Chapter Three – Confrontation & Conference
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for my O/C Victor 'Vic' Mannel. Hope you enjoy this story, if you do please review.
The hustle and bustle of feet running back and forth outside by the bedroom door was enough to drive any sane man over the edge. It further reminded me why I had decided on leaving the dorm at school for a more comfortable accommodation at home even though certain privileges had to be sacrificed. I was brought out of my reverie by a slight pressure to my side.
"What the f…?" I said groggily when I noticed Bobby and Rogue laughing.
"It's just us. There is no need for that type of language." Jubilee stated while she leant over me.
"Sorry about that. I'm not much of a morning person. What time is it?" I asked groggily but with a hint of more awareness than before.
"Okay, well it's 8:30, and breakfast will be served at 9:00." Rogue exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah we weren't exactly morning people until we joined the X-Men, so get used to it." Bobby said jokingly or so I hoped.
"Anyways we had a breakfast date and you still have to meet the other X-Men and go to training with the Wolverine at 10:30." Jubilee said and laughed at the last part of her statement.
"Okay, okay I'll get ready." I said as I got up and gathered some clothes to put on after I showered, and that's when Jubilee's statement registered. "What training are you talking about?"
The three just turned their heads and smiled as they headed towards the door, but before Jubilee left she simple left me with two simple words 'you'll see'. This worried me a bit; I wasn't exactly the most physical person back home except for the weapon training class I attended. I mostly focused on swimming, squash and some basic self defense, activities that didn't require much brawn. I let this moment of fear seep to the back of my mind as I headed for the showers.
~****~
I felt completely revived after my shower and got dressed which took about 20 minutes seeing that I was in a rush. I headed towards the dining area thanks to some directions given to me by the students. The dining area was laid out much like any cafeteria setting, except that the usual chaos that is presented in most was absent.
I composed myself as I grabbed a tray and plate and decided on what I wanted to eat. As I finished placing my breakfast on the plate I heard my name being called by Bobby, Jubilee and Marie who sat at the front table, which was placed conveniently in front of the staff table. I quickly took a glimpse of the staff members there were 3 men and 1 woman who were seated next to the professor. To the left of the professor sat a rather young looking brunette who wore the strangest tint of red glasses with medium build and beside him sat an older gruff and well built looking man whose appearance mimicked a wolf. To the right of the professor sat a freakishly blue looking man with fangs, tail and yellow eyes and beside him a beautiful African-American woman who donned a full head of white hair. Of the four staff members only the woman and the bluish man didn't look on me with suspicion.
I directed myself to the trio and sat down and within 20 minutes I had finished eating and was relaxing still aware of the eyes on me. I was brought out of my thoughts by Jubilee.
"So, how did you're powers manifest itself?" Jubilee asked.
"Yeah, man tell us," Bobby said.
I hated these two when they double-teamed me after meeting them last night it was obvious they were much like a pair of tag team wrestlers always backing up one another.
As I hesitated I was pondering whether or not I wanted to dredge up old memories or rather nightmare.
"Please indulge them. You won't hear the end of it unless you answer trust me." Marie said with her southern accent.
"Listen I don't really think I want to mention that okay plus it's a rather difficult experience for me."
"Oh come on how bad can it be." Jubilee said.
I sighed. "You guys wouldn't understand what it felt like. Bobby probably just froze something and you Jubilee might have blown something up. I on the other hand was fighting for my sanity." I said slightly raising my voice enough for just the three to hear me.
"Excuse me but I can probably relate, remember my mutation. I was kissing my boyfriend when my powers manifested, he was in a coma for a month. For a while I had Cody's memories and psyche trapped in my head, so yes I can relate." Marie said.
Instantly a wave of emotions hit me, which definitely was emanating from Marie. The emotions were getting really hard to block lately and her emotions were strong and were overwhelming me. It wasn't until Bobby squeezed her hand that her emotions settled down enough for me to get some control to block them out.
"I'm sorry." I said.
"It's okay, I'm coping. But if you don't want to tell us it's okay." Marie said.
I sighed and succumbed to their demands. "First of all I was born in Kingston, Jamaica and unlike most mutants whose powers manifest when they are in their teens, I had mine from I was 11 years old. My first mutation was my empathic abilities, but they weren't developed like most psionics when they manifest. Empaths are people, who sense other people's emotions, especially negative emotions or heightened feelings." I explained and paused to ensure everyone followed.
"Continue please." Jubilee said.
"My empathic abilities were limited to an extent. I would be hit with all sorts of emotions and feelings, but I assumed they were my repressed emotions at first. I was only able to sense they weren't mine when in a more closed environment and then I was able to decipher the type of emotion and the person it was resonating from. Basically when people were sad, hurt etc I could tell but I just coughed it up as just normal human empathy." I continued explaining.
From what I could tell Bobby, Jubilee and Marie understood perfectly well what I was talking about so I continued.
"Anyways over the next 5 years I still didn't consider my empathy to be more than that human empathy. That was where I was wrong I believe it was a weekend during the summer that my power showed its true colours. I was designing a house on my computer when suddenly I was bombarded with emotions from thousands of people. It seemed that my radius of picking up emotions had increase dramatically and with this caused the instability of my own emotions being warped. I squeezed my head as I was screaming out from all these emotions." I said and took a breather.
"Wow, that's must have been brutal. What else happened?" Bobby asked.
"Well these feelings caused my own emotions to spiral out of control and then that's when the vortex appeared. The vortex wasn't a pretty sight like last night's display it was pitch black and its size was expanding rapidly out of control. At that point my parents ran into my room to see me clutching my head as this black hole continued to shake the house violently as it grew." I explained.
I was being stared upon with great concern for my ordeal but I assured them that I kind of got over it.
"My father's entrance into my room only added to the problem he was angry, scared and disappointed all at the same time and I acquired those emotions to my psyche right then and there in turn the vortex enlarged even more. I thought I was going mad, but for some strange reason I picked up on my mother's calming emotions of concern for my welfare and the vortex began to shrink. I don't know if it was because of my close connection to her or if it was her stronger emotion, but it seemed to do the trick and that's when the vortex transformed into a teddy bear that I had when I was a child." I stated.
"Wait I thought you created weapons with your abilities." Marie said.
"Actually I can create any inanimate object with the vortex, but for fighting purposes I use my powers to forge weapons. Back to the story, I saw the bear that I had lost so many years ago at the park and quickly held it to my chest and wept until I passed out." I stated.
"So why a teddy bear of all things that could have appeared?" Bobby asked.
"I believe the emotions gathered from my mother allowed me to conjure up a symbol of her love and concern from when I was younger after a few hours it vanished. I could sense my parents hesitation to touch me, especially seeing that they were unsure of what I was capable of doing when awake much less asleep. From what I gathered from my mother I stayed in my room for over 3 weeks with only her entering my room to give me something to eat." I answered.
"Wow, that's extreme. At least your parents were supportive and calm about your mutancy." Marie added.
"You would think that from first glance but apparently my father wasn't exactly happy about this development in my life. He hunted down specialists from all over the world within those 3 weeks in hopes of combating my mutation." I explained.
"It wasn't until the final week my father was given advice by a friend of the family to contact Professor Charles Xavier. My father immediately contacted the professor and within the next 10 hours the professor was at my house. As he entered my room it was as if my mutant power no longer existed. The professor knew that my power of empathy could cause irreparable damage to my psyche so he had placed a mental block on my mind as he entered." I further explained.
"Jesus, you went through hell." Bobby exclaimed.
"For the next three weeks the professor helped me control my empathic powers and then I went through some batteries of test to see the extent of my other power. Through the test the professor was able to determine the length of time my powers manifested items, size and its creative extents. The professor then felt I was able to handle of my powers to a large extent, but he ensured me that he would be monitoring my progress when he returned to Westchester." I said ending my story.
"Hold up after three weeks the professor gave you a good bill of health, that all seems too unrealistic. It took me over a year to barely get a handle on my powers." Jubilee exclaimed.
"Well the professor said since my mutation originated when I was 12 it seems my mind just needed to catch up with my body's evolution. So his extensive psionic training over the weeks reinforced my mind allowing me to block out most emotions." I explained.
"Oh, so have your empathic abilities evolved over the years?" Marie asked with deep interest.
"I wouldn't really know I vowed that I wouldn't use it extensively in fear that it would go out of control. I hardly allow myself to open my mind much, I focus my mind to block out most feelings and emotions." I said.
"Oh okay! Hey its 9:45 already we better carry you to the conference room to meet with the other X-Men and then it's off to training." Jubilee bouncily said with her hyperactive self.
~****~
We all gathered our things and headed for the conference room. On my way the four of us just bantered idly talking about the latest music, movies, cars etc. Along the way we came across 2 students making out. The girl was a very petite brunette who was towered over by a tall built mass of a man. Their emotions weren't being projected that much but still I was bombarded with them with great detail.
'Shit, why am I picking up their emotions like this? I used to be able to filter out most feelings whether I was near or far from them.' I found out they were Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde AKA Shadowcat and Piotr Rasputin AKA Colossus. We eventually came to a halt at a wall panel, which secretly held a panel that allowed access to the X-Men's conference room.
As I entered the room all eyes glared at me some with clear understanding and some with great distrust and anger. I simple went along with Marie and the others and sat down facing the leader of the X-Men.
"Professor, what's the meaning of this? Who is this person?" The guy with the red glasses adamantly asked staring daggers in my direction as he spoke.
"Scott calm down. This is the new teacher I have hired to teach Art and Technical Drawing as well as an addition to the X-Men." Professor answered calmly like it was the easiest thing to say after keeping this information from them.
Suddenly the gruff looking man who mimicked the appearance of a wolf stood up and began to speak well more like growl.
"Chuck you got to be kidding me a teacher. He's a kid and why now of all times, Jean's anniversary. Don't you think you could have waited and at least gotten some one older." The wolf looking man said growling afterwards.
"Logan calm down, I'm sure the professor has probable reason for not informing us of the new addition to the staff," said the white haired woman calmly.
The soft-spoken woman's voice seemed to get through to the man as they calmed.
"Thank you Ororo. I think we all need to relax. Before you attack Victor and me I think some introduction is needed." Professor X said.
"I'm Ororo Munroe codenamed Storm. I manipulate weather patterns." Ororo stated.
"I'm Kurt Wagner but in the Munich circus I was known as the Incredible Nightcrawler. I'm a teleporter." Kurt added.
When it came to the guy with the red glasses it was obvious he was still steamed at being kept in the dark.
"I'm Scott Summers codenamed Cyclops. I blast optic energy from my eyes. Ok!" Scott said quite livid.
And finally we come upon the gruff looking man.
"Honestly kid I don't really want to tell you shit, but because I don't want to be the spoil sport here I'm Logan AKA Wolverine. I have instantaneous healing, heightened senses and extractable adamantium claws." Logan said with a slight smirk.
"Adamantium claws…I don't understand, that's your mutation." I said.
"So what if it is?" Logan asked angrily.
"No…thing it's just an un…usual mutation." I said clumsily.
"Well kid let me tell you a little story some scientist chained me down and experimented on my body and graphed an indestructible metal onto my bone structure," Logan said.
"I didn't … me…mean to up…upset you, sorry." I timidly replied.
"Scott, Logan the young one hasn't been introduced yet," said Kurt with his strong German accent penetrating the room.
"I'm Victor Mannel and I have no alias name at the moment." I said trying my best to evade my eyes from Scott or Logan.
"Haven't you got any powers kid, or haven't your power developed yet," Logan sarcastically said.
"Well actually…" I said but abruptly interrupted by the professor.
"I have changed the regular training regime from a simple one on one but rather a four on four combat sequence. The veteran versus the newest X-Men members will combat one another. Victor I assume you are okay with this or we can postpone this for a later time." Professor Xavier said.
I was pondering whether or not to postpone this venture. I knew sooner or later it would come up why not now. One part of me said to postpone but the other stubborn part wanted to show Scott and Logan that I was totally worthy of the X-Men.
"No professor that won't be necessary. I agree to the training regime, I will prove that I am worthy enough to be on this team." I said hoping the confidence I was exuding was being bought, because truly I was scared out of my mind.
"Well then I imagine you all know what group your assigned to, now go and change. Victor there is a temporary suit in the locker area beside Bobby's. Good luck all of you." The professor said as he wheeled out of the conference room.
I was well aware of the looks glared at me by Logan and Scott. Before when they were arguing I just felt they were just assholes against someone as young as me joining the team without being a prior student, but that was just a ruse to cover up the true reason. Most of the anger derived from the fallen Dr. Jean Grey, the memories of her death were still fresh even though it's been a year. The emotions originated from their love for her; usually I could easily field such emotions out but when confronted with such deep grief for a loved one it's very difficult. Still it's a bit strange that I was reading them so easily with such detail it was a rare case when I would be able to read someone's emotions with great accuracy and usually it had to be someone I was extremely close to.
"Hey Victor, come on let get ready," Bobby said as he patted my back as to reassure me that everything will be fine.
"Oh okay, I'm coming." I said while considering 'What have I gotten my self into?'
TBC