Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters; please don't sue me I am a poor college student. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike. I do claim the non-Marvel characters, such as the Williams family, Damien, and the new offspring of the LeBeau and Summers families. Thanks!
Note: I apologize for the spacing and random indents and anything of the sort. When the pages are loaded onto this site everything seems to get a bit messed up. I noticed that single lines get double spaced randomly. Sorry about that.
Text in these brackets denotes French.
Through the Years
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Flatscans Living in a Mutant World
After the Mass was celebrated, Kurt stood in front of the chapel as always and greeted his exiting parishioners. He lifted his little niece onto his shoulder while chatting with Remy for a few minutes. They made plans to have dinner together later that night and then Kurt handed his niece back to her father. Next he greeting Bobby Drake who seemed very distracted. He asked the young man if something was wrong, to which he curtly answered that there was no problem and everything was fine. A few other people passed by and he met Jubilee's date Damien, who seemed like a nice fellow. Kurt liked the fact that the young man was not fazed at all by his demonic appearance; so much in fact that the priest felt the need to question him about it. It turns out that Damien's father is a mutant with a non-super powered physical mutation and as a result physically different looking mutants didn't seem any more out of place to him than a normal person. Despite his father's mutation, Damien was a flatscan human, although his two brothers were mutants. One just had a physical mutation and the other was a telepath. After the young couple left Kurt silently said a prayer thanking God that there were decent people out there who could co-exist with mutants.
After it seemed like everyone left Kurt made his way back into the chapel. He was surprised to see Logan and Ororo waiting there for him. They said that they needed to talk to him, and he led them to his office.
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Monica Williams led her family to the backyard of the chapel after Mass. Back there was a tiny and peaceful cemetery. She made a point of visiting there every now and then with the children. She never wanted them to forget their father. She knew that Carlie still remembered him, but she worried because David never really knew the man. She smiled because David looked so much like younger pictures of Jeffrey, even right down to the glasses. Monica felt lucky to have the X-men as neighbors and friends. Despite the fact that she was a flatscan human, she felt right at home with them since they all had something in common: Both had suffered heartache and loss at the hands of mutant haters. The X-men suffered because they were mutants and Monica suffered because both her sister-in-law, a mutant, and her husband, a flatscan, were killed by mutant haters. She knew that being a mutant sympathizer in this world was dangerous for her and her children, but she wouldn't have it any other way. To her it was the right thing to do, especially since it honored the legacy her late husband left as a flatscan champion of mutant rights.
Later that afternoon, she and her neighbor Remy LeBeau were going to take the children to see Dr. Henry McCoy. Hank had made some modifications to some of his equipment, so he wanted to see the full range of little Jessica LeBeau's mutation. Carlie wanted to know if the good doctor could tell her if she was a mutant or not. The teenager had a friend who first manifested powers during math class and as a result did not feel safe in their public school anymore. Her friend soon transferred to the Xavier Institute of Education to complete her studies. As a result, Carlie feared developing powers in public like that and wanted to be prepared, just in case. As she watched Carlie help David place some flowers at the base of their father's grave she silently prayed for the strength to deal with whatever came her way later this afternoon.
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After leaving the cemetery, the Williams family made their way to the LeBeau house, except Carlie who went home first to change out of her church clothes. Monica had some coffee with Remy while Jessica and David ran around the yard and played. Sometimes they would climb the chain-linked fence into David's yard to go inside their club house. As long as they were careful, the parents didn't mind them doing that. After all, they could see them from the back porch until they were inside the club house, and at that point they should be fairly safe. They both yelled to the children to be careful not to ruin their church clothes.
"David, I have to sit for a minute, I'm tired," said Jessica after flopping into a small chair in their clubhouse.
"Me too," exclaimed David as he flopped down on a chair next to her.
"So are you coming with me to the doctor's today? Your momma and Carlie are," said Jessica.
"If you want me to, I will," said David.
"Good," exclaimed the six-year old. "Because I'm scared."
"Why are you scared," asked her friend, "It's just Doctor Hank, and he's nice, he's my friend!" The little boy had grown quite attached to the blue furred mutant in recent months.
"No, it's not that Shugah, I know Uncle Hank is nice."
"Then why are you scared Jessie-Rose?"
"I'm scared they'll find out my secret."
"You mean the one that only you and I know about."
"Oui, that one."
"Well, don't worry, I'll be there" her friend said triumphantly! He was slightly older than Nathaniel and nearly a year older than Jessica. In the past, he always felt the need to watch out for them. Since Nathaniel was almost bigger than he was, he didn't watch out for him as much anymore, but Jessica was his best friend, he felt obligated in his seven-year old mind to take care of her.
"Hey David Daniel Williams" called Jessica after few minutes of sitting.
"Yes Jessica Rose LeBeau," he answered back.
"Wanna use our secret?"
"Ok," he said. With that they both stood up face to face, palms touching each other. David felt their secret flow into him. Then his and Jessica's hands parted. At the same moment they both flew up to the club house ceiling. They giggled as they chased each other in the air until they were called by Carlie that it was time to go see Hank.
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I'm stronger than they'll ever be, we can and will beat them!... Maybe we shouldn't use our powers against the humans, but they are the ones who hate us…These mutants deserve to die…The mutants who cause trouble aren't these ones, but maybe we should stop them just in case…
Rogue sat on a bench in the park holding her head, so many thoughts, so many voices speaking in her head. She had been so use to her own voice being the only one in her mind that she developed a splitting headache after the skirmish she was just in. She, Sage, and Bishop went to New Mexico to stop some rebellious mutants from setting fire to a small town and ridding it of flatscans. They were also there to gather some information as to why this was happening. Unfortunately they got there a little too late, the action had already started, and the flatscans were fighting back. Fortunately they were able to defuse the situation without any casualties, but it had been a tough and long fight. The Professor was right, as usual, when he suspected that Rogue's absorption powers would be needed. The anger generated by both mutants and flatscans caused a volatile situation and Rogue had to stop a number of people, both powered and powerless by temporarily draining the energy out of them. While Sage and Bishop handled the XSE part of the clean up, Rogue tried to sort through all the thoughts and memories going through her head; so much anger, so much hatred. Fortunately before the battle, Beast ran a few tests on her and concluded that the effects of absorption would not be permanent as it had been in the past. She would be able to maintain a person's persona and powers for 60 times as long as she had contact with them, as in the past. However, once that time was up, their persona would no longer be in her head. She might recall some of the things from their memories, as if she heard them, but their voices wouldn't be in her head forever. That in itself was a relief for her.
"Rogue? Are you alright now," asked Bishop. He told her that he and Sage could work out the clean-up stuff while she got her thoughts together.
Our families, they wanna hurt our families…We must succeed…GET HER!!...What have we done?...My powers, she's stealing them…
"What? Oh yeah, Shugah, Ah'm ok now. The voices are starting to fade away," said Rogue as she shook her head lightly and got up off the bench she was sitting on. "Ah can't believe in the entire week we were here no one was killed."
"Yes, it is indeed a miracle," said Sage who joined the conversation.
"It will take them a while to rebuild, but I think they can do it," Bishop said.
"Ah certainly hope so, at least we got them talkin' to each other like civilized people," said Rogue
The three X-men stood there for a few minutes silently taking in everything that happened while they were there, viewing the destruction as well as the evidence of rebirth. Bishop broke the silence when he turned to Rogue and spoke.
"Well, there's really not a whole lot left for you to do, Rogue, I mean if you want to go home now feel free. Sage and I just have to go to one of the XSE offices in California and file a report of this incident," Bishop said.
"California, say isn't the XSE office there near Valle Soleada," she asked.
"Yes, it's a few towns over," said Sage, "Why?"
"Ah think Ah'll go with ya'll. There are a few people Ah wanna call on while Ah'm in the area."
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Carlie Williams sat on the edge of the examining table while Dr. McCoy scribbled some notes into his legal pad. She wished he would just tell her already! If she was a mutant, she wanted to know. She had told him prior to the examination that personally it didn't matter to her one way or the other, she just wanted to be prepared in case her powers manifested as school. It happened to Sophie in math class, one minute they were taking Mr. Johnson's final exam and the next minute, BAM! Sophie sprouted wings. Everyone was shocked and poor Sophie was too scared to even come back to school, so she enrolled at the Xavier Institute of Education where she figured she'd be safer, while Carlie would start high school in September at the local public one. Carlie thought about this all summer and after talking to her mother decided it would be best to have Dr. Hank look her over, find out what's going on, and hopefully give her some advice. Carlie wanted Mr. Remy and Ms. Rogue to be with her too during the examination. They were both mutants and like family to her for nearly as long as she could remember. Ms. Rogue was out of town, but Mr. Remy had agreed to be there for her, just like he always was. She recalled a time when she was about nine years old and her Scout troop was having a father-daughter dance, and she was at that age where she didn't want her mother take the father role, in fear of peer opinion and all that. When she asked Mr. Remy to do it, he said that he would be honored, and they had a great time. Unlike most kids her age, she didn't have a father who was alive, but her mother did her best to fulfill the role of both parents. However, sometimes there were times were she needed to talk to a male, like when she needed advice about boys, and Mr. Remy was always more than willing to listen to her.
"Well," said Hank to his patient Carlie who was sitting on the examining table, "According to my scans young lady, you do not have the X-gene. In fact, you are not even a carrier."
"What does that mean Dr. Hank," asked the young teen.
"Well, that means that not only will you not develop any mutant powers, but you will not pass on the gene to your children. I mean there is a chance that you could have mutant children assuming the fact that the father carries the gene," said Beast before realizing that this information was fairly useless to a high-schooler.
"So am I done," she asked hoping off the table.
Hank chuckled, and then smiled at his patient, "Of course Carlie, I'll see you later."
Since she had plans with some friends she hugged her mom and brother, as well as Mr. Remy and Jessica before running off to a friend's house. Dr. Hank McCoy couldn't help but feel a little envious of the teen. She was fully prepared to take on the responsibilities of being a mutant, but when it came down to it, she'd never have to face the horrors that he and so many others have had to face. But he took comfort in knowing that her life would be easier than his own had been.
"Well," Hank said scanning the room, "Where's my next patient?" He felt a pair of little hands climb up his body and wrap around his neck.
"Here I am Uncle Hank," said the voice.
"And so you are Jessica dear. Now, shall we see what secrets you have to share with us?"
At the mention of the word secrets Jessica and David looked at each other with an expression that read "Does he know?"
Hank proceeded running some scans and tests using his superior technology. When he was done he sent the little girl to sit in her father's lap.
"Well, Hank, what's t'verdict," Remy asked.
"Well Remy, let's start from the beginning," Hank said taking a seat in a chair facing the present members of the LeBeau and Williams families. "The first power we saw little Jessica manifest was an absorption power during her encounter with Belladonna. It is apparent that she gets that from her mother. But what we also know is that the effects of Jessica's power is more than likely no where near the strength of Rogue's since she has to concentrate to use it. She could probably do no more to a person than temporarily knock them out, unlike Rogue who could kill a person with her absorption power. During her encounter with Sinister we saw that she also possessed a few powers similar to your own including your ability to kinetically charge an object and a stronger form of your telepathy, though the verdict is still out on the latter. The down side we have seen from her powers is the fact that when the levels fluctuate her body's processes slow down and she losses heat rapidly, dropping her body temperature to a near fatal level. This brings us to a new part of Jessica's mutation that we have not yet been privy to. But something tells me that our young friend knows the answer, isn't that right young lady?"
"What do you mean Uncle Hank," Jessica asked nervously while stealing glances at David.
"Well, let me explain a little and maybe it will jog your memory," Hank then looked back at the adults present. "You see being the child of such a rich and strong mutant heritage puts Jessica in a unique position. She could either hold great power or have no power as seen with Graydon Creed, the son of Mystique and Sabertooth. As we have witness she is the former. She has already demonstrated that she has your array of powers, Remy, in at her disposal. After all she is genetically half yours. We have also seen that she has one of Rogue's powers. But she is genetically half Rogue's."
"So are you sayin' dat Jessica could have t'rest of Rogue's powers," Remy questioned.
"If you mean her abilities that she acquired from Ms. Marvel that permanently became part of her DNA then yes I am. It is possible that Rogue passed some or all of Ms. Marvel's abilities to her daughter.
"I don't know which powers are going to come up," Remy exclaimed. "In t'genetic deck of cards she is certainly a wildcard!" He tickled the little girl making her squirm and giggle.
"If I might ask," interrupted Monica, "What exactly are these Ms. Marvel abilities?"
"A long time ago Rogue permanently absorbed Ms. Marvel's ability to fly, her Seventh Sense, and her super strength. Rogue is virtually indestructible. Although something tells me that Jessica probably does not hold all of these powers.
"What makes you said that," said Monica.
"I've been Jessica's doctor all her life. I've helped fix up scrapes and other 'boo-boos,' and as far as I can tell, she doesn't have the invulnerability that Rogue has, thus she probably doesn't have her super strength. As a result of not being invulnerable like her mother, Jessica has a harder time controlling the levels of mutant powers in her body."
"Thus t'reason she gets so cold when her power levels are high," concluded Remy.
"Precisely," said Hank, who was in his element right now, discussing scientific matters to a captive audience, despite the fact that the youngest two present didn't understand a word he was saying. "But during my examination of Jessica today I noticed that her body temperature was normal. That tells me that she might have a release for her powers, sort of like an outlet or a safety valve if you will."
"What do you mean," asked Monica.
"Well, it's like her body has a failsafe, a safety switch that helps her cope with all the powers she inherited from her parents."
"And what's dat," Remy asked holding his daughter tight.
"I think Jessica knows the answer to that after all, she must have done whatever it was before coming here," Hank looked at the little girl. "Think real hard my dear, did you do anything before coming here that might have caused your power levels to stabilize."
The six year old looked at him blankly, "What's stabilize mean?"
"Ok, let me put it another way, did you do anything special before coming here?"
"It is important dat you tell us, petite," her father added.
"I don't know," she said. She wasn't able to make the connection to what Uncle Hank was saying, but David understood it. Perhaps it had to do with all the time the little boy spent with blue furred doctor.
"Wait I do," exclaimed David whom had been sitting in his mother's lap. He scurried off her lap and went over to Jessica. "Our secret Jessie-Rose."
"Should we tell them," she asked David as she scurried off her father's lap and stood next to her friend. Remy took a deck of cards out and shuffled them nervously.
"You heard him, he said that it is im..port...ant," he said sounding out the big word Mr. Remy used. "I just want you to be OK, let Dr. Hank help." He placed his palms face out in front of her.
"Well, ok, but now they are gonna know an' I might get in trouble," she placed her hands on his and she felt their secret flow out of her and into David. Once she felt finished she stepped back from him. "I do this Uncle Hank when I feel icky. David said a long time ago that he wanted to help me and we learned that he could help me and I don't feel so icky any more.
"I don't understand," Monica said. To her it didn't look like anything had happened.
"Look," David said. "I can do what Jessie-Rose and Mr. Remy do." He reached over to Remy and took one of the cards the Remy had been toying with. After a second, the little boy charged the card and threw it into the air, causing it to explode. A look of shock went over the adults' faces.
Dr. McCoy grabbed a device off the table and ran the scanner over the children. He nearly dropped it when he saw the results. Noting the expression on the doctor both Remy and Monica asked him what was wrong at the same time.
"I don't know how this is possible, but some how Jessica managed to give David a portion of her powers. At least that's what it appears to be. Jessica's levels are stable, but David isn't registering a reading. Probably because these are not his powers, rather he has them 'on loan.' In fact, like his sister, David does not carry the X-gene so I can tell you for a fact that these are not his powers. I just checked for it on him to make sure it wasn't his own power manifesting early. The only thing I can equate this to is how certain superheroes are not mutants because they do not carry the X-gene, even if they have powers1. But somehow I doubt the results of the transfer are permanent."
"Does permanent mean forever," Jessica asked.
"Yes," said Hank.
"No, David keeps them for a little bit, not long, not forever," the little girl stated.
"Wait, I'm not going to ever have cool powers like Jessie-Rose," asked the little boy, clearly disturbed by what Hank said about the lack of the X-gene.
"No David, you will be like Carlie and your mom. You will not be a mutant."
The little boy looked like he was going to cry until Jessica said to him, "Don't worry, you can share mine. I don't want them all, they make me feel icky sometimes and you make me feel better when you help share."
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Later that night, not long after Remy put his daughter to bed; he sat contently on his bed talking to a beautiful woman.
"So Chere, you miss dis Cajun," he asked his wife who had called him from California. She explained that she wanted to check up on their friends at Valle Soleada and he understood, after all, they lived on the other side of the country and didn't see them often. He also made sure to inform Rogue of everything that occurred during Jessica's appointment with Hank earlier. Once they had all that business out of the way, they turned to their own feelings for each other.
"Of course Ah do Shugah," Rogue said into her cell phone. She was walking alone the peaceful street in Valle Soleada that she had frequented so many years before. It was nearly a lifetime ago. "But don't get me started on that right now, just wait 'til Ah get home."
"Is dat a promise or a t'reat," he said smiling with extra charm, despite the fact she couldn't see his face.
"Depends on how ya wanna take it," she flirted into the phone.
"Oh Chere," he chucked and then turned serious. "I miss you so much, hurry back."
"Ah will Remy Ah promise," she stopped in front of a building and said, "Well, Ah'm here so Ah gotta go. Kiss Jessica foah me when she wakes up."
"Will do Rogue."
"Ah love ya, Swamp Rat."
He smiled, "I love you too, toujours." He hung up the phone and turned on the TV. It would be a while before he could sleep; it had been hard lately with her half of the bed empty.
Meanwhile, in California, where the sun wouldn't be setting for another hour or two, Rogue hung up her cell phone and threw it in her purse. Sage and Bishop were at the XSE office doing what they needed to do and she said that she'd fly herself home once she finished her business. She looked at the building she stood in front of. This garage is where she as Anna Raven had worked along side of some of the nicest guys she had ever met. Through letters and emails, she had kept in touch with them and they knew of her mutant heritage and her 'real' name of Rogue. She just hoped she had done the right thing by dropping by.
"Anna…Rogue, is that you? After all this time you haven't changed a bit!"
Rogue turned around and realized it was one of the guys she had worked with at the garage. He was carrying a few cups of coffee so she figured the boys had a heavy load and were pulling a late shift.
"Now to what do we owe the great honor of having a beautiful woman like you come visit a bunch of grease monkeys like us?"
Rogue gave him a hug and took a few of the cups to lighten his load, "Oh Shugah, ya always did know how to make a gal blush. Actually Ah was in the neighborhood and thought Ah'd call on ya'll, just to see how things are goin'."
"Did you bring your darling daughter and devoted hubby with you?"
"No, it's just lil' old me this time. Why don't we head inside so Ah can say hi to everyone and tell ya'll about everythin'. Maybe even tinker with a few engines."
"Sounds great my dear," he said. They carried the cups of coffee and chatted on their way inside the garage where Rogue was in for one warm reception and an evening of laughing, talking, and mechanical goodness.
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1- Think Spider-man, he's really not considered a mutant in the Marvel Universe because he wasn't born with his powers, neither are a few other superheroes that got their powers by accident or from some other means, like Captain America.
Author's Note- WARNING- contains shameless plug for C2:Are you looking for a good X-men story, but just don't have to time to wait for an update? Look no further! Check out the new C2 archive The Best of X-men One-Shots (C2 ID # 2374). There you'll find a collection of one chapter, completed stories to satisfy your X-men craving. Drop me a line if you want to be on the staff, the more the merrier! :-) Also, check out these other two cool C2 communities which have oodles of fun X-men stories between them!: Romyness and All that other good X-Men Stuff (#174) and Only the Best of Harry Potter and X-Men Fanfiction (#2094).
Tammy- I think as we'll see, Jubilee doesn't really know how she feels about the whole Bobby-Damien dilemma. But she'll follow her heart in the end, whichever way that may take her.
Ishandahalf- Yeah, I love Ororo and Logan romance too, maybe part of it is because subconsciously it keeps her away from Gambit. Sorry, lingering feelings of annoyance about that whole scene that was in a certain issue of X-treme X-men where Storm and Gambit kissed. Hope you enjoy what I cooked up in this chapter! :-)
Y.Frost- Yeah, everyone thought I should have finished Chapter 24 a bit better, but I did include what I wanted to say in subsequent chapters. Don't worry, everything will come full circle by the end of the story. Glad you like the side of Gambit portrayed in this story. :-)
Star-of-Chaos- See, I think Jubilee is a bit confused, now she's got a guy who is totally into her but she still could have lingering feelings for Bobby. So we'll have to wait to see how that words out. As for Ororo and Logan, yeah why should they waste any more time, it's time they took it to the next level. :-)
Roguedoll- Wow, I hope you didn't read it in one shot, I know it's long. If you did read it all at once, I am impressed! I'm glad you like it so much, I hope you continue to enjoy it! :-)
T.-Thanks, glad you like all the various relationships, romantic or otherwise! :-)
Andy- I'm glad that this story is pretty easy to keep up with, I was afraid that maybe it was a bit confusing. I hope you keep enjoying it! :-)
Quing- Wow, thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you keep on liking it! :-)
Kitsu LeBeau- As you see in this chapter, it's pretty hard to want to dislike Damien, after all, he's so nice to everyone and he really seems to care for Jubilee. Then again one could make the argument about Joseph and Rogue… But something tells me not to count Bobby out just yet, I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve besides his arm! :-) PS: Thanks for the invite to be on your C2 staff, I feel very honored! Although I don't read Harry Potter fics, I can help you out in the X-men department! :-)