Morty
By Maikafuiniel

Authors Note: Ahh! Look at that! It's been like, four, going on five months! Bad Maika! punch …Yeah. So I had a bad day at work and was like, "I need to write something." I looked through all my stories, and didn't want to write any more of them, and then I was like… "hey, look at that! Morty! When did I last… oops. I'll do that one."
So here I am.

This chapter is going to be dedicated to tapdancing humbugs, who I'm quite sure is quite insane. But that's okay, because so was the amount of time I made you all wait for this chapter!

Chapter 10
Morty frowned inwardly as he wandered around the base. He had been given a day off by Magneto of all people, and he couldn't even find his way to the front door. This would never have happened if he still had his powers- he had been an amphibion before, and much more likely to sense temperture change. Or fresher air. Or… well, anything really. Something that would have given him a better idea of where he was going.

With an angry growl he continued on his way, turning a corner and running smack into somebody else. He fell to the ground, and with a sigh pushed himself back up. I'm never going to get used to these feet, he thought to himself, Just gonna' embaress myself forever and ever and ever…

He dusted his new clothing off quickly, not wanting to get in trouble for messing them up before he could even get outside, and took a moment to look at who he had crashed into.

It was no wonder he had fallen.

"Umm… hi," he mumbled, "Sorry about that- I mean, I didn't mean to get in your way or anything-"

"It is alright," the metal man said in reply, his voice polite and calm despite his apperance, "I am Piotr, have we met?"

Mortimer shook his head, confused at the fact that the man wasn't trying to smash him into pieces, before remembering that he was just an average kid now. He didn't have to worry about things like that based purely on apperance. "No," he mumbled, still embarrassed, "No. I'm new here. Mortimer- but people call me Morty. I was just, um, looking for the front door actually. And Gambit maybe."

Piotr nodded silently, and made a 'follow-me' motion with his hand as he walked by the young boy. Morty cursed when he realized just how much of the hallway he was revisiting, but was able to memorize the layout this time.

"Gambit," Piotr said from the doorway, "This is Mortimer. He was looking for you."

With that simply expination he turned and left, leaving Morty standing in the doorway surrounded by the most powerful of Magneto's men.

And yet somehow, he didn't manage to embaress himself by falling over, saying something stupid, or just being generally immature.

Gambit agreed to drive him out to Bayville and leave him at the mall. From there, he would be on his own.

Toad wandered through the park, watching the people around him in mild amazement. Nobody was staring at him. Little kids weren't commenting. And among the shocks was the fact that a fly had landed on his nose, and all that had happened was that his hand came up and swatted it away naturally.

There was a part of him that wanted to eat it, but he knew he'd never catch it in his new condition- so there was little point in actually trying. On the other hand…

He changed directions, and started heading towards the mall. A new shop had opened up about a month ago in the mall, and he had been wanting to visit since the second Lance had told him about it. They sold delicacies.

Now, normally somebody like Toad wouldn't be interested in eating dog, or fish eggs; but they did have one thing that managed to catch the attention of an amphibion mutant.

Chocolate coverered grasshoppers.

He had never had enough money to go there before, but while he had been with Gambit he had mentioned how he had no money on him. Gambit had mentioned theft, but Morty really wanted to give this whole new good-guy persona a go. He said so, and with that Gambit had passed him what looked to be almost a fifty dollars in cash.

More then anybody had just given to him in his entire life. Pick-pocketing didn't count.

Thanks had been exchanged, but he hadn't even attempted to give the money back. The plain and simply fact in the end of all things was that he really would need the money- if not now, then eventually. And if Gambit was throwing money away, he was hardly going to try and stop the man.

When he finally got there, he was shocked to see a familiar face in line. "C'mon Scott, vat is zee point in living if you don't try new things once in a vhile?"

Morty frowned and almost decided to turn around- if he got into line now, he would be right behind the X-Men. On the other hand, the point of going out like this was so that they could see him and get used to him being around town.

"Kurt," came a firm reply, "I like new. I revel in new. But I refuse to eat that."

"But it's on zale!"

"And I shudder to consider why."

"Jean, vhat about you? Chicken?"

"If it was chicken I wouldn't have anything to say against it," came a more joking reply, "But Scott's right Kurt, it really is… gross."

"Itz just horse! I used to eat it all zee time!"

"No." was the duel reply.

"Fine!" he said simply, "…how about some steer?"

Jean and Scott both thought about it for a moment, and nodded, happy with the offer. After all, they reasoned, Steer was just like cow, and cow was eaten all the time! What could be wrong with that?

By this point they had reached the front of the line, with Morty standing behind them. They ordered, and stepped to the side in order to take a taste-test of their purchase.

Until they noticed everybody staring at them.

Even the cashiers.

Morty sniggered silently, and took his own grasshoppers. They had seen him, noticed him- that would be enough of that for the day. Now he could go off and enjoy himself in the park; maybe even play with a dog, now that he didn't stink enough to send them running.

Unfortunatly his snigger was the only sound of those watching the X-Men, and Scott caught on quickly. "What is it?" he asked, holding the steer meat as far as he could away from him, in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Morty tried to walk away, but Jean looked directly at him. "You know," she asked, "don't you?"

"I know some," he replied, still wanting to laugh some more, "But I gotta' go-

"Seriously," Scott kept going, "What is it?"

Morty quickly glanced at Kurt, who had already finished chomping down on his- and obviously didn't want Jean and Scott to find out. The boy was shaking his head, 'no', hoping against hope that Morty would just walk away.

But then, who would ever give up the chance to get the infamous Nightcrawler in trouble?

"Well," Morty replied, "Steer isn't really a delicacy."

"But it's being sold in a delicacy shop," Scott replied, oblivious, "So obviously-"

"Obviously something's been done to it to make it a delicacy." Jean said, catching on, "Right?"

"Right," Morty said, "See, if you go to Spain or Mexico, you can watch bullfights. Steer fights. Whatever. And they beat each other into bloody high heaven, right?"

"Um, right," Scott replied, "so?"

"Well, you don't think they just keep the dead steer bodies, do you?"

"So these were bulls killed in bullfights?" Jean asked, turning a shade green, "In Mexico?"

"Or Spain," Morty laughed, "But… there's only one part of the body that's considered a delicacy from these things?"

"And what is that?" Scott asked slowly, because he was looking slightly green as well. In fact, the only person within hearing range who wasn't green was Morty.

"I'll leave that up to your imaginion," he just said, smiled, and walked away.

At that point Jean turned to the managed who had come out to see what the problem was- and she asked just what part of the steer they were supposed to be eating. Everybody in Bayville heard the mental shreak that followed.

That Night
Jean sat on the couch with Kitty, when Xavier and Scott walked in. Her face was wrinkled in confusion, but it wasn't because of the show. Scott watched her for a moment before saying, "You're not still upset about what happened in the mall, are you Jean?"

"No." She said stiffly, "I mean, well, yes, I am. The professor was good enough to wipe everybodies minds, but I can't believe I just lost it like that. It's just so… gross."

"I know," Scott shuddered, "I hope karma get's Kurt back for that, but good."

She nodded, and smiled slightly at the thought, but was still confused. Xavier noticed, and wheeled over to her. "What's bothering you, Jean? What's wrong?"

Instead of answering him, she turned to Scott. "Remember that kid at the mall, who explained what it was to us?"

Scott nodded, and sat down beside her, placing one hand around her shoulders.

"I think he was a mutant- except he might not even know it."

"What do you mean?" Xavier asked, "Did you read something from him?"

"No," she replied, "It's just… when I'm around people, even when I'm not reading their minds, I can still feel them. Like background noise. I couldn't feel him, at all. It was like a blank spot. So I reached out, and it was like I was just being blocked. That's all."

"So he has telepathic power you think?"

"No. I know when people are reaching out, and he wasn't. But he was completely unreadable. Like, he wasn't even there. I could see him, I could smell him. Kind of like he had stayed the last month in a cabin. Not bad, just natural. But I couldn't feel his mind."

"A minor power then," the professor said, "He can block telepathic power. Interesting, I must say. I've never heard of anything like that, without telepathic power on the side."

"So what do we do then Professor, recruit him?" Scott asked, "I mean, we can always use more mutants on our side."

"I'm not sure," was the thoughtful reply, "He probably thinks he's completely normal- unless a telepath has actually told him of the trouble. We probably shouldn't bother him, except for the fact that if Magneto finds him out, he's in incredible danger."

"You think he would use the boy against us?" Wolverine said as he walked into the room, obviously having heard the conversation from the other room.

"I know he would." Xavier replied, "Scott. Talk to him. Befriend him. He doesn't have to be on our side, but I would appreciate knowing if he's on the enemies. If we ever do need to recruit him, it will be easier this way. Understand?"

Everybody nodded.

"Good," the professor said, "Now, if I'm not wrong, there's school tomorrow?"

And with that the X-Men all left for bed.

Not to far away, Morty was as well- happily, for the first time in his life. He had had a good day, from not having a fight with the X-Men just for going to a public mall, to being able to eat grasshoppers without being stared at. He had applied at a local gym for some kung-fu classes, picked up some books that he figured Magneto would like him to have, and even stopped at the movies.

Nobody had frowned when he chose to sit by them.

And another night in Bayville was complete.

TBC. No, Really.