Chapter One: Born Different

"Would Gary Rosiçky please report to the Headmaster's office immediately."

I groaned as I heard my name called over the tannoy; the message I had been expecting all afternoon. I gulped down the remaining contents of my can of Coke, crushed it in one hand, and aimed it at the bin. It bounced off the rim and landed on the ground nearby. I couldn't be bothered picking it up and putting it in. I grabbed my schoolbag and began to head for the main school building. Glancing around, I saw the slim, petite figure of my older sister, Annie, as she walked over to pick up the squashed Coke can and drop it in the bin. She looked up at me with a slightly disapproving expression, doubtless fretting over the environmental effects of not putting litter in the bin properly. Big deal. I turned away.

It was hot inside the school building, away from the pleasant cool breeze outside, and my already bad mood turned increasingly more sour as I climbed the stairs to the Head's office. I yawned involuntarily and glanced at my watch. Lunch break was almost over, and with any luck my talk with the Headmaster would enable me to miss the first few minutes of my maths class. As I got to his office, I glanced inside, and saw there was already somebody in there with him: one of the science teachers. The Head looked up and saw me.

"I'm a little busy right now, Gary," he said. "Could you wait outside, please?"

I sighed impatiently, and sat down on one of the uncomfortable plastic seats outside of his office. How long was he going to take? What was the point of calling me up to his office if he wasn't ready to talk to me when I got there? I yawned and checked my watch again, then slouched down in the seat to wait. Two pretty girls, maybe a year or two younger than my own fourteen, walked past, glancing at me curiously, whispering to each other once they thought they were out of my hearing. I couldn't make out what they were saying – my telepathic sister could have told me – but I didn't really care.

The science teacher emerged from the Head's office, and said, "He'll see you now, Gary."

I pulled myself up out of the chair with an exaggerated display of effort, ignoring the annoyed look on the teacher's face, and walked into the office to face the music. I knew exactly what the Head was going to say me. It was the same every time.

"Sit down, Gary," he told me, and I slouched in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "I think you know why I've asked you here, don't you?"

"My sister's the mind-reader, not me," I responded lazily.

"That's enough, Gary. It doesn't take a mind-reader to know why I've called you here. You've been fighting again, haven't you?"

I said nothing.

"Would you like to tell me what happened?" he asked.

I shrugged, then said, "Some bigger guys thought they'd start a fight with me."

"You've no idea what prompted them to do so?"

"I told you, Annie's the mind-reader."

"You didn't provoke them in any way?"

"No."

"Really. I'm afraid I find that hard to believe, Gary. You see, you seem to be involved in fights quite frequently, certainly more than any other pupil in the school."

"There's nothing much I can do if people keep trying to start fights with me."

"So why do they do it?"

"I dunno," I said. "I suppose they want to wear it like a badge of honour: 'Look at me, I battered Gary Rosiçky, how great am I?'"

He sighed, then said, "Gary, I know about your mutant powers, and how powerful they make you. I spoke to your father about it recently. I know your power will continue to grow until you have reached full adulthood. What I'm trying to say, and what your father wanted me to stress, is that you have to use your powers responsibly. You can't keep getting into fights or you will seriously injure somebody."

"So what then? You want me to run away whenever someone tries to pick a fight? Not likely."

"I want you to keep from hurting anybody. If that means you have to run away from a fight, then that's what you'll have to do. Gary, I have nothing against mutants. Your sister will testify to that. I try to treat my mutant pupils in exactly the same way as my human pupils. But I can't deny the fact that being a mutant requires an extra level of maturity at your age, to resist the temptation to use your powers irresponsibly. It's especially important for somebody as powerful as you or your sister."

I had switched off by this point. I'd heard this speech, or a version of it, more times than I could remember.

"Is that all?" I asked impatiently.

"Not quite. Gary, this is a problem you have to address now or it's going to stay with you for the rest of your life. Talk to your parents, talk to Annie, and ask their advice. You've got to find some way to keep yourself in control."

"Why don't you just tell people to stop picking fights with me? They're the problem, not me."

He shook his head and repeated, "Gary, you have to learn to keep yourself under control. Perhaps a detention or two will curb your aggressive tendencies. Yes, an hour's detention every Wednesday from now until the end of term."

"What? What about the guys who started the fight?" I demanded.

"One of them has broken ribs, one of them has a broken arm, and the third has lost five of his teeth. I think they suffered enough in the fight. That's all, you can go."

I pushed the chair back hard, knocking it over in the process, and stormed furiously to the door, ignoring the Head's voice telling me to pick up the chair. I slammed the office door behind me, and smacked my fist angrily into the wall. The plaster and brickwork buckled and crumpled under my punch, and when I pulled my hand back, my knuckles were bruised and bleeding. I hadn't felt a thing.

It was typical, just typical of the Headmaster to blame the whole thing on me. I hadn't started the fight. I'd finished it in less than fifteen seconds, but it had been self defence. All right, perhaps I gone a little far with some of the injuries I had dished out, but when I got angry I really went berserk, and just lost control of myself. Anyway, it wasn't my fault I'd been born with my mutant powers. They came from my father's side, I knew that. Dad was some sort of genetically altered mutant – he'd been born human – though I wasn't too clear on exactly what had happened to him. Mum was a mutant too – a naturally born one – and Dad's eight different mutant powers had passed on to Annie and myself. That was where I got my incredible fighting abilities.

I'd been seven years old when I'd learned to use my first mutation, my superhuman body strength. I'd been at school, and a boy two or three years older had been bothering me, demanding that I give him my lunch money. I'd refused; he'd punched me in the face; I hadn't felt a thing. I'd punched him back, and watched in shock as he was thrown about ten feet away from me, his nose pouring blood. From that day on, my life had never been the same. I'd always known that I was different from the other children – my parents had never made our mutanthood a secret – but it was on that day when the realisation had fully struck me. People had started treating me differently; guys who might otherwise have tried to bully me were now terrified beyond belief; girls who had previously looked down on me began to give me a few admiring glances now and again. A lot of people hated me for being a mutant, but a few – generally the most intelligent and broad-minded – didn't care. I didn't care either. I was a loner, always had been, and had no real desire to spend time with other people. My family were the only ones who understood or loved me.

When I was nine, I had discovered the second of the four gifts I had inherited from my father. I'd always known that when I got angry I seemed to fight better, but I hadn't known this was one of my mutations. I had been walking home from school, aware of a pair of intrigued girls none too surreptitiously following me, when I had spotted one of my friends – one of the few people whose opinion of me hadn't changed on finding out I was a mutant – being picked on by some older guys. My anger had risen, and I'd found myself running over towards them and shoving them away, with a speed and strength amplified by my rage. At first I'd thought nothing of it, but when I'd mentioned it to Dad, he'd told me that this was something that happened to him too: some kind of berserk fury that amplified all of the other powers he possessed. It was on that day when I realised just how powerful I really was, and could become.

My third and fourth mutations had manifested themselves on the same day, when I was thirteen. By this time I was in secondary school, and many of the elder boys' fear of me had turned into downright hatred. A gang of them had got together, armed with knives, rocks, and anything else they could get their hands on, resolved to heal their wounded pride by teaching me a lesson. Telepathic Annie had warned me in advance, and so I'd been ready for them. My plan had been to find some way past the ambush they had set up for me, then surprise them from behind. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any way of getting past without them noticing. Determined as I was to find some way of sneaking past them, I had subconsciously triggered another mutation. Annie had been with me, and she'd been the first to notice. My body had perfectly camouflaged itself, like that of a chameleon, each cell of my skin taking on the appearance of whatever lay behind it. With this body camouflage in place, it had been a simple matter to run past the guys who were waiting to jump out on me, only just stopping myself from laughing when I saw how oblivious they were. When I had got around behind them, it was time for me to well and truly turn the tables on them. Annie had implored me not to hurt them, only to scare them away, to discourage them from trying to attack me again, and I could still hear her telepathic voice in my mind, urging me not to injure anyone. Buoyed by adrenaline, and fuelled by my anger, I'd unlocked my fourth and last mutation. Deactivating my camouflage, I'd let the guys see me, given them just enough time to realise I was there, before launching my attack. Taking a deep breath, I felt the strangest tingling sensation in my lungs and throat – then I exhaled. From my throat came forth a jet of red-hot flame that leapt through the air towards the older boys, singing the air before their faces. As one their fear mushroomed, they screamed, and fled away from me. I was running after them, inhaling another deep breath, preparing to flame them again, when I felt a hand on my arm and a calming voice in my mind, and Annie was beside me.

I'd never used that power again. My parents had been angry, but there had been something else there too – fear. I didn't have to be telepathic to sense that, but fear of what? Fear of retribution? Fear of me? Fear that I was going to get into trouble? I didn't know, but my mother and father had tried desperately to impress upon me the importance of being careful with my powers. I was a little scared myself to be honest, of what I had done, of the implications, of the way I was pushing back the boundaries of possibility. I'd listened to my parents, and that had been the first and last time I had been a human flamethrower. The story had spread around the school like wildfire, no pun intended, and for the next few weeks nobody had dared cross me, for fear of what might happen. It hadn't lasted. It never did. No matter what lessons they learned, it seemed people always forgot them quickly enough. Within a month or two, it was back to normal at school: guys trying to start fights with me; people hating me for being a mutant; discrimination from the teachers and other staff. Thus my anger too remained, driving me every day,.

Annie had a different set of powers, the four of Dad's eight that I didn't have. She was telepathic – apparently she had been communicating this way with Dad while she was still inside Mum. She had some kind healing power, which I knew very little about, and had seen no evidence of, other than the fact that Annie never had any illnesses or injuries. She was also telekinetic, though I had never seen her use this power either. Finally Annie's eyes – her pupils were gold, like Dad's, as a result of the mutation – possessed both X-ray and telescopic vision. I often envied her this last power…the ability to look through girls' clothes sounded like something I would have enjoyed using.

Just as I was thinking about my sister, I heard a noise from up ahead, and looked up to see what was happening. It was Annie, also on her way home from school, being harassed by some of the boys in her year. I was still pissed off from my meeting with the Headmaster, and my anger began to rise in my veins again as I saw my sister being treated this way.

"Hey, freak!" one of the guys was shouting at Annie. "Mutant freak! Your brother's a mutant too, isn't he? And your parents! Your whole family are just freaks, aren't they?"

He gave Annie a shove, and tried to pull at her sun-glasses. Annie wore them to protect her super-sensitive eyes from being hurt by bright lights, and the guys obviously knew this. She was shoved hard again, and my anger overflowed. I flexed the muscles in my arms, and ran over towards them.

"What are you going to do now, freak?" the guy mocked her. "Going to use your powers on me? Going to get your little brother to beat me up?"

Annie said nothing, just kept walking. I couldn't understand why she wasn't using her powers to protect herself. If she wasn't going to, I would protect her instead. I grabbed the guy from behind, my fingers grasping the material of his coat, and lifted him off the ground. He gave a cry of surprise, and twisted in my grip, but couldn't break free.

"Leave my sister alone," I snapped. "That goes for the rest of you too."

There were three others; they were all at least two years older and a foot taller than me, but I had no reason to be afraid. The three of them looked at me, annoyed at their fun being interrupted, and for a moment it seemed they were going to start a fight. Then they remembered who I was, what powers I had, and thought better of it. I dropped the guy on the ground, he scrambled to his feet, and the four of them began to back away nervously. I moved forward as if to go after them, but Annie gently put a hand on my shoulder, and I stopped. Once the four guys they had reached a safe distance, they turned and continued on their way as if nothing had happened. I glared at them until they were gone, and then I felt the anger in my veins begin to subside, and I took a deep breath to try and calm myself.

"Are you all right?" I asked Annie, putting a comforting hand on her arm.

She gave me a rueful smile, "I'm fine. Gary, there was no need for you to do that."

"What are you talking about? They were harassing you! Weren't you going to do anything about it?"

Annie shook her head, setting her short brown hair swaying, "No."

"You were just going to keep walking?"

"Yes."

I was puzzled, "Why?"

"Because it's the only thing to do. Oh, I know I could have used my powers to scare the living daylights out of them, like you do, but I don't use my gifts like that."

"So you just let people treat you like dirt?"

"It's the right thing to do. We can't use our powers to hurt other people."

"Why not?"

"Because it'd be wrong. We should protect them instead."

Now I was really confused, "Why do you want to protect people who bully you and treat you like the lowest form of life? They're scum."

"No, Gary. They can't help being ignorant and prejudiced. They're innocent, in a way."

Annie smiled at me, and I felt her telepathic power passing over me, trying to calm my anger. Sometimes we just didn't see eye to eye at all. When people insulted or attacked me, I only did what was natural: I fought back. I couldn't understand why Annie just let people get away with it. These people had no right to treat me or my sister badly, just because of the way we had been born.

I snorted, "Huh. The way I see it, if we're born with these gifts, we should use them in any way we can to benefit ourselves."

Annie shook her head, "Yes, well…"

"Well, what?"

"Nothing. Never mind. Let's just go home."

It took twenty minutes to walk the rest of the way to our house, and we went in silence. There wasn't anything either of us wanted to say. Annie wasn't a great talker, and the two of us were comfortable enough in each other's presence that there was no need to start a conversation for the sake of it. Besides that, we didn't really have very much in common. I loved Annie – well, of course I did, she was my sister – but we simply didn't understand one another at all. I couldn't fathom her, not one bit. We were as different and as opposite as the two Poles. Annie possessed a calmness, an inner peace, that I had never known, and that was completely alien to me. She knew no anger and bore no hatred towards those who were prejudiced against her. Maybe it was because she was a girl. Girls had it easier than boys; they didn't have to put up with people constantly trying to prove that they were bigger and tougher than you. They didn't have to spend half their time arguing and fighting with each other; they could just do…well, whatever it was girls did. I had to admit, I didn't know much about what girls did. I knew it was different from what boys did.

It was when we arrived at our house, and approached the front door, that Annie's head suddenly jerked up and she turned to me and said, "We've got visitors."

"Huh? Who?"

"Mutants. They're inside with Mum and Dad. I can sense their presence."

"Who are they?"

"I'm not sure. I think I recognise their thought patterns, so it's probably someone I've met before…but I could be wrong."

I frowned slightly. I didn't know of any mutant friends my parents had. Obviously there were other mutants in the world, but I'd never seen or met any. I wondered who these people were, as I pushed open the front door and we walked inside.

"We're home!" I called.

"Annie? Gary?" came Dad's voice from the front room. "Could you come in here, please?"

I dropped my schoolbag in the hall, and was taking off my jacket as I entered the front room. Annie was right behind me. The four adults in the room looked over as we entered. I didn't recognise the two people who were sitting with my mother and father. The nearest of the two was a blond woman, probably the same age as my parents, who gave me a friendly smile. I eyed her suspiciously, then faced the other stranger. He too was about the same age as my dad, and he gave me a half-hearted sort of wave from his semi-slouched position in the armchair.

"Annie, Gary," said Mum. "We'd like you to meet two friends of ours. This is Chris Garcia and Felicity Arkwright."

"You can call me Fliss," the woman said – she was an American.

"You're mutants," Annie said.

"How did you know?" the man – Chris – asked, with a look of surprise on his face.

"Annie's telepathic," Dad explained. "I'm glad you two have just got home from school. There's something your mother and I need to talk to you about."

"What?" I asked.

"We're moving to New York."

Annie gave a little gasp, and I felt my own excitement and shock rise.

"What, seriously?!" I heard myself exclaiming. "How come?"

"That will take a bit of explaining," said Mum. "And I'm not too sure how much of it we want to tell you."

"There's no point hiding anything from them; Annie will just read your mind," Dad told her. "All right, I'll try to explain it as best I can. I should start off by mentioning one very important thing. Annie, Gary, it's essential that you learn this: not all mutants are good people. You've never met any mutants other than yourselves or your mother and me. Not every mutant thinks the way we do. There are mutants out there who despise humanity, who see them as lesser beings who aren't fit to live alongside us, and who are determined to destroy the human race."

Annie must have been mind-reading, as she suddenly said, "You're talking about the Plague, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Dad. "We believe the Plague was started by a group of these mutants, a very powerful group who call themselves the Brotherhood of Mutants."

"But what does that have to do with us moving to New York?" I asked impatiently.

"I'm getting to that," Dad said. "The Brotherhood are the most powerful group of human-hating mutants in the world. They've tried on many occasions to achieve their genocidal aims, but fortunately for humanity, there exists a counter-force of mutants pledged to protect humans. They call themselves the X-Men."

"The X-Men?" I said.

"Yes. Chris and Felicity here are two of their members. Your mother and I were too, a long time ago, before you or Annie were born."

I gaped. This was unreal. This couldn't be true. I glanced at Annie. She would be able to tell if Dad was making this up. To my surprise she nodded and said, "It's true."

"Wow," was all I could say.

Annie looked at Dad, "So that's why we're going to New York? You're going to join up with the X-Men again?"

"Yes and no. I will be working to try and find a way to fight the Plague. My healing power may be of some use against it. I won't be fighting alongside Chris and the rest."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because your mother and I swore we would never fight again while you two were still depending on us," my father told me. "You and Annie are more important to me than – well, anything. I won't risk the possibility of you ending up without a father."

I raised my eyebrows. My heart had begun to beat faster. This was all so new and exciting, I wasn't sure what to make of it. It was clearly all true, since Annie would know if they were lying. I couldn't believe my mother and father were – or had been – members of some elite group of mutants. I hadn't even known such a group existed. I'd never thought of my parents as anything other than ordinary people – well, ordinary mutants – living ordinary lives with ordinary jobs: Mum the zoology researcher, and Dad the security consultant. How could they be members of these – what were they called – X-Men?

Was that the life they were going back to now? What was this going to mean for Annie and myself? Was this going to be an escape from the life I had grown to hate? Was this an escape from being despised and discriminated against at school, to move on and do something more interesting with my life? Was it possible to actually use my powers to change the world in some way, to change the world so that myself and other mutants would not be hated, and would not have to put up with humanity's bigotry?

Becoming intrigued, I asked, "So what will Annie and I be doing while you and Mum are working on this – plague?"

"You'll be at school, of course."

I groaned. So much for that hope. A school in New York would be just as bad as a school here. American kids would just as bad as Scottish ones. So much for my hopes that I could begin to use my powers to actually do something.

Mum saw my unhappiness plain on my face, and grinned, "It's not what you're thinking, Gary. It's a school, but nothing like the one you're at just now. I think it's safe to say it will be quite different from any school you've ever seen before."

Now I was intrigued…