There Must Be Some Kind of Way Out of Here
Chapter 5
Author's Note: The stuff in italics are thoughts Oh and I still love you all.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-Men characters or this world they live in, Marvel does, except their being sued by Stan Lee...and maybe Kids WB owns some of this too. What it all boils down to is that I don't own this stuff, except the character John.
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Every pair of eyes on the room were glued to Kurt Wagner and John Jashback.
Kurt elbowed John and whispered, "Come on, man! Say something."
"Uh...uh...uh...uh..." was all John could manage to say, eyes frantically darting around the room.
"Hey," called a voice from inside the kitchen. "Here comes the food."
John's eyes drifted over to see a large covered tray come out of the kitchen. And then he noticed just who was carrying it. The man...if it was even human, could only be described as a big blue gorilla wearing a dainty little apron. The afternoon's events came crashing down, and John's legs gave out. His body collapsed onto the tile floor, his head hitting it the hardest.
**********
John felt like he was falling. There was no better way to describe it. Falling and falling in a deep, black void. And then all of a sudden, John was on the ground. He looked down at his feet and recognized the familiar blacktop of a roadway. Arcs of lightning illuminated the sky and the roar of thunder echoed on forever. John knew exactly where he was. It was the day his life changed completely. Rain began to fall steadily all around the young man, but he didn't seem to get wet. Or maybe he couldn't feel it. John only stared numbly at the ground, knowing what was about to occur.
**********
"What happened here?" a voice said.
"Car took the corner too sharp and hit a large puddle of water. It slid out of control, hitting the guard rail before flipping over and coming to a stop approximately thirty-seven feet from where the vehicle first lost control," said another voice, very matter-of-factly.
"How many people were inside?" the first voice asked.
"Three. Two adults and one minor, a family on their way back home from visiting their relatives. We've freed the two parents who're in an ambulance" The voice motioned to the vehicle behind him. "The child is still trapped. A piece of metal has his arm pinned down."
**********
"It's a very bad wound. I don't know if we'll be able to salvage the arm."
"Do we have any alternatives, doctor?"
"He'll no longer have full use of his arm. If we keep it attached, it'll only be dead weight. Either it stays and serves no use to him, or we can amputate it at the shoulder..."
**********
A shadow stood over and watched it's younger self lay in the hospital bed. A bandaged stump was all that remained of John Jashback's left arm after the surgery. His parents lay asleep in chairs seated next to the bed. Walking over next to the bed, the older John reached out and touched his younger self's face and then his shoulder. He flinched slightly and touched his shoulder. And then suddenly everything shifted.
**********
John found himself in his bedroom back home. He idly felt his shoulder and looked out the window.
Why did this have to happen to me? Why?
"Why?" John said aloud. "I want my arm back..." he said softly. He buried his face in his one good hand and sobbed. He lay back and leaned his head against the wall and stared at a picture of his family, taken before the accident. He picked it up and threw it against the wall.
"I-WANT-MY-ARM-BACK!" he roared.
He jumped off the bed and began to furiously destroy his room. He threw open his closet door and pulled out all of his clothes, stomping over them. He ripped a poster off the wall, all the while screaming like a madman. He kicked over a chair by his desk and knocked over his bookcase. He picked up his alarm clock and held it high into the air and...stopped. He stopped. He brought down the clock and looked closely at it. Not at the clock, but at what was holding it: two hands. He dropped the clock and stared at his hands. Hands. What a glorious feeling it was to John. He looked and saw an entire arm where there once was nothing. His legs shook uncontrollably and he sat down in the floor, staring wide-eyed at his arm.
His mother, alerted by the yelling and the sounds from within her son's room came in and spoke, "John, what's going on...in...here..." Her voice slowly trailed off as she stared at her son whom had only one arm that morning and now sat with two. "Honey..." she began. "I think you should come in here..."
**********
John slowly opened his eyes and looked up. A barrage of faces stared down at him. As his eyes came slowly back into focus, he brought both hands up to his face and examined them. All of a sudden, he broke into tears, but the sobs soon turned into laughter.
Sometimes I wish I had never survived that crash...
"Kurt..." he said softly. "How long have I been out?"
"Not long. Only a few seconds... Vow! Are you ok? Zhat sounded painful," the blue-furred mutant said excitedly.
"OW! Yeah, you're right..." He put his hand to the back of his head and rubbed it slowly. "I guess I gave you all a little scare, huh?" John said, smiling weakly.
A very fearsome, blue-furred face appeared in front of John's path of vision and spoke in surprisingly gentle tones. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I tend to have that affect sometimes." It smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth.
"Heh. Uh, no problem. You'd think after today's events that I'd be pretty used to surprises." John pushed himself up on his feet and took a deep breath. "Let's try this again... Hello," he said, spinning in a circle and waving to everyone. "I'm John Jashback. I'm new here, and uh, it's nice to meet you all. Kurt and I were talking when we noticed the time, but we didn't expect to make such a uh, 'memorable' entrance coming down here," he said.
John let the tension stream out of his body when everyone smiled and laughed and introduced themselves. The big blue gorilla was Mr. McCoy, the Goth girl was Rogue, there were two people with funny haircuts, Evan and Ray, the gorgeous redhead was Jean, the angry looking fellow was Logan, the youngest of them all was Jamie, and a whole slew of others whom John probably wouldn't remember for a few days.
"Now zhat all of this has been settled," Kurt exclaimed, "Let's eat!"
And they did. John sat at the very end of the table, next to Kurt, the only person he was truly comfortable with, and he was somewhat frightened by the angry looks he was getting from Kitty, seated across the table.
"So Kurt..." John said, turning to face the furry mutant who was currently using his tail to hold a fork while he cleaned off his hands. "I've got a question for you. You and Mr. McCoy...you two related or something?"
Kurt looked at him quizzically for a moment before laughing. "No, mein freund, but I do see that leetle detail that vould make you think so."
"So John, what special ability brought you here?" It took John a moment to realize it was Jean talking to him.
Wow...She's pretty. Real pretty...
"Did you hear what I said John?" Jean asked again.
"Huh, what?"
"I said what's your power?" she said.
"Oh, well uh..." John mumbled, trying to remember what it was the Professor said. "Oh! Limb regeneration. Yeah...limb regeneration. What about you?"
Oh, a little of this and a little of that.
John looked around, startled, and looked at Jean. "Wha... Was that you?"
Sure was.
Jean smiled at him.
"Hey, that's cool. You can do telepathy like the Professor," John blurted.
"You got it," she replied. "I can also move things around with my mind, just like the Professor, although I'm not as skilled as he is. Not yet, at least."
A deep feeling of shame and embarrassment filled John's body.
Oh crap. She can read my mind. Then she must know I think she's...
Jean's wink was answer enough to that. John almost managed not to groan.
Before things got even more out of hand that day, John quickly changed the subject. "So uh, you guys mind if I ask what your powers are?" He looked all around while asking that, and few seemed to disagree. John was nearly taken aback by the diversity of the powers. And every one of them had a useful power, with the exception of little Jamie. But then again, once he had his power under control, it wouldn't be such a hassle. John felt very...plain. All of the people in the room could do great things, like teleport and walk through walls and create fire and create ice and shoot lightning and turn into a wolf. And then there was John Jashback... John Jashback, who's arm fell off.
Not exactly the stuff of heroes, eh?
Of course, the questioning didn't go by completely smooth. The one called Logan just growled when John asked about his powers. Kurt nudged him and said, "Don't ask." And when John asked Rogue...
"That's none o' your business!" she shouted angrily. She got up and stormed out of the room.
Again, Kurt filled him in. "If she touches anyone, or anyone touches her, she zaps their powers and if she holds on too long, they can die."
"Oh. That has to be rough, not being able to touch anyone. I guess that explains her clothes..." Everyone else in the room nodded solemnly.
The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, much of the conversation focused on school and the like. All in all, it wasn't so bad, but John couldn't help but feel sheepish deep down. In a span of about four hours, John Jashback had succeeded in injuring one girl, offending another, and embarrassing himself with a third, not to mention fainting and making himself look the fool in front of the other students.
Hell of a first day. Oh yes, hell of a first day.
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Heh heh. I don't know if Beast actually does the cooking, but they never say who does in the show, so I improvised. And besides, the image of Beast in an apron was too good to pass up. Oh, and I guess to help with any continuity issues that pop up, this is all pre-Day of Reckoning.
Chapter 5
Author's Note: The stuff in italics are thoughts Oh and I still love you all.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-Men characters or this world they live in, Marvel does, except their being sued by Stan Lee...and maybe Kids WB owns some of this too. What it all boils down to is that I don't own this stuff, except the character John.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every pair of eyes on the room were glued to Kurt Wagner and John Jashback.
Kurt elbowed John and whispered, "Come on, man! Say something."
"Uh...uh...uh...uh..." was all John could manage to say, eyes frantically darting around the room.
"Hey," called a voice from inside the kitchen. "Here comes the food."
John's eyes drifted over to see a large covered tray come out of the kitchen. And then he noticed just who was carrying it. The man...if it was even human, could only be described as a big blue gorilla wearing a dainty little apron. The afternoon's events came crashing down, and John's legs gave out. His body collapsed onto the tile floor, his head hitting it the hardest.
**********
John felt like he was falling. There was no better way to describe it. Falling and falling in a deep, black void. And then all of a sudden, John was on the ground. He looked down at his feet and recognized the familiar blacktop of a roadway. Arcs of lightning illuminated the sky and the roar of thunder echoed on forever. John knew exactly where he was. It was the day his life changed completely. Rain began to fall steadily all around the young man, but he didn't seem to get wet. Or maybe he couldn't feel it. John only stared numbly at the ground, knowing what was about to occur.
**********
"What happened here?" a voice said.
"Car took the corner too sharp and hit a large puddle of water. It slid out of control, hitting the guard rail before flipping over and coming to a stop approximately thirty-seven feet from where the vehicle first lost control," said another voice, very matter-of-factly.
"How many people were inside?" the first voice asked.
"Three. Two adults and one minor, a family on their way back home from visiting their relatives. We've freed the two parents who're in an ambulance" The voice motioned to the vehicle behind him. "The child is still trapped. A piece of metal has his arm pinned down."
**********
"It's a very bad wound. I don't know if we'll be able to salvage the arm."
"Do we have any alternatives, doctor?"
"He'll no longer have full use of his arm. If we keep it attached, it'll only be dead weight. Either it stays and serves no use to him, or we can amputate it at the shoulder..."
**********
A shadow stood over and watched it's younger self lay in the hospital bed. A bandaged stump was all that remained of John Jashback's left arm after the surgery. His parents lay asleep in chairs seated next to the bed. Walking over next to the bed, the older John reached out and touched his younger self's face and then his shoulder. He flinched slightly and touched his shoulder. And then suddenly everything shifted.
**********
John found himself in his bedroom back home. He idly felt his shoulder and looked out the window.
Why did this have to happen to me? Why?
"Why?" John said aloud. "I want my arm back..." he said softly. He buried his face in his one good hand and sobbed. He lay back and leaned his head against the wall and stared at a picture of his family, taken before the accident. He picked it up and threw it against the wall.
"I-WANT-MY-ARM-BACK!" he roared.
He jumped off the bed and began to furiously destroy his room. He threw open his closet door and pulled out all of his clothes, stomping over them. He ripped a poster off the wall, all the while screaming like a madman. He kicked over a chair by his desk and knocked over his bookcase. He picked up his alarm clock and held it high into the air and...stopped. He stopped. He brought down the clock and looked closely at it. Not at the clock, but at what was holding it: two hands. He dropped the clock and stared at his hands. Hands. What a glorious feeling it was to John. He looked and saw an entire arm where there once was nothing. His legs shook uncontrollably and he sat down in the floor, staring wide-eyed at his arm.
His mother, alerted by the yelling and the sounds from within her son's room came in and spoke, "John, what's going on...in...here..." Her voice slowly trailed off as she stared at her son whom had only one arm that morning and now sat with two. "Honey..." she began. "I think you should come in here..."
**********
John slowly opened his eyes and looked up. A barrage of faces stared down at him. As his eyes came slowly back into focus, he brought both hands up to his face and examined them. All of a sudden, he broke into tears, but the sobs soon turned into laughter.
Sometimes I wish I had never survived that crash...
"Kurt..." he said softly. "How long have I been out?"
"Not long. Only a few seconds... Vow! Are you ok? Zhat sounded painful," the blue-furred mutant said excitedly.
"OW! Yeah, you're right..." He put his hand to the back of his head and rubbed it slowly. "I guess I gave you all a little scare, huh?" John said, smiling weakly.
A very fearsome, blue-furred face appeared in front of John's path of vision and spoke in surprisingly gentle tones. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I tend to have that affect sometimes." It smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth.
"Heh. Uh, no problem. You'd think after today's events that I'd be pretty used to surprises." John pushed himself up on his feet and took a deep breath. "Let's try this again... Hello," he said, spinning in a circle and waving to everyone. "I'm John Jashback. I'm new here, and uh, it's nice to meet you all. Kurt and I were talking when we noticed the time, but we didn't expect to make such a uh, 'memorable' entrance coming down here," he said.
John let the tension stream out of his body when everyone smiled and laughed and introduced themselves. The big blue gorilla was Mr. McCoy, the Goth girl was Rogue, there were two people with funny haircuts, Evan and Ray, the gorgeous redhead was Jean, the angry looking fellow was Logan, the youngest of them all was Jamie, and a whole slew of others whom John probably wouldn't remember for a few days.
"Now zhat all of this has been settled," Kurt exclaimed, "Let's eat!"
And they did. John sat at the very end of the table, next to Kurt, the only person he was truly comfortable with, and he was somewhat frightened by the angry looks he was getting from Kitty, seated across the table.
"So Kurt..." John said, turning to face the furry mutant who was currently using his tail to hold a fork while he cleaned off his hands. "I've got a question for you. You and Mr. McCoy...you two related or something?"
Kurt looked at him quizzically for a moment before laughing. "No, mein freund, but I do see that leetle detail that vould make you think so."
"So John, what special ability brought you here?" It took John a moment to realize it was Jean talking to him.
Wow...She's pretty. Real pretty...
"Did you hear what I said John?" Jean asked again.
"Huh, what?"
"I said what's your power?" she said.
"Oh, well uh..." John mumbled, trying to remember what it was the Professor said. "Oh! Limb regeneration. Yeah...limb regeneration. What about you?"
Oh, a little of this and a little of that.
John looked around, startled, and looked at Jean. "Wha... Was that you?"
Sure was.
Jean smiled at him.
"Hey, that's cool. You can do telepathy like the Professor," John blurted.
"You got it," she replied. "I can also move things around with my mind, just like the Professor, although I'm not as skilled as he is. Not yet, at least."
A deep feeling of shame and embarrassment filled John's body.
Oh crap. She can read my mind. Then she must know I think she's...
Jean's wink was answer enough to that. John almost managed not to groan.
Before things got even more out of hand that day, John quickly changed the subject. "So uh, you guys mind if I ask what your powers are?" He looked all around while asking that, and few seemed to disagree. John was nearly taken aback by the diversity of the powers. And every one of them had a useful power, with the exception of little Jamie. But then again, once he had his power under control, it wouldn't be such a hassle. John felt very...plain. All of the people in the room could do great things, like teleport and walk through walls and create fire and create ice and shoot lightning and turn into a wolf. And then there was John Jashback... John Jashback, who's arm fell off.
Not exactly the stuff of heroes, eh?
Of course, the questioning didn't go by completely smooth. The one called Logan just growled when John asked about his powers. Kurt nudged him and said, "Don't ask." And when John asked Rogue...
"That's none o' your business!" she shouted angrily. She got up and stormed out of the room.
Again, Kurt filled him in. "If she touches anyone, or anyone touches her, she zaps their powers and if she holds on too long, they can die."
"Oh. That has to be rough, not being able to touch anyone. I guess that explains her clothes..." Everyone else in the room nodded solemnly.
The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, much of the conversation focused on school and the like. All in all, it wasn't so bad, but John couldn't help but feel sheepish deep down. In a span of about four hours, John Jashback had succeeded in injuring one girl, offending another, and embarrassing himself with a third, not to mention fainting and making himself look the fool in front of the other students.
Hell of a first day. Oh yes, hell of a first day.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heh heh. I don't know if Beast actually does the cooking, but they never say who does in the show, so I improvised. And besides, the image of Beast in an apron was too good to pass up. Oh, and I guess to help with any continuity issues that pop up, this is all pre-Day of Reckoning.