Chapter 3: The Hearts a Battle Ground
For Corey the next two weeks were a blur of exhaustion and fear. Despite Mrs. Monroe's admonitions that he would learn to control his powers he had known it would not be that simple. And he had been right.
The moment he had stepped into the cafeteria he had been assaulted by a tidal wave of foreign thoughts and emotions. When he had been surrounded by normal humans he had been capable of creating a mental barrier to protect his mind from the minds of others. He was not, however, ready for the more powerful and slightly different minds of mutants.
He could barely keep his mind above the wash of questions that flooded him. Whose that kid, Is he the new kid, What's his power, What's he doing here? rang through his head hundreds of times, not to mention the normal thoughts of teens and preteens. He could almost sense that they wanted him to show them his power so that they could begin classifying him.
So for the next two weeks he used the one power he could control, his sixth sense, to manipulate how people viewed him. It was not nearly as hard as he thought it would be. By using the weakest of telepathic dictates he made himself invisible. That way no teacher's bothered him, none of his fellow students came up to him asking him to demonstrate his power or to be their friend.
But his Danger Room courses were going much better than expected. He didn't see Logan anymore, but instead Mrs. Monroe, or Storm as she had instructed him to call her, was teaching him.
She began by teaching him to control and repress his emotions, helping to stop the random outbursts of telekinetic power. She instructed him to meditate outside of the Danger Room as well, to speed the process. She had told him it would take him several weeks, if not months, to learn to control his emotions. But there was nothing he wanted more than to control his power, so in every spare moment he meditated, and within two days had learned to repress them completely.
After that the training became more difficult. Not only did he have to meditate, but everyday she made him call upon his power to do tasks that increased in difficulty everyday.
The first were simple, requiring little more than brute strength: pushing a boulder off of a cliff, knocking a tree over, forming a barrier, heating and freezing water.
But towards the end the tasks seemed almost impossible: making water take the shape of a small bird while making it soar around the room with its wings flapping, heating a chemical to the point where all of it was the same color, and pulling the petals off of a rose one at a time.
Both were surprised when, just two weeks later, he had completed all of the tests she had designed for him.
"Well," she said as they walked out of the Danger Room after their final session, "you've learned to control your powers very well in these past two weeks. Your initial training is done!" she said, resting a friendly hand on his shoulder.
"But," he replied, concerned, "I haven't learned that much. I mean, what good is de-petalling a rose to the X-Men, or making a bird out of water?" he rushed on, nearly hyper-ventilating.
"You'll learn to make greater uses of your power through private practice and Danger Room sessions," she said kindly, turning him to face her. "No one, and I repeat, no one was born with the knowledge of how to control their powers. Some people will never learn to control their abilities because they are either a constant affect or are not completely refined. You," she said finally, letting her pride show, "can control your abilities as long as you maintain emotional control. You have come further than some students ever do, and you have done so incredibly quickly. I am very proud of you."
He looked at Storm, still uncertain about what he should say. During his stay he had come to cherish the feelings of comfort the school gave him, of being around people who were like him, even if he made himself invisible until he had the courage to confront them all. This woman had done so much for him, and he wanted to show her his gratitude. He wanted to join the X-Men, but he wasn't sure he was right for it.
"I'll join," he answered slowly, looking away. "But I can't promise I'll be able to bring anything to the team."
"Don't worry about that. Just show up at the Danger Room at five tomorrow and be ready for training," Storm said, opening the door to the women's locker room.
"Five in the evening?" Corey asked questioningly, dreading what she would say just as every other teenager would dread what they already knew was coming.
"No, five in the morning," she responded cheerfully, closing the door.
Great, he thought as he picked up his bag which he had set down by the door to the Danger Room. Why didn't I get a bad feeling now? Five A.M? He picked up his bag and made his way down the hallway. As he stepped onto the elevator all he could think was: Maybe it's not too late to disintegrate this school?
xXx
At five the next morning Bobby, Kitty, Peter, Storm, Wolverine and Corey were assembled outside of the Danger Room. Kitty, Bobby, Peter and the two adults were dressed in black leather uniforms. Corey was dressed in simple grey sweats and a tattered t-shirt. They were all waiting for a seventh member.
The silence was disturbed as a beautiful girl of about fifteen stumbled out of the elevator, wearing the clothes similar to those of Corey.
"Sorry I'm late Miss. Monroe. My alarm went off late. I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long," she gasped, panting. She brushed a strand of long brown hair behind her ear.
Damn you're hot, Corey thought when she turned her prettily round face. And it was true. She wasn't a little toothpick like some girls, but rather someone who looked like they actually ate once in a while. Her face was prettily rounded and framed by lustrous, glossy brown hair.
However, everyone turned to look at him with an amused expression on their face. Slowly, uncertain of what had happened but making an inference he began to blush heavily.
"You…heard that didn't you?" he asked them quietly, blushing even harder. They all nodded their heads. Kitty, Bobby and Peter covered their mouths with their hands to hide their giggles and even Storm and Logan could not hide their smirks. The new girl, however, was eying him speculatively, neither blushing nor giggling.
"This," Storm said once everyone had calmed down, "this is Alice Circi. She will be joining the X-Men as well."
"Alice, Corey," she addressed the two new students; "I would like to introduce you to the X-Men. All of them have codenames in addition to their real names. Use those when you are in the field," she lectured them, adopting a face that was almost scary in its intensity.
"They are Wolverine, Bobby or Iceman, Kitty or Shadowcat, Peter or Colossus, and myself, whom I trust you know," she said, pointing to each of them in turn.
"Um, not to be a bother," Alice said boldly, "but I don't think either of us have codenames. Were we supposed to pick them out beforehand or something?"
"No. You can choose them in a few weeks, just concentrate on training now," Storm replied, leading them to the Danger Room.
"Where are the others?" Corey asked, stopping suddenly.
"What others?" Iceman asked, glancing at him dubiously.
"The red-head, and the man with glasses. You are all thinking about them. And about this girl with a white lock of hair. Rogue I think her name is," he replied, a confused expression on his face, almost as if he wasn't entirely sure if the answer he was giving was correct.
"The first two are dead," Wolverine spoke up, his gruff voice almost breaking with emotion. Corey was almost sorry he'd asked the question, feeling the tidal wave of grief washing over him, coming at him from every member in the room except for Alice.
"And Rogue took the Cure," Iceman finished. The wave of grief suddenly lessened coming from him, as if this was something of great joy for him.
Corey looked at the group, feeling their sorrow. They had loved the two that they constantly thought about, but both of them were gone.
And Rogue, who must have been Bobby's girlfriend he judged from the surge of elation and brighter emotions that flowed from him when he thought of her.
Even Wolverine's mood lifted when he thought of her, though in a way that suggested that she was just his very close friend.
The must have been through a lot together, Corey thought sadly, glancing at them. Everyone was giving him a strange look, one torn between fear and confusion. Only Alice's gaze seemed to be purely speculative and friendly.
Storm turned her back on them and entered the Danger Room, giving them a silent order to follow.
The inside of the Danger Room looked like a battlefield. Cars were strewn and paper littered the street. A giant robot of some sort strode menacingly towards them, its eyes glowing with malevolence.
"This," Storm said, her voice almost inaudible when compared to the sounds the robot made as it walked, "is a Sentinel. Its prime objective is to capture and kill mutants. In order to complete this exercise, you must defeat it."
"Is that all?" Iceman asked, stepping forward. "I can take it down all by myself," he assured them cockily.
"And I want Alice and Corey to be on the offensive. The rest of us will be here as defense, helping them out in a jam. Is that clear?" she asked the group. They all nodded their ascent.
Kitty, Colossus, Iceman, Wolverine and Storm stepped back, leaving the two newest recruits to face the behemoth alone. They glanced nervously at each other and swallowed.
"What's your power?" Alice asked, risking a glance at the steadily approaching Sentinel. "Is it just telepathy, or do you have some more offensive powers?"
"I have telekinesis and a couple of other things. Control of fire and ice, increasing and decreasing the kinetic energy in objects. I also have sixth sense which lets me read minds or sense danger," he rattled off the powers like facts on a list, all too aware of how close the Sentinel was getting.
"Wow," Alice sighed, awed. "That's impressive. I'm a reality-bender," she answered his silent question, smiling at him, "I can alter reality to make new things, or alter old things, even make things disappear. I can even increase good and bad luck, making things that don't normally happen…happen. There was this one time when I turned my little…," she began when the robot's fist came down on them.
A barrier of pale blue energy suddenly formed on top of them, deflecting the fist. Corey was looking up at it, his eyes glowing with the same pale blue light as the barrier. As the fist rose up the barrier winked out of existence.
"Can you do something to it?" Corey asked hoarsely, his eyes focused on the robot. "Turn it into a cute puppy dog, or make it catch fire, or….," he trailed off, uncertain of the limits of her power.
"How about making every piece of metal in his body age a thousand years in about twenty seconds while every screw and bolt pops out of place, and every wire and circuit board corrodes," she replied, smirking at him.
"That'll do," he said, not daring to take his eyes off of the Sentinel. "But can you hurry up, I think it's about to attack again?" he asked anxiously, his hand instantly reaching out to take hers.
She smiled at that, feeling the moment he did so a telepathic bond form between him. She could feel the power surging through his veins; his courage and fear, hate and love. She realized at the moment he touched her that he loved her, and knew in the same instant that she loved him as well.
Drawing power and courage from that him, she began to form the hex bolt. She envisioned what she wanted to happen and poured her desire for that to happen into the bolt. Her lips formed silent words, focusing her mind onto the task at hand.
Corey stared at her the entire time, feeling her power spilling into the telepathic bond. He reveled in the beauty and ferocity of her power. Then, after what seemed like an eternity but in actuality was only a fraction of a second she released the power in the form of an iridescent blue wave.
It crashed into the robot and sank into it. In less than a second the metal plates on its outer body collapsed in a cloud of dust. Its inside imploded as the bolts that had secured the wires and circuit boards popped out of place.
Both stood staring at the heap of metal and rust for a full minute before the realization that it was over dawned on them. They pulled each other into a tight hug, cradling each other as the shock wore off.
Just as Corey was about to kiss her when the others rushed up, interrupting their private moment. It was then that they realized that they hadn't been in any real danger, that it had only been a Danger Room mission, rushed in. But neither cared, their telepathic bond still surging with raw emotions. They knew they were meant for each other even though they had known each other for less than twenty minutes.
What the other's said didn't matter. Corey's mind vaguely registered Storm, Kitty and Colossus congratulating them, Logan giving him a gruff pat on the back, even Bobby complaining that they had just gotten lucky. They pulled them onto their shoulders and led them out of the Danger Room.
xXx
The illusion in the Danger Room shut down as they left. Classes would begin at eight. But after everyone had showered and changed the younger students gathered in the cafeteria and talked about the session.
While they were talking Corey slid in next to Alice covered her hand with his. Then, softly, carefully, almost as though he were unsure what would happen when he did it, he let his mind brush hers. Slowly he lost himself in her, forgetting about everything: the conversation, the battle in the Danger Room, his fear about not being able to control his powers.
He reveled in the beauty of her mind, its strength and power and intricacies. It was intoxicating. As he felt the other students in the school begin to drift into the cafeteria he told her the one thing that mattered, I love you.
I love you too, she replied in the safety and privacy of their shared mind, their own private world.
Then they kissed and broke off the deep connection until only the smallest trickle of the other flowed into their minds, ready to face a day of school where she was new and he knew it was that he would never pretend to be invisible again.
I know this chapter is a little more risqué, but the way the fanfiction flowed when I wrote it just felt natural. I hope you like it. Please review!