A Gift of Self
by BURN 3IRD
Insert standard disclaimer here: Joe is mine, everyone else isn't. They belong to a little company called Marvel. I'm not getting money from this, so if you sue, know in advance I'm broke.
Dear Mr. Joseph Manelo,
After speaking with your doctor and reviewing both your medical history and your academic accomplishments I feel that it would be in your best interests to consider continuing your education at the Massachusetts Academy (formerly Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters). Enclosed with this letter are the numbers that you may call for more information.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Charles Xavier
Sean Cassidy
Emma Frost
Adrian Frost
I read the letter one more time. As I had everyday for the past week, trying to figure out why they would want a freak like me to go to their school.
(Me. Why would they want me?) I thought as I wheeled myself over to the phone. "NURSE!" I yelled out into the special care unit's hallway. One of the nurses, Mrs. Oak, came in to see what I needed.
"Yes dear?" She was one of those kindly old ladies that reminded me of my grandmother. I pointed to the phone and showed her the number I wanted to call. "All right dear I will dial it for you. You want it on the speaker I assume?"
"Yes, and close the door for me please"
"Not a problem hun. I will be around if you need anything else" she smiled and after dialing the number closed the door.
{Massachusetts Academy}
~Ring, Ring!~ Emma Frost put down the reports she had been going over. (So many damn students, and their parents calling in for every little thing) She picks up the phone and slips into the sweetest voice she can manage.
"Hello, Xav- uh- Massachusetts Academy, Emma Frost speaking."
"Ms. Frost? Hello this is Joseph Manelo. I recently received a letter from a Mr. Xavier that informed me that you are interested in accepting me into your school."
"Ah, yes. Mr. Xavier told me to expect a call from you. If you don't mind could you take me off speaker?"
"Ummm. No Ms. Frost I am afraid I can't."
Emma sighed. "Very well, are you alone then?"
"Yes."
"OK. Mr. Manelo it has come to our attention that you are "gifted" with certain abilities. We would like to bring you to our school to help you to learn to control these abilities, while at the same time getting a first rate education."
"What so this is some sort of mutant training place?"
"To put it crudely yes."
"So all of the students there are mutants like me huh?" My voice drifted as I wheeled around the room. Emma hears the sound of metal crunching. "Damn."
"Is something the matter? Joe?
"Um, no I am fine." In a near whisper I complain about this being the third wheelchair I wrecked this week.
"Anyway, Joseph, have you made a decision regarding the school?"
I put my hand over my mouth, this is my usual thinking position. A chance to master these damn powers, meet some kids like me, good education. I chuckle. Well two out of three ain't bad.
"Very well Ms. Frost, I accept your generous offer."
Emma smiles. "A wise decision Mr. Manelo. I will have a plane ticket waiting for you at the-"
"Ms. Frost. I know you mean well, but I am afraid that I can not get on a plane, let alone get to an airport on my own. If I am to get there I am afraid someone will have to come down and get me. And to be honest I would like to avoid a plane if possible." I call to mind my last airport attempt.
"All right, I will send some one down to pick you up at, where are you?"
The next ten minutes are spent with me supplying directions and information about where I am, where to reach my parents, and Emma describing the curriculum and location of the school. After finishing the conversation, Emma hangs up the phone and leans back in her chair.
*Sean*
*Aye Emma, what do ye want?*
*I have just gotten off the phone with a new student to add to our 'special classes'*
*Oh have ye now?*
*Yes, and I need you to go down to Long Island to get him*
*Why canne he just take a plane down?*
*He didn't say why, just that he couldn't.*
*All right then. I'll head on down temorrow.*
Emma thinks to herself a moment. *Sean.*
*Aye?*
*Why don't you take some of the students along with you? This way he has a chance to get to know some of them before he arrives.*
*All right.*
{In the Rec. room}
Jubilee, Everett, Monet, and Angelo sit on the couch respectively watching TV. Jubilee happily munches on a box of "Sugar Bombs". A large gray hand suddenly reaches over and snags the box from her.
"Hey gray! Give me back my snacks!"
"Chica you've been hogging these the whole day," Angelo shoots back. "I am entitled to some."
"Why you!" Jubilee leaps over Monet and Ev. She collides with Angelo and sends him tumbling off the couch onto the floor along with the box of "Sugar Bombs" which spills all over the floor.
"Caramba!"
"See what you-"
"ME? Jubecca you"
"Don't pin this on me! Hey watch those hands!"
"If you didn't use you lame powers to blind me"
"LAME! Why you rasum frassm bag of useless--"
"Jubilee! Angelo!" Both of them stop rolling on the floor when Paige enters the room. She quickly slams the door behind her. "I can't believe that you would use your powers like that! Anyone could of walked in here and seen you."
"Nonsense, Paige." Everyone looks to the Algerian girl still sitting on the couch, still calmly watching the TV. "I was psychically keeping all the other students away from this room. So there was nothing to worry about."
"Oh." Paige looks humbled and takes Jubilee's place on the couch. Just as Banshee walks in the door.
"All right lad's an' lassies. Who's up for a bit of a road trip?" He suddenly notices Jubilee and Angelo on the floor. "What be going on here then, eh?"
"Nothing Irish. So what's this about a road trip?" Jubilee gets up and sits on a chair next to the couch. Skin just stands up and leans against the wall giving Jubilee a dirty look.
"Yes, well. We just got a call about a new mutant lad in New York."
"So are we going to Logan International to pick him up?" asked Paige.
"Nae lass, the lad expressed a desire te remain off a plane and wanted someone to pick him up. So who wants to take a trip down te New York with me?" Sean looks around hopefully. "Angelo?"
"Uh. No thanks Senor Cassidy, uh history paper."
"Hmp." Sean looks around. "I take it you all have a similar excuse?" Nods all around. "Ah well, then." Sean turns to leave.
"I'll go Mr. Cassidy."
Sean turns around and looks at the speaker. Everett stands up and walks to Sean.
"There's a good lad. Anyone else?" Sean decides to sweeten the deal a bit. "Ye know, we may need to stop by in Westchester ta have Dr. McCoy check the lad out." He glances at Jubilee.
"That's foul play Sean," a glaring Jubilee replies. "Fine I'm in."
"Well that's two, I think we can do one better dinne you?"
*I'll go with ya.* Shocked faces all around as Jonothon Starsmore silently steps into the room.
"Right, OK then Everett, Jubilee, and Jono get a change of cloths we may need te stay a night." Sean leaves and the three students move to their rooms to get packed.
{My Hospital Room}
"Are you sure you can take these people's word?" My nurse keeps putting things into my bags. "I mean they could be FoH members or some other extreme group."
"Mrs. Oaks I'll be fine." I looks to what she is packing. "Wait, put that book on the top so I can read it in the car."
"To think it was two years ago your parents brought you here," Mrs. Oaks sighs. "Such a shame that they don't come to see you that often."
"You mean at all." I stare out the window.
"Joe, you know they care about you, they just don't know how to react to you. They are afraid." There is a knock at the door.
A young looking orderly pokes his head in warily. "Um, there are four people at the reception desk asking for Mr. Manelo."
"Thank you. Take his luggage, I'll wheel him out." The orderly looks relieved and quickly disappears.
I do a quick check in the mirror. Thick black hair: combed, face: almost clear of acne, clean shave, cloths: in order.
Well here we go. I nod to Mrs. Oaks who wheels me out.
"Don't worry, it's just a little ways north. And if there are any problems, you can come right back." I smile at her kind words.
Yeah back to being a cripple without the benefits of being one
She wheels him down the hall. The smell of antiseptic and other medications assaults my nose. I hate hospitals. We turn the corner and the receptionist's desk comes into view. I take a look at the four people standing there.
The first one to catch his eye is the guy wrapped from chest to nose in black bandages. He wears blue jeans and a black leather jacket, and his brown hair looks like he just woke up.
The next one he looks over is a young Asian girl in a bright yellow trench coat. Her hair is black, about shoulder length, and pushed behind her ears, which bear earrings with an 'X' symbol on them. The rest of her outfit appears to have been put together from an exploding closet.
A black kid, maybe a year or two older than her, stands behind her. He is wearing a red baseball cap with the visor to the back. Other than that he seems to be the only one of the group who is dressed normally.
Finally, the adult of the group. Tall, red hair, Celtics jacket, red shirt, jeans. This guy screamed "Kiss me I'm Irish." He smiles as I come down the hall. He and the others give me the same once over that I had given them. The guy in the Celtic's jacket comes over.
"Hello lad, I am Sean Cassidy one of the head masters of the Massachusetts Academy," he holds out his hand to shake.
"Mr. Cassidy, I don't think that is a good idea." I say in an insistent voice. Sean looks at me with a puzzling look. Then his face changes to one of understanding and he pulls back his hand.
"Well then let me introduce you to some of yer new classmates," he gestures to the three teens behind him. "This is Everett, Jonothon, and Jubilee."
Quick one line greetings are exchanged and soon I find myself being pushed out to the parking lot with Mr. Cassidy and the others carrying my bags and Mrs. Oaks pushing my chair.
"Here we are. Ye can get out of the wheelchair now lad, we're out of the hospital." Mrs. Oaks and I share a nervous look. Sean looks at us in confusion. Must be his normal look when it comes to new mutants.
"Mr. Cassidy, Joe can't get out of the wheelchair. That's part of the reason he is going with you." Good old Mrs. Oaks.
"Way to go Sean, you insult the kid before we even get to the school."
"Jubs!" Everett admonishes Jubilee.
Sean still looks shocked. "I'm sorry lad, I dinne know. There was nothing in the medical records we were given that said otherwise."
"Once we are in the car sir I promise to explain."
A heartfelt goodbye, and with some assistance from Jono, I'm in the back of the school's Hummer and on my way north to a new life.
"So, Joe why are you in a wheelchair?" Everett asks me as politely as possible.
"Aye lad I was wondering that meself." Sean asks from the driver's seat.
I take a deep breath. "My mutant gift is, as far as I can tell, two fold. Sometimes, my powers concentrate in my legs and arms is such a way that I am extremely fast. But it's, ummmmm, unstable. Anything that I do is fast, without exception. Walking is an impossibility because I move so fast that by the time I see a wall or obstacle and it registers, I have all ready run into it. Hence the wheelchair. Also when I am fast, well lets just say 'lifting a feather might leave me breathless.'"
"So like, when your making like the Road Runner, ya can't lift beans. OK I got that." Jubilee says while blowing a bubble with her gum.
Ev speaks up, "You said your power is two fold. What else do you do?"
(My aren't we the inquizitive one.) The thought comes out and Jono, sitting in the front seat, gives me a dirty look.
"The exact opposite. The times when I am not fast, the power in my body makes me very strong, but at the same time very slow. Which is why I didn't shake Mr. Cassidy's hand before. I might of crushed it."
"Dinne worry about that lad, yer forgiven in my eyes." Well at least he is nice.
The rest of the ride is mostly filled with questions directed at both sides. I ask about their powers [with a bit of edging from Jubilee, Jono removes his scarf, I am amazed], they ask about my family, I change the subject, hobbies and the school in general are the topics as we pull into the gates of Xavier's School of Higher Learning.
"What is this? Are we there?" I hadn't seen a sign that we were in Massachusetts.
"No way dude! We are someplace totally better!" In the next thirty seconds as we pull up the drive way I hear the whole history of the X-Men. I comprehend about four words of her rambling one of which is 'and'. As the car stops, Jubilee leaps out of the car followed by Mr. Cassidy who helps me into my wheel chair.
"Nice place." A soft spring wind blows through and I pull my jacket tighter. Unfortunately my powers decided to focus on the strength side of my powers and I find myself holding my jacket in three pieces. "Great"
*Quite the feat of strength.* Jono finally says something to me and I realize that his voice went strait to my head.
"Was that telepathy?" I put my hand to my head.
*Yeah, mate. Only way I can communicate without half me bloody face.*
"Oh." I make a note in my head. British, telepath, lots of power. Make this guy your friend. That is how my mind has always worked. I made friends with whom ever I met, if possible, but then there were those people that I put up on my "list of people who I want to be my friend, cause I don't want to be their enemy." Jono just made top spot.
I sit quietly for a few moments as Jubilee knocks on the door. When it opens, a large man with a Russian accent, opens the door and is nearly knocked over by a frantic Jubilee who gives him a quick hug and hello and darts into the house. Somewhere in her hello I catch the name Colossus.
"Hello, Sean, it is good to see you again." He gives Mr. Cassidy a firm handshake and a slap on the shoulder. "What brings you here?"
Sean, returns the handshake. "It's good to see you too Pioter. We were hoping to see Hank, is he in?"
"No, I am sorry to say that I have not seen him in quite a while."
"Well is Charles in? We want to just give the lad a physical before we bring him back to the school."
"The Professor is in his study, come in and I will go and get him."
"Thank ye Pioter." Sean pushes me in the door and I suddenly get the feeling that I am way out of my league. Everett and Jono walk in and walk off to a room on the right. Sean follows them with me along for the ride. In this room is a TV screen that looks like it would be better suited in a multiplex theater. A man gives each of them a nod and then rests his eyes on me. Something doesn't feel right and upon closer inspection I realize that this man's eyes are black with red irises.
"So you picked up another new student for your little clan, eh?" His voice reminds me of a movie I saw about New Orleans.
"Aye Gambit, the lad's name is Joe. Joe, Gambit member of the X-Men." X- men? X-MEN!? My mind flashes back to the many news broadcasts I had seen that referred to the X-men. Mutant terrorists, Operation: Zero Tolerance,.....Onslaught. That last one stuck out in my mind. I had lost a friend in the assault on Manhattan. Wasn't Onslaught originally one of the X-men? I felt sick.
"Sean." The Russian guy came back. "The Professor is waiting for you in the med. center."
"Thank ye Pioter. Ready lad?" He takes my lack of response as a yes and wheels me to the top of a flight of stairs. "Uh, Pioter, the lad canne get out of the chair, could ye."
"Of coarse torstevich." I hear a sound, that reminds me of a sword leaving its sheath, you know a kind of ringing sound. Next thing I know my whole chair is being lifted up by the Russian guy whose skin has turned into some kind of metal. "There you go young one." With a gentleness that I can hardly believe he places me at the base of the steps and continues to push me down the hall with Mr. Cassidy at his heals.
The smell of antiseptic hits me again. This time it seems almost comforting as it reminds me of home. Pioter stops at a door and hits a panel next to it. The door opens with a swish and I enter a room that reminds me of those shown in Star Trek. Near one of the tables is a bald man, in a yellow chair that seems to be floating?
"Tis good te see you again Charles. How are ye?" Sean gives the man a hearty shake.
"I am fine Sean. How are things at the school?" The man, Charles, earns my respect the moment he opens his mouth. He strikes me as the kind of man who when he asks you to do something, you do it. Not because he is intimidating, but because he seems to know exactly what to do.
"And this is the lad I was telling ye about." Reality snaps back in and sit up as Mr. Cassidy gestures to me. " Joe, this is Professor Xavier."
"It's an honor to meet you sir." I feel like a new student just brought into the dean's office. "I'd shake your hand but, I am afraid I can't." He nods and to my surprise smiles.
"That's all right young man. Hopefully your stay at the school will enable you to master your powers and enable you to one day."
For the next hour I am poked, prodded, scanned and tested. I don't think that there was a part of my body that they missed. And I remember thinking that if everyone had this health care, maybe sickness would pass out of this world. Yeah right. I think it was just something that popped up because I was on pins and needles with nerves. Anyway, by the time they finished the tests I was bored, and tired, and bored, and hungry, and finally bored. They gave me a clean bill of health.
I heard Sean say something about staying the night there. I was less than thrilled. I am in a strange house, with strange people, and not a soul to talk to. Last thing I wanted was to sit and eat, and make everyone feel as weird as I did. I said that I wasn't hungry, just tired and asked to be shown where I would sleep. Unfortunately they didn't know that my, 'condition' meant that I was unable to undress, shower, and get in bed. So I prepared to spend a restless night in my cloths, sitting in my chair.
"Welcome to your new life Joe." I said to myself. As I tried to make myself comfortable in my chair, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in!"
"Hey, Joe." Jubilee walked into the room. When she saw that I was still in my chair, she looked surprised. "Aren't you gonna go to sleep?"
"I can't get out of my chair." I said sadly. I pointed to the bed that they had left me. There was a big piece missing from where I had tried to pull myself onto it.
"Oh, I see." She looked embarrassed. "Do you want me to help you?"
"No." It came out cold. I didn't mean it to, but the fact that I had full use of my arms and legs but no way to control them got on my nerves sometimes. "No, thank you. I'll just sleep in my chair."
"Dude, you can't sleep in that. Come on let me help you." I stood up.
"All right, just try to get me on the bed. If I am in 'speed mode' I'll probably crash, break a bone or four, and then really need this damn thing." I glared at the wheelchair. For the first time in four years I got mad. Damn thing, its a badge of how weak I am. I hate it. I HATE IT! With all my strength I kicked the chair. I was in strong mode. Bad thing to do. It flew through the air and most of it flew through the wall into the next room. I looked at the hole, then at a shocked Jubilee, then at my hands. "Why?" It was all I could say. I fell to my knees.
The next day, after a long apology to Professor Xavier and a loner wheelchair that they had in the med. center, Mr. Cassidy finally got us to the school. Everett pushed me to a building that he said were the rooms reserved for the 'special kids' of the school. It was a nice room with a window that looked over a nature path. A bit down the path was a lake.
Apparently word travels fast, because I hadn't been in the room twenty minutes when the rest of the 'elite' of the school dropped by. I was sitting in my chair reading the book that Mrs. Oaks had packed for me when I heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" I hadn't been expecting anyone so this was a shock. Must be Ev, seeing if I need anything. The door opened and Jubilee walked in with three people I hadn't seen before.
"Hey, Joe I thought I would introduce ya to the rest of the team." She cocks her head at the three people behind her. I give them my usual once over.
The gray guy caught my attention first, because he was, well gray. He looked the picture of relaxation, sandals, shorts, and no sleeved shirt. His chin bears what looks like the makings of a beard, and around his neck was a gold cross.
The other two were girls. Man if I had to describe two people who were almost completely different, these were them. One was tall, long black hair, dark skin and dressed in designer cloths. First thought? Money. The other had short blond hair, with light skin that was spotted with fading freckles, and cloths that looked like they may have belonged to someone before her. First thought? She's cute.
"Hola, amigo. Names Angelo, nice to meet you." He talked with a Spanish accent, and his breath smelled of cigarettes. He didn't try to shake my hand, they must have heard from Mr. Cassidy.
"Pleasure to meet you, I am Monet St. Croix." Man I haven't heard some one speak so perfectly since my fanatic English teacher in seventh grade. And with a French accent no less. Money, definitely money.
"Paige Guthrie, if you need help with anything Ah-I could help you out." They must get them from all over. Slightly hidden southern accent. She is definitely cute.
"Thanks, it's nice to meet you all. Actually if someone isn't busy could they help me to the kitchen?" I hadn't eaten anything since I left the hospital and it was beginning to get to me.
Paige stepped up. "I don't mind." She took me down an elevator to the first floor and to the main building. The path she took crossed the nature path I had seen from my window. "This is the path I take for my morning run. I used to have it to myself, but with all the new students I get some company in the morning."
"I saw a lake down it."
"What, oh yeah, it's real nice in the summer. We used to go to the Biosphere to swim in it's lake but now that it's gone..." She lost me at Biosphere and she seemed to realize it mid-sentance. For the rest of the trip to the kitchen she tells me about some sort of training center they had that somehow disappeared one day. I didn't question how I was confused enough as it is.
In the kitchen Paige asked me what I wanted.
"Well what do you have?" I asked. She brought out some sandwiches that she told me had been made yesterday. Since Sean, Jubilee and Everett were gone they had had extra. I noticed the absence of one other name.
"What about that guy Jono? You guys don't like him or something?" At the name Jono, Paige tensed up. She relaxed before she answered my question.
"Jono, doesn't eat." I gave her a puzzled look. She tries again. "When Jonothon's powers first manifested they blew his entire chest and half of his face away, so he doesn't need to eat or even breathe. Oh but if anyone asks you, his cover at the school is that he is a mute burn victim." I nodded. I then realized that I was in 'speed mode' because I nodded five times in about half a second. Paige didn't say anything, though I was sure she noticed. "Here let me get you something to drink." She turned to get a glass and when she turned back to me to ask what I wanted the two sandwiches she had given me were only a memory. She offered to take me on a tour of the rest of the campus, I accepted saying I could never turn down a lady. I think I saw her tense and blush. She showed me the classes, the labs, and the dorms. When she got to the athletics' building she stopped and pointed to a set of gym doors with a sign that said. "DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISION -THE FACULTY"
"That," she explained, "is the 'danger room.'
"Scary name. What is it haunted?" I joked.
"It's where we train in our powers."
"Then it's a more of a Super Gym than a Danger Room." I swear I heard her laugh.
"Really, want to take a look inside? Someone is in there." It sounded like a dare. How could I refuse?
"All right lets see." She checked the halls and then put her hand on a brick next to the doors. The doors opened and I gasped as she pushed me inside.
As near as I could tell it looked like a giant light show, lasers flashing from the walls, explosions rising from the floors, and the shouts of two people from some where in the middle. My mouth dropped and Paige smiled at my surprise. Suddenly a woman's voice echoed from the walls.
"OK that's enough for now. Take a short break." The whole scene just stopped and dissolved. The dissolution revealed a perfectly normal gym except for a large control booth where a basketball hoop should be, and two teenagers in red and yellow spandex standing at midcourt.
"That the best you got Frosty? That was nothing!" I recognized Jubilee's voice.
"In case you haven't noticed Jubilee. We have guests." The woman's voice sounded familiar. I tried to remember where I had heard it before. From the control booth at the far end I saw a woman dressed head to toe in white, descend the ladder. She walked to me and Paige. "You, must be Joseph. I am Emma Frost, I believe you spoke to me on the phone the other day?" At that I placed the voice.
"Yes, pleased to meet you Ms. Frost. Paige was just showing me around." She nodded and then looked to Paige.
"Since your here suit up and join Jubilee and Everett." Paige ran off to change and Emma turned back to me. "Why don't you join me in the booth? This way you can get a better idea of what we do here." I was about to point out that I couldn't get up to the booth, when I noticed the booth absorb the ladder and lower itself down. Cool.
"I guess you could classify it as 'cool' Joseph, I prefer to think of it a convenient." It took me a full five seconds to remember that I hadn't said that out loud.
"How did you..." I started.
"I am a telepath Joseph," she explained as she wheeled me to the booth. "Your mind is an open book to me if I choose."
I watched as Emma began to hit buttons on the control panel in the booth. Paige entered the room in a similar red and yellow outfit that Everett and Jubilee wore. The room disappeared.
"Since Miss Lee finds my previous choice of exercise unchallenging what do you say we up the stakes a little bit?" Emma struck a key. On the far side of the room a small man appeared, the floor, ceiling and walls also changed texture and stated to sag where the three students were standing.
"Who is that?" From where I was I could see Everett squinting to see their unknown adversary.
"I think it's the Toad."
"Two words Frosty. Puh-Leeez. We can whoop this guy without breaking a sweat." Jubilee's voice had a hint of disappointment.
"Really Jubilee? Your on his playing field now. The walls, ceiling and floor are all highly elastic. Now begin." I watched on as 'the Toad' began to bounce off the floor and walls towards the group. Jubilee went to take a step forward and ended up bouncing off the floor and on to her stomach. I held in a laugh, Ms. Frost didn't. I suddenly became aware of a rainbow around Everett, and it seemed to be trying to surround Jubilee. When it did, Everett began to shoot what looked like fire works at the Toad. But the Toad move too fast and clocked him in the head. Everett fell back. Then the toad grabbed Paige's hair and tried to pull her down too. But as he passed by Paige, Paige's hair went with him. Then Paige started tearing at her own skin. A closer look reminded me of that big guy I had met at Xavier's. Her body looked like it was entirly made of metal.
As I tried to get a better view I squirmed in my chair, and my chair started to move. Unable to stop I rolled to the entrance of the booth, Emma saw me too late as I fell. I hit the spongy ground and then tried to get up. Problem, I was in 'speed mode again'. When I got up my foot moved so fast I had to put out my other one to keep my balance, then again and again and again. I was in full run and the only thing in my way was a wall of rubber. I hit the wall with such force that it sunk in about four feet before it sprung me out. Then I felt like I was in a game of Pong. Except I was the ball. I sprung off the walls and ceiling, at such fast rates that soon I couldn't tell which way was up, or down, or any direction for that matter. I vaguely heard Ms. Frost telling the others to get out of my way. And I soon realized that the walls were getting softer and I was sinking more and more as I bounced. Finally I sunk into one of the soft surfaces and stuck there. I breathed a sigh of relief, before I realized that I was falling again! I had stuck in the ceiling and gravity was frowning at me. I slipped free of the sticky ceiling and began to fall. All I remembered before I passed out was some one yelling very, very loudly.
{Emma's office}
"I am tellin' ye woman. The lad could h've broken 'is neck in that room!"
"Please stop yelling Sean. I am quiet aware of what could of happened. But it was an accident." Emma sat behind her desk, with a small wine glass.
"Aye, it was an accident, but it could have been avoided if ye had been paying attention." Sean's face was flushed. "The lad must be given special attention if he is going to learn ta control his powers!"
"Funny you should mention that Sean. I was talking to Xavier about the test results from yesterday and during the tests Charles says that Joseph's powers, fluctuated three times." Emma points to a monitor with results from Joe's tests on it.
"Did 'e find a pattern te the changes," Sean calms down as he looks at the screen.
"As a matter of fact he did," Emma types some commands on the keyboard and a new graph appears. "At the start of the tests, Joseph was nervous, and his powers shifted to the 'speed mode' of his powers as he calls it. At the end of the test, he seemed more annoyed with just sitting there and his powers reverted to his 'strong mode'."
"I see," Sean strokes his chin. "Ye said that he had three changes, what was the third?"
"That is the intriguing part. Somewhere in the middle as he was getting comfortable, his powers seemed to find a balance." Emma points to the graph. "The resulting balance allowed him to be both fast and strong, yet not in the extremes that he had been experiencing in the past."
"So the lads powers are linked to his moods? Is that what yer saying Em?" Sean inquires.
"Exactly."
{Med. lab}
I woke up with the feeling usually reserved for a night of heavy drinking, followed by car horns sounding in your ear for twenty minutes. Simply put, migraine, bad one. I was hit by the familiar stench of antiseptic. Great another hospital. This was getting annoying I accepted this damn invitation so I wouldn't have to live in a hospital. Yet that is where I keep finding myself.
I reached to pull myself up with the bars on the side of the bed. They crunched in my hand, then twisted and finally broke off.
"Caramba, bet M would be jealous of that."
I became aware that there was someone else in the room. I looked next to the bed. At the far wall was one of the students Jubilee had brought to meet me. What was his name? Ah, well. Never needed names before to talk why start now.
"Hey she wants these powers she can have them," I saw one of those bed remotes, that adjusts the bed so patients could sit up or raise their feet. "Hey man, could you raise my head a bit with that remote? If I pick it up I might crush it."
"Sure, amigo." He picks up the remote and I am soon sitting up and greeting my two headmasters who just walked in.
"Thank ye fer watchin' the lad Angelo, ye can leave now." Angelo, gray guy is Angelo, got it. Better thank him.
"Thanks for your help Angelo."
He flashes me a smile before giving me a nod and leaving. My attention turns back to the two other people in the room.
"How are ye feeling lad?" Mr. Cassidy seems generally concerned.
"I'm fine. But for the record, what happened exactly?" Ms. Frost steps in.
"You were with me in the control booth of the 'Danger Room', when your chair somehow rolled out of the doorway. You fell and when you went to get up, you bolted across the floor and into one of the elastic walls we were using for the exercise. You then proceeded to bounce uncontrollably around the room."
"How did I stop?" If I was bouncing so much I saw no reason why I should have stopped.
"I adjusted the program to make the walls less elastic and more soft. You basically sunk into the ceiling, until Mr. Cassidy recovered you." How could some one be that cold? Man the chill on her voice could freeze lava.
"Lad," Mr. Cassidy, ever the tactful changer of subjects, "we just finished going over the lab results on ye, from the other day." I thought they already went over those at Xavier's. Mr. Cassidy must of seen my confusion. "Aye, the Professor was going over yer genetic structure, and found a tie in te yer powers."
"A 'tie in'? You mean something that affects my powers?" For twenty minutes they both tell me about some sort of scientific junk that boils down to, 'If you are scared you run, if your mad you're strong.' Great now all I need is a mood ring to see where I am at.
{Danger Room Four Days Later}
The entirety of Generation X is sitting around waiting for one of their instructors to start up the program for their training session. Jubilee is bouncing a ball while Paige and Monet talk about an assignment that they had just received. Everett and Angelo are tossing around another basketball between them, while Jono sits by himself looking at Paige.
"So what is keeping Irish and Frosty?" Jubilee is getting tired of waiting.
"Quiet, Jubilee. They are most likely assisting Joseph with whatever he needs before coming down to begin our session." Monet's voice drips with superiority. And dare I say smugness.
*It's gorra be rough on the mate. 'E's crippled because 'e is too powerful. Kinda reminds me o' me.*
"Well Mr. Starsmore," Paige regards him with an edge in her voice that makes Monet jealous, "at least you aren't in a wheelchair because of it." Jono shuts up and shrinks back.
"I say we put the five minute rule in effect."
"Five minute rule? What in the world is that?" Paige looks at Jubilee.
"It's like, if your teacher doesn't come to class in five minutes, we leave."
"Hey, chica I'm all for that one." Angelo tosses the ball he and Ev had been throwing into the bag of balls. "Seems like we should of vamoosed about three minutes ago." He heads for the door with Jubilee on his heels. When it opens Angelo's mouth drops, literally.
"Hey, why'd ya stop?" Jubilee looks over his shoulder and gasps. "Joe? Zat you?"
I step into the room and for the first time in two years I am not worried about flying into the wall. The rest of the group looks on, shocked. Ms. Frost and Mr. Cassidy walk in behind me. I take the moment to give myself a once over. Yellow and red just don't seem to work for me but, hey when in Rome. On my head are a pair of goggles that are a little bigger then the ones that I see on Everett's head. Goggles. Man I must look the picture of stupid right now. And finally on my wrists are two armbands with blinking lights. Yeah I am looking good. Paige is the first to speak up.
"Miss Frost, Mistuh Cassidy, why isn't Joe in his chair?" Whoa that hidden accent ain't so hidden anymore.
"Well lass, it seems that Joe will nea longer be needing the chair te get around." He lifts up one of my arms and shows everyone the wrist band I am wearing. "Ye see, Joe's powers are linked with his emotions. The expression of his emotions cause certain reactions to occur in his body which direct his powers. These here wristbands are linked with his nervous system. They help to balance out those reactions as needed. And these goggles 'ere," He points to the goggles on my head. Man I feel like I am one of those cheap fashion models, modeling the new line of mutant wares, "are made to help 'im keep track of what's going on in front of him while running."
"Mr. Cassidy," Ev speaks up, "Where did you get these things?"
"Forge made them after we sent him Joe's medical results." That they came from Forge seemed to explain everything. "Now everyone get up to the control booth, Ms. Frost and I want to see how Joe can handle himself solo."
The whole group passes by me, each looking me over as they head for the booth. The only one who says anything is Jono, who psychically wishes me luck. OK I can do this. Just a few tests. Nothing bad.
"Are you ready Joe." Ms. Frost, jerks me out of my self pep talk. I nod. "Let's begin."
The whole room goes dark and I slip on my goggles. Night vision, cool. This Forge guy thought of everything. From the walls come metal tentacles. OK should I dodge them or rip them out? I decide to try and avoid them for a bit. I hit the speed, glad that my new wristbands slow me up a bit so I can see where I am going. Jump here, flip here, turn there, I react as fast as I run. OK enough running. I reach out and grab the closest tentacle and rip it out of the wall. I mix the speed and strength of my powers best I can, dodging this one, crushing that one. Grabbing--hey where did they go?
"Ready for the next level, Joseph?" Ms. Frost's disembodied voice floats through the air.
"Bring it on!" Yeah, I can take anything they can throw, I'm tough, I'm fast, I can..... My thoughts trail off as the far wall breaks open. As my vision focuses, my nerve also shatters with the wall. A sentinel.
My mind floats back to a year old event that haunts my nights to this day. Manhattan, Onslaught, a boy leaving the doors of a hospital after visiting his friend in the special care unit. The descending sentinel, a blast, and the young man's remains blasted back into the hospital's doorway.
*Joe. Joe, it's all right mate. The bloody robot's gone. Yer safe.*
My eyes open, and I find myself backed in a corner of the room. My legs are up in my chest, and I can feel the sweat dripping on my forehead. Looking up, I see the entirety of the students looking at me. Most of them bare worried expressions. Jono, is kneeling next to me with a hand out to help me up. I take him up on his offer.
Jubilee, takes the initiative, "What happened to you dude? When that sentinel Frosty punched up crashed through the wall, you disappeared."
I took a step to get my bearings and knock both myself and Jono to the floor with incredible speed.
*Oaffff* Jono lets out the psychic equivalent of a gasp as we hit the floor.
"Don't move lad, lemme see yer wristbands." I hold up my arms, so fast that I almost take off Mr. Cassidy's head. He grunts at the shock but since my strength is low he isn't hurt. This time he picks up my arms himself and inspects my wristbands. "Looks like ye overloaded the circuits on this one. Ye must of been scared out of yer wits man te blow out this."
"Paige," Ms. Frost steps in, "Go get Joe something to wear over his uniform, Angelo go get Joe's wheelchair from the med. lab. Everyone else, change and go to class, except you Jono, you stay and help get Joe back into his wheelchair."
"Ther's nae a need fer the lad to stay, I canna do it."
"No," Ms. Frost's words come out sharp as a knife. She takes off my blown wristband and tosses it at him. "You get Forge on the phone and get him to fix this." Mr. Cassidy looks like he's about to argue, but then thinks better of it and leaves. Ten minutes and a cloths change later, I find myself being pushed back to my room by Paige.
"Don't let one little setback, ruin your whole day Joe," she was saying, "I'm sure that Sean and Emma will get Forge to fix up your wristband quick as can be." She flashes me a reassuring smile.
I mumble under my breath.
"What was that?" Paige looked down at me.
"Nothing." Thankfully she lets it die there. As we approach the boy's dorm, I see the nature path that my window looked over. "Paige, would you mind wheeling me down to that lake down that path?"
Paige, looks at me confused. "Sure, why?"
I lean back in my chair, "I wanted to take a walk down there this afternoon when Mr. Cassidy and Ms. Frost gave me these." I lift up my remaining band. I quickly notice that my hand goes up at a normal rate. Guess I am too depressed to trigger my 'speed mode'. Paige nods and we begin to head down the path. When we reach the lake I ask Paige to stop. She makes sure that my chair is secure and then sits on a felled tree close by. For a few minutes I just sit and look out at the lake's surface. It's a clear day and the sun reflects off of it like a mirror. I finally break the silence.
"It's weird you know." Paige raises her eyes that, a moment ago, had been studying her sneaker tops.
"What is?" Innocent question. So why do I tense a bit. Do I want to share this with someone I hardly know? Well it's got to come out sometime, why not now?
"This," I point to the wheelchair. "I can probably break the sound barrier without half trying, or crush a piece of platinum between my fingers, yet I am still stuck in this damn thing." My fist slams into the chair. If I hadn't still had on my wristband it might of surfaced somewhere in China. Oh well I felt better. I glanced at Paige, she was dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't dump this on you. I hardly even know any of you."
"Ah-I don't mind." The hidden accent again. "It's good to get these kind of things out. I can see how frustrating it must be to have all your arms and legs working, and not being able to use them."
"It's like having the top of the line computer, and no software to run it." I smile at my own bad joke, Paige giggles.
"Yo, Hayseed! Sean's looking for you and Joe, so stop flirting and move it!" Ah, the familiar screeching of Jubilee. The one thing I had grown accustomed to in these four days. This may of had something to do with the fact that for the last three days, she has been yelling at Everett's door. Apparently, he and Angelo wanted to see how many times they could cut out her hot water while in the shower in a week. Last count was five, Angelo got her twice in one day.
"I wasn't flirting, Lee. And we are coming." She yells after a disappearing Jubilee. She grabbed the back of my chair and pushed me back to the main building.
Paige must of been plotting against Jubilee, because she didn't notice a group of the 'normal' kids heading down the main path. Usually this wasn't a problem, but even I recognized the group. It was one of those groups that sits around talking about how big their daddy's wallet and fifth yacht were. And they held their noses up so high, that even Monet would be put to shame.
One of the boys of the group, a strapping blond who, by the look of his hands, had never even thought of manual labor noticed Paige and I coming down the path. The third headmistress, Adrian I think her name was, who I had seen once or twice around the school, had tried to pass me off as having some sort of muscle disease. These guys didn't seem like the compassionate type.
The blond kid, walked right up to me and used his foot to block my front wheel. "Where you off to....lanky?" The snide comment, sparked giggles from the rest of the group. I could hear Paige's hands work themselves into the grips on the wheelchair's back. "Wait, let me guess," he put his hand to his chin in a mock thinking position. "Where ever she decides right?" He points at Paige.
One of the other boys, this one with brown hair, bends to look at me. "Must be nice to have a chauffeured chair. Maybe I should give it a try, hmm?" He and the blond kid begin to pull at my arms trying to get me out of my chair, one of the girls grabs Paige from behind. I see Paige begin to move her hand to rip off her skin for a stronger form. Thinking better she stops and goes back to struggling against the girl, but another one goes to help. I look at the two boys trying to pull me out of my chair, I look at the two girls holding Paige, I look at the group of laughing kids. To hell with this.
I feel the walls that I build to keep my temper in check fall. These guys are dead. Instinct takes over where reason had once resided. In my last moment of rational thought I notice that my powers almost feel...balanced. The blond kid is the first to be on the receiving end of my new found control. My fist connects with the side of his head. The only thing that keeps his head on his shoulders is the remaining band on my wrist that dampens my strength. Before he touches the ground my other fist slams into the other kid's stomach. Had I not been in my current enraged state, I might of minded the resulting vomit that he felt necessary to deposit on the wheel of my wheelchair. The girls holding Paige loosen their grip and she grabs the closest one and tosses her into the shocked group of students in front of me. That was enough to get them moving. I began to calm as they ran out of site leaving the two that I had flattened passed out on the side of the path. I finally snap back into reality as I feel Paige's hand on my shoulder, and she asks me if I'm OK.
OK, fact. I hate to hurt people. No matter how much they deserve it, I hate causing physical harm to another human being. I looked up at Paige, concern in her face, and broke down crying. I am not sure how long it was, but at some point Everett came looking for us. When he got there, he looked at me with tears streaming down my face, a confused Paige, and two passed out students. To my surprise he merely suggested that Paige go back to her room and that he would take me to mine. Paige nodded. Still stunned she walked back down the path. And true to his word Everett took me back to my room and helped me onto my bed, where I promptly passed out.
The next morning, Sean came in. He gently woke me up, helped me to the shower [Which, incidentally is the only thing I can do myself as long as I don't move around too much], waited till I was dressed and then, once I was comfortable in my chair, asked me what happened. Needless to say I spilled the whole story out. Sean just sat and listened not saying one word. After I was finished I looked up at him.
"So, that's the whole story?" I nodded. "Well lad, the boy ye fought, Michael, and 'is friends say that they were trying te help ye when ye attacked them."
I panicked. "Mr. Cassidy, that is completely untrue! Ask Paige she'll tell you! They attacked us!" Fifth day and already causing problems, can't be good for my permanent record.
"Lad, I already asked Paige and she backs up yer story. There's nothin' te worry about." I relaxed. "Now come on, there's breakfast on the table and a full day of classes ahead of ye." He moved to the door. I was about to remind him that I would need help getting out when he turned and tossed something in my lap. "Before I ferget. 'Ere's what we wanted te give ye yesterday. It's an extra bracelet fer yer 'speed mode.' Unfortunately ye have to stay in the wheelchair, but at least you canna move around with out any help."
I slipped on the bracelet and felt a pinch as it hooked into my nervous system. "Thank you Mr. Cassidy." I stood up, stretched and walked around the room. Mr. Cassidy smiled.
"Nea a problem lad, and ye can call me Sean."
"OK then Sean, I'll be down in a minute." I pull out the books that Angelo had brought on my first day. Tossed them in my new backpack that Mrs. Oaks had secretly stashed in my bag along with a note wishing me luck. I would have to thank her some day. A quick check in the mirror, a swift comb of the hair, and I passed for presentable. I looked at the chair. "Well, I guess for appearance's sake I'll have to suffer with it a bit more." I settled into the familiar chair and proceeded to wheel to the elevator. I pushed the button for the ground floor and when it stopped I saw Everett and Angelo heading out the door. I debated whether or not to tell them to wait up but stopped when I saw the door to the basement open and a dark figure step out. I had only seen Jono in his leather jacket and jeans and his training uniform. The official school uniform didn't seem to suit him. He saw me and waited as I rolled up.
*Joe.* A simple greeting. But a greeting none the less.
"Morning Jono. Sleep well?" Time to open up the lines of conversation.
*Yah, sure mate.* Not the conversationalist I see. Oh well. We begin our trip to the main building. Jono had a math class and I had an English. The silence carries until we reach the main building entrance.
*I gotta keep the burn/mute act up so I'm going to talk you just listen.* I nod, Jono is not one that I want to make mad. *I wanna thank you fer 'elpin Paige out yesterday. The blokes might of 'urt 'er if you hadn't been there.* Jono sounds concerned. His feelings traveled along his psychic words. I tried to place them. Not brotherly, but protective, distinct traces of friendship but maybe a bit more than that. OK, decided, Paige off limits. Too bad I thought she was cute.
Classes were boring. I spent most of them rediscovering my rusty art work. All I got was frustrated. While in the hospital I had tried keeping my writing and art skills in practice, but after a month and a few dozen crushed pens and pencils, as well as a few pieces of paper set aflame by friction from a speeding pencil, I gave up. Writing came slow and steady but the art was slower coming. Other than my science and gym classes, which were completely composed of the members of Generation-X, I had one class with Everett, two with Jono and one with Jubilee and Paige. I noticed by my third class that the 'special kids' were usually grouped as close to each other as possible. The end of the day was a bit more on the upside when some of the human kids I talked with in class invited me to hang out in the rec. room. They grabbed my wheelchair and gave me little choice. But who am I to deny an invitation.
{Danger Room}
Emma had gone past being mad. She was now worried. Three of her students were late for their team training session. Joe, Jubilee, and Angelo should have been here by now.
(I have a mind to grab each of their minds and bring them here by way of the lake.) Emma thought.
*Now that's not a nice thing ta say teach.* Jono's amusement couldn't be missed. Emma glared at him.
"Everett, I am tired. Synch with my powers and locate them for me." Emma didn't act very well, and Everett knew a test when he heard one.
"Got you Ms. Frost." Synch's aura encompassed Emma and the voices of the entire student body rang in his head. He struggled to block them out and tried to fine tune Emma's power to find the missing students. He found them and surpressed a laugh as he gleaned their thoughts. "They're on their way here now Ms. Frost."
(They had better have a good reason for being late.)
{Outside a little while before}
After I had managed to escape from the rec. room crowd, I had met up with Angelo and Jubilee who was issuing him a warning about what she would do next time she was without warm water in the shower. Angelo wore a look of complete innocence.
"--nd that's just your upper body! I tell you when I was in the X-Men..." Jubilee was entering her own perverted lecture mode. Angelo lit a cigarette and gave her a sheepish look.
"Is this part of my punishment too chica?" I don't think I have ever seen anyone turn as red as Jubilee so fast. I decided on interjecting myself.
"Hey, guys." Rule one according to Jono. Strait on, no worries.
"Yo, speedy." Jubilee's face regained its proper pigmentation. I ignored her new nickname. "We are getting ready to head to the gym. If we get there early, we may get in some quick hoops before training."
"Sounds good." Basketball, another lost past time. One misses so much in a wheelchair. I do a quick recap, Emma and Sean have all the kids in the libraries working on a science paper that we don't have, so the grounds are clear. Why am I still in this damn thing? I get up and an idea forms. "Hey Jubilee," she looks up at me and I point to the chair, "want a ride?" Jubilee's and Angelo's eyes brighten as they catch my drift. A minute later with Jubilee in the chair and Angelo and ALL six feet of his skin wrapped around me on my back I shoot out as fast as I can while still keeping control. We head down the nature trail by the dorm and as we pass the lake a smile creeps on my face. Angelo is yelling out things in Spanish that I can't make out, totally whooping it up, Jubilee is all giggles telling me to speed it up. I make a sharp turn onto the lake. The laughing turns to screaming as I speed up and move so fast that my feet and the chair don't break the water surface. I put on the breaks when I reach the other side and Angelo slowly relaxes his grip on me and falls to the ground. Jubilee sits in the chair catching her breath.
"T...tha..t was.......AWESOME!" Jubilee jumps out of the chair. "We gotta do that again!" We fly back and forth across the lake for the better part of the hour. Angelo tries to water ski by wrapping his skin around my arms, but I move so fast that I nearly tear him in half. I'm 'ferrying' Jubilee across once again when she checks her watch.
"OMYGOD! Book it Joe we're LATE!" She screams in my ear. I hit the breaks still on the water. The resulting wave drenches Angelo who had been resting on the sidelines. I tossed Jubilee in the chair and grabbed Angelo. He proceeded to latch his soaked body on my back. His own revenge. I reached the Danger Room door and thought of a good excuse. Just as thoughts are beginning to come together the door opens to a glaring Emma. For a moment I consider running as fast as my legs will carry to a safe distance. Emma's glare didn't waver. California sounds good.
"You three had better have a good reason for being late," Her voice froze me to the bone. China sounded better.
Jubilee seemed fearless. "Chill out Frosty. We were on our way and got....side-tracked." Why was Everett chuckling?
"Get in uniform, now." We sleeked by. A quick change, or in my case a very quick change, and we were on the floor with the rest of the group.
"Now that yer all present and accounted fer," Sean's voice was to Emma's what spring is to winter "Emma and I want to test out yer ability te function as a team."
I swallowed. OK, time to see how well you can play with others. The lights dim. My stomach clenches. In front of us appear a small cadre of robots. I relax a bit. Not sentinels, thank God they're not sentinels. They come at us. I hesitate, the others don't.
"M! Flank their left! Sync help her out! Jubilee, Chamber hit them hard!" Paige's voice rings out loud and clear. I had seen each of them use their powers individually, even two or three together, but to see them all pool together was, to say the least, amazing.
"Don't just stand their amigo," Angelo leaps past me, his hands covered in his extra skin, making them dense, "grab a bot and whack it!"
OK I can do this. On your mark. Get set. If Mrs. Oaks could see me now. GO! I move fast and hit hard. One is sneaking behind Jubilee. I remove it's head and toss it full strength at another, putting a large hole in it's chest. The com on my head echo's with Jubilee's quick thanks. I am feeling good. A clothesline on one, dodge a laser from another, little help here, quick punch there. Needless to say it went to my head. What I didn't count on? Their ability to learn, and compensate. I charge at one of them, bring back my fist, and find myself the recipient of a knuckle sandwich. The robot's fist cuts across my face. I feel blood pool up in my mouth. My back land's smack on the floor. The robot stands over me, hand blaster aimed.
"Back off!" I see light reflect off a silver bar of some kind as it smashes into the robot's head. It is knocked off balance. A hand rips off the arm blaster, a flurry of bright sparks assaults it from both sides blinding it's sensors. It topples over, tripped up by a long gray hand. As it hits the floor, it is engulfed by flame. Total time? Less that three seconds.
"Joseph are you all right?" A dark skinned face leans over me. Monet. Reality snaps back in. I stand up and nod my head. I rub my jaw, and to my surprise find it unhurt. I check my inner cheek where I was sure I had a gapping wound from where I bit down. Nothing.
"Are you sure?" Paige puts a hand on my shoulder. It's metal, and looks like silver.
"I'm fine Husk." Codenames. Got to pick one soon, before Jubilee insists on "Speedy".
"He's all right!" The third conformation from Everett is directed at our teachers.
"Good. Ye all did very well. Especially ye Joe." Me? I'm the guy who got laid out on the floor in one punch. Surprisingly, everyone nods in agreement.
"Took you a minute, but when you got moving you really knocked them for a loop." Angelo slaps me on the back. No pain where I hit the ground either. Odd, guess I wasn't hurt as bad as I thought.
"You took out nearly half of them yourself, giving us time to take out the rest." Everett points to the robots still littering the floor.
Not being one to take all the credit, I shrug, "I might of taken out a few, but that last one would of blasted my behind if you guys hadn't taken him out like you did."
"Good show all around students." Emma's voice sounded over the speakers. "Ready for another?"
In two and one half hours we fought training droids, ran obstacle courses, and even got in a game of full powers basketball. My team of Jubilee, Skin and Jono, would have won, except that Everett synched with Monet and sat on the hoop. As Sean and Emma tried to get us out, Jubilee rewarded Ev's 'great defensive skills' with a small burst of sparks on Everett's rear. I think he could have jumped just as high even without M's powers. He tried to chase her but she ducked into the girl's changing area before he could get her. Later that evening in an unrelated incident, Jubilee's hot water mysteriously cut out again while in the shower.
{Emma's Office}
"Now that is odd." Emma spoke to herself. There is a knock on the door. "Come in Sean."
"Ye wanted te see me woman?" Emma ignored Sean's comment.
"Yes it's about the training session today."
Sean, smiles and looks out the window. "Aye they did quite well today. And Joe seems to be fitting in nicely."
"It's Joe I want to talk to you about." Sean flashes her a confused look, Emma shifts in her seat. "After the session was over and everyone left, I went to put one of the balls they had left out away, when I noticed a dark blotch on the floor. Apparently when Joe was struck by the training droid, he didn't get away as unscathed as we originally thought."
"But I checked out the lad after we finished. He was fine." Sean, was still confused.
"I'm not saying he wasn't, but he did suffer some sort of injury, which disappeared soon after."
"Very well, I'll check out the lad in the med. lab temorrow." He walks to the door. "G'night lass."
Emma nods her head and walks to the window with a cup of tea in hand. (Your a young man whose body is fraught with mysteries young Mr. Manelo. And I intend to solve every one of them.)
END.
OK. I know that this isn't a big cliff hanger ending, but it seems like a good place to stop for now. Just enough mystery surrounding Joe to make him interesting, but not annoying. OK here is the poll. What villain would you like to see Joe battle with Gen-X? Should he find out that Prof. X was Onslaught? I'll take compliments, suggestions, questions and even complaints! I will also try to respond to everyone who writes so please send me mail! Contact me at BURN_3IRD@aol.com or Animekeeper1@yahoo.com
by BURN 3IRD
Insert standard disclaimer here: Joe is mine, everyone else isn't. They belong to a little company called Marvel. I'm not getting money from this, so if you sue, know in advance I'm broke.
Dear Mr. Joseph Manelo,
After speaking with your doctor and reviewing both your medical history and your academic accomplishments I feel that it would be in your best interests to consider continuing your education at the Massachusetts Academy (formerly Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters). Enclosed with this letter are the numbers that you may call for more information.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Charles Xavier
Sean Cassidy
Emma Frost
Adrian Frost
I read the letter one more time. As I had everyday for the past week, trying to figure out why they would want a freak like me to go to their school.
(Me. Why would they want me?) I thought as I wheeled myself over to the phone. "NURSE!" I yelled out into the special care unit's hallway. One of the nurses, Mrs. Oak, came in to see what I needed.
"Yes dear?" She was one of those kindly old ladies that reminded me of my grandmother. I pointed to the phone and showed her the number I wanted to call. "All right dear I will dial it for you. You want it on the speaker I assume?"
"Yes, and close the door for me please"
"Not a problem hun. I will be around if you need anything else" she smiled and after dialing the number closed the door.
{Massachusetts Academy}
~Ring, Ring!~ Emma Frost put down the reports she had been going over. (So many damn students, and their parents calling in for every little thing) She picks up the phone and slips into the sweetest voice she can manage.
"Hello, Xav- uh- Massachusetts Academy, Emma Frost speaking."
"Ms. Frost? Hello this is Joseph Manelo. I recently received a letter from a Mr. Xavier that informed me that you are interested in accepting me into your school."
"Ah, yes. Mr. Xavier told me to expect a call from you. If you don't mind could you take me off speaker?"
"Ummm. No Ms. Frost I am afraid I can't."
Emma sighed. "Very well, are you alone then?"
"Yes."
"OK. Mr. Manelo it has come to our attention that you are "gifted" with certain abilities. We would like to bring you to our school to help you to learn to control these abilities, while at the same time getting a first rate education."
"What so this is some sort of mutant training place?"
"To put it crudely yes."
"So all of the students there are mutants like me huh?" My voice drifted as I wheeled around the room. Emma hears the sound of metal crunching. "Damn."
"Is something the matter? Joe?
"Um, no I am fine." In a near whisper I complain about this being the third wheelchair I wrecked this week.
"Anyway, Joseph, have you made a decision regarding the school?"
I put my hand over my mouth, this is my usual thinking position. A chance to master these damn powers, meet some kids like me, good education. I chuckle. Well two out of three ain't bad.
"Very well Ms. Frost, I accept your generous offer."
Emma smiles. "A wise decision Mr. Manelo. I will have a plane ticket waiting for you at the-"
"Ms. Frost. I know you mean well, but I am afraid that I can not get on a plane, let alone get to an airport on my own. If I am to get there I am afraid someone will have to come down and get me. And to be honest I would like to avoid a plane if possible." I call to mind my last airport attempt.
"All right, I will send some one down to pick you up at, where are you?"
The next ten minutes are spent with me supplying directions and information about where I am, where to reach my parents, and Emma describing the curriculum and location of the school. After finishing the conversation, Emma hangs up the phone and leans back in her chair.
*Sean*
*Aye Emma, what do ye want?*
*I have just gotten off the phone with a new student to add to our 'special classes'*
*Oh have ye now?*
*Yes, and I need you to go down to Long Island to get him*
*Why canne he just take a plane down?*
*He didn't say why, just that he couldn't.*
*All right then. I'll head on down temorrow.*
Emma thinks to herself a moment. *Sean.*
*Aye?*
*Why don't you take some of the students along with you? This way he has a chance to get to know some of them before he arrives.*
*All right.*
{In the Rec. room}
Jubilee, Everett, Monet, and Angelo sit on the couch respectively watching TV. Jubilee happily munches on a box of "Sugar Bombs". A large gray hand suddenly reaches over and snags the box from her.
"Hey gray! Give me back my snacks!"
"Chica you've been hogging these the whole day," Angelo shoots back. "I am entitled to some."
"Why you!" Jubilee leaps over Monet and Ev. She collides with Angelo and sends him tumbling off the couch onto the floor along with the box of "Sugar Bombs" which spills all over the floor.
"Caramba!"
"See what you-"
"ME? Jubecca you"
"Don't pin this on me! Hey watch those hands!"
"If you didn't use you lame powers to blind me"
"LAME! Why you rasum frassm bag of useless--"
"Jubilee! Angelo!" Both of them stop rolling on the floor when Paige enters the room. She quickly slams the door behind her. "I can't believe that you would use your powers like that! Anyone could of walked in here and seen you."
"Nonsense, Paige." Everyone looks to the Algerian girl still sitting on the couch, still calmly watching the TV. "I was psychically keeping all the other students away from this room. So there was nothing to worry about."
"Oh." Paige looks humbled and takes Jubilee's place on the couch. Just as Banshee walks in the door.
"All right lad's an' lassies. Who's up for a bit of a road trip?" He suddenly notices Jubilee and Angelo on the floor. "What be going on here then, eh?"
"Nothing Irish. So what's this about a road trip?" Jubilee gets up and sits on a chair next to the couch. Skin just stands up and leans against the wall giving Jubilee a dirty look.
"Yes, well. We just got a call about a new mutant lad in New York."
"So are we going to Logan International to pick him up?" asked Paige.
"Nae lass, the lad expressed a desire te remain off a plane and wanted someone to pick him up. So who wants to take a trip down te New York with me?" Sean looks around hopefully. "Angelo?"
"Uh. No thanks Senor Cassidy, uh history paper."
"Hmp." Sean looks around. "I take it you all have a similar excuse?" Nods all around. "Ah well, then." Sean turns to leave.
"I'll go Mr. Cassidy."
Sean turns around and looks at the speaker. Everett stands up and walks to Sean.
"There's a good lad. Anyone else?" Sean decides to sweeten the deal a bit. "Ye know, we may need to stop by in Westchester ta have Dr. McCoy check the lad out." He glances at Jubilee.
"That's foul play Sean," a glaring Jubilee replies. "Fine I'm in."
"Well that's two, I think we can do one better dinne you?"
*I'll go with ya.* Shocked faces all around as Jonothon Starsmore silently steps into the room.
"Right, OK then Everett, Jubilee, and Jono get a change of cloths we may need te stay a night." Sean leaves and the three students move to their rooms to get packed.
{My Hospital Room}
"Are you sure you can take these people's word?" My nurse keeps putting things into my bags. "I mean they could be FoH members or some other extreme group."
"Mrs. Oaks I'll be fine." I looks to what she is packing. "Wait, put that book on the top so I can read it in the car."
"To think it was two years ago your parents brought you here," Mrs. Oaks sighs. "Such a shame that they don't come to see you that often."
"You mean at all." I stare out the window.
"Joe, you know they care about you, they just don't know how to react to you. They are afraid." There is a knock at the door.
A young looking orderly pokes his head in warily. "Um, there are four people at the reception desk asking for Mr. Manelo."
"Thank you. Take his luggage, I'll wheel him out." The orderly looks relieved and quickly disappears.
I do a quick check in the mirror. Thick black hair: combed, face: almost clear of acne, clean shave, cloths: in order.
Well here we go. I nod to Mrs. Oaks who wheels me out.
"Don't worry, it's just a little ways north. And if there are any problems, you can come right back." I smile at her kind words.
Yeah back to being a cripple without the benefits of being one
She wheels him down the hall. The smell of antiseptic and other medications assaults my nose. I hate hospitals. We turn the corner and the receptionist's desk comes into view. I take a look at the four people standing there.
The first one to catch his eye is the guy wrapped from chest to nose in black bandages. He wears blue jeans and a black leather jacket, and his brown hair looks like he just woke up.
The next one he looks over is a young Asian girl in a bright yellow trench coat. Her hair is black, about shoulder length, and pushed behind her ears, which bear earrings with an 'X' symbol on them. The rest of her outfit appears to have been put together from an exploding closet.
A black kid, maybe a year or two older than her, stands behind her. He is wearing a red baseball cap with the visor to the back. Other than that he seems to be the only one of the group who is dressed normally.
Finally, the adult of the group. Tall, red hair, Celtics jacket, red shirt, jeans. This guy screamed "Kiss me I'm Irish." He smiles as I come down the hall. He and the others give me the same once over that I had given them. The guy in the Celtic's jacket comes over.
"Hello lad, I am Sean Cassidy one of the head masters of the Massachusetts Academy," he holds out his hand to shake.
"Mr. Cassidy, I don't think that is a good idea." I say in an insistent voice. Sean looks at me with a puzzling look. Then his face changes to one of understanding and he pulls back his hand.
"Well then let me introduce you to some of yer new classmates," he gestures to the three teens behind him. "This is Everett, Jonothon, and Jubilee."
Quick one line greetings are exchanged and soon I find myself being pushed out to the parking lot with Mr. Cassidy and the others carrying my bags and Mrs. Oaks pushing my chair.
"Here we are. Ye can get out of the wheelchair now lad, we're out of the hospital." Mrs. Oaks and I share a nervous look. Sean looks at us in confusion. Must be his normal look when it comes to new mutants.
"Mr. Cassidy, Joe can't get out of the wheelchair. That's part of the reason he is going with you." Good old Mrs. Oaks.
"Way to go Sean, you insult the kid before we even get to the school."
"Jubs!" Everett admonishes Jubilee.
Sean still looks shocked. "I'm sorry lad, I dinne know. There was nothing in the medical records we were given that said otherwise."
"Once we are in the car sir I promise to explain."
A heartfelt goodbye, and with some assistance from Jono, I'm in the back of the school's Hummer and on my way north to a new life.
"So, Joe why are you in a wheelchair?" Everett asks me as politely as possible.
"Aye lad I was wondering that meself." Sean asks from the driver's seat.
I take a deep breath. "My mutant gift is, as far as I can tell, two fold. Sometimes, my powers concentrate in my legs and arms is such a way that I am extremely fast. But it's, ummmmm, unstable. Anything that I do is fast, without exception. Walking is an impossibility because I move so fast that by the time I see a wall or obstacle and it registers, I have all ready run into it. Hence the wheelchair. Also when I am fast, well lets just say 'lifting a feather might leave me breathless.'"
"So like, when your making like the Road Runner, ya can't lift beans. OK I got that." Jubilee says while blowing a bubble with her gum.
Ev speaks up, "You said your power is two fold. What else do you do?"
(My aren't we the inquizitive one.) The thought comes out and Jono, sitting in the front seat, gives me a dirty look.
"The exact opposite. The times when I am not fast, the power in my body makes me very strong, but at the same time very slow. Which is why I didn't shake Mr. Cassidy's hand before. I might of crushed it."
"Dinne worry about that lad, yer forgiven in my eyes." Well at least he is nice.
The rest of the ride is mostly filled with questions directed at both sides. I ask about their powers [with a bit of edging from Jubilee, Jono removes his scarf, I am amazed], they ask about my family, I change the subject, hobbies and the school in general are the topics as we pull into the gates of Xavier's School of Higher Learning.
"What is this? Are we there?" I hadn't seen a sign that we were in Massachusetts.
"No way dude! We are someplace totally better!" In the next thirty seconds as we pull up the drive way I hear the whole history of the X-Men. I comprehend about four words of her rambling one of which is 'and'. As the car stops, Jubilee leaps out of the car followed by Mr. Cassidy who helps me into my wheel chair.
"Nice place." A soft spring wind blows through and I pull my jacket tighter. Unfortunately my powers decided to focus on the strength side of my powers and I find myself holding my jacket in three pieces. "Great"
*Quite the feat of strength.* Jono finally says something to me and I realize that his voice went strait to my head.
"Was that telepathy?" I put my hand to my head.
*Yeah, mate. Only way I can communicate without half me bloody face.*
"Oh." I make a note in my head. British, telepath, lots of power. Make this guy your friend. That is how my mind has always worked. I made friends with whom ever I met, if possible, but then there were those people that I put up on my "list of people who I want to be my friend, cause I don't want to be their enemy." Jono just made top spot.
I sit quietly for a few moments as Jubilee knocks on the door. When it opens, a large man with a Russian accent, opens the door and is nearly knocked over by a frantic Jubilee who gives him a quick hug and hello and darts into the house. Somewhere in her hello I catch the name Colossus.
"Hello, Sean, it is good to see you again." He gives Mr. Cassidy a firm handshake and a slap on the shoulder. "What brings you here?"
Sean, returns the handshake. "It's good to see you too Pioter. We were hoping to see Hank, is he in?"
"No, I am sorry to say that I have not seen him in quite a while."
"Well is Charles in? We want to just give the lad a physical before we bring him back to the school."
"The Professor is in his study, come in and I will go and get him."
"Thank ye Pioter." Sean pushes me in the door and I suddenly get the feeling that I am way out of my league. Everett and Jono walk in and walk off to a room on the right. Sean follows them with me along for the ride. In this room is a TV screen that looks like it would be better suited in a multiplex theater. A man gives each of them a nod and then rests his eyes on me. Something doesn't feel right and upon closer inspection I realize that this man's eyes are black with red irises.
"So you picked up another new student for your little clan, eh?" His voice reminds me of a movie I saw about New Orleans.
"Aye Gambit, the lad's name is Joe. Joe, Gambit member of the X-Men." X- men? X-MEN!? My mind flashes back to the many news broadcasts I had seen that referred to the X-men. Mutant terrorists, Operation: Zero Tolerance,.....Onslaught. That last one stuck out in my mind. I had lost a friend in the assault on Manhattan. Wasn't Onslaught originally one of the X-men? I felt sick.
"Sean." The Russian guy came back. "The Professor is waiting for you in the med. center."
"Thank ye Pioter. Ready lad?" He takes my lack of response as a yes and wheels me to the top of a flight of stairs. "Uh, Pioter, the lad canne get out of the chair, could ye."
"Of coarse torstevich." I hear a sound, that reminds me of a sword leaving its sheath, you know a kind of ringing sound. Next thing I know my whole chair is being lifted up by the Russian guy whose skin has turned into some kind of metal. "There you go young one." With a gentleness that I can hardly believe he places me at the base of the steps and continues to push me down the hall with Mr. Cassidy at his heals.
The smell of antiseptic hits me again. This time it seems almost comforting as it reminds me of home. Pioter stops at a door and hits a panel next to it. The door opens with a swish and I enter a room that reminds me of those shown in Star Trek. Near one of the tables is a bald man, in a yellow chair that seems to be floating?
"Tis good te see you again Charles. How are ye?" Sean gives the man a hearty shake.
"I am fine Sean. How are things at the school?" The man, Charles, earns my respect the moment he opens his mouth. He strikes me as the kind of man who when he asks you to do something, you do it. Not because he is intimidating, but because he seems to know exactly what to do.
"And this is the lad I was telling ye about." Reality snaps back in and sit up as Mr. Cassidy gestures to me. " Joe, this is Professor Xavier."
"It's an honor to meet you sir." I feel like a new student just brought into the dean's office. "I'd shake your hand but, I am afraid I can't." He nods and to my surprise smiles.
"That's all right young man. Hopefully your stay at the school will enable you to master your powers and enable you to one day."
For the next hour I am poked, prodded, scanned and tested. I don't think that there was a part of my body that they missed. And I remember thinking that if everyone had this health care, maybe sickness would pass out of this world. Yeah right. I think it was just something that popped up because I was on pins and needles with nerves. Anyway, by the time they finished the tests I was bored, and tired, and bored, and hungry, and finally bored. They gave me a clean bill of health.
I heard Sean say something about staying the night there. I was less than thrilled. I am in a strange house, with strange people, and not a soul to talk to. Last thing I wanted was to sit and eat, and make everyone feel as weird as I did. I said that I wasn't hungry, just tired and asked to be shown where I would sleep. Unfortunately they didn't know that my, 'condition' meant that I was unable to undress, shower, and get in bed. So I prepared to spend a restless night in my cloths, sitting in my chair.
"Welcome to your new life Joe." I said to myself. As I tried to make myself comfortable in my chair, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in!"
"Hey, Joe." Jubilee walked into the room. When she saw that I was still in my chair, she looked surprised. "Aren't you gonna go to sleep?"
"I can't get out of my chair." I said sadly. I pointed to the bed that they had left me. There was a big piece missing from where I had tried to pull myself onto it.
"Oh, I see." She looked embarrassed. "Do you want me to help you?"
"No." It came out cold. I didn't mean it to, but the fact that I had full use of my arms and legs but no way to control them got on my nerves sometimes. "No, thank you. I'll just sleep in my chair."
"Dude, you can't sleep in that. Come on let me help you." I stood up.
"All right, just try to get me on the bed. If I am in 'speed mode' I'll probably crash, break a bone or four, and then really need this damn thing." I glared at the wheelchair. For the first time in four years I got mad. Damn thing, its a badge of how weak I am. I hate it. I HATE IT! With all my strength I kicked the chair. I was in strong mode. Bad thing to do. It flew through the air and most of it flew through the wall into the next room. I looked at the hole, then at a shocked Jubilee, then at my hands. "Why?" It was all I could say. I fell to my knees.
The next day, after a long apology to Professor Xavier and a loner wheelchair that they had in the med. center, Mr. Cassidy finally got us to the school. Everett pushed me to a building that he said were the rooms reserved for the 'special kids' of the school. It was a nice room with a window that looked over a nature path. A bit down the path was a lake.
Apparently word travels fast, because I hadn't been in the room twenty minutes when the rest of the 'elite' of the school dropped by. I was sitting in my chair reading the book that Mrs. Oaks had packed for me when I heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" I hadn't been expecting anyone so this was a shock. Must be Ev, seeing if I need anything. The door opened and Jubilee walked in with three people I hadn't seen before.
"Hey, Joe I thought I would introduce ya to the rest of the team." She cocks her head at the three people behind her. I give them my usual once over.
The gray guy caught my attention first, because he was, well gray. He looked the picture of relaxation, sandals, shorts, and no sleeved shirt. His chin bears what looks like the makings of a beard, and around his neck was a gold cross.
The other two were girls. Man if I had to describe two people who were almost completely different, these were them. One was tall, long black hair, dark skin and dressed in designer cloths. First thought? Money. The other had short blond hair, with light skin that was spotted with fading freckles, and cloths that looked like they may have belonged to someone before her. First thought? She's cute.
"Hola, amigo. Names Angelo, nice to meet you." He talked with a Spanish accent, and his breath smelled of cigarettes. He didn't try to shake my hand, they must have heard from Mr. Cassidy.
"Pleasure to meet you, I am Monet St. Croix." Man I haven't heard some one speak so perfectly since my fanatic English teacher in seventh grade. And with a French accent no less. Money, definitely money.
"Paige Guthrie, if you need help with anything Ah-I could help you out." They must get them from all over. Slightly hidden southern accent. She is definitely cute.
"Thanks, it's nice to meet you all. Actually if someone isn't busy could they help me to the kitchen?" I hadn't eaten anything since I left the hospital and it was beginning to get to me.
Paige stepped up. "I don't mind." She took me down an elevator to the first floor and to the main building. The path she took crossed the nature path I had seen from my window. "This is the path I take for my morning run. I used to have it to myself, but with all the new students I get some company in the morning."
"I saw a lake down it."
"What, oh yeah, it's real nice in the summer. We used to go to the Biosphere to swim in it's lake but now that it's gone..." She lost me at Biosphere and she seemed to realize it mid-sentance. For the rest of the trip to the kitchen she tells me about some sort of training center they had that somehow disappeared one day. I didn't question how I was confused enough as it is.
In the kitchen Paige asked me what I wanted.
"Well what do you have?" I asked. She brought out some sandwiches that she told me had been made yesterday. Since Sean, Jubilee and Everett were gone they had had extra. I noticed the absence of one other name.
"What about that guy Jono? You guys don't like him or something?" At the name Jono, Paige tensed up. She relaxed before she answered my question.
"Jono, doesn't eat." I gave her a puzzled look. She tries again. "When Jonothon's powers first manifested they blew his entire chest and half of his face away, so he doesn't need to eat or even breathe. Oh but if anyone asks you, his cover at the school is that he is a mute burn victim." I nodded. I then realized that I was in 'speed mode' because I nodded five times in about half a second. Paige didn't say anything, though I was sure she noticed. "Here let me get you something to drink." She turned to get a glass and when she turned back to me to ask what I wanted the two sandwiches she had given me were only a memory. She offered to take me on a tour of the rest of the campus, I accepted saying I could never turn down a lady. I think I saw her tense and blush. She showed me the classes, the labs, and the dorms. When she got to the athletics' building she stopped and pointed to a set of gym doors with a sign that said. "DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISION -THE FACULTY"
"That," she explained, "is the 'danger room.'
"Scary name. What is it haunted?" I joked.
"It's where we train in our powers."
"Then it's a more of a Super Gym than a Danger Room." I swear I heard her laugh.
"Really, want to take a look inside? Someone is in there." It sounded like a dare. How could I refuse?
"All right lets see." She checked the halls and then put her hand on a brick next to the doors. The doors opened and I gasped as she pushed me inside.
As near as I could tell it looked like a giant light show, lasers flashing from the walls, explosions rising from the floors, and the shouts of two people from some where in the middle. My mouth dropped and Paige smiled at my surprise. Suddenly a woman's voice echoed from the walls.
"OK that's enough for now. Take a short break." The whole scene just stopped and dissolved. The dissolution revealed a perfectly normal gym except for a large control booth where a basketball hoop should be, and two teenagers in red and yellow spandex standing at midcourt.
"That the best you got Frosty? That was nothing!" I recognized Jubilee's voice.
"In case you haven't noticed Jubilee. We have guests." The woman's voice sounded familiar. I tried to remember where I had heard it before. From the control booth at the far end I saw a woman dressed head to toe in white, descend the ladder. She walked to me and Paige. "You, must be Joseph. I am Emma Frost, I believe you spoke to me on the phone the other day?" At that I placed the voice.
"Yes, pleased to meet you Ms. Frost. Paige was just showing me around." She nodded and then looked to Paige.
"Since your here suit up and join Jubilee and Everett." Paige ran off to change and Emma turned back to me. "Why don't you join me in the booth? This way you can get a better idea of what we do here." I was about to point out that I couldn't get up to the booth, when I noticed the booth absorb the ladder and lower itself down. Cool.
"I guess you could classify it as 'cool' Joseph, I prefer to think of it a convenient." It took me a full five seconds to remember that I hadn't said that out loud.
"How did you..." I started.
"I am a telepath Joseph," she explained as she wheeled me to the booth. "Your mind is an open book to me if I choose."
I watched as Emma began to hit buttons on the control panel in the booth. Paige entered the room in a similar red and yellow outfit that Everett and Jubilee wore. The room disappeared.
"Since Miss Lee finds my previous choice of exercise unchallenging what do you say we up the stakes a little bit?" Emma struck a key. On the far side of the room a small man appeared, the floor, ceiling and walls also changed texture and stated to sag where the three students were standing.
"Who is that?" From where I was I could see Everett squinting to see their unknown adversary.
"I think it's the Toad."
"Two words Frosty. Puh-Leeez. We can whoop this guy without breaking a sweat." Jubilee's voice had a hint of disappointment.
"Really Jubilee? Your on his playing field now. The walls, ceiling and floor are all highly elastic. Now begin." I watched on as 'the Toad' began to bounce off the floor and walls towards the group. Jubilee went to take a step forward and ended up bouncing off the floor and on to her stomach. I held in a laugh, Ms. Frost didn't. I suddenly became aware of a rainbow around Everett, and it seemed to be trying to surround Jubilee. When it did, Everett began to shoot what looked like fire works at the Toad. But the Toad move too fast and clocked him in the head. Everett fell back. Then the toad grabbed Paige's hair and tried to pull her down too. But as he passed by Paige, Paige's hair went with him. Then Paige started tearing at her own skin. A closer look reminded me of that big guy I had met at Xavier's. Her body looked like it was entirly made of metal.
As I tried to get a better view I squirmed in my chair, and my chair started to move. Unable to stop I rolled to the entrance of the booth, Emma saw me too late as I fell. I hit the spongy ground and then tried to get up. Problem, I was in 'speed mode again'. When I got up my foot moved so fast I had to put out my other one to keep my balance, then again and again and again. I was in full run and the only thing in my way was a wall of rubber. I hit the wall with such force that it sunk in about four feet before it sprung me out. Then I felt like I was in a game of Pong. Except I was the ball. I sprung off the walls and ceiling, at such fast rates that soon I couldn't tell which way was up, or down, or any direction for that matter. I vaguely heard Ms. Frost telling the others to get out of my way. And I soon realized that the walls were getting softer and I was sinking more and more as I bounced. Finally I sunk into one of the soft surfaces and stuck there. I breathed a sigh of relief, before I realized that I was falling again! I had stuck in the ceiling and gravity was frowning at me. I slipped free of the sticky ceiling and began to fall. All I remembered before I passed out was some one yelling very, very loudly.
{Emma's office}
"I am tellin' ye woman. The lad could h've broken 'is neck in that room!"
"Please stop yelling Sean. I am quiet aware of what could of happened. But it was an accident." Emma sat behind her desk, with a small wine glass.
"Aye, it was an accident, but it could have been avoided if ye had been paying attention." Sean's face was flushed. "The lad must be given special attention if he is going to learn ta control his powers!"
"Funny you should mention that Sean. I was talking to Xavier about the test results from yesterday and during the tests Charles says that Joseph's powers, fluctuated three times." Emma points to a monitor with results from Joe's tests on it.
"Did 'e find a pattern te the changes," Sean calms down as he looks at the screen.
"As a matter of fact he did," Emma types some commands on the keyboard and a new graph appears. "At the start of the tests, Joseph was nervous, and his powers shifted to the 'speed mode' of his powers as he calls it. At the end of the test, he seemed more annoyed with just sitting there and his powers reverted to his 'strong mode'."
"I see," Sean strokes his chin. "Ye said that he had three changes, what was the third?"
"That is the intriguing part. Somewhere in the middle as he was getting comfortable, his powers seemed to find a balance." Emma points to the graph. "The resulting balance allowed him to be both fast and strong, yet not in the extremes that he had been experiencing in the past."
"So the lads powers are linked to his moods? Is that what yer saying Em?" Sean inquires.
"Exactly."
{Med. lab}
I woke up with the feeling usually reserved for a night of heavy drinking, followed by car horns sounding in your ear for twenty minutes. Simply put, migraine, bad one. I was hit by the familiar stench of antiseptic. Great another hospital. This was getting annoying I accepted this damn invitation so I wouldn't have to live in a hospital. Yet that is where I keep finding myself.
I reached to pull myself up with the bars on the side of the bed. They crunched in my hand, then twisted and finally broke off.
"Caramba, bet M would be jealous of that."
I became aware that there was someone else in the room. I looked next to the bed. At the far wall was one of the students Jubilee had brought to meet me. What was his name? Ah, well. Never needed names before to talk why start now.
"Hey she wants these powers she can have them," I saw one of those bed remotes, that adjusts the bed so patients could sit up or raise their feet. "Hey man, could you raise my head a bit with that remote? If I pick it up I might crush it."
"Sure, amigo." He picks up the remote and I am soon sitting up and greeting my two headmasters who just walked in.
"Thank ye fer watchin' the lad Angelo, ye can leave now." Angelo, gray guy is Angelo, got it. Better thank him.
"Thanks for your help Angelo."
He flashes me a smile before giving me a nod and leaving. My attention turns back to the two other people in the room.
"How are ye feeling lad?" Mr. Cassidy seems generally concerned.
"I'm fine. But for the record, what happened exactly?" Ms. Frost steps in.
"You were with me in the control booth of the 'Danger Room', when your chair somehow rolled out of the doorway. You fell and when you went to get up, you bolted across the floor and into one of the elastic walls we were using for the exercise. You then proceeded to bounce uncontrollably around the room."
"How did I stop?" If I was bouncing so much I saw no reason why I should have stopped.
"I adjusted the program to make the walls less elastic and more soft. You basically sunk into the ceiling, until Mr. Cassidy recovered you." How could some one be that cold? Man the chill on her voice could freeze lava.
"Lad," Mr. Cassidy, ever the tactful changer of subjects, "we just finished going over the lab results on ye, from the other day." I thought they already went over those at Xavier's. Mr. Cassidy must of seen my confusion. "Aye, the Professor was going over yer genetic structure, and found a tie in te yer powers."
"A 'tie in'? You mean something that affects my powers?" For twenty minutes they both tell me about some sort of scientific junk that boils down to, 'If you are scared you run, if your mad you're strong.' Great now all I need is a mood ring to see where I am at.
{Danger Room Four Days Later}
The entirety of Generation X is sitting around waiting for one of their instructors to start up the program for their training session. Jubilee is bouncing a ball while Paige and Monet talk about an assignment that they had just received. Everett and Angelo are tossing around another basketball between them, while Jono sits by himself looking at Paige.
"So what is keeping Irish and Frosty?" Jubilee is getting tired of waiting.
"Quiet, Jubilee. They are most likely assisting Joseph with whatever he needs before coming down to begin our session." Monet's voice drips with superiority. And dare I say smugness.
*It's gorra be rough on the mate. 'E's crippled because 'e is too powerful. Kinda reminds me o' me.*
"Well Mr. Starsmore," Paige regards him with an edge in her voice that makes Monet jealous, "at least you aren't in a wheelchair because of it." Jono shuts up and shrinks back.
"I say we put the five minute rule in effect."
"Five minute rule? What in the world is that?" Paige looks at Jubilee.
"It's like, if your teacher doesn't come to class in five minutes, we leave."
"Hey, chica I'm all for that one." Angelo tosses the ball he and Ev had been throwing into the bag of balls. "Seems like we should of vamoosed about three minutes ago." He heads for the door with Jubilee on his heels. When it opens Angelo's mouth drops, literally.
"Hey, why'd ya stop?" Jubilee looks over his shoulder and gasps. "Joe? Zat you?"
I step into the room and for the first time in two years I am not worried about flying into the wall. The rest of the group looks on, shocked. Ms. Frost and Mr. Cassidy walk in behind me. I take the moment to give myself a once over. Yellow and red just don't seem to work for me but, hey when in Rome. On my head are a pair of goggles that are a little bigger then the ones that I see on Everett's head. Goggles. Man I must look the picture of stupid right now. And finally on my wrists are two armbands with blinking lights. Yeah I am looking good. Paige is the first to speak up.
"Miss Frost, Mistuh Cassidy, why isn't Joe in his chair?" Whoa that hidden accent ain't so hidden anymore.
"Well lass, it seems that Joe will nea longer be needing the chair te get around." He lifts up one of my arms and shows everyone the wrist band I am wearing. "Ye see, Joe's powers are linked with his emotions. The expression of his emotions cause certain reactions to occur in his body which direct his powers. These here wristbands are linked with his nervous system. They help to balance out those reactions as needed. And these goggles 'ere," He points to the goggles on my head. Man I feel like I am one of those cheap fashion models, modeling the new line of mutant wares, "are made to help 'im keep track of what's going on in front of him while running."
"Mr. Cassidy," Ev speaks up, "Where did you get these things?"
"Forge made them after we sent him Joe's medical results." That they came from Forge seemed to explain everything. "Now everyone get up to the control booth, Ms. Frost and I want to see how Joe can handle himself solo."
The whole group passes by me, each looking me over as they head for the booth. The only one who says anything is Jono, who psychically wishes me luck. OK I can do this. Just a few tests. Nothing bad.
"Are you ready Joe." Ms. Frost, jerks me out of my self pep talk. I nod. "Let's begin."
The whole room goes dark and I slip on my goggles. Night vision, cool. This Forge guy thought of everything. From the walls come metal tentacles. OK should I dodge them or rip them out? I decide to try and avoid them for a bit. I hit the speed, glad that my new wristbands slow me up a bit so I can see where I am going. Jump here, flip here, turn there, I react as fast as I run. OK enough running. I reach out and grab the closest tentacle and rip it out of the wall. I mix the speed and strength of my powers best I can, dodging this one, crushing that one. Grabbing--hey where did they go?
"Ready for the next level, Joseph?" Ms. Frost's disembodied voice floats through the air.
"Bring it on!" Yeah, I can take anything they can throw, I'm tough, I'm fast, I can..... My thoughts trail off as the far wall breaks open. As my vision focuses, my nerve also shatters with the wall. A sentinel.
My mind floats back to a year old event that haunts my nights to this day. Manhattan, Onslaught, a boy leaving the doors of a hospital after visiting his friend in the special care unit. The descending sentinel, a blast, and the young man's remains blasted back into the hospital's doorway.
*Joe. Joe, it's all right mate. The bloody robot's gone. Yer safe.*
My eyes open, and I find myself backed in a corner of the room. My legs are up in my chest, and I can feel the sweat dripping on my forehead. Looking up, I see the entirety of the students looking at me. Most of them bare worried expressions. Jono, is kneeling next to me with a hand out to help me up. I take him up on his offer.
Jubilee, takes the initiative, "What happened to you dude? When that sentinel Frosty punched up crashed through the wall, you disappeared."
I took a step to get my bearings and knock both myself and Jono to the floor with incredible speed.
*Oaffff* Jono lets out the psychic equivalent of a gasp as we hit the floor.
"Don't move lad, lemme see yer wristbands." I hold up my arms, so fast that I almost take off Mr. Cassidy's head. He grunts at the shock but since my strength is low he isn't hurt. This time he picks up my arms himself and inspects my wristbands. "Looks like ye overloaded the circuits on this one. Ye must of been scared out of yer wits man te blow out this."
"Paige," Ms. Frost steps in, "Go get Joe something to wear over his uniform, Angelo go get Joe's wheelchair from the med. lab. Everyone else, change and go to class, except you Jono, you stay and help get Joe back into his wheelchair."
"Ther's nae a need fer the lad to stay, I canna do it."
"No," Ms. Frost's words come out sharp as a knife. She takes off my blown wristband and tosses it at him. "You get Forge on the phone and get him to fix this." Mr. Cassidy looks like he's about to argue, but then thinks better of it and leaves. Ten minutes and a cloths change later, I find myself being pushed back to my room by Paige.
"Don't let one little setback, ruin your whole day Joe," she was saying, "I'm sure that Sean and Emma will get Forge to fix up your wristband quick as can be." She flashes me a reassuring smile.
I mumble under my breath.
"What was that?" Paige looked down at me.
"Nothing." Thankfully she lets it die there. As we approach the boy's dorm, I see the nature path that my window looked over. "Paige, would you mind wheeling me down to that lake down that path?"
Paige, looks at me confused. "Sure, why?"
I lean back in my chair, "I wanted to take a walk down there this afternoon when Mr. Cassidy and Ms. Frost gave me these." I lift up my remaining band. I quickly notice that my hand goes up at a normal rate. Guess I am too depressed to trigger my 'speed mode'. Paige nods and we begin to head down the path. When we reach the lake I ask Paige to stop. She makes sure that my chair is secure and then sits on a felled tree close by. For a few minutes I just sit and look out at the lake's surface. It's a clear day and the sun reflects off of it like a mirror. I finally break the silence.
"It's weird you know." Paige raises her eyes that, a moment ago, had been studying her sneaker tops.
"What is?" Innocent question. So why do I tense a bit. Do I want to share this with someone I hardly know? Well it's got to come out sometime, why not now?
"This," I point to the wheelchair. "I can probably break the sound barrier without half trying, or crush a piece of platinum between my fingers, yet I am still stuck in this damn thing." My fist slams into the chair. If I hadn't still had on my wristband it might of surfaced somewhere in China. Oh well I felt better. I glanced at Paige, she was dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't dump this on you. I hardly even know any of you."
"Ah-I don't mind." The hidden accent again. "It's good to get these kind of things out. I can see how frustrating it must be to have all your arms and legs working, and not being able to use them."
"It's like having the top of the line computer, and no software to run it." I smile at my own bad joke, Paige giggles.
"Yo, Hayseed! Sean's looking for you and Joe, so stop flirting and move it!" Ah, the familiar screeching of Jubilee. The one thing I had grown accustomed to in these four days. This may of had something to do with the fact that for the last three days, she has been yelling at Everett's door. Apparently, he and Angelo wanted to see how many times they could cut out her hot water while in the shower in a week. Last count was five, Angelo got her twice in one day.
"I wasn't flirting, Lee. And we are coming." She yells after a disappearing Jubilee. She grabbed the back of my chair and pushed me back to the main building.
Paige must of been plotting against Jubilee, because she didn't notice a group of the 'normal' kids heading down the main path. Usually this wasn't a problem, but even I recognized the group. It was one of those groups that sits around talking about how big their daddy's wallet and fifth yacht were. And they held their noses up so high, that even Monet would be put to shame.
One of the boys of the group, a strapping blond who, by the look of his hands, had never even thought of manual labor noticed Paige and I coming down the path. The third headmistress, Adrian I think her name was, who I had seen once or twice around the school, had tried to pass me off as having some sort of muscle disease. These guys didn't seem like the compassionate type.
The blond kid, walked right up to me and used his foot to block my front wheel. "Where you off to....lanky?" The snide comment, sparked giggles from the rest of the group. I could hear Paige's hands work themselves into the grips on the wheelchair's back. "Wait, let me guess," he put his hand to his chin in a mock thinking position. "Where ever she decides right?" He points at Paige.
One of the other boys, this one with brown hair, bends to look at me. "Must be nice to have a chauffeured chair. Maybe I should give it a try, hmm?" He and the blond kid begin to pull at my arms trying to get me out of my chair, one of the girls grabs Paige from behind. I see Paige begin to move her hand to rip off her skin for a stronger form. Thinking better she stops and goes back to struggling against the girl, but another one goes to help. I look at the two boys trying to pull me out of my chair, I look at the two girls holding Paige, I look at the group of laughing kids. To hell with this.
I feel the walls that I build to keep my temper in check fall. These guys are dead. Instinct takes over where reason had once resided. In my last moment of rational thought I notice that my powers almost feel...balanced. The blond kid is the first to be on the receiving end of my new found control. My fist connects with the side of his head. The only thing that keeps his head on his shoulders is the remaining band on my wrist that dampens my strength. Before he touches the ground my other fist slams into the other kid's stomach. Had I not been in my current enraged state, I might of minded the resulting vomit that he felt necessary to deposit on the wheel of my wheelchair. The girls holding Paige loosen their grip and she grabs the closest one and tosses her into the shocked group of students in front of me. That was enough to get them moving. I began to calm as they ran out of site leaving the two that I had flattened passed out on the side of the path. I finally snap back into reality as I feel Paige's hand on my shoulder, and she asks me if I'm OK.
OK, fact. I hate to hurt people. No matter how much they deserve it, I hate causing physical harm to another human being. I looked up at Paige, concern in her face, and broke down crying. I am not sure how long it was, but at some point Everett came looking for us. When he got there, he looked at me with tears streaming down my face, a confused Paige, and two passed out students. To my surprise he merely suggested that Paige go back to her room and that he would take me to mine. Paige nodded. Still stunned she walked back down the path. And true to his word Everett took me back to my room and helped me onto my bed, where I promptly passed out.
The next morning, Sean came in. He gently woke me up, helped me to the shower [Which, incidentally is the only thing I can do myself as long as I don't move around too much], waited till I was dressed and then, once I was comfortable in my chair, asked me what happened. Needless to say I spilled the whole story out. Sean just sat and listened not saying one word. After I was finished I looked up at him.
"So, that's the whole story?" I nodded. "Well lad, the boy ye fought, Michael, and 'is friends say that they were trying te help ye when ye attacked them."
I panicked. "Mr. Cassidy, that is completely untrue! Ask Paige she'll tell you! They attacked us!" Fifth day and already causing problems, can't be good for my permanent record.
"Lad, I already asked Paige and she backs up yer story. There's nothin' te worry about." I relaxed. "Now come on, there's breakfast on the table and a full day of classes ahead of ye." He moved to the door. I was about to remind him that I would need help getting out when he turned and tossed something in my lap. "Before I ferget. 'Ere's what we wanted te give ye yesterday. It's an extra bracelet fer yer 'speed mode.' Unfortunately ye have to stay in the wheelchair, but at least you canna move around with out any help."
I slipped on the bracelet and felt a pinch as it hooked into my nervous system. "Thank you Mr. Cassidy." I stood up, stretched and walked around the room. Mr. Cassidy smiled.
"Nea a problem lad, and ye can call me Sean."
"OK then Sean, I'll be down in a minute." I pull out the books that Angelo had brought on my first day. Tossed them in my new backpack that Mrs. Oaks had secretly stashed in my bag along with a note wishing me luck. I would have to thank her some day. A quick check in the mirror, a swift comb of the hair, and I passed for presentable. I looked at the chair. "Well, I guess for appearance's sake I'll have to suffer with it a bit more." I settled into the familiar chair and proceeded to wheel to the elevator. I pushed the button for the ground floor and when it stopped I saw Everett and Angelo heading out the door. I debated whether or not to tell them to wait up but stopped when I saw the door to the basement open and a dark figure step out. I had only seen Jono in his leather jacket and jeans and his training uniform. The official school uniform didn't seem to suit him. He saw me and waited as I rolled up.
*Joe.* A simple greeting. But a greeting none the less.
"Morning Jono. Sleep well?" Time to open up the lines of conversation.
*Yah, sure mate.* Not the conversationalist I see. Oh well. We begin our trip to the main building. Jono had a math class and I had an English. The silence carries until we reach the main building entrance.
*I gotta keep the burn/mute act up so I'm going to talk you just listen.* I nod, Jono is not one that I want to make mad. *I wanna thank you fer 'elpin Paige out yesterday. The blokes might of 'urt 'er if you hadn't been there.* Jono sounds concerned. His feelings traveled along his psychic words. I tried to place them. Not brotherly, but protective, distinct traces of friendship but maybe a bit more than that. OK, decided, Paige off limits. Too bad I thought she was cute.
Classes were boring. I spent most of them rediscovering my rusty art work. All I got was frustrated. While in the hospital I had tried keeping my writing and art skills in practice, but after a month and a few dozen crushed pens and pencils, as well as a few pieces of paper set aflame by friction from a speeding pencil, I gave up. Writing came slow and steady but the art was slower coming. Other than my science and gym classes, which were completely composed of the members of Generation-X, I had one class with Everett, two with Jono and one with Jubilee and Paige. I noticed by my third class that the 'special kids' were usually grouped as close to each other as possible. The end of the day was a bit more on the upside when some of the human kids I talked with in class invited me to hang out in the rec. room. They grabbed my wheelchair and gave me little choice. But who am I to deny an invitation.
{Danger Room}
Emma had gone past being mad. She was now worried. Three of her students were late for their team training session. Joe, Jubilee, and Angelo should have been here by now.
(I have a mind to grab each of their minds and bring them here by way of the lake.) Emma thought.
*Now that's not a nice thing ta say teach.* Jono's amusement couldn't be missed. Emma glared at him.
"Everett, I am tired. Synch with my powers and locate them for me." Emma didn't act very well, and Everett knew a test when he heard one.
"Got you Ms. Frost." Synch's aura encompassed Emma and the voices of the entire student body rang in his head. He struggled to block them out and tried to fine tune Emma's power to find the missing students. He found them and surpressed a laugh as he gleaned their thoughts. "They're on their way here now Ms. Frost."
(They had better have a good reason for being late.)
{Outside a little while before}
After I had managed to escape from the rec. room crowd, I had met up with Angelo and Jubilee who was issuing him a warning about what she would do next time she was without warm water in the shower. Angelo wore a look of complete innocence.
"--nd that's just your upper body! I tell you when I was in the X-Men..." Jubilee was entering her own perverted lecture mode. Angelo lit a cigarette and gave her a sheepish look.
"Is this part of my punishment too chica?" I don't think I have ever seen anyone turn as red as Jubilee so fast. I decided on interjecting myself.
"Hey, guys." Rule one according to Jono. Strait on, no worries.
"Yo, speedy." Jubilee's face regained its proper pigmentation. I ignored her new nickname. "We are getting ready to head to the gym. If we get there early, we may get in some quick hoops before training."
"Sounds good." Basketball, another lost past time. One misses so much in a wheelchair. I do a quick recap, Emma and Sean have all the kids in the libraries working on a science paper that we don't have, so the grounds are clear. Why am I still in this damn thing? I get up and an idea forms. "Hey Jubilee," she looks up at me and I point to the chair, "want a ride?" Jubilee's and Angelo's eyes brighten as they catch my drift. A minute later with Jubilee in the chair and Angelo and ALL six feet of his skin wrapped around me on my back I shoot out as fast as I can while still keeping control. We head down the nature trail by the dorm and as we pass the lake a smile creeps on my face. Angelo is yelling out things in Spanish that I can't make out, totally whooping it up, Jubilee is all giggles telling me to speed it up. I make a sharp turn onto the lake. The laughing turns to screaming as I speed up and move so fast that my feet and the chair don't break the water surface. I put on the breaks when I reach the other side and Angelo slowly relaxes his grip on me and falls to the ground. Jubilee sits in the chair catching her breath.
"T...tha..t was.......AWESOME!" Jubilee jumps out of the chair. "We gotta do that again!" We fly back and forth across the lake for the better part of the hour. Angelo tries to water ski by wrapping his skin around my arms, but I move so fast that I nearly tear him in half. I'm 'ferrying' Jubilee across once again when she checks her watch.
"OMYGOD! Book it Joe we're LATE!" She screams in my ear. I hit the breaks still on the water. The resulting wave drenches Angelo who had been resting on the sidelines. I tossed Jubilee in the chair and grabbed Angelo. He proceeded to latch his soaked body on my back. His own revenge. I reached the Danger Room door and thought of a good excuse. Just as thoughts are beginning to come together the door opens to a glaring Emma. For a moment I consider running as fast as my legs will carry to a safe distance. Emma's glare didn't waver. California sounds good.
"You three had better have a good reason for being late," Her voice froze me to the bone. China sounded better.
Jubilee seemed fearless. "Chill out Frosty. We were on our way and got....side-tracked." Why was Everett chuckling?
"Get in uniform, now." We sleeked by. A quick change, or in my case a very quick change, and we were on the floor with the rest of the group.
"Now that yer all present and accounted fer," Sean's voice was to Emma's what spring is to winter "Emma and I want to test out yer ability te function as a team."
I swallowed. OK, time to see how well you can play with others. The lights dim. My stomach clenches. In front of us appear a small cadre of robots. I relax a bit. Not sentinels, thank God they're not sentinels. They come at us. I hesitate, the others don't.
"M! Flank their left! Sync help her out! Jubilee, Chamber hit them hard!" Paige's voice rings out loud and clear. I had seen each of them use their powers individually, even two or three together, but to see them all pool together was, to say the least, amazing.
"Don't just stand their amigo," Angelo leaps past me, his hands covered in his extra skin, making them dense, "grab a bot and whack it!"
OK I can do this. On your mark. Get set. If Mrs. Oaks could see me now. GO! I move fast and hit hard. One is sneaking behind Jubilee. I remove it's head and toss it full strength at another, putting a large hole in it's chest. The com on my head echo's with Jubilee's quick thanks. I am feeling good. A clothesline on one, dodge a laser from another, little help here, quick punch there. Needless to say it went to my head. What I didn't count on? Their ability to learn, and compensate. I charge at one of them, bring back my fist, and find myself the recipient of a knuckle sandwich. The robot's fist cuts across my face. I feel blood pool up in my mouth. My back land's smack on the floor. The robot stands over me, hand blaster aimed.
"Back off!" I see light reflect off a silver bar of some kind as it smashes into the robot's head. It is knocked off balance. A hand rips off the arm blaster, a flurry of bright sparks assaults it from both sides blinding it's sensors. It topples over, tripped up by a long gray hand. As it hits the floor, it is engulfed by flame. Total time? Less that three seconds.
"Joseph are you all right?" A dark skinned face leans over me. Monet. Reality snaps back in. I stand up and nod my head. I rub my jaw, and to my surprise find it unhurt. I check my inner cheek where I was sure I had a gapping wound from where I bit down. Nothing.
"Are you sure?" Paige puts a hand on my shoulder. It's metal, and looks like silver.
"I'm fine Husk." Codenames. Got to pick one soon, before Jubilee insists on "Speedy".
"He's all right!" The third conformation from Everett is directed at our teachers.
"Good. Ye all did very well. Especially ye Joe." Me? I'm the guy who got laid out on the floor in one punch. Surprisingly, everyone nods in agreement.
"Took you a minute, but when you got moving you really knocked them for a loop." Angelo slaps me on the back. No pain where I hit the ground either. Odd, guess I wasn't hurt as bad as I thought.
"You took out nearly half of them yourself, giving us time to take out the rest." Everett points to the robots still littering the floor.
Not being one to take all the credit, I shrug, "I might of taken out a few, but that last one would of blasted my behind if you guys hadn't taken him out like you did."
"Good show all around students." Emma's voice sounded over the speakers. "Ready for another?"
In two and one half hours we fought training droids, ran obstacle courses, and even got in a game of full powers basketball. My team of Jubilee, Skin and Jono, would have won, except that Everett synched with Monet and sat on the hoop. As Sean and Emma tried to get us out, Jubilee rewarded Ev's 'great defensive skills' with a small burst of sparks on Everett's rear. I think he could have jumped just as high even without M's powers. He tried to chase her but she ducked into the girl's changing area before he could get her. Later that evening in an unrelated incident, Jubilee's hot water mysteriously cut out again while in the shower.
{Emma's Office}
"Now that is odd." Emma spoke to herself. There is a knock on the door. "Come in Sean."
"Ye wanted te see me woman?" Emma ignored Sean's comment.
"Yes it's about the training session today."
Sean, smiles and looks out the window. "Aye they did quite well today. And Joe seems to be fitting in nicely."
"It's Joe I want to talk to you about." Sean flashes her a confused look, Emma shifts in her seat. "After the session was over and everyone left, I went to put one of the balls they had left out away, when I noticed a dark blotch on the floor. Apparently when Joe was struck by the training droid, he didn't get away as unscathed as we originally thought."
"But I checked out the lad after we finished. He was fine." Sean, was still confused.
"I'm not saying he wasn't, but he did suffer some sort of injury, which disappeared soon after."
"Very well, I'll check out the lad in the med. lab temorrow." He walks to the door. "G'night lass."
Emma nods her head and walks to the window with a cup of tea in hand. (Your a young man whose body is fraught with mysteries young Mr. Manelo. And I intend to solve every one of them.)
END.
OK. I know that this isn't a big cliff hanger ending, but it seems like a good place to stop for now. Just enough mystery surrounding Joe to make him interesting, but not annoying. OK here is the poll. What villain would you like to see Joe battle with Gen-X? Should he find out that Prof. X was Onslaught? I'll take compliments, suggestions, questions and even complaints! I will also try to respond to everyone who writes so please send me mail! Contact me at BURN_3IRD@aol.com or Animekeeper1@yahoo.com