Hello again.

Now, for the next chapter, where the X-Men meet Simon Valley for the very first time!

Chapter 6

Encounter with the X-Men, Part 1

Logan, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, Evan, and Rogue all stood grouped together on the sidewalk of the street that the X-Van was parked on. Finding a recruit in particular was a difficult task, even if you knew what the recruit looked like. But in a city where there were millions of people, then it made the job even more difficult further. But, as in most scenarios, the X-Men had the advantage of mutant abilities to help home in on their target. With Logan's super senses and Jean Grey's thought-detecting telepathy, it would make the task easier and quicker. Not to mention, it would help get them walking in the right direction and searching in the right place very early on, saving them the hassle of finding the right location.

Right now in the city of Moonriver Falls, Washington the seven of them were perfectly anomalous to the city's human population and would blend in perfectly with everyone else. Since mutants would, almost without doubt, be feared and rejected outright because of their abilities, it was fortunate that most looked as human as an ordinary homo sapiens, allowing them to be virtually indistinguishable from the humans.

As Logan and the rest of the students at the institute had learned weeks earlier, the percentage of the world's population carrying the X-gene was steadily growing. Thirty years before there had been around 1000 to 2000 known mutants. Now, however, with plenty of time having come to pass, Xavier had estimated that the mutant population of the world had reached 10,000 to 20,000 in number, even though most still didn't realize they were mutants yet, as their powers had not yet manifested. As the mutant ranks of the human race grew, the difficulty of keeping mutants and their powers secret from the rest of the world would be even more difficult than before. And as the numbers grew, so did the likelihood of mutants being exposed to the human population.

This mutant was not that different. But yet he was in a certain way. He had the basic requirements to be a mutant: an X-Gene, powers, and some biological differences that made him unique. Oh, sure there was the enormous variety of powers mutants possessed which made mutants unique from one another, but they also thought of what made this guy in particular unique. As far as explanations went, it was his ability to transform his body on the sub-atomic level of matter. In addition, there was the form he could change into through that special mutant metamorphosis. Energy. Solid bone and flesh and liquid blood and body fluids into energy. The change itself was remarkable. The differences between the two forms were as different as two things could be.

"Are your sure this is the place," said Logan, sniffing the air, "I can't smell him."

"How close is he?" asked Kitty.

Logan added something before she got a response, "I think he's in that armor the Prof told us about. I think it could account for no scent."

"No scent?" asked Evan.

Logan took another whiff of the air to see if his assessment was correct. He decided he was correct. He had taken a whiff of Simon Valley's scent from the coat he absent-mindedly took a sniff of back at the Valley mansion to get the kid's smell. Usually, Logan could smell a person's scent a great distance away, over half-a mile or even more. But since the sensors on the X-Van had indicated that their target was right next to them and he couldn't sniff him out, it had to be that he was in his armor. If Logan remembered correctly, Xavier had said that in armored mode the kid was a humanoid entity composed of living energy encased in living carapace armor sheathing. Since energy itself had no scent whatsoever and because Logan didn't know what the substance that made up the armor smelled like, or if it had any scent at all, it was probably the reason for him not being able to pick the target's smell.

The rest of the group was already looking for any signs of their target being nearby. They had all seen his face enough times on the van's screens to know what to look for. But if he was in his armor as Logan suggested, then what would put them at a disadvantage, but perhaps give them a far surpassing advantage as well. They had no idea what he looked like when he secondary mutation was active, but then again, it would probably make him stand out like a sore thumb if they saw him in his armor.

"So vhere shall ve start looking?" asked Kurt.

"Let's start looking around this building right here," suggested Scott, "If the readings say he's here, he must be somewhere nearby."

The others started to look around them at Scott's suggestion. The suggestion was logical enough, as Scott was known to be on missions of any sort. They had all seen pictures of Simon Valley lots of times on their drive into town after meeting at the Valley mansion and each of them knew what he looked like. But looking around them, they could see no one with his individual characteristics.

Logan breathed the air in deeply through his nose, his super sense of smell searching for any trace of his target's scent. But, to add onto his frustration, he couldn't detect the slightest mark of the unique smell of the recruit. Logan was a mutant who took pride in his hunting skills. It was known to most of the X-Men that he could give a bloodhound's sense of smell a run for its money. But apparently, right now, Logan guessed that the kid was in his armor right now, which would account for no scent being given off in this vicinity that was supposed to be his current location. Logan knew of no type of armor that had a scent of its own.

"I still can't smell him anywhere nearby. Either that kid's little protection suit is smell proof or we're looking in the wrong place," said Logan, his frustration clear in his voice.

Kitty looked up towards the building. "Could he be inside the building?" she suggested.

The others were about to respond, but Scott, suddenly came up with an idea. He knew that it was a long shot, but maybe it would work.

"Jean?" he asked.

The young redhead turned to face the young leader. "Yes, Scott?" she asked, curious as to what he was thinking.

"Is it possible for you to locate this guy by sensing his brainwave patterns?" he asked, "The professor did that the time we tried to recruit, Rogue."

The mention of that made Rogue's ears perk up. She herself remembered when she had seen the X-Men for the first time, which was among the scariest, most overwhelming nights she could remember. The night she had first learned of her absorption powers and the turmoil of having thoughts, memories, and consciousness in her mind in addition to her own. All the confusion led her to believe that they were her enemies and she also had some help with being convinced that they were, courtesy of Mystique.

However, Rogue suddenly through of how this was similar to her own first recruitment. But also different. She tried to remember what Xavier had told them all hours before on this new mutant's powers. She suddenly got the feeling of a possible means of blocking out psychic means. But she was unsure of that. As far as the rules of physics and energy and mutations were concerned, all of which were fields Rogue had not true expertise in, this mutant's powers were physical, not mental. And if that were true, there was no way he could block out a telepath's psychic senses.

"Yeah, I remember that," said Logan, "The Prof was real good at doin' that. Why don't you give it a try, Red."

Pretty big of Logan to admit someone being good at tracking down someone when he himself is the best tracker of the group, thought Jean. "Well, Guys," the red-haired telepath, "I'll sure give a try. I should be able to sense him. The professor said he doesn't have any mental abilities, so he shouldn't be able to block my telepathy."

"I'm willin' to get any lead I can on this kid," said Logan, still frustrated by not being able to smell his target.

Jean placed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. She had done this before many times, as Xavier had taught her over the years. Concentrating very hard, she let down her mental barriers and allowed her psionic energies to fan out over a moderate distance. The radius of Jean's psionic telepathic field started to expand more and more and the brainwave patterns of other people started to reach her own conscious mind. The effect was very similar to a radar or sonar scanner, but although Jean was picking up the presences of many potential targets for brainwave searching, knew which ones were not what she was seeking. Xavier had taught her to seek out only a certain pattern, for it was unique for each person.

The others looked on as Jean did her sweeping scan of the surrounding area. For a few moments, all she did was hold her fingertips to her head and squint in head-aching focus and concentration. The rest of the group couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Jean, for they understood that really using psychic powers could give a person headaches if used greatly. Suddenly, Jean opened her eyes.

"He's on the roof," she said, "pointing up towards the top of the building.

Kurt and Evan immediately looked up to see. "I don't see anyone up there," said Evan.

Rogue looked at Evan with a confused stare. "If he's tryin' to hide from us," said the southern mutant, "then he knows we're lookin' for him."

Kitty looked startled. "You mean, he's hunting us now?" she asked, "How can he do that if he doesn't even know we're here?"

"He can't know ve're here," said Kurt, "He can't have zeen uz."

Just then, Jean interrupted the arguing. "Wait," she said suddenly. It happened in that very instant. Jean felt the sudden change of location of the specific brainwave pattern she was sensing. Simon Valley's pattern had suddenly shifted position and was moving in the other direction.

"What is it, Jean?" asked Scott.

Jean remained silent for a split second as she focused again on her mental field, then opened her eyes again. "He-he's moving away from us. He's headed for the other side of the building. He's getting away."

The others exchanged glances. "We have to reach him before we lose him," said Rogue.

Suddenly Kurt pointed to an alley close to where they were. "Look, maybe ve can reach him through there," he said pointing to opening in the walls.

The others looked and understood what Kurt was referring to.

"Let's move, people," said Scott.

Simon was confused more than anything else right now. Things were strange right now, even by his standards, which were not normal to ordinary human beings. And if they weren't normal to his standards, they were as far from normal as was possible. First of all, he was as restless as ever earlier tonight and no matter how hard or how far he had walked, his overwhelming energy level, resulting from either a biochemical imbalance that was remotely possible or a super surge cascade of adrenaline sending the fight or flee impulse to his brain and muscles, was swarming around him like a high fever. Then he had sensed something coming before it was there, which was strange enough for Simon alone, and finally he had see that group of teenagers bathed in flaming golden light and aura and them mentioning his name and saying he was moving as if one of them had a built-in tracking system.

Simon didn't know those people. In fact, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Whenever he can gone charged and armored in the past, all the human beings he had seen through hisenergy-composed eyeballs were bright red with infrared thermal energy generated by their bodies. There was some strange thing going on here if those people were golden. It couldn't be body heat that produced that strange golden glow, nor could it be bioelectrical properties of the human nervous system. Surely there was a rational explanation for all of this. But whatever that rational explanation was was beyond his knowledge.

Simon looked down from the edge of the rooftop. The ground was fair distance down, perhaps 70 or 80 feet. Simon could jump off the roof, but was hesitant. He had never really tried leaping off of spots very high off the ground while he was covered by his armor. If anything, his armored exoskeleton could crack or even shatter from the impact if he did. Simon still had no idea of how much stress his armor could take before it gave out under the strain. His armor was tough, since it wasn't even dented or scratched by gunfire, but even the strongest, most resilient armor had limits to how much it could take. And considering how strong Earth's gravitational magnetic field was and how hard and rigid the ground below could be, it seemed safer to not jump and land on one's feet.

Jumping off the building suddenly had more bad sides than one. Even if his foot, shin, and thigh armor held from the impact of an 80-foot drop, it would cause a noise. Those golden glowing figures were without a doubt nearby and if a sound like that was made, they would hear it and come running immediately. If Simon's ordinary footfalls made the sound of metal on metal when he was walking normally, there was no telling what kind of noise would be produced if he jumped off a roof this high up and landed on his feet. For all Simon knew, it could have sounded like a dozen gongs and cymbals being clanged and beaten at the same time.

So instead, he carefully floated down. FLying was easy enough, but floating to a slow landing was just as simple. A magnetic blue outline surrounded Simon's armored form, and then he floated off the roof to the pavement below. Less than a minute later, his feet were touching the ground far below. He hadn't made any commotion, which was definitely a good thing in this instance. He needed to get moving now.

Simon rose from his bent over position and stood up straight. Taking care that no one was around, he started to move away towards another alleyway that lead farther away from the street. If those golden glowing figures were following him, they would be stuck, for they had entered that dead end alley. By the time they reached the spot he was now, Simon would be long gone.

They had hit a dead end only mere minutes into the search, literally. The seven X-Men had gone into the alley where Kurt had suggested they go in order to reach the back of the building before their latest target got away. But instead of leading into the back of the building, the alley had ended at a thick brick wall at least thirty feet high, impenetrable.

"Great. A dead end," Evan complained.

"Well, looks like we'll have to improvise," said Kitty, her pretty blue eyes lighting up as she thought of a means to overcome this, "I'll phase us though."

"All of uz?" asked Kurt, thinking of how much as strain that would be on Kitty's intangibility talent.

"Sure, Kurt," said Kitty with confidence, "Unless you can teleport us through," she added with a tone of challenge and dare in her young valley girl voice.

"I can't do that Kitty," said Kurt, hanging his head in defeat, "no without knowing what's on the other side."

"Well, Fuzzy Elf, everyone grab on."

The distance between himself and the unknown figures was growing by the second. Soon it would give him all advantages he required to avoid being seen. And once that was taken care of, perhaps he could even forget this whole thing even happened.

With armored feet hammering the rock-hard pavement beneath them, and his red eyes scanning the alley ahead for trouble, Simon was starting to feel more at ease. Those gold-glow figures may be looking for him, but there was no way that they could reach him in time to catch him now.

For the first time that night, Simon actually felt a sense of relaxation. But he couldn't quite place how it came to be like that. Maybe seeing those bizarre gold humanoid creatures, which looked human if one looked beyond the golden glow, had made his anxiety shoot up and then getting away from them had quieted it down. Simon suddenly reasoned that maybe even when he was in his armored and charged up form, adrenaline or some other type of energy-composed hormone that acted like adrenaline, made his energy peak in times of stress. If that was true, perhaps Simon was learning more and more about his strange form every time he used it. But with each new discovery, at least a dozen new questions surfaced as a result.

A sudden, bizarre shift of Simon's sensory of what was going on behind him caused him to swing his head back towards the spot he had teleported onto from the roof. A strange sound, unlike any he had heard before, reached him, and a sudden swirl and splotch of that some bizarre golden light he had seen emitting from those teenagers and one adult appeared in his line of sight. It was like some sort of strange portal was opening in the wall, colored red and blue by Simon's energy vision, that was blocking the way into the alley from the one on the other side.

Firing a blast of electricity or concussive force was Simon's first instinct, but he immediately tried to think of a less lethal and damaging alternative. Even if he threw his smallest energy attack, it would easily harm someone. Simon had always tried to dim his blasts so that they hardly caused any damage, but no matter how many times he had tried to lessen the impact it never really worked. If Simon could have asked for anything other than getting rid of these powers totally, it would have been the ability to dim his beams and blasts until they were almost nothing.

Instead of throwing jets of his energy, Simon started to back away. The golden glowing spot on the wall grew brighter, the gold tints and hues intensifying as the size of the area grew. Whatever was causing this strange occurrence, it was getting closer or stronger, and Simon couldn't tell which.

As he watched, the gold glow brightened until it was like Simon was looking at a light bulb with no shade or shield, it was so bright. For some reason, the blazing gold light didn't make Simon's eyes hurt from looking at it, but it did make him realize something big was on its way.

The corner right next to him provided him with a means of hiding. What it really provided, in the specific sense what a quick means of cover. Simon didn't like hiding, but what really made him uneasy was someone seeing him cowering in the dark while his suit of armor covered him. That image was almost laughable. But unfortunately, Simon had no other way of avoiding being seen right away.

Simon barely inched one of his flaring eyes around the corner to see if anything was happening. What he saw almost made him gasp. As he watched, he saw the golden glow flare into blazing radiance at the center. Then a shape that he at first thought was a blob of light emerged. After a second, Simon realized the shape was a hand, flowed by an arm. Then, seconds later, a whole body stepped out of the glowing area on the brick wall stepped out. And Simon recognized it at a glance. It was of a young petite girl, about seventeen, about two years younger than himself. But she was glowing gold, like the wall behind her. She stepped through the solid matter of the wall like it was made of air, or like she was ghost.

Simon had barely enough time to register this phenomenon when another figure, a teenage boy with a strange haircut, appeared right behind her, then another figure appeared, and another. And another. And another.

If Simon could have widened his eyes, which he couldn't with his armor, he would have until his eyeballs would have fallen out of his head. Those golden people he had seen up on the roof were right before him. They had just stepped through the wall. Just like that. An ability that couldn't be human at all. Was that why they were glowing with that strange color? Or were they simply ghosts? That would explain why they went through the wall. But then again, since when were spirits or ghosts or whatever composed of energy?

Simon pulled back his head from around the corner. None of them had seen him. Yet. Simon was never the kind for a game of cat-and-mouse, but right now, this was a situation like that. They were the cat, or a whole pack of cats, against a single mouse, him.

He had to start blending in. Now. He turned his back on them and started for the street this alley led to. His armor trappings started to dematerialize as he walked, solid plating retracting down his body to expose his bizarreenergized anatomy underneath, which then solidified and became flesh and blood once more. If Simon were to avoid these people, or to attach them before they attack him, he would need to find a place that gave him room to run and think if he needed to. And he knew just where to go for that.

Scott Summers looked this way and that along the alley. Kitty Pryde had phased them into this spot, where Jean had said their target was located. But looking around the world with his red-hazed over eyesight, Scott could see no sign of anyone being her at all. There were not even an alley cat present. Either this target was constantly moving to discourage them, or his daily routine of walking was so quick nothing else in the time continuum affected him.

"Talk about your group phase," said Evan.

"Beat's taking a doorway or ladder," said Kitty.

Evan only stared at the young girl, keeping is young teenage smart-mouth quiet just this once.

Kurt was looking around the alley as well, his human-looking eyes looking for any trace of some weird-looking figure covered with living armor. "Zis guy sure knowz how to avoid uz," he said in his German-accented voice, "Firzt he'z here, den he'z zhere, zen he izn't anyvhere."

"He was here," Jean cut in, holding her hand to her head as she always did when scanning for thoughts, "I can feel him."

"Well, lahke, where is he?" asked Rogue, looking to the right and to the left.

Jean concentrated more on her telepathic scans. She was suddenly having trouble locating Simon's origin. The sudden whirlwind of confusion had overpowered her telepathy. Kitty's phasing all their molecules through the solid matter of the wall may have jumbled their thoughts, for phasing your molecules through matter could put a strain on your level-headedness if you weren't used to it. Perhaps it was the solid walls around them. Some things could pass through solid formations easier than others, like sound could better than light. When it came to telepathic abilities, it didn't entirely stop them, but it did hinder them nonetheless.

"I can sense him," said Jean, "He's somewhere close by. Really close by."

"Well," said Logan, "I say we----," Logan stopped in mid-sentence as something caught his attention.

"Logan?" asked Scott.

The wild-haired man didn't respond right away. He narrowed his eyes, as he always did when he was focusing on something. He took several sniffs of the air. His eyes widened a little.

"He's here," said Logan, "I can smell him."

The others immediately became interested. "But I thought you couldn't," said Kurt.

"I didn't a minute ago, Elf," Logan replied, "but I can now. He must've dropped that armor suit of his."

"Where is he then?" asked Evan impatiently.

Logan breathed in through his nose deeply, and then he did it again. "He's close." A few seconds later, he pointed toward on end of the alley. "He was over there," he said. He immediately took off for the spot; the others close in tow behind him.

Man, never get in Logan's way when he's tracking someone, thought Scott as he kept up with the others.

Logan suddenly stopped at the corner of the alley. He turned his head in several directions to sniff from whatever angle he could muster. "He was in this spot, just now," said Logan. He sniffed the air some more. "Then he went that way." He pointed to where the alley led to.

The rest of the X-Men were silent. The feelings going through their minds were of mixed origins. On one hand, they were glad that this new recruit was not lost to them. Logan could now smell him, and Jean still had a fairly strong lock on his mind. However, there were also feelings of nervousness. They had been within grasping reach of finding their latest mutant, but he had slipped away from them, twice in the past few minutes. Almost like he was intentionally avoiding them.

"Did he walk through here on that walk he takes every night?" asked Kitty, "Maybe he is just going to strange places." The way Kitty said those words was nervously. Clearly they were meant to sound as if it was a possibility, and maybe it was. But the nervous tone of her voice clearly said that she herself didn't believe it. The others too felt as if this was more than coincidence, for surely this mutant wouldn't take a walk around the city in a living suit of armor.

"No," Logan countered, "He was still for a few minutes." He paused. His next words confirmed their suspicions. "He knows we're searching for him."

Everyone exchanged glances, their faces masks of uneasiness and anxiety. Rogue's mind was racing with all sorts of questions. How did this mutant know they were tracking him? That was key question. Surely he couldn't have known they were out looking for him. Unless he had the mental abilities that everyone knew he didn't have. Was he somehow able to sense other mutants around him? Or was it through some other means? She didn't know what it was or how it was.

"C'mon," Logan told the group, "Let's keep movin'."

Simon stood standing part way down yet another narrow passage way between buildings that led to a large iron gate set into a concrete wall at the far end. The buildings on either side were windowless on the sides facing him, and there was no indication of an entrance in them either, not a door, dispenser for garbage, or even a vent for air-conditioning or heating.

The weird ghost golden people from earlier couldn't be far behind. They had all passed through that wall like it was nothing. And if that was the case, there was no telling what else they could do that Simon was not aware of. Tonight was full of strange things that were going on.

Simon walked quickly up to the large gate set into the concrete wall that loomed before him. It was almost mocking him that this could hold him in the boundaries of the walls. It was a normal-looking gate and an ordinary looking wall. Nothing more or even less than that.

Simon's gaze traveled to the handles of the gate. They had no locking mechanism on them, nor a knob to turn to unlock it. However, both doors were locked tightly together with a large chain that was carefully strung between the bars and fastened with a large steel lock. It was clearly meant to keep out any trespassers.

A faint glow started to build up in Simon's eyes. It was pale at first. Then it grew, going from light to brillant blue. The energy started to move out of his eyes, flowing his line of vision that was fixed on the lock and chain. The streams of energy shot out towards the lock, the energy spiraling into sharp, straight beams of intense blue heat that struck the lock. For a brief second, nothing happened. Then the chain and lock started to glow. The metal was conducting the heat, the energy traveling along the length of the chain and building up in the metal of the lock. The glow was red at first, and then it glowed a fierce white. As the heat intensified, the metal began to melt. The solid metal started to run and then it melted completely. The lock fell to the ground, plopping down and forming a lump of molten metal that started to cool as it hit the much colder pavement. Simon turned off the heat rays.

Careful to avoid touching the molten chain and lock on the ground, Simon opened the now unlocked doors and stepped through.

Logan was on the right track. He knew it for sure. The kid's smell was strong now. That meant they were close. The stronger a scent was, the closer the source was. It was as simple as that. The source was always where the scent was strongest. Any other scent it left somewhere was simply residual. All the concepts pointed out to Logan that they were nearing their target.

"We're getting closer," Logan stated, "Follow me."

The six teenage mutants flowed the Canadian man further. Since Jean had reasoned earlier that her telepathy should be given a rest for the moment, Logan's super sense of smell was leading the way.

Finally, they reached an alley where Logan detected something strange in the air. He sniffed deeply. He smelled a smell he had smelled before, but he had only smelled it in certain areas, such as a welding plant or a steel processor. The air was perfumed with the odor of burning and melted metal. He stopped.

"Look," he said, pointing to what he identified as the source of the burning metal.

"What--," Rogue started to say, but stopped when she noticed what Logan was pointing to. She saw a strange looking clump of a red substance. At first she thought it was a piece of paint, but then she realized that the red color was glowing off of the lump of whatever it was.

"What is that?" she asked.

Logan sniffed again. "It's metal. Someone's melted it."

Kitty strode over to where the glowing lump of steel was. She looked over the shape of it, examining it carefully.

"Careful, Kitty," said Scott, "Don't burn yourself."

"I won't, Scott," the petite brunette answered.

She carefully lowered a bare hand closer to the clump. The air was cool, so Kitty immediately noticed the heat the glob of metal was giving off. When her hand was six inches away from the spot, the air around her hand really began to warm up. This thing had been heated to melting point a very short time ago.

"This thing's still as hot as it was when it was melting," said Kitty, "That must mean this guy used his heat powers on it."

"But why would he melt it like that?" asked Evan.

"Look there," said Jean. She pointed to a metal gate that was right next to the spot Kitty was kneeling down. Rogue was confused as to what Jean was referring to about the gate, as was everyone else, until she saw the chain that was dangling from the right door. The chain was limp and loose, but what really got attention was that it was not connected to anything. Both ends of the chain looked melted, the steel of it in goo-like state that looked as malleable as clay, radiating heat and faint hot light from it.

"That must have been the chain that was locking this gate," said Jean.

"He musta melted this gate open," said Rogue.

"We're getting closer," said Logan, "real close, now." Logan started to walk towards the open gate to the wide-open space beyond.

Rogue suddenly reached out and grabbed Logan's broad shoulder with one of her gloved hands. "Wait, Logan," she said cautiously. Logan suddenly stiffened before turning to face the young girl. "Ah think we should do this nice an slow," she suggested, "Ah sort of have bad feelin' about this."

"What's to worry about?" asked Logan, suddenly sounding a little impatient.

"What if he's waitin' for us," said Rogue.

"Relax, Stripes," said the clawed mutant, "I'm sure anything he can throw at me, these will stop." He brought up his two sets of adamantium claws up to prove his point.

"Whoa, Logan," Scott suddenly jumped in, "Let's not go all raging predator on this guy. Remember what Professor X told us about making him feel threatened?"

Logan shook his head at that. Remembering details like that was not one of his strong points.

"He said that if he feels threatened, he can act violently."

"Ja, I remember that," said Kurt, "an frankly, I don't think I would like to zee what a mutant with energy powers can do when he's violent."

"Like totally," Kitty added, "He may end up energy-blasting us to kingdom come."

Logan thought about that for a second. He could tell that Scott had a point. It was that old animal rage berserker instinct of his kicking in. Years of work to dampen it out had helped a great deal, but there still were times when Logan's control slipped, which was not a safe thing for others around him. He retracted his claws back into his hands.

"Point taken," he said reluctantly, "But let's keep goin',"

The area beyond the gate revealed a large lot the size of a football field surrounded by buildings and warehouses. On one side of the lot was the lake that Moonriver Falls was located near. Docks and boats were lined up along the waterline, the boats floating slightly and easily with the easy waves moving up against the shoreline and walls. The lake beyond was vast and open, the water as black as the night sky, except for a large silver-white area that the full moon reflected off of on the rippling waving surface.

The X-Men continued on into the lot, their eyes carefully scanning their surroundings. There were piles of crates here and there, piled high up, as well as empty oil drums and small storage tanks for boat fuel or propane gas. In addition, the lot contained a couple of forklifts that were parked randomly. The loading doors of one or two of the warehouses were raised and open, allowing some moonlight to pass through. No lights were on anywhere, but the moonlight still gave off enough light for them to see.

Rogue carefully observed everything she passed. So far, nothing seemed to be strange. If anything, this looked like a simple loading area that was closed for the night. Nothing was out of place, no strange movement. Anyone who would not be looking for a mutant in these sort of conditions would not be scared at all.

However, a feeling began to build up inside Rogue. She was suddenly feeling like there was something going on here that she wasn't aware of. She had that strange gut feeling that something was wrong here. Or that there was surprise waiting for them. Rogue did not like surprises.

"He came this way," Logan reported as he continued to sniff out Simon's scent, following it.

The others followed Logan towards a spot near a bunch of wooden crates that were stacked up in front of warehouse on a stone base. Suddenly, Logan stopped.

"What is it, Logan?" asked Scott, "Can you still smell him?"

Logan stood still for a second, as if trying to make sense of what he was processing. He finally raised his head to the six teenagers. "I've lost his scent," he told them, "It's like he vanished."

The younger X-Men suddenly felt uneasy. Where was the search leading to anyway? So far, they had been wondering just what was going to happen later on in their search for this latest recruit. But now, he had so vanished. All of them began to feel uneasy and tense.

"But how could he have vanished?" asked Evan.

"We can't have lost him like that," said Scott, "we have to do something to find him."

"Well," Rogue cut into the conversation, "Ah say we---," suddenly she stopped in mid-sentence. Rogue suddenly felt like something wasn't right. She noticed something about their environment that she hadn't before. There was dead-silence all around them. No whistle of the breeze, no footfalls of humans or animals, or the sound of water from the lake. Like it had been silenced.

"Uh, Rogue?" asked Kurt, looking uneasy and concerned at the same time, "Are you okay?"

Rogue didn't answer right away. The sudden realization of it being dead silent spooked her, which was a rare occurrence for her. The tension in her body was growing.

"Uh," she spoke hesitantly, "Who turned off the sound?"

The others looked confused, but then the realization sunk in. "You know," Evan said quietly, "It does seem a little quiet here all of a sudden."

Everyone was noticing how eerily silent the air was. The thudding and thumping of their hearts were the only things that they were hearing.

"Kurt," said Kitty, her eyes darting this way and that.

"Yes," the image-inducer disguised mutant answered, sounding a little uneasy himself.

"I have that feeling all of a sudden. Like we're----,"

"Being vatched," Kurt finished for her, indicating he was feeling the same way.

"Right," said Kitty, still looking out cautiously.

Everyone was suddenly uptight and tense. Rogue appeared to have been right, for even Logan himself was noticing how eerily quiet it was. Something was not quite right here. And it didn't feel like it was good. The thought of being watched by an unseen unpredictable mutant with dangerous powers would be enough to unnerve anyone. Maybe that wasn't the case, but the thought was unsettling.

"Maybe, this isn't such a good idea," said Rogue finally, "Maybe weh should look some place else."

"We gotta look here first, Stripes," Logan disagreed, "If this kid was in this spot, then he's gotta be around here somewhere."

Suddenly a small clang made everyone snap around. It sounded like a metal pan or rod hitting rock. The sound was not unusual, but the sudden unexpectedness of it made everyone snap around, unsure of what was happening.

"What was that?" asked Evan quickly, his heart racing.

"Just the wind, I hope," answered Kitty nervously, her eyes a little wider now. But it was clear it wasn't the wind, for there was none around them. The air was stone still. No air movement at all. The feeling of having a pair of unseen eyes on them was growing by the second.

Scott was the first to regain his guard. "Well, guys," he said, "We've looked all over this lot and there's no sign of this Simon Valley anywhere."

No sooner than Scott said that, a sign of movement appeared. A second of it. That was all the time it took up. A small sliver of shadow moved across the wall of a building. Then all was still again. However, everyone noticed it. All of them were looking at the spot where the shadow had moved on. The tension in the air was now almost physical.

"No," said Kurt, nervously, "But, I zhink zere's someone else here."

His words did noting to dampen out the feeling of the group. If anything, it made them even more overwhelming.

Rogue was suddenly as tight as a spring with tension. All this strange tracking and the sudden dead end was making her uneasy, but now her spine felt like it was sheathed in ice. All this reminded her a phrase she once had read in a horror novel she owned; Demons of the Dark. She really felt like a pair of strange eyes was on her. The feeling was now so strong it was almost physical. As the group was starting to look back at one another, Rogue slowly turned, reluctantly back to the way they had come. And what she saw made her freeze.

A tall teenage boy wearing blue jeans and a black leather jacket over a black turtleneck was standing in the darkness, standing over 70 feet away from her and the rest of the X-Men. His blond hair glinted in the cold moonlight as the angle of the moon made his body cast a long shadow on the concrete pavement of the loading area. He was looking straight at her with fierce, penetrating green eyes. He stood still as a statue, not moving at all. It was Simon Peter Valley.

"Rogue?" she heard Kitty say, "Hey, Rogue, are you okay?" But Rogue was still too struck by the sudden appearance of the new mutant. Simon's gaze seemed to hold her in place. He had the most penetrating stare she had ever encountered. It was almost frightening.

Kitty was looking at Rogue, confused at first as to why her roommate had not responded to her question and even more confused by Rogue's startled and stunned expression. She then looked in the direction where Rogue was looking, and froze as well, seeing the new mutant fixing her in place with his fierce, unrelenting stare.

By then the others in the group had noticed that Rogue and Kitty were staring in shock and wonder at something and were looking to see what was making them so uptight. Seeing the latest mutant of Cerebro's detection made them stop moving for a second to regard this new mutant.

"Is that him?" Evan whispered to anyone who would answer.

"Yes, that's him," Jean whispered, "that's Simon Valley."

The blond-haired mutant remained very, very still, his hands in his jacket pockets. He didn't even move a muscle. If he wasn't flesh and blood, he could have passed as a statue. The X-Men suddenly found that Simon's aura was not of a calming type. His eyes were as fierce as the eyes of a jungle cat ready to pounce. His silence and fierce gaze made them uneasy on approaching him. He was five eleven at 150 pounds. And he didn't look friendly.

As the X-Men continued to stare at their latest recruit, if he were to be that later on, they saw an eerie bright blue glow appear in Simon's eyes making look like featureless blue orbs of energy in his head and utterly alien, driving off any human feature they had contained previously.

Like goblin eyes, thought Rogue, shivering a little at Simon's eye energy.

Kitty started to back away. "Who wants to go ask him?" she asked, smiling nervously.

"You go, Kitty. I zhink you'll do fine" said Kurt.

"No you go," said Kitty.

"No, you go," insisted Kurt.

Simon's eyes suddenly lost theirglow and returned to human form. Then, without saying a word or even sparing them a second glance, he turned and started to walk away.

"Jean, stop him," said Scott suddenly.

"With what?" asked Jean, confused by Scott order.

"Use your telekinesis," said Scott, "Hurry."

Jean looked back to Simon and reached out with her hand as her telekinesis went into action. The retreating teenager suddenly started to lift off the group as if pulled upward by an invisible rope or string. He looked down at himself with shock and surprise, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Try to pull him back," said Scott.

Jean was about to comply, but suddenly, the mutant whipped his head and body around to face the group once more. His blank expression had been replaced by an aggressive glare. But what really go their attention was that his eyes were glowing blue again. The glow was brighter and bluer than it had been earlier. His eyes now almost looked like blue suns flaring out from his face. As the group watched, a fierce blue light appeared around Simon's right hand, enveloping his right forearm up to the elbow, the glow intensifying with each second as if it was charging up for an attack.

"Uh-oh," said Evan fearfully, memories of the Scarlet Witch preparing to do a hex power magic show suddenly resurfacing, "This doesn't look promising."

"Ah think you should put em down, Jean," said Rogue quickly, looking from Jean back towards Simon. The blue glow on his arm was now so bright that it was almost impossible to look at it with the naked eye.

Suddenly, Simon raised his right arm, the fore part of it now looking like an appendage completely composed of blue light, and thrust it towards the X-Men. A beam of energy shot forward from Simon's energy arm, sending a flashacross his body. At first the X-men thought Simon was firing the beam from his hand. But then they realized the beam WAS his hand. Simon had actually turned part of his body into energy and was using it like an energy blaster.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Logan bellowed as the energy beam darted towards them. Everyone tried to scatter, but the beam was moving too fast to avoid. It struck the ground less than three feet in front of the X-Men. A flash of blue light blinded them for a second as the beam hit, smashing a section of the concrete pavement to dust.

The X-Men were now in battle mode awareness, but they were also trying to think of how to approach this and recruit him.

Jean had been nearest, and the impact of the energy had been strong enough to knock her down. Scott saw this foremost and before anyone else could react to Simon's attack, the young leader was on his feet, a look of anger on his face, which was what he was feeling, for the attack had almost hurt the woman he loved.

The others looked at Scott with wonder at what he was doing. Scott placed his hands on his red shades and lowered them, the ruby-colored glow of his optic blasts that his body had produced by converting the energy from the environment into concussive energy flaring to life. Jean was about to protest to Scott to not use his optic blasts, but Scott was already opening his eyes, ready to release the deadly red beams. Jean looked and saw that Simon, who was now climbing to his feet after being dropped, had an intense glow of his own around his eyes.

At that second, Scott's red force beams fired towards Simon, who fired his blue ones at the same instant. The two optic blasts of opposing colors were aimed at the other person, but suddenly, there as loud crash of energy on energy. The sudden flash was bright enough to blind everyone for a second, but then the sudden blindness faded and the X-Men looked on to see a sight they had never seen before. Scott and Simon were in an optic blast jousting match with each other. Scott's red beams were pushing against Simon's blue beams, which were doing to same to Scott's. Kitty, Rogue, and Evan, who were on one side were struck by the display, as Jean, Kurt, and Logan carefully stood off to the other side, just as surprised as the rest. Of all the things they had seen as X-Men, this was one of the most amazing. Seeing two mutants with eye energy beams trying to overcome the other was not something you saw every day. Not even in the X-Men.

Scott could feel the pressure inside his head increasing as he continued to try to overpower Simon's eye beams. The longer Scott held his eyes open, the more energy his eyes would release. Right now, the headaches and tiredness were starting to take hold and Scott knew his optic blasts were growing stronger, and when his blasts grew stronger, his body grew weaker. He could feel the pressure of Simon's energy failing to stand up to his optic blasts. Suddenly, in a flash of pain, a huge burst of concussive force exerted itself along Scott's optic blasts and reached the point where the red and blue energy were pressing against each other. The enormous force was more that Simon's beams could push back and Scott's blasts reached Simon's body. Scott's beam struck Simon in the chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying backward through the air. He smashed into a stack of crates, the wooden boxes tipping over and crashing to ground from the momentum as the crates Simon himself hit were dented from the impact. The force didn't knock Simon unconscious, but it was more than enough to stun him and leave him momentarily dazed.

"Jean," Scott asked, turning back to Jean and the others, "Are you all right?"

The young woman nodded, for she was still struggling with that eye beam contest the two mutants had just fought. One look at Simon's form however, obliterated her wonder on how Scott had won. Simon had climbed to his feet, and was looking really ready for a rematch. His eyes were still flaring . Both his hands had transformed into energy, blue lightning snaking over the appendages like tentacles. He raised the hands in preparation to attack, the energy crackling and snapping around his hands and fingers as he was manipulating his energies into an eletrical state.

"Look out!" shouted Scott, as everyone got ready to dodge.

A tremendous burst of the electricity shot from Simon's hand as it separated itself from its source, then another blast from his other hand, then again from the other.

"Incoming!" Evan called out unnecessarily as theblasts ofdarted to them like a swarm of angry giant hornets.

Kitty was right in the line of fire of one of the blasts. She was scared at the sight of the blue energy. She had no time to dodge. So instead, she activated her phasing powers, rendering herself intangible. The bolts passed through her and struck what was behind her, exploding as clouds of lightning and sparks.

Kurt grabbed hold of Rogue and teleported them several feet away from where they were, just as a blast reached the spot they had occupied.

Evan himself was firing a few of his spikes at the blasts, striking them with enough force to disrupt them and make them destabilize. The spike themselves burned with the electricity as they struck several of them falling to the ground and smoking from the burns. Others had actually caught flames and were burning.

Jean and Scott were beside themselves. Jean had erected one of her psychic shields around herself and Scott for protection. Simon's electrical blasts struck the shield, but were unable to penetrate. Scott fired several optic blasts at the incoming missiles, causing the blasts to explode in bursts of bright flashes before fading away.

"Any ideaz on how to deal vith diz guy, Logan?" Kurt called to Logan, who was growling.

"We gotta slow this kid up!" Logan said over the sound of electricity crackling and popping, "Elf! See if you can teleport Rogue in close and drain him off a little!" Rogue was caught off guard by the idea of absorbing this mutant's powers. When she had absorbed Storm, she hadn't been able to control her powers of weather manipulation. The thought of what could happen if she absorbed this guy's powers made her more than uneasy. However, she lost any chance of saying that, for Kurt grabbed her.

"Get ready to absorb, Rogue," he instructed.

BAMF!

Within a second, Rogue and Kurt were right next to Simon. Simon, who had up until now been distracted by firing his bolts, suddenly realized that two of the strange teenagers were now standing beside him. He looked at them, startled by the sudden appearance they made. The glow in his eyes suddenly vanished, his hands now flesh and blood again. "Hey, how'd you get here?" Simon demanded in shocked surprise.

Kurt used his superior speed and agility to leap over Simon's head and land behind him. He could see that Simon was too caught off guard to attack, which was fine by him. Kurt was thinking that he really didn't want to fight this guy, but they were defending themselves. But wasn't that what Simon was doing?

Kurt landed as light-footed as a cat behind Simon's back and wrapped his arms around Simon's arms and torso. Simon was still too surprised by the teleportation and Kurt's acrobatic prowess to respond with his own powers. What also surprised him was Kurt's strength. The younger boy was stronger than he looked and was holding Simon's arms to his sides with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Now, Rogue," Kurt told her as he struggled to keep Simon still.

"What are you doing?" Simon demanded, becoming hostile and aggressive in his struggles.

Rogue quickly removed the glove on her left hand and began to reach for Simon's face, unprotected by clothing. Simon didn't know what this strange gothic girl was up to, but his gut told him it was not going to be pleasant.

Rogue was about to touch Simon's bare skin when she saw his green eyes flareelectrical blue. Simon's arms were pinned, but he managed to reach up and grab Rogue's arm with his right hand. Then, to Rogue's fear, Simon raised his left hand, blue energy replacing his bone and flesh hand and a stream of the energy sprang from it.

The intention that Simon had was to try to blast her backward, she was sure of it. However, to Rogue's surprise, she felt no blast or sudden impact on her body. Instead, she felt some type of force close around her, like a solid belt pinning her arms to her sides. Only when she looked down did she see that she was indeed in that situation, a glowing blue field of energy was wrapped around her like a rope, holding her arms securely to her sides. Rogue sturggled but the energy bond was too strong to break free from.

Rogue suddenly was lifted up and then thrown. Then she was flung back towards the other X-Men, who were coming closer in order to help. The throw was not very strong, but it was enough to send her a fair distance from Simon before she could touch him.

Kurt saw Rogue get tossed aside by Simon's blue levitation energy, and he then realized that Simon may do a trick similar to that one on him. He was right. At that moment, Kurt felt his wrists being grabbed and forced apart. With a flick of the wrist, Simon captured Kurt in his energy snare and threw him towards the others just like he did with Rogue.

Logan was there as Kurt traveled and caught him. The fuzzy elf landed not-too-gracefully into the big man's arms, but he quickly was on his feet again. Logan growled, his attack instincts kicking into overdrive.

"Everyone, fall back!" he ordered, and then said nothing more on his part. This confused the others, but before they could say anything, Logan whipped out his adamantium claws.

Logan saw Simon's eyes widen in shock and amazement. Clearly this kid had never seen weapons like those Wolverine had. Logan brought up his powerful arms into a fighting stance. He had guessed this kid was not the peaceful type of recruit, so it only stood to reason to use a different approach. Now that the kid was stunned by the discovery of Logan's claws, Logan could easily overtake him by taking advantage of his shock.

But Simon, however, quickly recovered from his shock and his eyes regained their blue glow and fierce glare. Logan tensed up, ready to dodge any sort of beam that Simon might throw. But instead, Simon raised both his arms upward, both his forearms energy now. Suddenly, instead of shooting beams, the arms changed shape. The hands and fingers vanished, and each appendage grew straight and sharp. As they X-Men watched in amazement, Simon's forearms turned into two blue energy blades, both of them three feet long and as wide as a small book.

"Whoa!" Scott gasped, "The Professor never said he could do that!"

"Did you see zhat!" Kurt asked Kitty in surprise.

Kitty could only stare.

Logan seemed surprised as well, but it quickly vanished. For a second, Simon and Logan merely stood still and gazed at each other, each of them judging the other for an opening.

Simon was the first to attack, his blue eyes and bladed arms glowing brightly. The young mutant raised his right arm and swung it with all his strength at Logan's head.

Logan had more than enough time to block the attack. The blade struck the metal of Logan's claws, flashing as it did. However, the blade didn't even dent the adamantium. Simon was focusing to make his energy act like a solid metal blade and no heat, electricity, or explosive power, for he only wanted some strong blades that wouldn't go dull. Logan had had years of training to build his skills with his claws and now he could use them as skillfully as a swordsman now, elagently and with dengerous grace and speed. Simon's attack on him, however, was at a clumsy angle and was fairly slow. It had an awkward swing in it too. The kid clearly didn't know how to use bladed weapons the right way. He wasn't skilled in the use of this kind of tool. Logan suddenly realized that he could easily win this struggle.

The onlookers could only watch. They hoped that no harm would come to either fighter. Simon's blue blades pressed on Logan's claws, the two weapons rubbing and pushing against each other, energy grating on metal. The teenage was then pushed back as Logan used his superior strength to get some distance.

Simon stumbled back several feet and almost fell to the ground from losing his balance. However, he managed to regain his stance and came back to get another swing at Logan. He slashed at Logan with his blades, but Logan blocked the attack easily. Logan felt the kid pushing against his claws harder than he had earlier, as if trying to force Logan off his feet and gain an advantage. Simon's force was considerable, but Logan was still able to easily keep his stance. Using his own 200-pound frame, which was made even heavier by the adamantium lacing his skeleton, and forcing more muscle power into his already considerable force, Logan gave a stronger push on Simon. This time, Simon was unable to stay on his feet and landed flat on his back several feet from Logan.

Scott, Jean, and all the others exchanged glances as they saw the two mutants struggling to gain advantage over the other. Now they decided was as good a time as any to intervene. Maybe now they could ease Simon down enough to talk to him.

Just by looking up at the formidable muscular man who had the metal blades extending out from between his knuckles, a killer aggressive look on his face, Simon knew he was losing this fight badly. He could tell this knife-handed man was far stronger than he was and was not afraid to use his strength in a fight, and on top of that, he had more than enough tools and force to win a fight. His blades had turned back into his ordinary human arms, for falling had made him lose the great concentration it always took for him to form bladed weapons out of himself. But he decided to use a different approach.

Logan started towards the kid, but froze as he saw Simon raise his hand once again, energy now enveloping his hand before his hand itself became energy. Simon morphed his hand into a beam and let it fly, snatching Logan in the energy line and lifting him. With a quick movement of his arm, the teenager sent Logan towards the other X-Men, who now saw what was happening and were trying to decide on how to react. Logan crashed into Scott and Evan, who they themselves fell back under Logan's weight.

"Ooooff!" Scott groaned as Logan crashed into him and Evan. The others were there to help.

"Are you alright, Mr. Logan?" asked Kitty, helping the big man up as best she could. Kitty wasn't a strong girl, but she did have a certain amount of physical ability.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Half-Pint," said Logan as he climbed to his feet before the others helped Scott and Evan up.

"Scott?" Jean asked.

"I'm fine, Jean," he assured her, hoping it would. He straightened his ruby-quartz glasses. That was when he noticed Simon's energy powers flaring up to life again.

"Uh, guys," Scott pointed. The others looked and their faces suddenly went fearful.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Kitty.

Strange flame-like wisps began to come off the appendages as his arms became bright blue energy, like blue fire was flaming on the surface of his energized skin. Molten energy began to intensify into hot blue plasma as Simon morphed his energy into explosive fiery power. Simon raised both hands up and fired the energy.

The X-Men barely had time to react, for Simon's speed surprised them. A huge beam of the energy moved towards them as Simon's two hands merged together and formed a huge ray of molten power. Blue plasma energy screamed through the air.

The amount of time the X-Men had to dodge was like the blink of an eye. But they managed to dodge just in time, the blue plasma beam sailing harmlessly past them. The air around them suddenly became blistering hot, the molten energy heating the air around them. Rogue felt a sudden heat wave wash over her, the heat making her sweat, but not so much as the intensity of the attack.

The sound of the beam striking something made everyone turn their heads just enough to see. The beam struck a very small building, beside which was a stack of crates. As soon as the beam struck, the entire structure burst into flame and exploded, flaming pieces of wreckage and rubble flying like a shower of hailstones, bits of wood and tiles raining down on the X-Men and over the loading area. The crates immediately caught fire under the immense heat and the concussive force from the blast made them smash and splinter like they were made of glass, bits of flaming wood scattering.

The X-Men had to cover their eyes from the flash. The blast from the attack was a true explosion, it had all the parts; heat, fire, shockwaves, everything. And the X-Men felt all these as well. Rogue felt her eyes start to water from the heat. This couldn't be happening. Burning crates started to crash to the pavement, smashing and breaking apart as they fell. Small balls of fire fell all around, dotting the pavement with flames.

Everyone turned back to the person who had thrown the beam. Simon's hands were normal again, his eyes lacking the blue glow. He then turned and fled.

"Come on," said Scott, "We can't lose him."

No one needed to be told twice. Everyone scrambled to their feet and took off after him. If the X-Men could ever give out a recruiting award from being the most extreme, this case would most likely win that prize.

Well folks that was the first part of the characters meeting each other and the first major action scene of this fic. I hope it was as intense and entertaining as you hoped! The second part of this chapter will be up soon, with the conclusion of Simon's first meeting with the X-Men. Like this? Hate this? Review and tell me what you think. I thirst for reviews!