And he woke up, had a splitting headache, didn't remember anything
whatsoever, left Max to rot, forgot he was a mutant, found himself a nice
home, had a small family and died at the age of seventy-eight.
WHAT the HELL am I saying!?! Gee, I need help and not form the cranberry juice, thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 9:
Nathan woke up face down on the pavement beside two dead bodies and two other further away. It was now raining softly, and Nathan realized that his trench coat was soaked. He must have been laying there for a while. He checked the dead people and their bodies were cold, proving what he thought. He didn't remember well what had happened, like if it was hidden in his mind in an unreachable place. He only vaguely recalled fighting the men and having received a bullet near the heart. He touched his chest, and felt the hole in his shirt, the line of blood, but no visible mark or wound.
"Strange," He thought, walking back to his car.
He picked up his gun beside one of the bodies and stopped in front of the backseat window. Max was there, not moving. Nathan hurriedly opened the door and checked his pulse. It was still there, but not for long. The blanket he had put on his chest was now saturated in crimson blood. He put another blanket on him and sat in the driver's place, restarting the engine.
He made a U-turn and passed the black car. The time on the radio showed five in the morning. He started speeding again, wanting to reach Westchester as fast as he could. He got lost two times, but finally arrived in front of a large metal gate near witch the words 'Xavier's school for gifted youngsters' were engraved in a black plate. He stopped in front and walked out of the car. Near the gate was a little intercom. He pressed on the red button, and a buzzing noise was heard.
"Yes, can I help you?" a man's voice said.
"I need to speak to Doctor Jean Grey, please," he said. "Does she live here?"
"Yes, she does," the man said. "You can enter."
The gate opened and Nathan was able to drive the car through. He passed a line of trees, seeing how vast the property was. It was spring, but flowers were already blossoming everywhere.
Nathan heard Max whine.
"Where there brother," he said friendly. "Hold on."
His eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw the huge mansion appear in front of him.
"Wow," he whispered with a whistle.
He parked in front of the door and saw a man with funky red sunglasses on walking towards him. He got out of the vehicle.
"Scott Summers," the man said giving him his hand.
Nathan shook it.
"Nathaniel Cage," he said.
"What's the problem?" Scott asked.
"I need to see Dr. Grey," he said, knowing that he was repeating himself. "My friend's hurt badly, and he needs medical attention. He's a mutant, like me."
"She's on her way," he said. "Let's get him out of the car," he continued, seeing the person in the backseat.
At that moment, a beautiful woman with flaming red hair walked out the front door and marched forwards, followed by a very strong looking man with a cigar in his mouth. The lady smiled at Nathan but the other man just gave him a defiant stare for half a second.
"I'm Jean Grey," she said, before walking to the now open door showing Max still body and the blood covered blanket.
"Scott, get a stretcher," she said to the man with the red glasses. We need to get him to the med lab."
"What happened?" she asked, once he was gone inside.
"Got beat up, became a mutant," Nathan said simply, not wanting to go into details.
The man with the cigar raised an eyebrow.
"What's his mutation?" she asked, still leaned over Max's body.
"Sort of floating in air," Nathan said, looking carefully at what she was doing.
Scott came back with a stretcher, accompanied by a white haired, dark skinned beauty.
She smiled at Nathan and helped the man with the cigar and Dr. Grey put his friend on it without hurting him. The stretcher was pushed into the mansion and Nathan was motioned to follow them He would have followed his friend anyway.
Inside, he saw many teenagers his age walking around, talking.
"So this is the school for mutants," he though, following the little group.
They entered an elevator and Nathan felt them going down. It stopped and the door opened, revealing a very clean hallway. They walked down one of the passages and ended in a large medical room. Jean took off Max's shirt and looked at the damage. She frowned.
Scott, the cigar man, the white-haired woman and Nathan walked further away to let her work. Nathan saw her plug him to a machine, install a breathing mask on his nose and mouth and put IV tubes in his arms. After that, she put on a doctor's tunic and passed a curtain around the medical table to block their view.
The three other people walked out after fifteen minutes and proposed Nathan to come, but he preferred staying.
The operation was long, but Nathan didn't budge, his eyes fixed on the shadow moving on the other side of the curtain. An hour and a half later, it was finished.
"He'll be alright," she told Nathan after the operation. "He'll just need a few blood transfusions."
"Thank you," Nathan said gratefully.
"Now come, Professor Xavier would like to meet you," she said, walking to the door, and then to the elevator. Nathan followed her after a last look at Max.
He followed her up to the first floor and entered an office. A bald, friendly looking man sat in a wheelchair on the other side of the large wooden desk where papers, books and folders were neatly placed.
"Hello, Nathan," he said with a smile. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier. I run this school."
"Pleased to meet you," Nathan said politely, offering his hand, which he shook.
A nock was heard on the door and a few people entered the room.
"Ah, everybody, this is Nathaniel Cage," he said to them. "You already now Doctor Jean Grey, and Scott Summers, I presume," he said, showing him the first two persons. "Mr. Summers is also known as Cyclops. He teaches mechanics and mathematics. Ororo Monroe is also known as Storm," the professor continued, indicating the white-haired beauty. "Miss Monroe teaches history and English classes to our students. And this man here is Logan, also called Wolverine, a . . . euh . . . part time resident at the school"
Nathan shook Scott and Ororo's hand, then turned to Logan his hand outstretched. Nate gave him the same defiant stare the Wolverine had given him earlier. A small, interested smirk curved the man's lips lightly and he shook the boy's hand. It was something that left the three other peoples' jaw drop in surprise. The Wolverine was more of the type to stay in his corner without addressing a word to anyone, unless if it was an insult. He wasn't the social type, but he seemed to like the boy. They all sat down.
"Dr. Grey teaches the students how to control their powers," the professor said. "You came here looking for her. Who is your friend and how come you knew where to find Dr. Grey?" he asked, not wanting to use his power to discover.
"My friend's Maxim West," Nathan said, answering his first question. "We come from Ontario. I got into a fight after school at the end of October, and I became a mutant, after that. Max helped be out, and stuff, even if he wasn't a mutant. Afterwards, I got hit by a car and I fell into coma for three months. My parents and the doctors discovered that I was a mutant, and when I woke up, I escaped with Max, because my parents called this mutant facility to come and get me, and of course, I didn't want to go. We had lots of fun and all, but when we were in New York, these guys from the MDF came and beat up Max because he hanged around a mutant. I found him and he sort of started floating a few inches from the ground in the hotel room. I knew Dr. Grey from the anti-mutant registration thing on T.V. I started studying stuff on mutants when I knew I was one and I got this address."
"What's your mutation?" Jean asked to Nathan.
"I . . . I don't really know," he said hesitantly. "Sort of like a werewolf. I mean two different persons with different points of view. The first thing that appeared were my fangs. They disappear and reappear, but I don't know how."
"Nathan," the professor said. "I'm telepathic, and when you entered the school I tried to enter your mind, but I don't understand your two personalities. A part related to those two persons is locked by your mind shields, one is open where you have nothing to hide, and the other is so strongly locked away I don't even think you can tell me about it," he said, interested by the boy's mind.
Nathan stared.
He knew that the 'room' related between his two personalities was filled with information about his criminal life. One of the personalities was himself, how he had always known himself, but the other; he just plain didn't remember anything. It was the person that had killed the four men in the back alley. He didn't want to talk about what he had seen in the back alley, so he shut it away in his mind so that the Professor couldn't reach it either.
"I don't know professor," he said. "What do you think my mutation is?"
"I think that you have the capability of transforming your emotions into another self.
Those characters all have different ways of doing things, and I might even add, maybe all have different capabilities, in terms of mutanisim."
Nathan didn't say anything.
"You can stay here as long as you like Nathan. Dr. Grey might find a way to help you control your mutation, as well as your friend," the professor said. "Scott can show you to your room, as I see that you need a good sleep."
Nathan thanked him, and walked out of the room, followed by Jean, Logan, Ororo and Scott, who walked up the stairs and walked down the hallway.
Nathan ended up sleeping in a single room on the second floor. Scott had settled him there because he wasn't a student, so he couldn't sleep in the dormitories with the other boys. Nathan's bags had been brought up, and Scott left, telling him that he had a class to give. Nathan looked at his watch and read nine a.m.
"What a day," he thought, taking off his wet cloak.
He stretched, looking around the room he had been given. It was simple, but elegant, in an old-fashioned way. Everything was made of wood: the bad frame, the desk and the chair, the closet, the nigh table. It was cozy, and Nate felt at home for the first time since he had left Ontario.
He took off his shoes and socks and dropped into his bed without taking the time of pushing the covers or changing. He fell asleep almost instantly, knowing that he was safe.
Four hours later, Nathan woke up by shouts coming from outside and the dribbling rhythm of a ball. He buried his head under his pillow, trying to block the noise, but it was no use. He pushed the pillow away furiously and jumped to the side of the bed. He walked to the window and opened it fully, looking at the grounds.
Some of the students were playing basketball. The glare in Nathan's eyes was replaced by a mix of sadness, curiosity and interest.
He thought of the team he had led, back in Ontario. They would have played their match against Bloomingdale High a few weeks ago, but without Nate or Max to lead them, they sucked. It was certain that they had lost.
A boy his age passed the ball to a blond boy with a red shirt. He dribbled his way across the court, contouring two of his adversaries, and scored. He was good.
Nathan kept looking at the game, until he had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched. He looked around the basketball court, to see if anyone was looking at him. Other mutant students were walking around, sitting on stone benches further away, talking or playing cards. Some in the back were using their mutations in friendly fights. He looked under a bunch of trees and a flashing color caught his eye. He saw an Asian girl around seventeen, like him, wearing a bright yellow vest. Even if she was far away, Nathan could clearly see that her eyes were a deep blue, which was strange for an Asian person. She and the girl next to her were giggling, looking straight at him.
He smiled viciously, rolled his eyes and walked back inside. He took his trench coat and put it on as he walked to the exit. He put on his socks and shoes before opening the door, then walked out. He walked down the hallway, crossing many students who stared at him questioningly. He really wasn't the type of student you saw in this school usually, with his blue tipped hair, pierced left ear and clothes that looked to come right out of a Matrix movie. He was lucky his gun wasn't visible, tucked in his pants in his back.
He got to the elevator and pressed the same button Dr. Grey had pushed when they were going to the medical laboratory. When the elevator stopped and the door opened, he was tempted to go look on the other side of the hallway, but remembered Max. He slowly pushed the lab's large metal door and entered.
He quickly realized that no one was there, but he didn't care. He pulled one of the seats up to Max's bed, the chair's legs making an awful noise on the floor. Machines were still plugged to his friend, indicating his blood pressure, pulse, breathing pressure and other things Nathan didn't recall seeing in his hospital room, when he was in coma.
One of the machines showed a sample of Max's blood and Nate saw a globule different than the others, propaging itself slowly. The X-gene.
Fifteen minutes passed and Nathan didn't move from his seat, simply listening to the breathing machine's regular noises. He could see that whatever Jean had done to Max was doing him well.
An hour passed and a change in Max's breathing and heart pulse was heard and seen. Nathan saw his friend open his eyes, staring at the ceiling.
"Maxim!" He shouted with joy.
Max moved his arm slowly and pulled off the mask in front of his nose and mouth. "What the hell happened?" he said looking around the room.
"Max, you're a mutant," Nate said, knowing that the news would please his friend, since it was what he'd always dreamed of.
His friend's eyes brightened and a smile appeared on his lips.
"Really?" He said brightly, getting into an upwards position. "I'm a mutant?"
At that moment, the door opened rather quickly and Dr. Grey appeared in the entrance.
"I see you've wakened, Maxim," she said, walking to the machines to check that everything was okay.
"I'm a mutant?" Max asked again, this time to the doctor.
"Yes you are," she answered, smiling at his joyfulness.
"What do I do?" he asked cautiously, once he was finished his merry expression.
"Flotation in air," Jean said, looking at his blood pressure on the machine. "Maybe even flying."
"Cool!" he exclaimed. "Euh . . . where am I?"
"Xavier's school for gifted youngsters," Nathan answered. "For mutants, actually. I've talked to the dude. He's cool."
Jean almost laughed out loud.
~The dude's cool,~ she said again in her head. Now that was something she'd remember a long time.
"What happened?" Max continued, rubbing his bandaged ribs.
"The beating in the alley," Nathan reminded him. "I'm really sorry Max. I didn't know they'd go this far."
"It's okay, 'cause I didn't either!" Max said, almost cheerfully.
They both laughed.
He talked to Max a bit more, then left him to be inspected by Dr. Grey. He took the elevator, wondering if it was possible for him to have a meal. He arrived on the first floor and made a detour so he wouldn't pass in front of the common room, which would be full of students.
He found the kitchen at the other end, and entered it. He found himself lucky of not having been stopped by other students. He found prepared sandwiches on the counter, and took one. He sat on one of the high chairs next to a little bar next to the window. He ate it slowly, thinking of nothing in particular when he saw a girl his age just walk through the wall, into the room in which he was. He recognized her as the girl that was next to the yellow jacket one outside, staring at him. She had short brown hair that fell lightly to her shoulders, was wearing jeans and a white top on top of which was a light blue vest. She was pretty, he thought.
He must have been looking stunned of seeing her just cross the wall like that because she laughed.
"Hey there," she said friendlily. "Who are you?"
"Nathaniel Cage," he answered. "And what's your name? Or don't angels have names?"
She blushed lightly and smiled honestly.
"Katherine Pryde," she said. "You can call me Kitty. Everyone does."
"You can simply call me Nathan, Nate. Whatever you want," he said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Only really constipated people call me Nathaniel."
"Ah, Nathaniel there you are," Scott said, entering the room.
To his wonder, the two teenagers in front of him burst out laughing.
"Nathan," Nate corrected him. "Just Nathan."
"Okay, okay." Scott said, still wondering what they were up to. "I see you've met Shadowcat. Have you thought of an alias, by the way?" he asked.
"No," Nate said, taking the last bite of his sandwich. "But I'll think of it."
"Jubilee's looking for you, Kitty," Scott said to her. "She's in the garden."
Kitty, who was leaning on the wall, got up and walked to the wall.
"Nice meeting you . . . Nate," she said with a smile.
Nathan smiled back.
"Bye," he said as she walked out of the room by the wall.
Scott smirked, and Nate turned to him questioningly.
"Well, you've got a way with girls," he said mock all over his face.
Nate smiled arrogantly, without hiding his fangs.
They didn't go unnoticed by Scott.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
review . . . review . . . review . . . review . . .
WHAT the HELL am I saying!?! Gee, I need help and not form the cranberry juice, thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 9:
Nathan woke up face down on the pavement beside two dead bodies and two other further away. It was now raining softly, and Nathan realized that his trench coat was soaked. He must have been laying there for a while. He checked the dead people and their bodies were cold, proving what he thought. He didn't remember well what had happened, like if it was hidden in his mind in an unreachable place. He only vaguely recalled fighting the men and having received a bullet near the heart. He touched his chest, and felt the hole in his shirt, the line of blood, but no visible mark or wound.
"Strange," He thought, walking back to his car.
He picked up his gun beside one of the bodies and stopped in front of the backseat window. Max was there, not moving. Nathan hurriedly opened the door and checked his pulse. It was still there, but not for long. The blanket he had put on his chest was now saturated in crimson blood. He put another blanket on him and sat in the driver's place, restarting the engine.
He made a U-turn and passed the black car. The time on the radio showed five in the morning. He started speeding again, wanting to reach Westchester as fast as he could. He got lost two times, but finally arrived in front of a large metal gate near witch the words 'Xavier's school for gifted youngsters' were engraved in a black plate. He stopped in front and walked out of the car. Near the gate was a little intercom. He pressed on the red button, and a buzzing noise was heard.
"Yes, can I help you?" a man's voice said.
"I need to speak to Doctor Jean Grey, please," he said. "Does she live here?"
"Yes, she does," the man said. "You can enter."
The gate opened and Nathan was able to drive the car through. He passed a line of trees, seeing how vast the property was. It was spring, but flowers were already blossoming everywhere.
Nathan heard Max whine.
"Where there brother," he said friendly. "Hold on."
His eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw the huge mansion appear in front of him.
"Wow," he whispered with a whistle.
He parked in front of the door and saw a man with funky red sunglasses on walking towards him. He got out of the vehicle.
"Scott Summers," the man said giving him his hand.
Nathan shook it.
"Nathaniel Cage," he said.
"What's the problem?" Scott asked.
"I need to see Dr. Grey," he said, knowing that he was repeating himself. "My friend's hurt badly, and he needs medical attention. He's a mutant, like me."
"She's on her way," he said. "Let's get him out of the car," he continued, seeing the person in the backseat.
At that moment, a beautiful woman with flaming red hair walked out the front door and marched forwards, followed by a very strong looking man with a cigar in his mouth. The lady smiled at Nathan but the other man just gave him a defiant stare for half a second.
"I'm Jean Grey," she said, before walking to the now open door showing Max still body and the blood covered blanket.
"Scott, get a stretcher," she said to the man with the red glasses. We need to get him to the med lab."
"What happened?" she asked, once he was gone inside.
"Got beat up, became a mutant," Nathan said simply, not wanting to go into details.
The man with the cigar raised an eyebrow.
"What's his mutation?" she asked, still leaned over Max's body.
"Sort of floating in air," Nathan said, looking carefully at what she was doing.
Scott came back with a stretcher, accompanied by a white haired, dark skinned beauty.
She smiled at Nathan and helped the man with the cigar and Dr. Grey put his friend on it without hurting him. The stretcher was pushed into the mansion and Nathan was motioned to follow them He would have followed his friend anyway.
Inside, he saw many teenagers his age walking around, talking.
"So this is the school for mutants," he though, following the little group.
They entered an elevator and Nathan felt them going down. It stopped and the door opened, revealing a very clean hallway. They walked down one of the passages and ended in a large medical room. Jean took off Max's shirt and looked at the damage. She frowned.
Scott, the cigar man, the white-haired woman and Nathan walked further away to let her work. Nathan saw her plug him to a machine, install a breathing mask on his nose and mouth and put IV tubes in his arms. After that, she put on a doctor's tunic and passed a curtain around the medical table to block their view.
The three other people walked out after fifteen minutes and proposed Nathan to come, but he preferred staying.
The operation was long, but Nathan didn't budge, his eyes fixed on the shadow moving on the other side of the curtain. An hour and a half later, it was finished.
"He'll be alright," she told Nathan after the operation. "He'll just need a few blood transfusions."
"Thank you," Nathan said gratefully.
"Now come, Professor Xavier would like to meet you," she said, walking to the door, and then to the elevator. Nathan followed her after a last look at Max.
He followed her up to the first floor and entered an office. A bald, friendly looking man sat in a wheelchair on the other side of the large wooden desk where papers, books and folders were neatly placed.
"Hello, Nathan," he said with a smile. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier. I run this school."
"Pleased to meet you," Nathan said politely, offering his hand, which he shook.
A nock was heard on the door and a few people entered the room.
"Ah, everybody, this is Nathaniel Cage," he said to them. "You already now Doctor Jean Grey, and Scott Summers, I presume," he said, showing him the first two persons. "Mr. Summers is also known as Cyclops. He teaches mechanics and mathematics. Ororo Monroe is also known as Storm," the professor continued, indicating the white-haired beauty. "Miss Monroe teaches history and English classes to our students. And this man here is Logan, also called Wolverine, a . . . euh . . . part time resident at the school"
Nathan shook Scott and Ororo's hand, then turned to Logan his hand outstretched. Nate gave him the same defiant stare the Wolverine had given him earlier. A small, interested smirk curved the man's lips lightly and he shook the boy's hand. It was something that left the three other peoples' jaw drop in surprise. The Wolverine was more of the type to stay in his corner without addressing a word to anyone, unless if it was an insult. He wasn't the social type, but he seemed to like the boy. They all sat down.
"Dr. Grey teaches the students how to control their powers," the professor said. "You came here looking for her. Who is your friend and how come you knew where to find Dr. Grey?" he asked, not wanting to use his power to discover.
"My friend's Maxim West," Nathan said, answering his first question. "We come from Ontario. I got into a fight after school at the end of October, and I became a mutant, after that. Max helped be out, and stuff, even if he wasn't a mutant. Afterwards, I got hit by a car and I fell into coma for three months. My parents and the doctors discovered that I was a mutant, and when I woke up, I escaped with Max, because my parents called this mutant facility to come and get me, and of course, I didn't want to go. We had lots of fun and all, but when we were in New York, these guys from the MDF came and beat up Max because he hanged around a mutant. I found him and he sort of started floating a few inches from the ground in the hotel room. I knew Dr. Grey from the anti-mutant registration thing on T.V. I started studying stuff on mutants when I knew I was one and I got this address."
"What's your mutation?" Jean asked to Nathan.
"I . . . I don't really know," he said hesitantly. "Sort of like a werewolf. I mean two different persons with different points of view. The first thing that appeared were my fangs. They disappear and reappear, but I don't know how."
"Nathan," the professor said. "I'm telepathic, and when you entered the school I tried to enter your mind, but I don't understand your two personalities. A part related to those two persons is locked by your mind shields, one is open where you have nothing to hide, and the other is so strongly locked away I don't even think you can tell me about it," he said, interested by the boy's mind.
Nathan stared.
He knew that the 'room' related between his two personalities was filled with information about his criminal life. One of the personalities was himself, how he had always known himself, but the other; he just plain didn't remember anything. It was the person that had killed the four men in the back alley. He didn't want to talk about what he had seen in the back alley, so he shut it away in his mind so that the Professor couldn't reach it either.
"I don't know professor," he said. "What do you think my mutation is?"
"I think that you have the capability of transforming your emotions into another self.
Those characters all have different ways of doing things, and I might even add, maybe all have different capabilities, in terms of mutanisim."
Nathan didn't say anything.
"You can stay here as long as you like Nathan. Dr. Grey might find a way to help you control your mutation, as well as your friend," the professor said. "Scott can show you to your room, as I see that you need a good sleep."
Nathan thanked him, and walked out of the room, followed by Jean, Logan, Ororo and Scott, who walked up the stairs and walked down the hallway.
Nathan ended up sleeping in a single room on the second floor. Scott had settled him there because he wasn't a student, so he couldn't sleep in the dormitories with the other boys. Nathan's bags had been brought up, and Scott left, telling him that he had a class to give. Nathan looked at his watch and read nine a.m.
"What a day," he thought, taking off his wet cloak.
He stretched, looking around the room he had been given. It was simple, but elegant, in an old-fashioned way. Everything was made of wood: the bad frame, the desk and the chair, the closet, the nigh table. It was cozy, and Nate felt at home for the first time since he had left Ontario.
He took off his shoes and socks and dropped into his bed without taking the time of pushing the covers or changing. He fell asleep almost instantly, knowing that he was safe.
Four hours later, Nathan woke up by shouts coming from outside and the dribbling rhythm of a ball. He buried his head under his pillow, trying to block the noise, but it was no use. He pushed the pillow away furiously and jumped to the side of the bed. He walked to the window and opened it fully, looking at the grounds.
Some of the students were playing basketball. The glare in Nathan's eyes was replaced by a mix of sadness, curiosity and interest.
He thought of the team he had led, back in Ontario. They would have played their match against Bloomingdale High a few weeks ago, but without Nate or Max to lead them, they sucked. It was certain that they had lost.
A boy his age passed the ball to a blond boy with a red shirt. He dribbled his way across the court, contouring two of his adversaries, and scored. He was good.
Nathan kept looking at the game, until he had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched. He looked around the basketball court, to see if anyone was looking at him. Other mutant students were walking around, sitting on stone benches further away, talking or playing cards. Some in the back were using their mutations in friendly fights. He looked under a bunch of trees and a flashing color caught his eye. He saw an Asian girl around seventeen, like him, wearing a bright yellow vest. Even if she was far away, Nathan could clearly see that her eyes were a deep blue, which was strange for an Asian person. She and the girl next to her were giggling, looking straight at him.
He smiled viciously, rolled his eyes and walked back inside. He took his trench coat and put it on as he walked to the exit. He put on his socks and shoes before opening the door, then walked out. He walked down the hallway, crossing many students who stared at him questioningly. He really wasn't the type of student you saw in this school usually, with his blue tipped hair, pierced left ear and clothes that looked to come right out of a Matrix movie. He was lucky his gun wasn't visible, tucked in his pants in his back.
He got to the elevator and pressed the same button Dr. Grey had pushed when they were going to the medical laboratory. When the elevator stopped and the door opened, he was tempted to go look on the other side of the hallway, but remembered Max. He slowly pushed the lab's large metal door and entered.
He quickly realized that no one was there, but he didn't care. He pulled one of the seats up to Max's bed, the chair's legs making an awful noise on the floor. Machines were still plugged to his friend, indicating his blood pressure, pulse, breathing pressure and other things Nathan didn't recall seeing in his hospital room, when he was in coma.
One of the machines showed a sample of Max's blood and Nate saw a globule different than the others, propaging itself slowly. The X-gene.
Fifteen minutes passed and Nathan didn't move from his seat, simply listening to the breathing machine's regular noises. He could see that whatever Jean had done to Max was doing him well.
An hour passed and a change in Max's breathing and heart pulse was heard and seen. Nathan saw his friend open his eyes, staring at the ceiling.
"Maxim!" He shouted with joy.
Max moved his arm slowly and pulled off the mask in front of his nose and mouth. "What the hell happened?" he said looking around the room.
"Max, you're a mutant," Nate said, knowing that the news would please his friend, since it was what he'd always dreamed of.
His friend's eyes brightened and a smile appeared on his lips.
"Really?" He said brightly, getting into an upwards position. "I'm a mutant?"
At that moment, the door opened rather quickly and Dr. Grey appeared in the entrance.
"I see you've wakened, Maxim," she said, walking to the machines to check that everything was okay.
"I'm a mutant?" Max asked again, this time to the doctor.
"Yes you are," she answered, smiling at his joyfulness.
"What do I do?" he asked cautiously, once he was finished his merry expression.
"Flotation in air," Jean said, looking at his blood pressure on the machine. "Maybe even flying."
"Cool!" he exclaimed. "Euh . . . where am I?"
"Xavier's school for gifted youngsters," Nathan answered. "For mutants, actually. I've talked to the dude. He's cool."
Jean almost laughed out loud.
~The dude's cool,~ she said again in her head. Now that was something she'd remember a long time.
"What happened?" Max continued, rubbing his bandaged ribs.
"The beating in the alley," Nathan reminded him. "I'm really sorry Max. I didn't know they'd go this far."
"It's okay, 'cause I didn't either!" Max said, almost cheerfully.
They both laughed.
He talked to Max a bit more, then left him to be inspected by Dr. Grey. He took the elevator, wondering if it was possible for him to have a meal. He arrived on the first floor and made a detour so he wouldn't pass in front of the common room, which would be full of students.
He found the kitchen at the other end, and entered it. He found himself lucky of not having been stopped by other students. He found prepared sandwiches on the counter, and took one. He sat on one of the high chairs next to a little bar next to the window. He ate it slowly, thinking of nothing in particular when he saw a girl his age just walk through the wall, into the room in which he was. He recognized her as the girl that was next to the yellow jacket one outside, staring at him. She had short brown hair that fell lightly to her shoulders, was wearing jeans and a white top on top of which was a light blue vest. She was pretty, he thought.
He must have been looking stunned of seeing her just cross the wall like that because she laughed.
"Hey there," she said friendlily. "Who are you?"
"Nathaniel Cage," he answered. "And what's your name? Or don't angels have names?"
She blushed lightly and smiled honestly.
"Katherine Pryde," she said. "You can call me Kitty. Everyone does."
"You can simply call me Nathan, Nate. Whatever you want," he said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Only really constipated people call me Nathaniel."
"Ah, Nathaniel there you are," Scott said, entering the room.
To his wonder, the two teenagers in front of him burst out laughing.
"Nathan," Nate corrected him. "Just Nathan."
"Okay, okay." Scott said, still wondering what they were up to. "I see you've met Shadowcat. Have you thought of an alias, by the way?" he asked.
"No," Nate said, taking the last bite of his sandwich. "But I'll think of it."
"Jubilee's looking for you, Kitty," Scott said to her. "She's in the garden."
Kitty, who was leaning on the wall, got up and walked to the wall.
"Nice meeting you . . . Nate," she said with a smile.
Nathan smiled back.
"Bye," he said as she walked out of the room by the wall.
Scott smirked, and Nate turned to him questioningly.
"Well, you've got a way with girls," he said mock all over his face.
Nate smiled arrogantly, without hiding his fangs.
They didn't go unnoticed by Scott.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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