Chapter 1-Homo Superior
A bright ray of sunshine gleamed through the window of Taylor Monroe's room. He looked at his clock. "Shit…" It was already seven, he was going to be late. He jumped out of his all-to-comfortable bed, and ran into the shower. A burst of cold water really woke him up, as the shower let loose it's refreshing gift. He always did take long showers. Reaching into the cold, humid air of the bathroom, he grabbed a white towel and wrapped it around his slim waist, before stepping out of the glass box. The shower took a long time, but the real mission was his hair. He had incredibly thick, shoulder-length, white hair. It made for some interesting talk at school; it's not every day that you see someone who actually looks good with white hair, not all old and dorky. Taylor wasn't really sure why he had such strange pigmentation in his hair, he figured it was genetic. His mother, Ororo Monroe, had the same regally thick white hair. It contrasted with her mocha skin beautifully, giving her a royal air about her. She was tall and slender, but gave a powerful presence to anything she did. Taylor had some of her better qualities, her high cheekbones, prominent jaw-line, and sensual eyes, were his. He did, however, have some of the good qualities given to him by his father. His strong shoulders, long, powerful legs, and just over-all strong body, was his father's. He also had his dad's amazing stubbornness, which his mother kept reminding him. His father died when he was three, and Taylor had witnessed it. Most of it he had forgotten, but the knowledge that he had witnessed it haunted him. His skin was a mix of Ororo's mocha skin, and his father's fair milk-like skin. He was a mutt; his skin was the perfect mix. Taylor's reminiscing was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. He ran down the stairs and sunk down into his favorite chair, as he picked up the phone. Taylor lived alone, when he turned eighteen, his mother moved to the school that she taught at, in order to make her job easier. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngster's, that's what it was called. He had always figured that they taught child prodigies or something. Ororo had never really given out any details about the school. Returning his attention back to the phone, he waited and tried to guess who it was. Looking at his watch, and realizing it was seven forty-five, he figured it was Hunter. "Hey Hunt, I know I'm late." "I told you that you would be late." He was right, Taylor was always late. Hunter was his best friend, and knew him really well. "So did you sense that it was me?" "Yup, I always know." Taylor did seem to always be able to tell who was on the phone, or even who was at the door. It was kind of freaky, but Taylor enjoyed it. "Hunt, I'm on my way, it only takes me like ten minutes to get to the school; I'll be there in a sec." "Alright, hurry." "Ok, bye." With a thud and a jump, the phone was hung up and Taylor was running up the stairs. He threw on some very tight 501 Levi's, to accentuate his "nicer" features, and an old Abercrombie shirt, which also seemed a size too small. When you got it, flaunt it, was Taylor's philosophy, and he did his best to flaunt everything. One last glance in the mirror told Taylor that he was ready to head off. Jumping over the banister and landing on the first floor with an earth shattering thud, Taylor shut off all the lights and proceeded into the garage. He smiled every time he entered that old garage. Waiting inside was his favorite gift from his mother, a gorgeous electric-purple Hummer, an H2. He opened the garage door, ready to re-release his baby into the wild. Taylor jumped into the car, which screamed louder than the pumped-up speaker system inside, and cranked up that radio. Tinted window down, Versace sunglasses on, Black Eyed Peas blaring, Taylor screeched out of his driveway like a bat out of hell, a bat that was making a school call.
The highway was perfectly crowded for eight in the morning. Even the fast lane was backed up, meaning he was stuck for a while. "So much for ten minutes…" The sun was beating down, and the wind had stopped blowing. What had started out as a perfect day had gotten progressively worse in a matter of 30 minutes. Taylor's CD had played out, the radio was playing nothing, it was hot, he was late, the day was now officially bad. "Could I please get a break?" Taylor was speaking to everyone and no one, but as his frustration rose, he noticed a break. Along the side of the road was an access ramp, leading down to a small, heavily wooded dirt road. Nothing his H2 couldn't handle. Slowly and carefully, Taylor inched his way to his freedom. He made it. The road was clear, and as he moved further from the highway from hell, he gave a large breath of relief, maybe he wouldn't be as late as he thought. The road began to clear, and at the end of a long, bumpy, woodland stretch, Taylor came upon another highway. Taylor knew that, even if it went parallel, he could still reach his destination quicker now. This east-west interstate had one thing wrong with it…no cars were on it. "This is…well…weird." As happy as Taylor should be, with no traffic, he felt more concerned at his discovery. Turning his car into the shoulder of the highway, he jumped out to inspect the road. Nothing was wrong with it, it was just empty. Then things began to get weird. Glancing down this mysterious occurrence, Taylor's attention was turned back to the car. His radio, which had blanked out in the traffic, suddenly burst into maximum volume, and began broadcasting a disturbing report. The station was almost all screaming. The sounds filled the empty highway, making Taylor feel as if the screams were coming from it. Taylor heard cries of pain and torment as well as cries of fear and escape. He had to stop it, he couldn't handle it anymore. Then he heard his name, as he got closer. "Taylor! Run! Quickly Get Away!" This strange female voice was speaking to him through the radio. He heard urgency in her pain ridden voice, compelling him to run. He ran towards his car and, jumping into the driver's seat, shut it off. "No, Taylor get a grip. I'm hallucinating, from the sun. That's what's happening." He took a deep breath and, putting the sounds from his mind, reached for his cell phone. Bringing it to his eyes, he glanced to the familiar screen of the gadget. Immediately he threw it down. Where he normally held a picture of a mask, there was a face, screaming towards him, looking directly into his eyes. "No, Stop!" Taylor jumped out of his car, hysterical. "What do you want!" He stared in every direction, waiting for an answer. Just then, a car drove up behind him, a hunter green jeep. Taylor knew this car, and felt better when Hunter got out from it. "Hunter." Taylor threw his arms around his friends' broad shoulders. Hunter was strong and handsome, in a "home-fed Iowa boy" way. With cropped blond hair, thick jaw, large powerful chest, tree-trunk legs, Hunter was a football force to be reckoned with. Taylor was in love with Hunter, because he knew how great a guy he was. He also knew that their friendship was too great to be ruined by romance, and Hunter was an arrow when it came to sexuality. Taylor knew that behind those pale green eyes was the heart of a warrior and the soul of a father. Hunter had always been there for him, and was comfortable enough to hug Taylor. "What's wrong?" "I don't know. Hunt, something is wrong with…everything." He still held tightly on to Hunter, who knew something was wrong. "Come on, let's go." Hunter gently put Taylor in the driver's seat of the H2 and set him up to follow him. "We need to get you out of he…" Hunter stopped and turned his face upwards. The sky, which had been hot, sunny, and beautifully blue, was now a pale shade of grey. With a snap Hunter focused on something that was coming up on the road behind them. "Shit…" He turned his attention back to Taylor. "Taylor drive. Now. Go." He slammed the door. Walking towards the center of the road, Hunter stripped off his jacket to reveal a tight leather suit underneath. Tapping a small ear-piece in his left ear, Hunter made what seemed to be a short phone call. "Jean, I need back-up…" The words were muffled, but Taylor could make those words out. Rolling down the window, loosing his state of shock, he began to question Hunter. He was used to Hunter protecting him, but this seemed to be serious. "Hunter…what's happening?" "Taylor, bud, I'm serious you need to…oh god, they're here. Taylor Drive!" Reluctantly listening to his friend's plea, Taylor put the pedal to the metal and took off. The last thing he saw was a dark figure approaching Hunter. "I hope he's alright. What was that?" Taylor wasn't really concentrating on driving, his concern overpowered reasonable thought. Taylor was getting ready to turn back when something hit him. The car began to shake and something large came and hit the side, flipping it violently. The last thing Taylor remembered was being thrown through the window and landing with a sharp thud on the pavement.
"It was an ambush. I'm not sure why they were there, but they wanted him, badly." Taylor could hear Hunter's voice. "If Hunter hadn't thought to go out there, we would have lost him." The woman who was talking had a calming voice but he wasn't sure who it was. Taylor's body ached, but considering the accident he had, the wounds didn't seem too bad. Slowly opening his eyes, Taylor could make out blurry shapes and colors. He figured it was a bedroom. Making out a mahogany dresser, and matching desk, Taylor wasn't sure where he was. There were several figures at the foot of the bed. He knew Hunter from the body, he knew his mother from the hair-skin combo, but the other three were strangers to him. He couldn't even make out their faces. "So are you going to tell him now?" "About what?" "About him being a mutant." That word. Did they just say that he was a mutant? Taylor shot up in the bed faster than a cheetah at full speed. "I'm a what?" "Taylor!" His vision immediately cleared as he made out the shocked faces of his mother's friends Scott Summers, Jean Grey, and Logan…well he had no last name that Taylor knew of. Taylor knew that none of them had realized that he would be awake. "I'm a what?" His mother sat down next to him, placing her arms around him. "Honey, um…we need to talk."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Taylor's fury was unmatched at the moment. They were all in the library of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, but none of them were expecting to read. Jean, Scott, Logan, Hunter, Ororo and Taylor were all there. "We were trying to protect you." Logan, sat in the only comfortable chair in the room, but as comfortable as he was the situation wasn't. "From what…!" "…From a life of discrimination and hardship. Your father and I agreed to try to give you as normal a life as possible." Ororo's voice was sweet and calm, Taylor could feel her trying to calm him down. It wasn't working. "So you didn't tell me that both my parents were mutants! And that I'm…I'm a freak!" Taylor screamed at her, showing her that he wasn't about to be calm. "Taylor you must understand, your father died so that you could live a normal life." informed Jean. "Well that plan backfired, didn't it!" Taylor continued as he turned towards his best friend. "And Hunter you knew! And didn't tell me!" "Well...I...um..." "Don't bring Hunter in to this, it's not his fault." said Scott "Why should I even bother, I don't know you guys anymore!" Taylor began to leave the room. "Taylor..." Ororo reached for her son, sympathetically. "Don't..." Logan put his hand on Ororo's arm "...he's too afraid to face up to this." Taylor immediately turned around with the fury of an army in his eyes. "Afraid... Afraid! Don't talk to me about being afraid! My father died in front of my eyes when I was three years old. For the last ten years my life has been a haze of death and destruction. All my friends, dying in fatal "Accidents" and now finding out that because my genetic make-up is different that it was my fault! And you never told me! Wherever I went I knew I could sense that someone was watching me. Adding to the fact that now you telling me that living as a mutant means being discriminated against for the rest my life adds to my new chipper outlook! Now, you guys may be older and have gone through things a lot tougher and scarier, but I'm only 18 and I already life my life in fear and worry. You're plan to keep my life normal wasn't working in the first place!" They were all stunned by what Taylor had said, especially Ororo. She had always been worried about the life that Taylor would have had to live if he knew, but now, finding out that maybe she made the wrong choice almost brought her to tears. Taylor stormed out the door. Ororo followed soon after, hoping to mend the rift, just created by their argument.
"Taylor…" Ororo walked into the dark office across the hall. Taylor was sitting on the wooden chair, facing the door. His slender hands held his face and hid his eyes from his mother. She pulled another chair up next to him and sat down. "Are you Ok?"
"You know what?"
"What?"
"I'm not really as mad as I seem."
"What do you mean?" Ororo put her arm around him.
"Well, all my life I've wanted to save people and make a difference…and now…I guess I really can." She was silent. "What's wrong?"
"You sound just like your father."
He chuckled. "I know."
"Do you remember your father?"
"Yes."
"Then, Taylor you have to understand that your father wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible, that's why we kept if from you."
"I guess I understand."
"Being a mutant in the world we live in is hard. Mutants are ridiculed every day just because we are different. Society has returned to the racist days of the fifties and sixties, this time mutants are at the back of the bus."
"I just hate to be lied to."
"I know, honey. But we were also protecting you from other mutants that may not like us."
"Why? If we're all the same why don't they?"
"Why don't they what?"
"Like us."
"Because we are not like Magneto and his Brotherhood, under Professor Xavier we are trying to learn to live with normal humans."
"Magneto…" Taylor remembered his father mentioning that name before he died.
"Yes, Magneto, an extremely powerful magnetic field controlling mutant, is convinced that a war is brewing between man and mutant. That is why we created the X-men, to stop him."
"The X-men? You guys are…"
"Yes." She smiled.
"Can I help?"
"What do you mean?"
"Can I join the X-men?"
"Taylor, It's way too dangerous. What if something happens to you?"
"Mom, I'm 18 I can take care of myself. Dad believed that and you should too."
"You're just like your father, stubborn." She smiled.
"I know."
"C'mon lets go back with the others." She got up and started walking towards the door. "Wait, I have one more question." He stopped her. Ororo turned around. "What?" "Well…what exactly can I do?"
"How do you think Taylor's handling this?" They were all concerned. Scott was pacing defiantly and anxiously by the closet. Jean and Hunter were both sitting on opposite sides of the, now made, bed and Logan was broodingly leaning against a wall. "I thought he would have taken the news better." Hunter thought that Taylor would love idea of having superpowers; it did explain Taylor's strange life. "He did take it kind of harsh." Jean stood up and began to fold put up some of the supplies that she had used to mend Taylor's wounds. "It ain't easy to find out you've been lied to all yer life." Logan looked towards Scott annoyingly and grabbed his shoulder. "Stop pacing." Hunter and Jean could feel the tension. Scott and Logan had never really liked or respected each other. "Fine." Breaking the icy silence, Jean dropped back down onto the bed. "I just hope he's alright." "You hope who's alright?" Their attention was turned to the door as Taylor triumphantly walked in, followed by Ororo. "Taylor." Hunter stood up swiftly and hugged his returning friend. "Are you alright, man?" Taylor gave him a puzzled look. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" They immediately all stopped and glared at him. "What?" Taylor looked genuinely worried, that something had happened. "Well, aren't you mad?" "No, not really." Hunter and Jean looked really confused. His answer even caused Logan to raise an eyebrow. "Why?" Hunter asked very slowly, trying to make Taylor understand what he had just said. "Because I'm an X-man, the name's Psiclone." He smiled. Their looks changed immediately to surprised, as glancing from each other to Taylor they screamed in unison. "What!" Logan seemed the most surprised by this, as he took the issue directly to Ororo. "Storm, you're allowing this?" "It's Taylor decision." Taylor ran between them and stared directly into Logan's fierce brown eyes. "And my decision is to join." "No, you can't." Logan stepped towards him, acting like they were fighting. Jean and Scott exchanged surprised glances. "Why not?" "Look Taylor, I've known you since you were…what three? What if something happened to you? What do you think would happen to Ororo? Or Hunter? Or…or the rest of us?" He knew somehow that Logan meant to say 'Or me?'. But Taylor still couldn't believe that Logan was being protective of him. Logan had known him for a long time, but he never expected him to act like a father figure, being so protective. It was kind of attractive. "Well, I can protect my-self." "Prove it." "Well…if you insist…" Taylor's face lit up with an idea. Concentrating hard, he began to lift the bed, without touching it, and with Hunter still on it. Slowly it moved above Logan and tilted slightly, startling Hunter, who didn't know what Taylor was doing. "Whoa! Can we…um…stop this?" Hunter was freaking, he had a strong phobia for heights. Letting his friend and the bed down, Taylor turned with an accomplished look on his face. "There see…" "That was a parlor trick, try again." White knuckles shown, as Taylor clenched his fist in frustration. "Well, what do I have to do to prove myself?" Logan turned quickly and, extending his claws, smiled. "If you want to play with the big boys you gotta get rough." Taylor smiled back, as his tightened fist began to shimmer with static electricity. Taylor rose up his hands, palm up, towards the charging Logan and shocked the older man's body with a large lightning bolt. Smoke and fog filled the room, a result of the power surge. Ororo ran towards Taylor, but was held back by Jean. "Shouldn't we stop them?" "Don't worry, Logan wouldn't dream of hurting him, trust me." As the smoke cleared, Logan pounced on Taylor and attempted to slice Taylor's neck. Using his telekinesis Taylor stopped Logan's hand, and raised it to Logan's own neck. "Now who's playing rough?" Taylor seemed to have won. Logan stood up and, dusting himself off as he walked from the room, gave a thumbs up to Scott. "He's in." Taylor jumped with joy. "Yes!" Ororo rushed from Jean, to an excited Taylor. "Are you Ok?" "Mom, I'm fine. More than fine, I'm in!" "Oh no, Scott." In the midst of Taylor's celebration, he had failed to notice the hole he had created on the wall behind the area where he and Logan were 'fighting'. Hunter, feeling better now that he was back on the ground, casually walked over to the hole and placed his hand next to it. Jean stepped back as a mirror-like silvery liquid began to extend from Hunter's hand. The liquid covered the hole, in its entirety, and hardened into a beautiful chrome surface. Taylor walked next to Hunter and slowly placed his hand in the wall. A cool tingling was sent through Taylor's spine as he touched the silver substance, it was metal. "Wow, Hunter where did you learn that trick." Taylor was surprised. He obviously had realized that Hunter was a mutant, but hadn't even thought about asking what he could do. "Well, that's my mutation. I have the organic manipulation and materialization of any natural metallic substance." Taylor frowned. "In English, please." Hunter laughed as he grabbed Taylor's shoulder, leading him out of the library. "I can control and create metal." "Oh, awesome." Taylor flashed his pearly whites towards Hunter. "Wanna see what I can do?"
