"Pat I'm sorry, I just cant go, something came up at the Embassy and I have
to stay. I'm sorry." Said Pats dad, Patrick Conner III; Pat was the IV.
Pat's dad reached out to place a hand on his sons shoulder, but the younger
man stepped away, his face slightly red from anger.
"Its typical, I'll tell Sarah happy birthday for you." Pat said angrily and stormed off. His dad always made work his priority, while logic told Pat that being the lead ambassador to Greece is a time consuming job, this was the third year in a row that he would miss both of his kids birthdays. Pat hastily packed his things from his short trip to visit his dad and headed out to the limo that would take him to the jet.
*********************************************************************
Victor brought the binoculars up to his eyes as he saw a diplomatic limo pull onto the runway. A tall lean young man stepped out from the limo, he had short black hair and fit the description of the Ambassadors son perfectly.
"Hello young Patrick, is your father with you?" Victor whispered to himself. The driver shut the door behind the young man and went to grab a single bag.
"Of course he's not, well you may have just gotten very lucky young boy." The surly Victor said to himself as he pulled out a cell phone.
"The fathers not present, should we scrap the mission?" Victor said as the other line answered.
"No continue as planned, perhaps the loss of his son will make an impact on the Ambassador." The line went dead and Victor smiled as he watched the boy board the small private jet.
*********************************************************************
Pat looked out at the lights of Lisbon as the jet sped overhead. The night sky was crystal clear and the trip, despite the lack of his dad was going well. Soon they would be over the Atlantic ocean and well on their way to the U.S. Pat was eager to get home and see his mom and sister again, especially his sister since she would be turning nineteen in a few days. Even though Pat was three years younger he still was very protective of his older sis. The lights of Lisbon faded away as they flew closer to America and the Ocean below seemed to grow larger. As he looked out the window Pat was pretty sure he could see the lights from a boat below. Suddenly from where he thought he saw a boat he saw an object fly up on a tail of fire. It took a second for Pat to register what it was, but by then it was too late.
The missile slammed into the left wing of the plane and tore through, then exploded. The plane split in two from the blast, Pat and his seat were blown through the side of the plane as it began to break apart into a thousand pieces. The boat sped away in the darkness as it crew watched the plane exploded and be consumed by the vast ocean.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The young man awoke slowly, his lips were cracked and desperate for water, his eyes as they fluttered open were bleary and red. As he struggled to sit up he looked around, he lay in a strange depression of a rock bed, debris from broken rock was scattered all around him. A battered seat from an airplane lay several feet off to his right, suddenly memories flooded back into the boys mind.
Pat shook his head to clear his mind of the terrible memories of the plane exploding.
"Where am I?" He tried to say, but the effort of talking killed his parched throat. He stood up and looked around slowly. Just a few meters away water lapped on the shore of a rock-strewn beach, the only sign of the plane was the seat that he was in. Pat returned to the depression he awoke in, it was several feet deep, as if something very fast or hard had hit the ground.
"How am I alive?" Pat muttered as his mind began to clear. The blast alone should have killed anyone on the plane and he knew that no one would survive the fall. Wearily Pat walked around the island and discovered it was very small and devoid of any life or help.
Pat sat down with his legs in the water. "Now I really appreciate the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, I would do anything for some water." Pat grumbled to himself. "Or some pain killers." He added. His entire body felt like it had been used as a punching bag, his clothes were mostly gone or in tatters. Pulling what remained of his pants legs up he checked for any wounds, but found none. He then turned his attention to his arms, then twisted them to inspect the underside of his wrist.
"What the hell?" Pat said as he looked at his wrists. On both of them were strange dark blue tattoo's, they resembled Linear B, the Greeks first form of writing, but this was different somehow. Although Pat obviously did not know how to write linear B, he had seen enough of it to know this was different. The tattoos covered his wrists from side to side and ran for about eight inches down his arm. At the bottom of the tattoo on his right arm there was one word that was written in modern day Greek, Atlas it read.
"Ok now this is just way too weird, glad the old man made me learn Greek though." Pat muttered to himself as he looked away from the bizarre tattoos that should not be on his arms. With nothing to do or anyway of trying to find help Pat succumbed to the exhaustion his body felt and fell asleep.
****************** ************************************************
"Logan, Ororo, we have a new mutant to pick up." Charles Xavier said.
"Ok where's this one at Professor?" Wolverine asked in his gruff voice.
"That's what bothering me, it appears that he is about three hundred miles off the coast of Portugal, in the Atlantic ocean. I fear we have to hurry this mutant may be running out of time."
************************** *********************************************
Pat smiled as Sarah blew out her candles on her birthday cake, his mom and dad were both there too. Everyone was getting along and his parents were still married, suddenly his dream switched themes and he was back on the rock island. However, the island was much smaller from his vantage point, he was at least a hundred feet in the air, probably more. A cool wind ruffled his hair and made him shiver.
Pat snapped awake from his strange dream shivering in the cool night air. "What a strange dream." He muttered to himself, still not fully awake. He went to stand up, but then noticed the strange sensation that was in the back of his mind, but had not registered yet. He was floating in mid air. Fear seeped into every bone in his body and he flailed his arms wildly. He began to plummet towards the hard rock of the small island and with a loud crash slammed into the rock bed. A shower of broken rock and dust flew up covering Pat as he fell unconscious.
Minutes later a sleek black jet hovered next to him and the unconscious Pat floated inside the ship.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pat awoke and brought a hand up to his throbbing head. "What a crazy dream that was." He muttered, but fear ran through him as he noticed the wires and tubes attached to him. Quickly he looked around and noticed he was in a hospital bed and was hooked up to several monitors and machines.
"I'm afraid it was no dream, I am glad to see that you awake." Came a voice to the left of Pat, he turned to see the Doctor or nurse, but instead almost jumped out of his skin. A blue furred monster stood right next to his bed reading a document. Pat scrambled out of the bed tearing wires from off him in the process.
"Pat wait!" The beast said hastily as it slowly reached out for Pat.
"Stay away from me." Pat said as he grabbed the monsters outstretched and threw him. As soon as Pat launched the monster he began running down the strange halls of the hospital, he heard a thunderous crash from back in his room. As he sprinted down the corridor a tall guy with red sunglasses stepped out from an elevator.
"Stop, its." The guy tried to say, but Pat shoved him back towards the elevator. Suddenly a red blast of energy lanced out at Pat, on instincts he leaped away, however he had expected to land soon after. Instead he found himself hovering in the air, again he floundered about and fell to the ground. Struggling to his feet he began to run down the corridor again, but suddenly collapsed as a hand fell on his cheek.
Pat awoke again in a similar room and found himself strapped to the bed. Frantically he looked around for the monster, but thankfully it was no where to be seen. There was however a bald man in a wheel chair. Perhaps just now he was waking up, Pat thought to himself, but then why would he be strapped in.
"Where am I? Who are you?" Pat said.
"I am Charles Xavier, your safe here Patrick. Your in Westchester, New York, at my school. We found you in the Atlantic ocean, do you remember what happened?"
"Kinda, how did you find me? What am I doing at a school?"
"This is not just an ordinary school Patrick, it is for people who have special powers and gifts, like yourself."
"What are you talking about, I don't have anything wrong with me." Pat said angrily.
"Well Patrick true there is nothing wrong with you, its just that you are different, your genetic structure is not the same as most humans. You have an X gene that gave you special powers, like the ability to withstand being shot out of the air and plummeting to the earth, like the ability to fly."
Pats mind reeled as Charles spoke, fear and questions consumed him. He began to struggle against the restraints and was surprised when they snapped off, suddenly he began to hover. This time he did not try and flounder, instead he tried to move forward. To his surprise he moved forward, if a bit wobbly.
"Patrick wait, I'm here to help you." Xavier pleaded.
"I don't need help." Pat said as his confidence grew. He shot forward with a burst of speed and flew down the hall rapidly, at the elevator he tried to come to a stop, but failed to do so. Instead he crashed into the wall and slid to the floor.
Despite the severity of the situation Pat chuckled as he got up and ran to the elevator. "Well perhaps a little help, but not from you." Pat said to himself. The elevator opened up to a hallway that belonged in a home, not at all like the facility below. He stepped out and began to walk silently down the hallway, when he saw the same guy with the sunglasses from before. A smaller red beam lanced out and struck Pat in the chest sending him flying backwards down the hall. Pat twisted and hovered for a second before he shot forward in mid air. He flew right through a window and up into the sky.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pat hurried from the bushes in the front of his house to his front door, grabbing the key from under the stone he quickly entered his home. He had checked the house and neither his mom or sister were home, so Pat headed straight to his room to shower and get cleaned up. A short while later Pat was pulling on a clean shirt when he heard the door shut downstairs, follow by footsteps upstairs.
The footsteps went past his room, which meant that it most likely was his sister. Quietly Pat left his room and headed down to his sisters room. Standing in the doorway he smiled as he watched Sarah toss several big shopping bags on the floor. Pat rapped on her door lightly, she jumped slightly at the sound and then brought her hands up to her mouth in surprise. She stood there frozen for several long seconds before rushing forward and nearly knocking Pat over.
"They said you were dead." She finally said.
"Well they were wrong, sorry I missed ur b-day sis, I was a um well delayed." Pat said with a grin. Sarah took a step back and hit him lightly in the chest. They headed down to the kitchen, where he made up a complicated lie of how he survived and got home. Pat was glad that she did not question the story too much, but he worried that his mom would not buy it. He certainly was not going to tell them that he could fly or the other strange things that had occurred. As if on cue his mom walked into the kitchen, her grocery bags dropped to the ground in surprise.
*************************** ********************************************
"Xavier took in a new student, but it appears he decided not to stay. You two will be coming with me to recruit him, I tell you this, we will not be leaving without him." Mystique said to the two kids seated before her.
******************************** ***************************************
"Professor are we going after him?" Scott Summers asked.
"Not just yet Scott, I don't think he is ready, we tracked him back to his home in Chicago. I think when the time is right Kitty may be valuable in helping with recruiting him, she grew up just a few town away from him. In fact could you go get Kitty for me."
"Right away Professor." Scott said then quickly exited Xavier's study at the institute.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lance Alvers leaned against the wall of the small building and kept his eyes on the road. "You should see him now." Came a voice over the phone he held to his ear. "remember don't over do it Avalanche." Came the female voice again. Lance smirked as he saw a tall guy round the corner, the guy didn't look like anything special, but Lance had learned not to trust first appearances.
"Well whatever your powers are you're going to regret walking down this road chump." Lance said with a grin. The ground began to tremble as Lance gritted his teeth, suddenly a car appeared to loose control and barreled right towards the unaware guy. Lance began to worry that he might have over done it as he saw Mystique in the out of control car slam right into the person they were going to recruit. The screech of brakes sounded as the boy flew back and slammed into an old oak tree.
The old tree groaned under the impact, Lance eyes widened in surprise as the tree began to splinter around the boy and then began to collapse. Mystique stopped the car and rushed towards the boy in one of her many guises.
*************************************** ********************************
"Are you ok?" Asked the woman. Pat shook his head and got to his feet, luckily not too many people were around to see the accident.
"I'm fine." Pat said and began walking away.
"Wait, I understand what you are, it's the only way you survived, I can help you." The woman said.
Pat stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the woman, she now had two boys with her, one was short and skinny, the other tall and brash looking. "I don't need any help." Pat said, his voice getting a bit angrier.
"Yo don't worry man, were like you too, ya see, how else could I do this?" said the strange looking little guy as he leaped onto a high branch and did some impossible acrobatics. The strange display however impressive did little to gain Pat's trust.
The ground began to shake again, but this time Pat was more prepared. He leapt into the air and hovered a few feet off the ground, the woman fell to her knees, the grin on the brash boy's face faded as he watched Pat began to hover safely above the ground.
"Avalanche you idiot stop it. Please just hear me out, we mean to help." The woman said, but Pat did not stick around to give her an answer. A few minutes later he was touching down on his lawn and heading into his house, when a strange car pulled into his drive way. Two attractive girls emerged and approached Pat.
"Hi, are you Patrick Conner?" Asked the brunette girl.
"Yea, what can I do for you?" Pat asked a bit suspiciously.
"Oh great, Hi, I'm Kitty and this is Jean. I'm from Northbrook, I thought we might have a word." Kitty said trying to sound as innocuous as possible; the whole recruitment thing was all too new to her.
"Nice to meet you both, but what do you want to talk about?" Pat asked his concerns growing, he really did not want any more talk about him being a freak.
"Uh well I'm kinda like you in a way, I mean I have like special gifts too. Would it be ok if we talked inside?"
"I don't know what your talking about, I think it would be best if you left." Pat said sternly. Suddenly there was a strange tingling sensation in his head, then the one called Jean cried out in pain as she dropped to the ground. Kitty rushed towards her fallen friend and tried to help her up.
"Jean what happened?" Kitty pleaded.
"Tried mental probe." Jean said weakly then passed out, Kitty looked up at the confused Pat.
"What did you do to her?" She hissed.
"Nothing, I mean I don't know, I felt a tingling in my head then she collapsed. I didn't mean to do anything." Pat stammered.
"Here help me with her." Kitty said. Pat bent down and picked up the fallen girl to carry her to the car.
"You have to drive, I cant." Kitty said, her face turning a bit crimson. Pat grabbed the keys and followed her directions to the forest preserve, to his surprise they drove into the woods slightly and stopped at the base of a sleek looking black aircraft. Not asking questions Pat carried the stricken girl aboard and grimaced when he saw the guy that had energy beams for eyes in the cockpit.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Jean is going to be fine, it appears Patrick has some sort of defense against mental probes, even I can not try and read his thoughts, it is truly amazing really. I only probed lightly so I did not receive a strong retaliation, Jean must have tried a stronger probe. Prep the Blackbird Scott I think it would be best if we returned Patrick to his home." Charles Xavier said.
Scott Summers nodded and headed out of the medical lab. A room over Pat sat alone on a chair, hoping he did not hurt the girl too badly. He stood as the man named Charles Xavier entered.
"Is she ok?" Pat asked.
"Yes she is fine, just a bit tired."
"What did I do to her?" Pat asked tentatively, his eyes drooped in shame.
"Well Patrick, it appears you have some sort of shield against telepathic probes, mind reading if you prefer. When someone tries to probe your mind it retaliates with a proportionate amount of strength."
"She was trying to read my mind, how?" Pat asked the disbelief in his voice barely masked.
"She has special gifts, just like you Patrick, she is a telepath and has telekinetic powers. You see people with these gifts have genes the different than that of regular humans, they are evolved, we call it the X- gene. This X-gene it is active in a person, usually grants them some sort of special ability, like Scott and his ability to fire energy beams from his eyes. We are prepping the plane you came on to take you home, we don't want to frighten your mother again with your disappearance."
"So I have this X-gene?"
"Yes you do. Patrick, the door to my school is always open if you need a place to go, don't ever hesitate to call on us for anything."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Pat, I know you have had a rough last few weeks, but if your not going to pay attention at all maybe it would be best for you to take a little more time at home." Pat's English teacher, Mr. Danvers said. It had been a week since his trip to New York and all he could think of was what Charles Xavier had told him.
"I'm sorry Mr. Danvers, don't worry I'll pay attention, I'm fine."
"I know you'll deal with it Pat, but you don't have to endure it yourself, its ok to ask for help every once and a while." Danvers said placing a hand on Pat shoulder.
"Thanks, I know, really I am ok, don't worry. I'll see you in class tomorrow." Pat said as he began to back out of class. Mr. Danvers was a good guy, but Pat was getting sick of people trying to help me. Throwing his books in his locker he headed to the locker room to change for his lacrosse game.
**************** **************************************** ***********
Pat pivoted quickly as the defender brought his long stick down in a stick check, he rushed by the off balance defender and bee lined for the net. Another defender outside Pat's vision barreled towards him, this defender was several inches taller and quite a lot bigger though. The defender slammed into Pat's right side, expecting to run right over him, instead his stick bent around the smaller Pat and the boy feel back as if he hit a brick wall. Pat rifled the ball into the net and turned to look at the defender that hit him. The boy was still on the ground, his long stick was bent in two.
"Conner over here and hurry." Cried his coach.
"Dude Conner, you ok? I mean that hit should have flattened you?" Said one of Pat's teammates.
"Uh yea I'm fine, just got lucky I guess." Pat said and hurried over to his coach.
"I don't know what kind of game your thinking of playing, but you take too many more hits like that and you wont make it through the season, you got luck on that one, you hear me?"
"Yes coach." Pat said, however his coach was never too keen on giving out compliments, criticism was his specialty. The school trainer ran onto the field towards the defender that hit Pat, the boy still had not moved. Moments later the boy was on a stretched and being taken to the hospital, while most of his teammates thought it was awesome that Pat had taken down such a huge kid, Pat was not too happy, only terrified.
The game finished up and Pat skipped the team dinner to head home, he was not in the mood for any more talk of his "toughness" as his teammates were calling it. After a brief talk with his mom he headed straight to his room to lay down.
********************* ***************************** *********************
A light knock sounded on Pats door disturbing his nap, "Come in."
Pat's mom slowly walked into his room and sat on the end of his bed. By the expression on her face he could tell something was bothering her.
"What's up mom?"
"Pat I'm worried about you, is there anything wrong? You haven't seemed yourself." She asked, her voice wrought with concern.
"I'm fine mom, don't worry."
"Son, I gave birth to you and raised you, don't think you can hide anything from me. You know its alright to talk about your problems, I'll understand."
"Really I'm fine, just been tired lately, there's nothing wrong."
His mom leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the forehead.
"Ok then get some rest." She said as she headed for the door, but stopped before she closed it. "You know its ok to ask for help every once in a while." She said, then closed the door.
******************** ***************************** *******************
"Patrick, I'm worried about him, he has been acting strange lately, I think the whole event effected him horribly some way."
"Cassie, I think your overreacting, the boy is fine."
"Patrick this is your son were talking about, he's too much like you, always has to solve his problems by himself, not once has he ever asked for help, just like you. I swear is there is a stubborn gene you definitely gave it to him." Cassie Conner said a bit angrily.
"Calm down, his a strong kid, he'll figure out whatever is bothering him, just give him a little more time."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
With a few more mishaps the strain of keeping his strange abilities a secret was beginning to take its toll. After he injured two more people in lacrosse he had to fake an injury and sit the rest of the season out so that he did not hurt any other kids. Also he had broken his bed just recently when he awoke floating in the air and crashed to his bed. These occurrences though troublesome, but what really concerned Pat were the results from his research on the mutant mater. He had seen a blurb here or there in the news before, but he had never realized just how much of an issue it had become. It seemed that mutants had few advocates and many enemies, not the results Pat needed to find upon discovering he himself was one of these mutants.
These were the thoughts that raced through Pat's mind as he walked through the streets of downtown Chicago. He often came to the city in the last few weeks, just to walk the streets among the masses where anyone who saw him would think him a normal teenage boy. It was in these moments of anonymity that Pat was at peace; here he could be anyone or anything he wanted. Pat was snapped from his revere when he felt someone run into him. The person was a haggard looking man with a backpack strapped tightly to him. Pat was going to ask the guy if he was ok, when the strange looking man pushed off Pat and ran towards the street. A limousine was just pulling up as the man reached the edge of the sidewalk, Pat looked back once at the strange man then continued his walk.
A wave of heat and tortured metal slammed into Pat's back tossing him into the air. The deafening roar was so sudden that Pat could hardly register it, everything seemed distant and surreal for that first second. Painfully reality returned as Pat sailed through the air and crashed through a store front window. Fire and debris followed soon after as Pat struggled to his feet. His closes were ripped and scorched, but concern for himself was fleeting as his gaze fell on the street. Bodies lay dead in the street others writhed in pain as they struggled to move. A small crater where the limousine had pulled up was all that remained of the car. Bystanders that had not been caught in the explosion rushed to the wounded, others just stood in horror. Out of the chaos a man appeared so suddenly, the strange man bent and carefully picked up an injured child. An instant later Pat was watching the man run away with super human speed. As Pat stood up in the display window of the store a man ran up to him and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Son I think you should try not to move." The man said as his eyes moved over Pat's body. Pat certainly did not feel good, but he didn't feel injured severely in any way. He then glanced down at himself, his clothes were mostly gone, his skin was covered in soot and blood, though not his own.
"Hey I need some help over here, this kid is hurt real bad." The guy said to some other helpers. A woman came over to stand next to the man and brought her hand up to her mouth as she looked at Pat. The thought of people trying to help him when he really was ok made Pat feel sick to his stomach. Pat leapt forward and at first floundered a bit in the air, but then he shot upwards into the sky as fast as a spooked bird.
*********** ******************************* ***********************
"Its typical, I'll tell Sarah happy birthday for you." Pat said angrily and stormed off. His dad always made work his priority, while logic told Pat that being the lead ambassador to Greece is a time consuming job, this was the third year in a row that he would miss both of his kids birthdays. Pat hastily packed his things from his short trip to visit his dad and headed out to the limo that would take him to the jet.
*********************************************************************
Victor brought the binoculars up to his eyes as he saw a diplomatic limo pull onto the runway. A tall lean young man stepped out from the limo, he had short black hair and fit the description of the Ambassadors son perfectly.
"Hello young Patrick, is your father with you?" Victor whispered to himself. The driver shut the door behind the young man and went to grab a single bag.
"Of course he's not, well you may have just gotten very lucky young boy." The surly Victor said to himself as he pulled out a cell phone.
"The fathers not present, should we scrap the mission?" Victor said as the other line answered.
"No continue as planned, perhaps the loss of his son will make an impact on the Ambassador." The line went dead and Victor smiled as he watched the boy board the small private jet.
*********************************************************************
Pat looked out at the lights of Lisbon as the jet sped overhead. The night sky was crystal clear and the trip, despite the lack of his dad was going well. Soon they would be over the Atlantic ocean and well on their way to the U.S. Pat was eager to get home and see his mom and sister again, especially his sister since she would be turning nineteen in a few days. Even though Pat was three years younger he still was very protective of his older sis. The lights of Lisbon faded away as they flew closer to America and the Ocean below seemed to grow larger. As he looked out the window Pat was pretty sure he could see the lights from a boat below. Suddenly from where he thought he saw a boat he saw an object fly up on a tail of fire. It took a second for Pat to register what it was, but by then it was too late.
The missile slammed into the left wing of the plane and tore through, then exploded. The plane split in two from the blast, Pat and his seat were blown through the side of the plane as it began to break apart into a thousand pieces. The boat sped away in the darkness as it crew watched the plane exploded and be consumed by the vast ocean.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The young man awoke slowly, his lips were cracked and desperate for water, his eyes as they fluttered open were bleary and red. As he struggled to sit up he looked around, he lay in a strange depression of a rock bed, debris from broken rock was scattered all around him. A battered seat from an airplane lay several feet off to his right, suddenly memories flooded back into the boys mind.
Pat shook his head to clear his mind of the terrible memories of the plane exploding.
"Where am I?" He tried to say, but the effort of talking killed his parched throat. He stood up and looked around slowly. Just a few meters away water lapped on the shore of a rock-strewn beach, the only sign of the plane was the seat that he was in. Pat returned to the depression he awoke in, it was several feet deep, as if something very fast or hard had hit the ground.
"How am I alive?" Pat muttered as his mind began to clear. The blast alone should have killed anyone on the plane and he knew that no one would survive the fall. Wearily Pat walked around the island and discovered it was very small and devoid of any life or help.
Pat sat down with his legs in the water. "Now I really appreciate the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, I would do anything for some water." Pat grumbled to himself. "Or some pain killers." He added. His entire body felt like it had been used as a punching bag, his clothes were mostly gone or in tatters. Pulling what remained of his pants legs up he checked for any wounds, but found none. He then turned his attention to his arms, then twisted them to inspect the underside of his wrist.
"What the hell?" Pat said as he looked at his wrists. On both of them were strange dark blue tattoo's, they resembled Linear B, the Greeks first form of writing, but this was different somehow. Although Pat obviously did not know how to write linear B, he had seen enough of it to know this was different. The tattoos covered his wrists from side to side and ran for about eight inches down his arm. At the bottom of the tattoo on his right arm there was one word that was written in modern day Greek, Atlas it read.
"Ok now this is just way too weird, glad the old man made me learn Greek though." Pat muttered to himself as he looked away from the bizarre tattoos that should not be on his arms. With nothing to do or anyway of trying to find help Pat succumbed to the exhaustion his body felt and fell asleep.
****************** ************************************************
"Logan, Ororo, we have a new mutant to pick up." Charles Xavier said.
"Ok where's this one at Professor?" Wolverine asked in his gruff voice.
"That's what bothering me, it appears that he is about three hundred miles off the coast of Portugal, in the Atlantic ocean. I fear we have to hurry this mutant may be running out of time."
************************** *********************************************
Pat smiled as Sarah blew out her candles on her birthday cake, his mom and dad were both there too. Everyone was getting along and his parents were still married, suddenly his dream switched themes and he was back on the rock island. However, the island was much smaller from his vantage point, he was at least a hundred feet in the air, probably more. A cool wind ruffled his hair and made him shiver.
Pat snapped awake from his strange dream shivering in the cool night air. "What a strange dream." He muttered to himself, still not fully awake. He went to stand up, but then noticed the strange sensation that was in the back of his mind, but had not registered yet. He was floating in mid air. Fear seeped into every bone in his body and he flailed his arms wildly. He began to plummet towards the hard rock of the small island and with a loud crash slammed into the rock bed. A shower of broken rock and dust flew up covering Pat as he fell unconscious.
Minutes later a sleek black jet hovered next to him and the unconscious Pat floated inside the ship.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pat awoke and brought a hand up to his throbbing head. "What a crazy dream that was." He muttered, but fear ran through him as he noticed the wires and tubes attached to him. Quickly he looked around and noticed he was in a hospital bed and was hooked up to several monitors and machines.
"I'm afraid it was no dream, I am glad to see that you awake." Came a voice to the left of Pat, he turned to see the Doctor or nurse, but instead almost jumped out of his skin. A blue furred monster stood right next to his bed reading a document. Pat scrambled out of the bed tearing wires from off him in the process.
"Pat wait!" The beast said hastily as it slowly reached out for Pat.
"Stay away from me." Pat said as he grabbed the monsters outstretched and threw him. As soon as Pat launched the monster he began running down the strange halls of the hospital, he heard a thunderous crash from back in his room. As he sprinted down the corridor a tall guy with red sunglasses stepped out from an elevator.
"Stop, its." The guy tried to say, but Pat shoved him back towards the elevator. Suddenly a red blast of energy lanced out at Pat, on instincts he leaped away, however he had expected to land soon after. Instead he found himself hovering in the air, again he floundered about and fell to the ground. Struggling to his feet he began to run down the corridor again, but suddenly collapsed as a hand fell on his cheek.
Pat awoke again in a similar room and found himself strapped to the bed. Frantically he looked around for the monster, but thankfully it was no where to be seen. There was however a bald man in a wheel chair. Perhaps just now he was waking up, Pat thought to himself, but then why would he be strapped in.
"Where am I? Who are you?" Pat said.
"I am Charles Xavier, your safe here Patrick. Your in Westchester, New York, at my school. We found you in the Atlantic ocean, do you remember what happened?"
"Kinda, how did you find me? What am I doing at a school?"
"This is not just an ordinary school Patrick, it is for people who have special powers and gifts, like yourself."
"What are you talking about, I don't have anything wrong with me." Pat said angrily.
"Well Patrick true there is nothing wrong with you, its just that you are different, your genetic structure is not the same as most humans. You have an X gene that gave you special powers, like the ability to withstand being shot out of the air and plummeting to the earth, like the ability to fly."
Pats mind reeled as Charles spoke, fear and questions consumed him. He began to struggle against the restraints and was surprised when they snapped off, suddenly he began to hover. This time he did not try and flounder, instead he tried to move forward. To his surprise he moved forward, if a bit wobbly.
"Patrick wait, I'm here to help you." Xavier pleaded.
"I don't need help." Pat said as his confidence grew. He shot forward with a burst of speed and flew down the hall rapidly, at the elevator he tried to come to a stop, but failed to do so. Instead he crashed into the wall and slid to the floor.
Despite the severity of the situation Pat chuckled as he got up and ran to the elevator. "Well perhaps a little help, but not from you." Pat said to himself. The elevator opened up to a hallway that belonged in a home, not at all like the facility below. He stepped out and began to walk silently down the hallway, when he saw the same guy with the sunglasses from before. A smaller red beam lanced out and struck Pat in the chest sending him flying backwards down the hall. Pat twisted and hovered for a second before he shot forward in mid air. He flew right through a window and up into the sky.
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Pat hurried from the bushes in the front of his house to his front door, grabbing the key from under the stone he quickly entered his home. He had checked the house and neither his mom or sister were home, so Pat headed straight to his room to shower and get cleaned up. A short while later Pat was pulling on a clean shirt when he heard the door shut downstairs, follow by footsteps upstairs.
The footsteps went past his room, which meant that it most likely was his sister. Quietly Pat left his room and headed down to his sisters room. Standing in the doorway he smiled as he watched Sarah toss several big shopping bags on the floor. Pat rapped on her door lightly, she jumped slightly at the sound and then brought her hands up to her mouth in surprise. She stood there frozen for several long seconds before rushing forward and nearly knocking Pat over.
"They said you were dead." She finally said.
"Well they were wrong, sorry I missed ur b-day sis, I was a um well delayed." Pat said with a grin. Sarah took a step back and hit him lightly in the chest. They headed down to the kitchen, where he made up a complicated lie of how he survived and got home. Pat was glad that she did not question the story too much, but he worried that his mom would not buy it. He certainly was not going to tell them that he could fly or the other strange things that had occurred. As if on cue his mom walked into the kitchen, her grocery bags dropped to the ground in surprise.
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"Xavier took in a new student, but it appears he decided not to stay. You two will be coming with me to recruit him, I tell you this, we will not be leaving without him." Mystique said to the two kids seated before her.
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"Professor are we going after him?" Scott Summers asked.
"Not just yet Scott, I don't think he is ready, we tracked him back to his home in Chicago. I think when the time is right Kitty may be valuable in helping with recruiting him, she grew up just a few town away from him. In fact could you go get Kitty for me."
"Right away Professor." Scott said then quickly exited Xavier's study at the institute.
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Lance Alvers leaned against the wall of the small building and kept his eyes on the road. "You should see him now." Came a voice over the phone he held to his ear. "remember don't over do it Avalanche." Came the female voice again. Lance smirked as he saw a tall guy round the corner, the guy didn't look like anything special, but Lance had learned not to trust first appearances.
"Well whatever your powers are you're going to regret walking down this road chump." Lance said with a grin. The ground began to tremble as Lance gritted his teeth, suddenly a car appeared to loose control and barreled right towards the unaware guy. Lance began to worry that he might have over done it as he saw Mystique in the out of control car slam right into the person they were going to recruit. The screech of brakes sounded as the boy flew back and slammed into an old oak tree.
The old tree groaned under the impact, Lance eyes widened in surprise as the tree began to splinter around the boy and then began to collapse. Mystique stopped the car and rushed towards the boy in one of her many guises.
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"Are you ok?" Asked the woman. Pat shook his head and got to his feet, luckily not too many people were around to see the accident.
"I'm fine." Pat said and began walking away.
"Wait, I understand what you are, it's the only way you survived, I can help you." The woman said.
Pat stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the woman, she now had two boys with her, one was short and skinny, the other tall and brash looking. "I don't need any help." Pat said, his voice getting a bit angrier.
"Yo don't worry man, were like you too, ya see, how else could I do this?" said the strange looking little guy as he leaped onto a high branch and did some impossible acrobatics. The strange display however impressive did little to gain Pat's trust.
The ground began to shake again, but this time Pat was more prepared. He leapt into the air and hovered a few feet off the ground, the woman fell to her knees, the grin on the brash boy's face faded as he watched Pat began to hover safely above the ground.
"Avalanche you idiot stop it. Please just hear me out, we mean to help." The woman said, but Pat did not stick around to give her an answer. A few minutes later he was touching down on his lawn and heading into his house, when a strange car pulled into his drive way. Two attractive girls emerged and approached Pat.
"Hi, are you Patrick Conner?" Asked the brunette girl.
"Yea, what can I do for you?" Pat asked a bit suspiciously.
"Oh great, Hi, I'm Kitty and this is Jean. I'm from Northbrook, I thought we might have a word." Kitty said trying to sound as innocuous as possible; the whole recruitment thing was all too new to her.
"Nice to meet you both, but what do you want to talk about?" Pat asked his concerns growing, he really did not want any more talk about him being a freak.
"Uh well I'm kinda like you in a way, I mean I have like special gifts too. Would it be ok if we talked inside?"
"I don't know what your talking about, I think it would be best if you left." Pat said sternly. Suddenly there was a strange tingling sensation in his head, then the one called Jean cried out in pain as she dropped to the ground. Kitty rushed towards her fallen friend and tried to help her up.
"Jean what happened?" Kitty pleaded.
"Tried mental probe." Jean said weakly then passed out, Kitty looked up at the confused Pat.
"What did you do to her?" She hissed.
"Nothing, I mean I don't know, I felt a tingling in my head then she collapsed. I didn't mean to do anything." Pat stammered.
"Here help me with her." Kitty said. Pat bent down and picked up the fallen girl to carry her to the car.
"You have to drive, I cant." Kitty said, her face turning a bit crimson. Pat grabbed the keys and followed her directions to the forest preserve, to his surprise they drove into the woods slightly and stopped at the base of a sleek looking black aircraft. Not asking questions Pat carried the stricken girl aboard and grimaced when he saw the guy that had energy beams for eyes in the cockpit.
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"Jean is going to be fine, it appears Patrick has some sort of defense against mental probes, even I can not try and read his thoughts, it is truly amazing really. I only probed lightly so I did not receive a strong retaliation, Jean must have tried a stronger probe. Prep the Blackbird Scott I think it would be best if we returned Patrick to his home." Charles Xavier said.
Scott Summers nodded and headed out of the medical lab. A room over Pat sat alone on a chair, hoping he did not hurt the girl too badly. He stood as the man named Charles Xavier entered.
"Is she ok?" Pat asked.
"Yes she is fine, just a bit tired."
"What did I do to her?" Pat asked tentatively, his eyes drooped in shame.
"Well Patrick, it appears you have some sort of shield against telepathic probes, mind reading if you prefer. When someone tries to probe your mind it retaliates with a proportionate amount of strength."
"She was trying to read my mind, how?" Pat asked the disbelief in his voice barely masked.
"She has special gifts, just like you Patrick, she is a telepath and has telekinetic powers. You see people with these gifts have genes the different than that of regular humans, they are evolved, we call it the X- gene. This X-gene it is active in a person, usually grants them some sort of special ability, like Scott and his ability to fire energy beams from his eyes. We are prepping the plane you came on to take you home, we don't want to frighten your mother again with your disappearance."
"So I have this X-gene?"
"Yes you do. Patrick, the door to my school is always open if you need a place to go, don't ever hesitate to call on us for anything."
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"Pat, I know you have had a rough last few weeks, but if your not going to pay attention at all maybe it would be best for you to take a little more time at home." Pat's English teacher, Mr. Danvers said. It had been a week since his trip to New York and all he could think of was what Charles Xavier had told him.
"I'm sorry Mr. Danvers, don't worry I'll pay attention, I'm fine."
"I know you'll deal with it Pat, but you don't have to endure it yourself, its ok to ask for help every once and a while." Danvers said placing a hand on Pat shoulder.
"Thanks, I know, really I am ok, don't worry. I'll see you in class tomorrow." Pat said as he began to back out of class. Mr. Danvers was a good guy, but Pat was getting sick of people trying to help me. Throwing his books in his locker he headed to the locker room to change for his lacrosse game.
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Pat pivoted quickly as the defender brought his long stick down in a stick check, he rushed by the off balance defender and bee lined for the net. Another defender outside Pat's vision barreled towards him, this defender was several inches taller and quite a lot bigger though. The defender slammed into Pat's right side, expecting to run right over him, instead his stick bent around the smaller Pat and the boy feel back as if he hit a brick wall. Pat rifled the ball into the net and turned to look at the defender that hit him. The boy was still on the ground, his long stick was bent in two.
"Conner over here and hurry." Cried his coach.
"Dude Conner, you ok? I mean that hit should have flattened you?" Said one of Pat's teammates.
"Uh yea I'm fine, just got lucky I guess." Pat said and hurried over to his coach.
"I don't know what kind of game your thinking of playing, but you take too many more hits like that and you wont make it through the season, you got luck on that one, you hear me?"
"Yes coach." Pat said, however his coach was never too keen on giving out compliments, criticism was his specialty. The school trainer ran onto the field towards the defender that hit Pat, the boy still had not moved. Moments later the boy was on a stretched and being taken to the hospital, while most of his teammates thought it was awesome that Pat had taken down such a huge kid, Pat was not too happy, only terrified.
The game finished up and Pat skipped the team dinner to head home, he was not in the mood for any more talk of his "toughness" as his teammates were calling it. After a brief talk with his mom he headed straight to his room to lay down.
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A light knock sounded on Pats door disturbing his nap, "Come in."
Pat's mom slowly walked into his room and sat on the end of his bed. By the expression on her face he could tell something was bothering her.
"What's up mom?"
"Pat I'm worried about you, is there anything wrong? You haven't seemed yourself." She asked, her voice wrought with concern.
"I'm fine mom, don't worry."
"Son, I gave birth to you and raised you, don't think you can hide anything from me. You know its alright to talk about your problems, I'll understand."
"Really I'm fine, just been tired lately, there's nothing wrong."
His mom leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the forehead.
"Ok then get some rest." She said as she headed for the door, but stopped before she closed it. "You know its ok to ask for help every once in a while." She said, then closed the door.
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"Patrick, I'm worried about him, he has been acting strange lately, I think the whole event effected him horribly some way."
"Cassie, I think your overreacting, the boy is fine."
"Patrick this is your son were talking about, he's too much like you, always has to solve his problems by himself, not once has he ever asked for help, just like you. I swear is there is a stubborn gene you definitely gave it to him." Cassie Conner said a bit angrily.
"Calm down, his a strong kid, he'll figure out whatever is bothering him, just give him a little more time."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
With a few more mishaps the strain of keeping his strange abilities a secret was beginning to take its toll. After he injured two more people in lacrosse he had to fake an injury and sit the rest of the season out so that he did not hurt any other kids. Also he had broken his bed just recently when he awoke floating in the air and crashed to his bed. These occurrences though troublesome, but what really concerned Pat were the results from his research on the mutant mater. He had seen a blurb here or there in the news before, but he had never realized just how much of an issue it had become. It seemed that mutants had few advocates and many enemies, not the results Pat needed to find upon discovering he himself was one of these mutants.
These were the thoughts that raced through Pat's mind as he walked through the streets of downtown Chicago. He often came to the city in the last few weeks, just to walk the streets among the masses where anyone who saw him would think him a normal teenage boy. It was in these moments of anonymity that Pat was at peace; here he could be anyone or anything he wanted. Pat was snapped from his revere when he felt someone run into him. The person was a haggard looking man with a backpack strapped tightly to him. Pat was going to ask the guy if he was ok, when the strange looking man pushed off Pat and ran towards the street. A limousine was just pulling up as the man reached the edge of the sidewalk, Pat looked back once at the strange man then continued his walk.
A wave of heat and tortured metal slammed into Pat's back tossing him into the air. The deafening roar was so sudden that Pat could hardly register it, everything seemed distant and surreal for that first second. Painfully reality returned as Pat sailed through the air and crashed through a store front window. Fire and debris followed soon after as Pat struggled to his feet. His closes were ripped and scorched, but concern for himself was fleeting as his gaze fell on the street. Bodies lay dead in the street others writhed in pain as they struggled to move. A small crater where the limousine had pulled up was all that remained of the car. Bystanders that had not been caught in the explosion rushed to the wounded, others just stood in horror. Out of the chaos a man appeared so suddenly, the strange man bent and carefully picked up an injured child. An instant later Pat was watching the man run away with super human speed. As Pat stood up in the display window of the store a man ran up to him and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Son I think you should try not to move." The man said as his eyes moved over Pat's body. Pat certainly did not feel good, but he didn't feel injured severely in any way. He then glanced down at himself, his clothes were mostly gone, his skin was covered in soot and blood, though not his own.
"Hey I need some help over here, this kid is hurt real bad." The guy said to some other helpers. A woman came over to stand next to the man and brought her hand up to her mouth as she looked at Pat. The thought of people trying to help him when he really was ok made Pat feel sick to his stomach. Pat leapt forward and at first floundered a bit in the air, but then he shot upwards into the sky as fast as a spooked bird.
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