New Friends and Old Enemies
The white Volvo kicked dirt up as it sped through the unpaved road. The novice driver focused on the unpaved road, intent on not making a mistake. Her chestnut hair was tied back into a pony-tail and her hazel eyes were fixed on the path. The girl's mother sat in the passenger seat. Physically the two looked almost identical, but mentally they were quite different. The girl felt that her driving was fine, no matter how fast she was going. Her mother on the other hand felt that she would be seeing her airbag any moment now.
"Kitty, honey, could you please slow the car down," the mother pleaded, "This is a narrow road and you could fly off it or hit a car coming the opposite direction."
"Come on mom, we're in a Volvo, if we fly off the road into a tree this car can take it. Anyways, we're miles away from the city and the only thing up this mountain is the mansion. No one's going to come the other way. And the city voted Republican, if a crash costs them a few extra dollars than that's fine by me."
The mother's knuckles turned white as she gripped her seat. "Just because they voted for a candidate you didn't support doesn't mean you should terrorize their city."
Kitty rolled her eyes, "Mom, it's hardly terrorizing."
She kept her outrageous speed going until she reached the mansion. She pulled into the driveway and slammed on the brakes, sending her mother flying forward, almost smashing her face into the glove compartment. Kitty looked at the enormous property with disgust.
"Look at this giant lot. Imagine how many trees they had to knock down to make this. They probably destroyed hundreds of animal habitats just to build a house for a rich guy."
"Kitty, you just talked about slamming the Volvo into a tree and not even caring because the tree was strong enough to take it."
"Well that's different mom."
Kitty's mom just stood dumfounded. She could only imagine what was going through her daughter's head.
They walked to the door and were just about to knock when it opened. Kitty's jaw dropped when she saw the person in the door way. In front of her was the best looking guy she had met in her high school life. She stared into his deep blue eyes and almost didn't notice the beautiful wings on his back.
"Hi," the boy spoke, "My name's Warren Worthington the Third. Xavier told me you were coming so I decided to welcome you."
Kitty just stared at Warren. There was a long pause which started to get awkward until Kitty's mom broke the silence. "Hi, my name's Theresa Pryde, and this is my daughter Katherine."
"Hi Katherine." Warren said.
".just call me..." she searched for her name, ".Kitty."
"Well Kitty, welcome to Xavier's mansion." Warren then closed his eyes and stood as if he were listening closely to some far off music or sound. "All right, Xavier just contacted me and said that I should show you two in right away. Please follow me."
Warren turned and walked further into the mansion. Kitty's mom grew a mocking smile as she looked at Kitty follow closely behind him. Warren led them to a room that Theresa assumed was the living room, yet it was much larger. There was a big screen plasma television with a home theater system on one wall, three couches facing the wall that the TV was on, landscapes of areas from around the world lined the walls, and magazines of all sorts sat on the coffee table between the line of couches and the TV.
There were two people already in the room. An Asian girl sat on one of the couches reading "Seventeen" and drinking root beer. Across from her there was a boy wearing sunglasses reading a skateboarding magazine, but he kept on stealing looks at the girl.
"So Jubilee, I can call you Jubilee right?, when can I plan on taking you to a movie?" the boy in the sunglasses asked the Asian.
The girl didn't even look up from her magazine when she replied, "When hell freezes over kid." She then took a sip from the root beer can in her hand and went back to reading.
This didn't discern the boy's spirit though. A smirk crept across his face as he raised his hand and extended his finger so that it was pointing at the can. A crackling sound came from inside the can, and, suddenly, it exploded as the ice inside it burst through it. "I can arrange that."
A man in a wheelchair rolled into the room, "Excuse me Bobby, but if you're going to use your powers in that way please clean it up. Thank you for showing them the way Warren," the man in the wheelchair said as he turned his attention to the visitors, "Hello Theresa and Kitty, my name is Charles Xavier. I am glad that you have come to my mansion."
"Thank you for inviting us Mr. Xavier." Theresa replied.
"No need for formalities, please, call me Charles. Now Kitty, tell me about your gifts."
Kitty was still staring at Warren and had to be nudged by her mother in able to break out of it. "Oh.well it started about a month ago when I fell through my bed after getting off a bad phone conversation with my ex- boyfriend. Ever since then I've started walking and falling through objects. It never works when I want it to, and when it does work it's exactly when I don't want to. I've seen some stuff that I'd rather not discuss right now."
"Well that's understandable, and that's why we want you. Along with joining the premiere group of mutants you will be educated both in academic learning and power training. And being such a breakthrough in human/mutant relations, the opinions and political views of our members will be given much heed."
"Well that's good," Theresa said, "Kitty enjoys politics and is quite outspoken when it comes to open forums."
Xavier smiled, "Well that's just what we're looking for; someone who will speak their mind when it comes to our political matters. Now if you could." Xavier was cut off by a ring coming from his breast pocket.
He pulled a cell phone out of his breast pocket and answered. "Xavier...yes.ok, I'll go there right away." He closed his cell phone and returned his attention to his guests, "I'm sorry that I have to cut this meeting short, but I have just been told the location of a relative of mine who I haven't seen in a while, and I can't pass up a chance to speak with him because of the important things I need to talk to him about. But if you could just sign these papers."
The noises of the construction yard filled the ears of the young worker. To him it was heaven to left heavy things for a living. For a normal construction worker he was breaking all of the rules. His large, well-defined body was visible to everyone because he had no shirt on, for not many fit a man his size, he wasn't wearing a hard hat, and he was lifting loads that ten men could barely lift. Of course, he wasn't a normal construction worker, he was a mutant.
The worker felt a tap on his shoulder and turned. His foreman was standing behind him with a walkie-talkie, signaling that there was someone on it who wanted to talk to him. He took the walkie-talkie and moved to a quieter area.
"'Lo," the worker muttered.
"Cain?" the cracky voice came through the speaker, "We have someone at the front desk looking for you. Says his name is Charles Xavier. Know him?"
A low growl emitted from Cain's throat. "Never heard of him before. Tell him to leave," he said angrily.
There was a pause on the other end. After a moment the silence was broken by a new voice. "Cain, I would just like to speak with you for a moment."
Cain's anger grew. He had no desire to speak with his visitor, but he knew that he wouldn't leave until he said what he anted. So Cain walked to the reception building and saw Xavier sitting in the lobby.
"What do you want?" Cain didn't even try to hide the spite in his voice.
"Hello Cain. Wow, I haven't seen you for a while. How tall are you now?" Xavier tried to calm Cain down by not going directly into his recruiting speech.
But Cain didn't like how Xavier was avoiding his point, "Seven foot even. Now cut the crap and tell me what you want so I can tell you no and get back to work."
"Well I guess you don't want to sit around in idle chat, so I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm putting together a team of mutants who will help keep my dream of peace between mutants and humans alive. I would like you to join as our power-house."
"Not interested." Cain said and turned for the door.
Xavier thought quickly of something to say. "Cain, please, you'd be able to gain an education, you wouldn't have to work in construction. You'd be around kids about your age. I just want to help you out."
Cain didn't care about Xavier's speech, but the last line struck a chord. "You just want to help me out!?!" he exploded, "Where were you ten years ago when my dad died, Uncle Chuck? You didn't want to help then!"
"I couldn't help you then," Xavier said quietly, "I didn't have time and money to support a kid."
"Oh, but now you can support a whole team of them?"
"You don't understand what I was going through back then."
Cain's fury kept on growing with every comment Xavier made. "I don't understand your troubles? Do you know what I think of when I remember you, my only living relative? I think of the guy who gave me Darwin's Origin of the Species for my seventh birthday. I think of the guy who said, 'I'm sorry about your dad' and left me in an orphanage when I was nine."
"I'm sorry about all of that, but I want to make it up to you. I can give you an education."
"An education? Why would I want to go back to school? I dropped-out the day I turned sixteen and came to work for this construction company. I get paid so much because my mutant strength and invulnerability save this company big bucks on machinery and labor. There's no way I'd leave all of this for you, especially since you're afraid of the family name. Don't you think someone will eventually find Charles Marko's and the Marko family's dark past and link it with you? Or maybe if someone just needs a push in the right direction to find it."
Xavier's expression changed from shame to fear. "I think I better go if you're not interested."
"Yeah, maybe you better."
Charlse wheeled himself back to his car where his chofer was waiting. The whole time Cain had a victorious grin on his face.
"He deserved that so much. Hopefully he'll get more one day. If he does, it will be me giving it to him."
Cain turned around to the door that led to the quarry. he pushed on it, but it wouldn't open. He rattled the handle until it broke off. He was getting ready to smash the door when it flew open. On the other side stood a man in a gray trench coat and a fedora with white hair underneath it.
"You want to get back at your uncle? I can help you do it, just give me five minutes to explain to you what I want."
Xavier picked up his cell phone and pushed speed-dial. "Hello? I talked with Cain, he's not interested. Who's next on the list?"
The white Volvo kicked dirt up as it sped through the unpaved road. The novice driver focused on the unpaved road, intent on not making a mistake. Her chestnut hair was tied back into a pony-tail and her hazel eyes were fixed on the path. The girl's mother sat in the passenger seat. Physically the two looked almost identical, but mentally they were quite different. The girl felt that her driving was fine, no matter how fast she was going. Her mother on the other hand felt that she would be seeing her airbag any moment now.
"Kitty, honey, could you please slow the car down," the mother pleaded, "This is a narrow road and you could fly off it or hit a car coming the opposite direction."
"Come on mom, we're in a Volvo, if we fly off the road into a tree this car can take it. Anyways, we're miles away from the city and the only thing up this mountain is the mansion. No one's going to come the other way. And the city voted Republican, if a crash costs them a few extra dollars than that's fine by me."
The mother's knuckles turned white as she gripped her seat. "Just because they voted for a candidate you didn't support doesn't mean you should terrorize their city."
Kitty rolled her eyes, "Mom, it's hardly terrorizing."
She kept her outrageous speed going until she reached the mansion. She pulled into the driveway and slammed on the brakes, sending her mother flying forward, almost smashing her face into the glove compartment. Kitty looked at the enormous property with disgust.
"Look at this giant lot. Imagine how many trees they had to knock down to make this. They probably destroyed hundreds of animal habitats just to build a house for a rich guy."
"Kitty, you just talked about slamming the Volvo into a tree and not even caring because the tree was strong enough to take it."
"Well that's different mom."
Kitty's mom just stood dumfounded. She could only imagine what was going through her daughter's head.
They walked to the door and were just about to knock when it opened. Kitty's jaw dropped when she saw the person in the door way. In front of her was the best looking guy she had met in her high school life. She stared into his deep blue eyes and almost didn't notice the beautiful wings on his back.
"Hi," the boy spoke, "My name's Warren Worthington the Third. Xavier told me you were coming so I decided to welcome you."
Kitty just stared at Warren. There was a long pause which started to get awkward until Kitty's mom broke the silence. "Hi, my name's Theresa Pryde, and this is my daughter Katherine."
"Hi Katherine." Warren said.
".just call me..." she searched for her name, ".Kitty."
"Well Kitty, welcome to Xavier's mansion." Warren then closed his eyes and stood as if he were listening closely to some far off music or sound. "All right, Xavier just contacted me and said that I should show you two in right away. Please follow me."
Warren turned and walked further into the mansion. Kitty's mom grew a mocking smile as she looked at Kitty follow closely behind him. Warren led them to a room that Theresa assumed was the living room, yet it was much larger. There was a big screen plasma television with a home theater system on one wall, three couches facing the wall that the TV was on, landscapes of areas from around the world lined the walls, and magazines of all sorts sat on the coffee table between the line of couches and the TV.
There were two people already in the room. An Asian girl sat on one of the couches reading "Seventeen" and drinking root beer. Across from her there was a boy wearing sunglasses reading a skateboarding magazine, but he kept on stealing looks at the girl.
"So Jubilee, I can call you Jubilee right?, when can I plan on taking you to a movie?" the boy in the sunglasses asked the Asian.
The girl didn't even look up from her magazine when she replied, "When hell freezes over kid." She then took a sip from the root beer can in her hand and went back to reading.
This didn't discern the boy's spirit though. A smirk crept across his face as he raised his hand and extended his finger so that it was pointing at the can. A crackling sound came from inside the can, and, suddenly, it exploded as the ice inside it burst through it. "I can arrange that."
A man in a wheelchair rolled into the room, "Excuse me Bobby, but if you're going to use your powers in that way please clean it up. Thank you for showing them the way Warren," the man in the wheelchair said as he turned his attention to the visitors, "Hello Theresa and Kitty, my name is Charles Xavier. I am glad that you have come to my mansion."
"Thank you for inviting us Mr. Xavier." Theresa replied.
"No need for formalities, please, call me Charles. Now Kitty, tell me about your gifts."
Kitty was still staring at Warren and had to be nudged by her mother in able to break out of it. "Oh.well it started about a month ago when I fell through my bed after getting off a bad phone conversation with my ex- boyfriend. Ever since then I've started walking and falling through objects. It never works when I want it to, and when it does work it's exactly when I don't want to. I've seen some stuff that I'd rather not discuss right now."
"Well that's understandable, and that's why we want you. Along with joining the premiere group of mutants you will be educated both in academic learning and power training. And being such a breakthrough in human/mutant relations, the opinions and political views of our members will be given much heed."
"Well that's good," Theresa said, "Kitty enjoys politics and is quite outspoken when it comes to open forums."
Xavier smiled, "Well that's just what we're looking for; someone who will speak their mind when it comes to our political matters. Now if you could." Xavier was cut off by a ring coming from his breast pocket.
He pulled a cell phone out of his breast pocket and answered. "Xavier...yes.ok, I'll go there right away." He closed his cell phone and returned his attention to his guests, "I'm sorry that I have to cut this meeting short, but I have just been told the location of a relative of mine who I haven't seen in a while, and I can't pass up a chance to speak with him because of the important things I need to talk to him about. But if you could just sign these papers."
The noises of the construction yard filled the ears of the young worker. To him it was heaven to left heavy things for a living. For a normal construction worker he was breaking all of the rules. His large, well-defined body was visible to everyone because he had no shirt on, for not many fit a man his size, he wasn't wearing a hard hat, and he was lifting loads that ten men could barely lift. Of course, he wasn't a normal construction worker, he was a mutant.
The worker felt a tap on his shoulder and turned. His foreman was standing behind him with a walkie-talkie, signaling that there was someone on it who wanted to talk to him. He took the walkie-talkie and moved to a quieter area.
"'Lo," the worker muttered.
"Cain?" the cracky voice came through the speaker, "We have someone at the front desk looking for you. Says his name is Charles Xavier. Know him?"
A low growl emitted from Cain's throat. "Never heard of him before. Tell him to leave," he said angrily.
There was a pause on the other end. After a moment the silence was broken by a new voice. "Cain, I would just like to speak with you for a moment."
Cain's anger grew. He had no desire to speak with his visitor, but he knew that he wouldn't leave until he said what he anted. So Cain walked to the reception building and saw Xavier sitting in the lobby.
"What do you want?" Cain didn't even try to hide the spite in his voice.
"Hello Cain. Wow, I haven't seen you for a while. How tall are you now?" Xavier tried to calm Cain down by not going directly into his recruiting speech.
But Cain didn't like how Xavier was avoiding his point, "Seven foot even. Now cut the crap and tell me what you want so I can tell you no and get back to work."
"Well I guess you don't want to sit around in idle chat, so I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm putting together a team of mutants who will help keep my dream of peace between mutants and humans alive. I would like you to join as our power-house."
"Not interested." Cain said and turned for the door.
Xavier thought quickly of something to say. "Cain, please, you'd be able to gain an education, you wouldn't have to work in construction. You'd be around kids about your age. I just want to help you out."
Cain didn't care about Xavier's speech, but the last line struck a chord. "You just want to help me out!?!" he exploded, "Where were you ten years ago when my dad died, Uncle Chuck? You didn't want to help then!"
"I couldn't help you then," Xavier said quietly, "I didn't have time and money to support a kid."
"Oh, but now you can support a whole team of them?"
"You don't understand what I was going through back then."
Cain's fury kept on growing with every comment Xavier made. "I don't understand your troubles? Do you know what I think of when I remember you, my only living relative? I think of the guy who gave me Darwin's Origin of the Species for my seventh birthday. I think of the guy who said, 'I'm sorry about your dad' and left me in an orphanage when I was nine."
"I'm sorry about all of that, but I want to make it up to you. I can give you an education."
"An education? Why would I want to go back to school? I dropped-out the day I turned sixteen and came to work for this construction company. I get paid so much because my mutant strength and invulnerability save this company big bucks on machinery and labor. There's no way I'd leave all of this for you, especially since you're afraid of the family name. Don't you think someone will eventually find Charles Marko's and the Marko family's dark past and link it with you? Or maybe if someone just needs a push in the right direction to find it."
Xavier's expression changed from shame to fear. "I think I better go if you're not interested."
"Yeah, maybe you better."
Charlse wheeled himself back to his car where his chofer was waiting. The whole time Cain had a victorious grin on his face.
"He deserved that so much. Hopefully he'll get more one day. If he does, it will be me giving it to him."
Cain turned around to the door that led to the quarry. he pushed on it, but it wouldn't open. He rattled the handle until it broke off. He was getting ready to smash the door when it flew open. On the other side stood a man in a gray trench coat and a fedora with white hair underneath it.
"You want to get back at your uncle? I can help you do it, just give me five minutes to explain to you what I want."
Xavier picked up his cell phone and pushed speed-dial. "Hello? I talked with Cain, he's not interested. Who's next on the list?"