By Saturnian Blonde
Standard Questionably Useful Disclaimer: Marvel owns all rights to characters, names, etc. No profit is being made from use of anything. Yet.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: Some people have asked, it is AU. Set mostly in the X: Evo series, but taking some liberties with things… I apologize for my terrible knowledge of the Evolution series… anyone familiar with Canadian television? Yeah, I don't subscribe to the WB, so my only source for all things X-men is YTV, which I don't think has shown anything past the first season. Grr. Anyone care to help is welcome!
Comments: thanks, mates, for all the wicked reviews you leave! I do hear your concerns (and my own fears) about her becoming a Mary Sue…. LORD FORBID! Well, I'm really trying not to let her become one, but I have a feeling that I won't be able to prove it until a couple more chapters… It's kinda a boring part, because, you know, she has to be introduced to everyone, she's stuck going to this new school right, and it's kinda the paperwork scenes…
But either way, you gotta be happy that I'm getting out almost a chapter a day, right? ^_^
And I am still looking for a beta-reader…. I really need someone to bounce ideas off of, things like that…
Chapter THREEWhen she got to the mansion, she was ushered right away to the lab computer, where Remy and Logan stood like guards while she retrieved the file. Logan seemed to be drilling holes into the back of her head while she worked, while Remy played a game of solitaire with a deck of cards. An hour later, she finished writing something down on a sheet of paper beside her and turned to the door. Logan blocked her way, and, as tired as she was, she tried give her coldest glare right back at him.
"I'm done; You said I could go."
He looked to Remy, who sauntered back over to the computer and double-checked the files, making sure they were all there and not tampered with.
When he was done, she was ushered back to the main level, and into someone's office. She sat down and waited, tired from having been up most of, no, all night now. Looking out a wide window, she could see the beginnings of dawn approaching. She really wished she could go have a drink, or have a smoke, or just go to bed, which ever she could manage first. Her eyes darted to her bag, where she knew she had some darts left. Before she could even consider checking to make sure they were still there, the door opened. She stood and turned to see a man in a wheelchair enter the room. She stood silently while the man wheeled himself beside her.
"Welcome. I'm Professor Charles Xavier." He held out an offered hand, and she hesitantly shook it, looking him over. He had a warm smile, which immediately made her feel both welcomed and suspicious.
"I would be interested to know how…."
"Look," she said pleadingly, looking to her watch. "I'm sure I've caused you enough trouble already, if you don't mind I would just like to leave." He just smiled again, a thoughtful expression on his face that worried her even more.
"I would be glad to arrange for your departure back to Toronto. Would you not rest a little before you return?"
"Toronto? No, don't worry about it, I'm just going to go to New York,"
"Do you have a place to stay there?"
"I have an apartment, yes,"
"Very well, then. Might I ask your profession?"
"Huh?" She looked at him, confused. Was he trying to stall me? "I do a bunch of things."
"Such as?" She blinked; why did he want to know that? "I study Genetics, I occasionally sing…"
"I also hear you're the best hacker on the North American continent. Perhaps even further than that. Would you be interested in a job offer?"
"I-I'm sorry, what?"
"I was quite impressed that you were able to not only break through our security almost flawlessly, but also hack your way into our computer system. I tend to pride myself on them; the fact that you broke through indicates that maybe they were not up to my expectations."
"Oh, no… they were good…" She chuckled lightly, wondering why she was talking to him at all. "The security was much harder, because I was never really any good at it anyways… but you're computers were one of the best systems I've seen thus far. Second only to the CIA and FBI, and some other international organizations…"
"So I take it you're able to get into those databases as well?"
"Sure, plenty of times…" She shook her head, shuddering as she looked around, then back to Xavier. "I said that… out loud, didn't I?" Something pulled her thoughts to Xavier again.
"Well, I'm pleased that you think so highly of it then. I would like to offer you a chance to help me improve the systems. It's been a while since I've had them updated, and you're arrival here has only demonstrated that it needs to be done.
"Wait- how can you trust me to overhaul your entire security system, when not three days ago I hacked my way in and stole info from you? Even my warped sense of logic tells me that something's not right here… what are you not telling me?"
*It's been hard, hasn't it? Each day you try to fight them off, the attacks, hoping they won't hurt as much as the last one?*
She gasped, jumping out of her chair and staring at him.
"Tell me…. Tell me I did not just hear… you… inside my head!?"
*I'm a mutant, just like yourself. My ability is telepathy.*
"You're a… and so is… and the rest of them? You're all mutants?" She exhaled, walking around the chair. " So what is this place? A support group?" He laughed, smiling widely.
"Of sorts. I run a school for mutants. We help them learn about their abilities, how to control them, and how to co-exist with society." She took this in with a decisive snort and a crooked grin. "I take it you don't think that Mutants and humans can live together?"
"Huh, nah, I never really thought about it. Had enough of my own problems to deal with, never mind having to figure out a side to pick. Maybe it's more of a 'They can, only if they want to,' type of deal. I always figured that you could tell a person the truth, but you can't make them believe it."
"Well said. If only there were more people with that type of attitude towards mutants. I was wondering if you could tell me more about you own mutation. You seem to study much on the subject."
"How you figure that?"
"What other 19 year-old would steal information about highly technical genetics-related material on a Friday night?" She laughed, which Xavier took as a good sign. He could sense her reservations about her, and had used slight influences of his power to coax her to open up, to get her to realize that she wasn't in trouble. Her guilt he could feel, but along with it was a sense of necessity; he was curious as to why she felt she had to steal the material.
"Well, doc, I guess you got me. Guilty-as-charged for having no social life. Um… well…. The thing is, it's kinda hard to explain…" he waited for her to continue. "It's like…. In my mind, it's like a computer, like a set of numbers. But each number is instead a gene in my DNA. I can turn those numbers in my head into changes in my DNA."
"So you can change your shape?" For the sake of argument, she nodded her head. She wasn't going to tell him everything; tell him what he wants to know and hope to make a clean getaway.
"I change my DNA around, but that also changes where the X-gene is, right?" She frowned, and sat down in the chair, folding her hands on the desk in front of her. "Well, this is my theory… You know how all mutants have an X-gene somewhere?" he nodded. "Well… I think somewhere along the line, whether I meant to or not, I changed the gene itself. I think it split, so there's two. Because, I can change my DNA, which affects my appearance, but then… it's like, I have to change the next gene, the second one, and with it I can change my abilities."
"You can change abilities…"
"Like, I could be able to turn invisible one minute, then the next, I could be able to, I don't know, read minds like you."
"That is quite a theory. I would like to be able to try it out."
"I would have already, except I never had exposure to the right equipment to get a DNA sample. And I have had so many other things to worry about that I don't think I'll ever have the chance.
"How so?"
"It takes a lot to change my DNA… I feel that if I'm not careful, I could just up and die if I got it wrong. That's why I see the numbers in my head, I think. I spend so much time just trying to learn how to control the changes that… I don't know… I'm not making sense anymore." She sighed, rubbing her head.
"I think I understand. It may very well be a possibility that you have to stay in control all the time."
"When I'm around people long enough, I start to pick up on their own traits, too. And if I touch someone, I can absorb their genetic material and insert it into my own, and it's much easier. But if I don't watch myself, these things just assert themselves without my control. It's happened where I've woken up one morning and look completely different from the person I went to bed as."
"Is your… current form what you normally look like?"
"No… I haven't known what I look like since I found out I had this damn power."
"When was that?"
"When I was five."
"So how do you learn these new abilities?"
"Well, I only really know how to control three or four of them. It's a matter of knowing what the gene, well, looks like, then changing my own DNA to accommodate it, then learning how to switch between the two different DNA's, then learning how to control the actual power. It takes so long…"
"So what can you do?"
"I can heal others, I can turn invisible, and I can manipulate people's minds through sounds."
"That's quite a collection in itself, then. You must be tired, though. I'll have one of my people drive you to your apartment. Then, whenever you feel up to it, feel free to come back and I'll discuss further with you what I'd like you to help me with, regarding security.
"Sure…" She stood wearily, picking up her bags. "Oh, just one thing… sorry to sound rude, but… what exactly am I going to get out of this deal-thing?"
"Well, if you help me upgrade all the systems, depending on how long that takes, I think we would start at…" he wrote a number on a scrap of paper and handed it to her. Her eyes bulged at the paper.
"T-Ten… T…" she went to say something, but instead closed her mouth. "You're kidding me!" She had had the occasional hacking job before, but never was she paid very well, nothing like the sum of Ten thousand dollars! This guy must be loaded!
"Are you sure? I mean, that's way too much…"
"I am quite sure. The security of my students I put very highly." She gulped at that, guilt washing over her again. "In essence, I am hoping you may decide to enrol at this school." She thought silently for a minute. Go to this school? From what she had learned of it, it was pretty much just a dormitory. They held some classes, like self defence, and from what this guy Xavier implied, he must also teach a lot more.
I mean, come on, this place is a mansion, he has a swimming pool, it's in the middle of nowhere, and that wasn't a commercial jet they flew you here in! Look at the information he has! His own medical lab, no ordinary people have that… he says he values their safety, which probably means that he trains them to use their powers, because they're ALL MUTANTS!
"I agree, we do have all those things. Some of the students here have powers so diverse that, unless they learn to control them, they pose a threat to those around them, and themselves as well. Just like you."
"I'm not a threat."
"No, you're right. But you do fear the pain that your mutation causes."
"Can… can I think about it?"
"Absolutely." The door opened, and a tall man with red sunglasses entered the room, followed by Jean.
"London, this is Scott Summers. He will be the one to drive you to your apartment, if you'll be so kind as to give him the address." She nodded, and stood again, picking up her bag and coat.
"It was nice to meet you, Professor."
"Likewise." She smiled weakly and nodded, following Scott out.
"So," Jean sat down on the chair, "What do you think?"
"She certainly is unique."
"Did you read her mind?"
"Indeed, I did. You've noticed how she seems invisible, unless she looks at you." Jean nodded. "Her thoughts flow so quickly that it's amazing. She has virtually no shielding; once you manage to get in, there's no limit to what can be done."
"How do you feel about her?"
"Well, her mutation is very strange," he sighed. "And she has almost limitless power, once she learns to control it. I don't think she ever will, it being so demanding. What powers have to seen her use?"
"Only invisibility and her singing…it's almost like subliminal messaging, no matter what she sings, she can filter through any idea into the sounds… at the club where we found her, she used her powers, which I believe she got from a… friend of hers, to hold people's attention. Logan said she was also one of the mutants that Trask got a hold of. She apparently sang the guards to sleep, and helped the others out."
"As she said… her powers are to change her DNA molecules. She can change her shape and duplicate other powers as well… I believe that we should keep an eye on her. See if she will join the X-men."
"Do you really think she will?"
"It's hard to say. I offered her a job here to overhaul our computer systems and security. In return, we will help her with her powers. That's really all she wants, to control them. I think they cause her a great deal of pain."
"Well, she must have loved the idea of staying here."
"I had to influence her a little. She will get back to me tomorrow with her decision."
"Do you think she will stay?"
"I count on it."
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I hope the new formatting is better for some of you to read…. I swear, it just added the spaces when I uploaded the chapter. So anyways, I would have had this up sooner, but ff.net wouldn't upload any chapters all week… I'll make it up and post two chapters! Don't cha love me??? Nah.