The wind whipped my hair back off my face. The night air was cool. It slowly blew the tears off my face like butterfly kisses. I stared blankly off at the passing scenery.
"Melody, are you okay?" asked Scott softly.
I didn't answer.
He didn't ask anything after that.
In about ten minutes, we pulled up to the Xavier Institute.
I'd only driven by it before. It was a large building, a mansion really, with lavish decorations. The fences keeping people out where heavily guarded. The cameras followed the car as we drove into the driveway.
He parked in the garage, but led me to the front door. A man sat out in front. He was in a wheelchair. The tips of his long fingers pressed together and rested against his lips. He was bald as an egg. His brown eyes were soft and kind yet as hard as flint at the same time.
He moved his hands from in front of his mouth and said, "Good evening, Scott. Melody."
I gasped. "How did you know my name?"
"This is Professor Xavier, Melody," Scott said, as if that explained everything.
The Professor extended a hand. I took it. When he let go, he said, "I am a mutant, like you and Scott, Melody. I have the ability to enter the minds of others. I was searching for any unusual mutant activity on our computer here when I sensed another person showing mutant powers."
"So you sent Scott to come pick me up?" I asked.
"No. That happened to be a coincidence. He was, I believe, returning your backpack?"
I nodded. "That's when this… Mystique showed up. I did something to her—I don't know what, but suddenly I kind of looked like her. Then my mo—the person I used to call my mother kicked me out of house. So Scott took me here."
The Professor nodded. He put his hand on the arm of his wheelchair and made it go forward. Scott jogged ahead and opened the door. Professor X rode in and said without looking back, "Follow me, please."
I meekly did as he said. The interior of the mansion was just as lavish as the outside. A grand staircase led upstairs. Chandeliers—real chandeliers—were hanging from the ceiling. My mouth dropped open.
When I caught Scott grinning at me, I shut my mouth. Swinging my arms, I asked, "So what exactly is this mutant power of mine?"
Professor X furrowed his brow and folded his hands. "I'm actually not quite sure. I'm sure that if you let me enter your mind, I could find out."
I shrugged. "Okay."
He motioned for me to bend over. I did so, feeling a little freaked out. I was tired and a lot of things had happened to me. So I was docile for the moment. Normally I would have demanded to know what was going to happen.
He put his hands on the sides of my head and closed his eyes. My own eyelids fluttered. Then, I could feel a—a—I don't know, presence—in my head. My forehead wrinkled and I grit my teeth. My mind was the only place I could escape, the only place I could be alone. It was the only thing that was really mine and mine alone.
I guess not anymore.
"Do not worry, Melody," a voice that came from inside my head told me, "I will not intrude on your thoughts unless it's absolutely necessary."
I really am insane!
"You are quite sane, actually," the voice replied, "It is I, Professor Xavier, that is speaking to you."
I relaxed visibly. So I'm not a total nut-job. Good.
Memories of my recent, life-shaking event were dragged across my mind's eye. I was forced to watch as my skin changed and I shifted shape, my features taking on Mystique's snaky look. I shivered.
Then, suddenly, I was drawn out of my mind.
I stumbled back in utter confusion. The world was fuzzy for a few seconds. I blinked a few times.
"Are you all right?"
I looked over at the Professor, who looked completely unruffled. I nodded weakly.
"Melody, do you think you could try something for me?"
Again, I nodded.
"Could you try to change shape?"
I stared at him as if he were insane. "Change shape?" I repeated incredulously.
He nodded.
I raised both my eyebrows and shrugged. "Well, I'll try," I said.
I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. Okay, I told myself, I want to be… a… er…wolf?
Nothing happened.
I opened and rolled my eyes, and was about to say that this was ridiculous when I saw my hands. Only, they weren't hands anymore. They were paws.
I couldn't help it: I panicked.
I stumbled back with a sharp bark. My tail—yes, my tail—curled between my legs. My whole body trembled with shock.
"Melody, listen to me," the Professor said calmly, "You're fine. I can help you."
A pathetic whine rose in my throat. I crouched low, belly scraping the floor. Thoughts whirred irrationally through my head. All I knew was that I didn't want to be a wolf anymore. No way!
I watched in horrid fascination as my form wavered like a bad reception on the TV. My fingers stretched and reshaped. I blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then I was me again.
I was on all fours. I slowly got to my feet. I ran my hands down my face. It was normal.
"Is she like Rouge?" asked Scott.
I glanced over at him. He was looking at me with great interest. I sank into the nearest chair and buried my face in my hands to hide the fact that I was shaking all over.
"In a way, I suppose," Professor X said slowly. "She can absorb other mutants' powers, but yet she can make contact with them without hazardous effects. I think she only takes another mutant's powers willingly, or if she is in particular danger. She still possesses Mystique's power of transformation, so the effect must be permanent. She does not have any of Mystique's memories, either. It is in my belief that she could probably drain a mutant of his or her powers."
"So—so I drained Mystique of her powers?" I asked, my face draining of all color.
"I don't think so, Melody," the Professor said, "She broke contact with you too early for you to have taken all. Her prowess will most likely replenish itself in a matter of days."
"Not that it would have been much of a loss," muttered Scott sourly.
"I would like to try something now," the Professor said, folding his long fingers. "Melody, do you think you could try to absorb Scott's powers without draining him?"
"Would I have to wear sunglasses 24/7?" I asked, eyeing Scott suspiciously.
"If my theory is correct, then no," Professor X said, "Unless of course, Scott doesn't want you to absorb his powers?"
Scott shrugged. "It's fine with me."
I hesitated, then moved forward. He had to bend down a little so that I could hold his face in my hands. I looked directly into his eyes. I couldn't see them behind the sunglasses, but I could sense them, it seemed. I could almost feel the heat from his eyes behind the frames.
I was suddenly falling through a blood-red abyss. Power surged into my body, energy so red-hot that it burned my very veins. I gasped and shuddered. I felt his mutant power depleting. I forced my hands off his face when it was almost gone and stumbled back with my hands pressed over my eyes.
My eyes burned. My head was pounding. The ringing in my ears that had been there since I had left my house increased by a tenfold. I grit my teeth. My eyes were rolling back into my head. I was dimly aware of the gagging sound that escaped my lips.
I think I must have fainted after that, because everything was black for a few moments. Someone was holding up my head, the next thing I knew. The pounding in my head had decreased.
My eyelids fluttered and I opened them. For a brief moment, I surveyed the world. Everything was red. Then I felt something that near burned my nose off leave my eyes. Two very powerful lasers left my eyes and made big holes in the ceiling. I immediately closed my eyes again.
"Melody, can you hear me?" asked Professor X.
"Yeah," I said, trying to sit up. Powerful arms lifted me from the ground and dumped me in a soft armchair. I rubbed my temples to ease the pain.
"Try to shut off the optic blasts."
"How?" I wailed.
"Shove it to the back of your mind. You should be in control, not your power."
"Right," I said, giving him thumbs up. I pressed my hands over my face again. Though it hurt beyond belief, I literally tore the optic beams from my eyeballs. Though I was basically "shutting the beams off", I could still feel a tingling sensation in the back of my mind. It felt disgusting and made me squirm.
I squinted, to make sure I wouldn't blow anyone up by looking at him. The world seemed to be normally colored again. I slowly opened my eyes. Nothing happened.
I blinked a few times to clear my fuzzy vision. Everything seemed weirdly bright, but other than that my eyesight was fine. I looked up at Scott. He had a hand on his sunglasses, as if debating whether or not to take them off.
He slowly slid the sunglasses from his nose. His eyes were closed, but he slowly opened them. His eyes suddenly went very wide. He looked at me through huge, bloodshot brown eyes. Though they didn't radiate huge destructive blasts, the air around them shimmered with red light.
"D-did I do that?" I squeaked.
The Professor nodded. "Could you try to use the blasts again?"
I shrugged, feeling slightly uneasy. "Won't I kind of… destroy your house?"
The Professor waved a hand in dismissal.
Oh, great, I thought, I'm going to live with a crazy mutant who doesn't care if his house is blown up.
I licked my lips and swung my arms. I closed my eyes and focused on the tingling feeling in the back of my head. I brought it forward. Then my whole body thrummed—thrummed—like some sort of machine. And, when I opened my eyes, there was an explosion of red light.
The force of it jerked my head back. I yelled and toppled over backward, eyes still open, violently tearing the middle of the wall to the ceiling to smithereens.
There was muffled cry of shock and indignation from the room above, where I had just blown the floor up. "Scott!" yelled the person who owned the room.
I shut the optic beams off and rubbed my eyes. I blinked a few times to clear my fuzzy vision. I winced when I saw the damage I had done to the wall and ceiling. "Sorry," I said sheepishly.
There was suddenly a loud noise that sounded almost like a door being slammed and an electrical shock put together, making a noise like BAMF. There was a flash and a big of puff of smoke that made me cough up a lung, and then I saw the strangest thing I had even seen before.
I think it was human, and definitely a boy. There was nothing feminine about this creature. He had bright blue fur, with long shoulder-length navy blue hair. Pointed ears stuck up through his hair. He stood in a weird fashion, more up on his toes than on flat feet. In fact, as I looked down, he was standing on his toes. And he had two of them, it turned out.
A long, devil-like tail lashed behind him. He looked peevishly at Scott through narrowed yellow eyes. He was frowning. He was wearing baggy pants with his boxers pulled way up. His maroon shirt was tucked in to his boxers. He had a khaki-colored coat on over it.
"Cool," I blurted before I could stop myself.
He turned to me, looked surprised, but then grinned, revealing large eyeteeth. "Thanks. Do you I know you?" he asked in a weird accent. It sounded German.
"Kurt, this is Melody," Professor X said.
The blue kid, Kurt I presumed, extended a three-fingered hand. I took it. He felt as furry as he looked.
"Hi," I said.
Kurt turned to the Professor. "New member?" he asked.
The Professor nodded.
Then Kurt turned to Scott, who had put his sunglasses back on. "Why did you blow up my room?" he demanded.
Scott raised his eyebrows. "It wasn't me."
"Then who was it?"
"Her."
Kurt eyed me suspiciously. "How'd you do that? It looked like Scott's optic blasts."
"I—I—uh…" I stuttered.
"She didn't mean to," the Professor said. "It turns out that she can absorb other mutant's abilities."
"Like Rouge?"
I'm really going to have to meet this Rouge person, I thought sourly.
Then the Professor explained my power again.
When he finished, Kurt asked, "What's her alias?"
I cocked my head at the Professor. "Alias? Why do we need an alias?"
The Professor wheeled toward the window and looked out. "Humans aren't ready for us, Melody. You saw how your mother reacted. If we were to run about the streets calling out our real names and using our powers, people would find us out. Secrecy is key."
"Oh. Um. Okay." I said, scratching the back of my neck and turning to the other two. "What's yours?"
"Cyclops," Scott replied.
"Nightcrawler." Kurt said proudly.
I grinned. "Cool! What can mine be?"
There was a thoughtful silence.
"Leech?" suggested Scott, at the same time as Kurt said with a grin, "Sucker?"
I raised my eyebrows at Kurt and said sarcastically, "Ha. Ha, ha. And also, ha. Veeeery funny."
He grinned wider.
I rolled my eyes. "You said I could copy other people's powers, right?" I asked.
Nods from all the assembled.
"How about CopyCat?" I asked.
The Professor nodded thoughtfully, a smile slowly lighting to his face.
"Welcome to the X-Men, CopyCat."
A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed, especially my Aniwizard fans! You like me, you really like me! ::cough cough:: I must tell you that I all ready had this chapter done when I posted the first, so don't expect these chapters to come out at the speed Quicksilver can run. Stay tuned for "Chapter 3: Intro, Please!"