Jean let out a startled yell and suddenly sent her new trophy crashing to the ground, clutching her head in pain.
Everyone was in shock at what just occurred, but Principal Kelly helped her up and told them that she was experiencing a bad headache. So the ceremony went on while Jean went to the nurse's office.
After this Gavin was walking with Risty and Rogue to their next class when he saw Lance and Kitty walking together, both seemingly enjoying it. This caused the boy to gag in disgust, getting weird looks from the two girls.
"What's wrong?" Risty asked.
"It's Kitty and Alvers, They're getting to be really cutesy with each other, and it's making me sick." He told her, clutching her stomach.
Both Rogue and Risty looked at where said teenagers were and nodded. "Aw come on love, what's the harm in a little high school romance?" The British girl asked.
"Heartbreak, for starters." Gavin deadpanned.
"What would you know about heartbreak?" Rogue asked.
"Friend of mine is into this guy who's already got his eyes on someone else. And she's constantly being put through the emotional ringer because of it." He told her. 'Little does she know that she's the one I'm talking about.' He thought to himself.
Risty, however, seemed to know exactly what and who he was talking about. "That's a real shame mate, and what are you gonna do about it?" She asked.
"Whatever I can to make her happy." Was Gavin's reply. "Even if it means I have to friend zone myself for her, it doesn't matter."
Both girls looked at him in shock. "How can you possibly be that selfless? It doesn't seem fair to you at all!" Rogue told him as they walked into their history class.
"So? I don't really care if it's not fair to me." He shrugged. "The heart wants what the heart wants, Rogue. If I were to stop her and try and get her to go out with me because the other guy won't even look at her, I'd be acting unbelievably selfish, and a relationship based on something like that isn't worth it."
Rogue looked down in thought. A thought process like Gavin's was something that a lot of people would appreciate, and maybe even date him for it. "Then that girl's an idiot." She told him while putting her hand on his shoulder. "And I think you deserve way better."
Risty giggled while nodding. "Right on!" She laughed.
Gavin sighed as he turned around. 'Deserve better? Doesn't she get it? I don't want better, I want her!' He thought in dismay. The fact that Rogue was this dense was slightly frustrating.
(Elsewhere)
-The Institute, Later that night-
Scott had left the Institute to go to a party at Duncan Matthews place, and Gavin was about to go there himself with Risty and Rogue. But before he did, he was talking to Chelsea about what Devin had told him over the phone just a little bit ago.
"So let me get this straight, that accident that killed your dad was actually a professional hit that was meant for your mom?" The blonde asked.
"Apparently. What actually makes me mad is the fact that the one who ordered the hit thought he did my dad a mercy by killing him. Tch, as if." He grumbled. "And he called me and Devin half breeds, which by the way is as racist as you can get."
"And what they were working on, what were they again? Weapons powered by the what now?" She questioned.
"Tesseract." Gavin answered. "A cosmic cube that's a doorway to other worlds, thought to be just a myth."
"And HYDRA has it…" The dragoness noted with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah." He hissed. "I swear at first I just hated them on principle, but now? Now it's personal." He added, slamming his fists on the table. "First chance I get, I'm taking them down.""
"You shouldn't, I've seen what they do. You won't stand a chance alone." The woman told him seriously. "But, If you actually do, at least be give 'em hell for me." She requested.
"I will." He nodded before getting up. "Well I'm gonna go get Rogue and go to that party, see you when I get back."
"Don't get drunk!" She called after him with a teasing grin.
"SHUT UP!" He yelled back in embarrassment.
-Later at Duncan Matthews place-
Right now Gavin was pulling up with Rogue and Risty at Duncan's place, and he was wearing his floppy brimmed fedora, heavily tinted sunglasses and red trench coat to the party, as well as his usual everyday wear control seal gloves. This particular getup earned him plenty of stares from the other kids there. At least until he took off his hat and coat.
"Not to shame your duds, love, but do you have to wear those gloves all the time? They look really tacky." Risty asked him.
"Kinda an ingrained habit, and did you just call my gloves tacky?" He asked with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Well they kinda are, mate." She shrugged.
Gavin was about to retort when his hearing picked up the sound of an object flying right towards them. Seeing a soccer ball on a collision course with Rogue's head, he reached out his hand to catch it. Then he looked at Duncan who was about to ask for it back, but only got its flattened left overs after Gavin popped it out of aggravation.
"You almost hit Rogue's head with that ball, genius." He growled.
"Whatever." The football star said as he rolled his eyes. He then started picking a fight with Scott, which then led to the two teens playing a very heated game of ping pong.
As this was going on, Rogue was watching Scott, who was obviously trying to do this to impress Jean while Risty was talking to Gavin.
"So this friend you mentioned earlier, what's her name?" She asked.
"Anna." He told her, using Rogue's real name. "Her name is Anna."
"That's a pretty name." The girl smiled, right before slapping him on the back. "Ah, but cheer up, I'm sure she'll come around sooner or later."
Meanwhile, with Duncan and Scott, they were really getting into their game of ping pong; even going as far to play it like actual tennis. This was all done right in front of everyone, much to Jean's chagrin. Eventually she just decided to discreetly use her powers to catch the ball out of frustration.
"Game, set, match!" She declared as she placed the ball on the table before walking off.
"What's got her knickers in a twist?" Risty asked Rogue, who just rolled her eyes.
"Who cares? It probably isn't even that big a deal for little perfect Jean Grey." The southern belle said before she got up. "Ah'm outta here." She said as she turned to leave.
"You're just gonna take off?" Risty asked in surprise.
"Ah'm not gonna stick around to get Jean's popularity rubbed in my face anymore." Rogue hissed. Gavin then got up and followed her. Same with Risty.
"Well, if you're leaving, I'm leaving too. Besides, last I checked, I was your ride." He told her as they left to go to his car.
"Fine, I'll come too. I just hope we don't miss anything." Risty sighed.
Back at the party, Jean and Scott were on the balcony when the redhead was attacked by another one of the headaches, which caused her to telekinetically throw Scott off the balcony by accident.
"Jeeeeaaaan!" The shaded teen yelled as he fell towards Duncan's pool at a rather unsafe speed. Jean immediately tried to stop him and just barely managed to stop him, she kept him up above the water for a few seconds before Duncan broke her concentration and she dropped Scott in the pool.
(Elsewhere)
Gavin was now hanging upside down from the banister at the Institute while listening to his music player, when Jean and Scott walked in, the latter being completely soaked.
The pseudo vampire took off his headphones and turned up his hearing aids so he could hear what was going on.
"Scott, I said I'm sorry." The redhead said with a look of regret.
"Yeah well somehow I'm having a hard time believing that." Scott grumbled as he removed his jacket and started wringing it out.
Xavier then took this moment to get to the bottom of things as he entered the room. "What are you talking about, Scott? What happened?" The man asked.
"My bath." Scott grumbled.
"It's not worth talking about." Jean said as she looked away.
Right at that moment Rogue and Risty entered the foyer and Gavin decided to drop from the banister while landing on his feet, which scared the bejesus out of the English exchange student.
"Why do I not believe that?" He asked.
"Where'd you come from?!" Risty questioned in shock, which Gavin replied to by just pointing up before he turned to Jean with a stern look.
"Fess up Jean, something's going on with you and you know it." He stated coolly. The telepathic redhead just sighed in aggravation before walking past everyone.
"I'm going to bed." She told them as she walked.
Right then Kitty walked right through the wall right next to the trio of teens, yet again startling Risty, and to make things even worse, Logan walked in with Chelsea, who was using her fire breath to roast herself some marshmallows on her claws.
"And people say we don't follow the rules." Logan said to his blonde female companion who nodded while popping her cooked marshmallows into her mouth.
"You said it." The Dragoness nodded.
A few minutes later Risty had to leave, much to poor Rogue's aggravation. "I'm sorry Rogue, but you know all visits must be planned, for obvious reasons." Xavier told her.
"Fine, Ah just won't have any friends over, what's the difference?" The girl said indignantly as she crossed her arms. 'Ah bet Jean doesn't get treated like this.' She thought.
"Hey, that's not true." Jean told her. "The professor doesn't treat me any different than you."
"Don't read my mind!" The white streaked girl growled.
Jean's eyes widened. "Sorry, I didn't realize it." She apologized.
Gavin scoffed as he crossed his arms. "What a load of bull. We all know that the prof treats you differently than the rest of us, don't even deny it."
"Gavin, that's enough." Xavier warned.
The pseudo vampire just held up his hand to the man and didn't even meet his gaze as he kept glaring at Jean. "Talk to the hand, cuz the face? Ain't listening." He said as he dissolved into smoke. "Guess that just means that the rest of us can't have social lives then…" He stated before he disappeared.
Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Just what got him so riled up all of a sudden? They all wondered.
(The next day)
Scott, Jean and Duncan were at the Track team tryouts, but Scott and Duncan were still at each other's throats. One of them does better than the other at one thing, and it gets reversed in another session. Scott beats Duncan at Javelin throws, Duncean beats Scott at the pole vault. And this went on the whole way.
That was until Duncan decided to push Scott down during a 50 meter dash, causing the latter to lose his shades in the process. This got the attention of Hank McKoy, the new PE coach and Science teacher. Meanwhile, Jean was about to toss a javelin when another headache suddenly erupted and forced her to her knees.
As she clutched her head in pain, javelins started to rise into the air and then one was sent straight towards Kitty, who was getting ready for her 50 meter dash. Luckily for her though, she had a force of nature as a guardian angel because Lance made her fall over to avoid getting hit.
A second javelin then went straight for Gavin and Rogue, who were trying out for the track team and watching the tryouts respectively. When the sharpened metal spear made its way towards Gavin, he was able to dodge it thanks to hearing it, but the same couldn't be said for Rogue as he had to save her from getting skewered.
"Rogue, lookout!" Gavin said as he tackled her to the ground to avoid the piece of equipment. Just in time too, since the javelin made a new home where the southern belle's head was just moments ago..
"Thanks." She told him.
"Like I said when we first met: I'll always have your back." He told her as he got up.
Jean's powers were still going wild as she had just hurled four shot put balls into the vicinity of several people, two being caught by McKoy and one getting deflected by Scott's lasers into crashing through Principal Kelly's window, much to the man's shock and bafflement.
Gavin ran over to Scott and helped him up. "Hey Scott, I know things are a little crazy right now, but could you please do me a favor and control your girlfriend before she kills us?!" He asked.
"I'll see what I can do. And she is not my girlfriend." Scott snapped before running over to Jean before she suddenly yelled out and collapsed.
(Later)
-Xavier Institute-
Everyone entered the Institute a while later with Scott carrying Jean, who was still unconscious. Xavier rolled towards them as he gestured for them to follow him to the medical room. As Scott set her down, he turned to the older telepath.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Her powers are growing far beyond what she can control. I'm going to try and help her get through, so stand back in case anything happens." The man told him. He then began to enter Jean's mind, only to find that it was in complete chaos. The man's attempts to reach out to her were met with her powers lashing out violently, causing telekinetic shockwaves to go throughout the Institute.
Meanwhile with the others, both Gavin and Chelsea were suddenly hit by the shockwaves that Jean made. Both clutched their heads as they yelled, but Gavin was able to resist it. Chelsea, however, wasn't so lucky. Her eyes turned Draconic as she breathed fire up at the ceiling as she yelled in pain and she felt as if some sort of limiter on her powers had just been released as she slammed her fist into the ground, causing it to shatter.
The blonde panted as she fell to her knees, Logan and Gavin running up to her as they tried to help her up. "You okay?" They both asked.
"I feel like something in my head just got removed! What do you two think?!" She retorted loudly.
Gavin reeled back as he clutched his ears. "Okay, turning down my hearing aids. Ow, that hurt." He said while shaking his head. The three then went down towards where Jean was currently floating and causing everything to fly around.
"Does anyone have some sort of a plan?" Chelsea yelled over the noise of the chaos.
"Well if living with hearing like mine has taught me anything, if there's too much going on inside your ears there's too much going on in your head." Gavin stated.
"How does that help?!" Kitty yelled.
"What I mean is we need to have her clear her mind and give her something to focus on." The pseudo vampire elaborated, before looking at Scott. "Namely the voice of someone she's close to?"
"I'll do it." Scott volunteered.
"And I'll handle clearing her head." Rogue nodded.
"Not alone you're not." Gavin told her while deploying his fangs. "Now let's go."
At his words, they charged at the telekinetic chaos zone Jean had unwittingly made. Wolverine hacked away at any debris heading his way while Kitty turned intangible to avoid damage… While accidentally letting Kurt take the blow at one point.
"Ah! Thanks a lot." He snipped sarcastically.
"Sorry." She apologized.
Transforming into smoke Gavin used the winds Jean was making to get in close before grabbing onto her from behind and then sank his fangs into her neck, slowly draining her vitality to slow her power down long enough for Rogue to get close.
The absorber mutant quickly used the opportunity to move in as close as she could and took as much stress as she could from Jean's mind. As soon as she was done, her taxed body gave and she started to fall, but Gavin quickly caught her and got her down safely, all whilst holding her in a bridal hold.
"I gotcha Rogue." He told her, before looking at Scott. "Alright Scotty, your turn!"
Scott walked towards Jean as much as he could before he started calling to her. "Jean! It's me, Scott! Listen, just try and focus on my voice!" He called her.
"Scott!" Jean's voice called back, but it wasn't coming from her... It was coming from Rogue.
"... What?" Was Gavin's confused question.
Scott ran over to Rogue and then tried to speak to Jean through her. "Come on Jean, you can do this, just focus on me." He told her.
"I can't! I'm losing you!" She replied.
"No you're not! I won't let you. I know you can do this Jean, because I know you. I know you better than anyone ever could, or ever will." Scott told her firmly as the effects of Rogue and Gavin's powers started to wear off.
Jean maintained her telekinetic wall for a few more moments before she dropped back onto the table, unconscious.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Scott ran over to her. Rogue, meanwhile, was still in Gavin's arms. The Institute's resident horror aficionado holding her tightly in case she may still be a little shaky.
"Finally…." The boy sighed in relief. "It's over."
(A few days later)
A few days after the whole debacle, everyone was slowly starting to get back to normal. Though ever since she felt that break in her head, Chelsea had been checking up with the professor to make sure her powers wouldn't go wild in a similar fashion. Luckily for her though, it seemed as though her powers would be growing at a more manageable rate, though how they would grow was left ambiguous.
Gavin on the other hand was keeping an eye on Rogue. Ever since he heard Jean's voice come from her, he had become worried that something may have happened to her mind. Though these worries were soon dashed after a few days.
"Say, Gavin?" Rogue asked him as they sat outside in the front yard.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"How did you know, ya know when I had gotten mad at Jean, how I was thinking?" She questioned.
Gavin was quiet for a little bit before he turned to face her. "Well, I guess it's because I know you. It's like Scott said, he may know Jean better than anyone." He then grabbed her by the shoulder and held her in a comforting manner. "But I'm the one who knows you better than anyone ever has, or ever will."
Rogue looked at him and smiled before she gave him a hug, which he returned. It was true though, he really did know her better than anyone.
(Elsewhere)
-Bayville City line-
Bast slowly got off the bus she had just taken to the city line to Bayville and then started to try and hail a cab. She had been traveling for the past week and now she was in the final stretch. She knew the way to the Institute from memory because she had been there before, so getting there wasn't going to be a problem.
The woman sighed as her cat ears and tail twitched under her clothing. "Won't be long now." She said as she pulled out a burner phone she had with her and dialed a number.
"Moshi moshi, Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, Gavin Shirakumo speaking. Who is this?" A kid's voice said at the other end.
"Yeah, is Professor Charles Xavier there? I'd like to speak with him." The woman said as she entered a cab.
"He's not available right now, can I take a message?" The boy asked.
"No, it's fine. But is a Chelsea Marks there?" Bast questioned. There was a brief moment of silence before Gavin responded.
"... Your name wouldn't happen to be Bast, would it?" He asked.
"... How'd you know?" She asked warily.
"Chelsea told me about you. She also mentioned you were Gazan and you have a Gaza accent, so I put two and two together." The boy told her. "So, what would you like me to tell her and the professor?"
"Just that I'll be arriving at the Institute in about a day or so. Think you can do that?" Bast asked.
"Yeah. Chelsea's gonna love that you'll be here soon." He replied.
"Me too. Well, see ya later." She told him.
"Sayonara!" The boy smiled as they both hung up.