By Amy M. Denton
Mutants live in every walk of life and in almost every country on Earth. When that person's mutant powers manifest, usually during puberty, one of several things happens. Most of those things are too unpleasant to mention. But, some actually are able to cope and control their mutant abilities without attracting too much attention. Some drift over to 'the dark side' and become criminals, using their mutant powers to make their life easier, secure in the knowledge that the world now owes them something by making them a mutant. For a few, a very lucky few, they are found and taken to The Xavier School for the Gifted. A place where they are no longer the oddball, the freak or the weirdo. A place where they can learn to control their powers, not have their powers control them.
From this school, comes a group of mutants, whose main job it is to collect those lucky few and bring them back to The Xavier School. As simple as it may sound, the job of collecting a new mutant is not always an easy one. About half of the mutants collected have been on the run from society for a long time and have learned,the hard way, not to trust anyone or anything that represents authority. It is an interesting job to say the least. This group of mutants are also teachers at The Xavier School. The students at The Xavier School have a name for these mutants. They call them The X-Men. Sometimes they save the world, sometimes they save just a small part of it.
"I suppose it would have been asking too much for Senator O'Reiley to just accept the fact that his eldest daughter can move things with her mind." Scott Summers, a.k.a., Cyclops, leader of The X-Men, said to the air.
It was always hard to judge how the parents would react to the news of their child's mutation. In Lucy's case, it had been even harder. She'd demonstrated her telekinetic ability right as her father came into the room. The book she was moving hit him square in the chest. The resulting confrontation had not been pleasant to witness, for Senator O'Reiley did not like mutants or what they represented. However, the senator's wife had been far more understanding than the Senator and the rest of the family and so, Scott and Rogue were asked to wait in the sunroom while the family discussed what to do next.
That had been almost an hour ago.
Rogue, Scott's companion on the trip, shrugged her shoulders in typical teenage fashion. "Think about it, Scott. Up until now, he had the perfect life. We changed that. I changed that. He no longer has his perfect life. What did you think he'd do? Throw up his arms and celebrate?"
Scott looked at her, knowing she was right. Rogue may have only been seventeen but she'd been a runaway like him and could read people very well. This skill, plus her mutant ability, draining the life from people she touched, had given her the chance to be an X-Man like Scott, which was also the main reason why she was with him. Learn by doing.
"No, but I keep hoping their reaction will change." Scott said. He stood and looked out the sun room's windows to the most gorgeous view of the Catskills. In the early Fall, the leaves started to change and the Hudson River Valley exploded with color. The show nature put on almost made up for the next four months of Hell otherwise known as Winter. The senator may have been a mutantphobe but he had good taste in picking a spot to live in. Not all places in upstate New York were as nice.
Rogue came and stood next to Scott, looking at all the different colors. "Leaves don't change colors in Mississippi." she said, speaking of her home state, with just a trace of her Southern accent. "It's too far South, too warm."
Scott looked around the room and spotted a door leading to the outside on the far side of the room. He smiled a little and took Rogue's hand in his. "C'mon." he said "Let's go look at the leaves close up. If they want us, they can find us. We've already set them off."
The cool, clean air was a welcome respite from the stuffy closed-in air of the house. Scott and Rogue walked a short distance from the house, stopping at the first stand of trees they came to, which were only the first grouping. From the back of the senator's mansion past a small lake on toward the mountains at the edge of the property, stands of maple were scattered about the property like sprinkles on a cupcake. A cool breeze blew across the lawn stirring the leaves and tugging on Scott and Rogue's coat.
"When I was a kid, I used to read about kids pulling the leaves into a pile and jumping into it." Rogue said, a certain wistfulness on her face. "Or there would be a story about someone's father burning leaves and the smell it gave off." Her brow wrinkled in thought. "Why would someone want to burn leaves? Doesn't that contribute to air pollution?"
"That's pretty much why people stopped doing it." Scott replied. "Burning leaves ..." He didn't finish his sentence, his attention now on the small lake on the property. "Marie," Scott said, using her given name, something he almost never did "go back to the house and get some help."
Before she could even open her mouth, he was moving away from her, shucking off his coat and shoes and sweater. Rogue turned and ran for the house.
Part of Scott's mutant ability, shooting 'optic blasts' from his eyes, gave him uncanny tracking abilities. He could spot a moth landing 100 yards away on the back lawn of the school and not think twice about it. Such was the case here. His feet flew over the ground, the leaves crunching under his feet. Someone was in trouble in the lake. With a prayer that his sunglasses would stay on, he sprinted off the small dock and plunged into the icy cold water. He surfaced, gasping from the coldness and scanned the water's surface.
Twenty yards off to his left, someone struggled in the water. He struck out for it, passing an overturned canoe. Just a few yards beyond the canoe, Scott's hand came in contact with a sodden jacket but as soon as he grabbed it, it slipped out of his grasp.
Damn, damn, damn.
He dove once and then once again. His third trip under yielded the sodden jacket. His hand clenched around it and he shot to the surface. Mutant or no, his lungs were about to burst. He broke the surface, sucked in a lung full of air and swam for the shore. Whoever he held in his arms had ceased struggling a long time ago.
On the shore, Rogue had brought out the Senator, his wife, Lucy and four or five servants, two of whom wadded out into the water and helped Scott in. He released his grip on whoever it was and sank to the ground, his teeth chattering, his lips turning blue from the cold water. He sucked the air into his lungs as if he was starving. Miraculously, his sunglasses had stayed on.
Mrs. O'Reiley shrieked and said "Oh, my God! It's Daniel."
Rogue, her attention on Scott, glanced at Mrs. O'Reiley and realized that Scott had just saved the Senator's son. For not the first time, Rogue wished her ability worked in reverse, giving life instead of taking it, but it didn't work that way. Four men gathered around Daniel, two more kept the family at bay and one, brought blankets for both Daniel and Scott. Rogue helped Scott pull the blanket around himself and waited, for what she wasn't sure. Behind her, the sound of coughing and a cry heralded Daniel's return to the land of the living. In front of her, Scott sat hunched over, shivering uncontrollably.
An older man, probably the head servant came up to her and Scott "Can you walk?" he asked Scott.
Scott nodded and, with some help, he did. Daniel had already been sprinted away to the house and a waiting doctor.
Hours later, Daniel was upstairs asleep. The doctor had said there was no danger, since he had been rescued so quickly. Had he been in the water any longer, it would have been a completely different story.
Scott was given a change of clothes and a room to change in. He finally stopped shivering after a hot shower and a cup of hot tea to drink. Rogue did not leave his side the entire time. It was early evening by the time Scott and Rogue were ready to leave but there was one last conversation that needed to be held.
Senator and Mrs. O'Reiley came to the room Scott had been given and were polite enough to wait until Scott was finished dressing before speaking.
"Thank you." Mrs. O'Reiley spoke first. A plump woman with an eye for fashion, she had aged 20 years in just the past six hours. Her carefully made up face was now streaked with tears and her voice trembled when she spoke. "Daniel knows he's not to go out on the lake without an adult or a life vest. I just don't know what got into him." She stepped forward unexpectedly and hugged Scott, planting a damp kiss on his cheek. "Thank you." she whispered. She released him and left before anyone could say anything to her.
Senator O'Reiley too, appeared to have rapidly aged. His formally healthy complexion was now as pale as the curtains hanging in the room. His hands twitched and wrung together and he couldn't stand still. Finally, he stopped twitching and said "My wife has said exactly what I was thinking. Thank you." He paused, then added "I am forever in your debt. If there is anything I or my family can do for you, please, don't hesitate to ask."
Scott stood, looked into the Senator's eyes and saw the fear there. "All I want from you or your family, is for you to think about what just happened. A mutant saved your son's life. I was happy to do it but what would have happened had we not been here? I'm a mutant and proud of it, so, is your daughter. You have the school's number. I'll make sure these clothes are returned as soon as possible."
The senator nodded mutely.
Scott and Rogue were met at the front door by a maid holding a bag containing Scott's wet clothes. Impulsivel, the maid hugged and kissed Scott before handing him his clothes.
In the car, Scott cranked up the heat and looked at Rogue before starting the car. "Not a word of this to Jean. If she wants to know, I'll tell her."
Rogue, wise beyond her years, simply nodded. Like it wouldn't be shockingly obvious when he returned to the school wearing different clothes than when he left. Or maybe the bag of sopping wet clothes would give him away. It wasn't up to her to tell Jean anything. But, if Jean corned her, she was spilling her guts, instantly. Given a choice between keeping Scott happy or Jean happy, she'd chose Jean every time. Scott couldn't throw things simply by looking at them.