Chapter 10
Raiden
"Having your world turned upside down" was a phrase that Simon had always considered to be an exaggerated phrase that never applied to real life, mainly because it had never really happened to him. But then again, the time his powers had emerged had been pretty close. But by now, he had decided his world had been turned upside down. In the span of only a single evening, so many things had changed that he couldn't imagine it could happen in only a few hours. It had all started with a simple walk around his home city, like he always did at night for exercise. He had stopped someone from hurting someone else using his armored state, which was the last thing he had wanted to do, found a group of people who had power similar to his, and finally been offered a place at "school for gifted youngsters" as Professor Xavier had called it.
Simon had never considered himself gifted in anyway, not as intellectually gifted student, nor as a physically star athlete, and of course, certainly not with his powers. In addition, he never really wanted to have powers to begin with. A normal quiet life as a civilian was what he wanted. But apparently fate had had something totally different in mind for him. He was a mutant, a genetically evolved human. Now he was going to a school for them.
He had responsibility, as Xavier and Jean Grey had told him about back at his house. And he also had a chance to be with those who were like him. As they had told him, they were lying low for the time being, for most out there weren't ready to accept mutants as people. Simon could understand that. Hell, he knew that from first-hand experience, which he hated to think about at any given time.
Right now, he was sitting in what he considered the fanciest, most advanced jet he had ever seen. He was sure that even the military didn't have aircraft like this in their ranks. In fact, if Simon had been more naïve than he really was, he would have thought it was from a sci-fi movie. They had called this the Blackbird. Simon had been totally surprised when they had taken him from his house out to the middle of nowhere in the woods. Seeing the empty spot, Simon had asked where the transport. And with a mug grin on his face, Xavier had tapped a button, dropping the Blackbird's cloaking field. It had seemed more sci-fi than ever when that happened. Everyone had found his flabbergasted expression amusing. Scott had even said, "Later on after you're settled in, we'll show you how to fly this thing."
That threw Simon through a loop. Simon had always been interested in aircraft, but he knew next to nothing about how to pilot them. Simon made a mental note to prepare for a very long course of simulation before he even set a finger on the control stick. But he put that aside. Learning to fly something like this would take a long time. Simon was patent though and could wait for as long as it took. Beside, he had long figured that there were more important things to come before that happened.
In the meantime, the other X-Men were carefully riding out the ride with him, enjoying themselves and the cruise. For the most part they were pleased that they now had a new member of the institute. They tended to be excited whenever a new recruit agreed to join them. They were eager to get to know their new teammate and for him to know them.
However, they were also a little concerned and wondering on how to do that. Simon had proven that that he was not exactly an over-happy, over zealous person. He hadn't smiled once during the entire trip, not once. But at the same time, he hadn't tried to lash out at them for any reason, or show anger. Over and over, the X-Men found their gazes drifting over to him. He still didn't speak much unless someone asked him a question or tried to converse with him. Simon didn't say much, which meant he only spoke when he had something very important to say. Simon was very unreadable.
Scott and Jean were wondering a lot on him as well. Both of them had long decided that Simon was the strong and silent type of person. Scott could see a lot of his own qualities in Simon, mainly his seriousness and strong-will. But Simon's caliber of those qualities were higher than Scott's, or at least at a glance. The two boys had exchanged a few sentences here and there over the course of the flight back to the mansion about what it was like there, Scott giving the details as Simon asked a few questions. Scott was always edger to help others see the light in Xavier's dream of peace and he was hoping to do the same thing for Simon. But still, the one thing that Scott wondered was if the two of them would see eye-to-eye. And not with optic blasts either.
Scott had wondered from time to time if Simon would ever act immature and not follow the rules like some of the other recruits did. But that was long ago and he had decided Simon wouldn't. He didn't look like the type of recruit who was of a devil-may-care attitude and fun-loving nature. In fact, he seemed to be more rigid and stern than Scott himself. That last part made Scott wonder what would happen between them. While not as gruff or fierce as Logan could be, Simon had proven he could be fierce and hostile if provoked. And the fact he had a bad-temper was clear as well. However, he was sure they could handle that. And of course, time at the mansion would help lower those barriers. After all, Rogue herself was pretty hotheaded, as was Ray Crisp, and he handled them just fine. And of course there was Logan himself, the epitome of X-Men temperamental shortness. Simon Valley was going to be quite a puzzle to solve.
While Scott was thinking on that, Jean felt a little disturbed by two things, Simon's attitude and his powers. Jean had not really seen a mutant with powers like Simon's before. Having all those types of energy he could throw or mold into weapons gave him a radical arsenal, and there was also the armor she remembered the professor telling them about hours ago. And even though he had shown them that he lacked experience using his powers against other mutants, they packed a tremendous punch. But Simon's attitude towards them was not all that reassuring either. He had made some rather scathing remarks about himself, calling himself a monster, yet he hadn't made any real insult to the X-Men. That was what worried Jean. Monster. That was a word she had never heard a mutant use to describe himself. Of course the big question was why he would use that one himself. As far as Jean was concerned, no self-respecting mutant would do that. It gave a clue that Simon didn't have much self-respect. But she had no way of knowing. Her first theory on why presented her with a disturbing issue. Maybe Simon had inner demons he was struggling with as the result of an incident involving his powers. But as before she had no way of knowing.
Perhaps that was why Simon had asked to be cured. He just wanted his powers gone so that he wouldn't have to live with them, with the fact that he could case destruction easily. Powers like his were destructive, that much as certain. Jean guessed that the number one thing to do with Simon was not helping him with his powers, but with himself.
Jean could relate. Her telepathy had made going out in public nearly impossible for her when it first emerged. Hearing all the stray thoughts and psychic static gave her skull-splitting headaches and then seizures later one when the effects became even worse. Add telekinesis to that, and her life was made even more of a hassle. Jolts of pain shooting through her skull, static of thoughts roaring in her brain, her telekinetic energies caused objects to float and fly and crash. But looking back on that, Jean realized once again how far the professor had helped her come. If he could do that with her mental powers, Simon' physical powers probably wouldn't be too hard.
It was around 11:15 p.m. by the time they arrived back at the institute, but it was evident that the New Mutants, ever so feisty and full of liveliness, were still awake. Xavier could see that the lights were still on in the mansion. In fact, he could feel their presence as well, which was the result of his powerful telepathy going full out with picking up emotions. Since Xavier hardly felt a thing when around sleeping people, he was more than familiar with the difference with being around sleeping people and awake people. The difference was as different as black was from white.
In truth, Xavier was pleased that the New Mutants were still up, for he was looking forward to introducing Simon to the rest of the institute tonight. In the morning, it would kind of be a surprise for them all. And Xavier liked to introduce people when everyone was up and awake. There was no Danger Room session scheduled for tomorrow and that meant a lot of the kids would be sleeping in. Better introduce the new member now.
Xavier looked back over his shoulder to his students in the back, all his senior students and his latest recruit. All were looking out the windows to the sights outside. Even Simon himself, who had up until now been looking straightforward with a blank expression, was looking outside. And his expression was far from blank.
"We're here," said Ororo from the cockpit seat near Xavier.
Xavier noticed Simon's eyes narrow in confusion. "I have a question."
"Fire away, Bub," said Logan, ready to make Simon's eyes widen with a surprise if he could manage.
"Where's the runway?"
Logan had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing out loud. The kid was so going to be surprised by the answer to that.
Before Logan could answer, Kurt took over for him. "Not to vorry mien fruend," said Kurt, "It's zhere. You just can't see it yet."
"Meaning what?" asked Simon, looked puzzled.
"Just wait for a second Simon," said Scott, "And you'll find out." Scott was watching Simon with a small smile. He knew the reactions with seeing the underground facilities of the institute for the first time. Surprise was one word to describe them. Shock was one word that could be used to describe the more severe cases of astonishment the sights provoked in a person.
The X-Jet circled around over the mansion, giving Simon ample time to see how it stood on its own cliff overlooking the vast blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. After doing a few turns here and there, it went out over the ocean farther away from the mansion. Simon looked confused by the going away from the mansion, but then as the X-Jet started back towards the mansion, his confusion started to subside a little. Then the X-Jet started hovering the air in front of the cliff, facing the rocky side.
Simon was about to ask why they were simply hovering in the air with no landing place in sight, when suddenly part of the rocky wall shifted. The formation pushed itself out and away from the rest of the cliff, parting a waterfall that covered it like a curtain. What was left wide open was a large doorway that looked to all mechanical. Inside was a long passageway that was big enough for an airplane to fit in. Or a jet. Simon sat with wide eyes at the spectacle.
"There's your runway," said Rogue, smiling at Simon's surprised expression, "Only it's underground, built into the side of the cliff."
Simon was still struck silent.
It was then that the X-Jet was then steered into the hanger underneath the mansion. Once the engines were off and all the safety mechanisms were in place, Xavier shut off the power of the jet. All the lights and dials on the advanced terminals of the cockpit went out, like a Christmas tree being unplugged.
"We're here," said Xavier, "Everybody out." With that, everyone left their seats and chairs.
As Simon stepped out, he found himself in a large hanger. To say that he was surprised by what he saw was an understatement. He had expected to land somewhere, but not in an underground hanger that was built into the side of a cliff behind a waterfall. If Simon hadn't known any better, he would have said this was the type of holding bay that only the military themselves could afford to have. Everything was what appeared to be state-of-the-art. All the walls, floors, and ceilings were so shiny that you would have thought it was of a mirror surface. In addition, there was what appeared to be a large walkway going from one side of the hanger to the other, complete with railing and doors that resembled the hatches found in a battleship rather than in a house.
Amusing. That was how Rogue found Simon as he looked all around him, taking in the sights of the marvelous wonders around. In fact, he looked so immersed in the lay out he probably didn't even realize he was carrying his bags and suitcases.
"So, is this enough for yah?" asked Rogue.
"Wow." That was all Simon could say in response to her question.
Simon's reactions were not going unnoticed by the rest of the group. And if this was anything to go by, it was a good sign. Simon Peter Valley, who had up until now been as stoic as a Vulcan from Star Trek, was showing signs of emotion. It was a good sign, for it made it clear he was opening up. Or at least was able to when there were the right things present to make him. And if the surrounding area of the institute intrigued him, then it stood to reason the people here and what they did as well could intrigue him. If he could adjust to that, then everything else about being an X-Man would fall into place.
Scott approached him from behind. Simon was so busy taking in the sights that he didn't even notice Scott trying to talk to him. Scott said his name twice, but he still didn't respond. It was only when Scott laid a hand on his shoulder did Simon notice him.
"Simon, we need to keep moving," said Scott with a smile, "There'll be time for seeing the sights later."
A slight tinge of rose hue crept into Simon's face. Since his skin was so fair, the slight blush was very noticeable. "Sorry, Scott," he said, "I just got carried away."
Scott only smiled and led him back to the group.
"If you think this is nifty, Simon," said Logan, smirking at Simon's embarrassment, "Wait till you see the Danger Room."
Simon froze at the name "Danger Room." "Danger Room?" he asked, sounding nervous and confused at the same time.
"It's our training area," said Ororo, "You'll see it soon."
With that being said, the group continued on to Xavier study. The Professor had sent a telepathic message to all those on board the X-Jet as they were flying that they were to proceed to his office so that Simon could be given a little heads up of what was expected of him and to prepare him to see the rest of the student body.
When the group was finally seated all around in the professor's study, much like they had hours earlier at the beginning of the night when the recruitment mission was discussed. The professor finally got to the part of making formal introductions.
Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue took seats in the chairs and sofas while Xavier positioned himself behind his desk in his wheelchair, Ororo and Logan positioned beside him like two sentinels. The others had to admit that Xavier could look formidable indeed with Logan and Ororo standing there beside him, despite him being confined to his wheelchair.
Simon had set down his bags near the door, for he didn't want to have to carry them anymore than he should. They were starting to get heavy, even though he had packed light. He hadn't really packed a lot of entertainment-wise items, for he figured that getting the know the students and faculty members here at the institute would take up a lot of his time over the nest few months. And if they were going to help him with his powers, time to spare could possibly be a luxury. Simon had long figured his loner-by-nature attitude would probably be put to the test here, for he would have to overcome it.
Xavier smiled at Simon, who remained standing up like an officer being addressed my a court martial in lawsuit. "Have a seat, Simon," he offered gently.
Simon was silent for a second. The others thought he was about to argue, but he merely nodded and found an empty chair that was facing directly at the professor's desk. It was the only chair free, and the others probably knew it was the right place for him, as he was the new student.
Simon had done this sort of thing before. He had switched schools a couple of times in his life. He had gone from the schools in Seattle, Washington to middle school in the city of New Founders in southern Washington, and finally to high school in Moonriver Falls. Being the new kid before had given him experience and preparation, but it didn't really make the job easier. Some things in life just never got easier, no matter how many times you did them.
"Comfortable?" asked Xavier.
"Yes," said Simon.
"Well, Simon, before we help you get settled in and introduce you to the rest of the school, there are a couple of things that we must discuss," said the psychic.
"Alright," said Simon, carefully listening. Once again, Simon was in the middle of attention. And as before, he didn't feel any different that the previous times he was the center of attention. He felt the almost uncontrollable urge to vibrate his right leg up and down rapidly, which was a habit he had picked up years ago. He had no idea how that came to him, but it had. He didn't want to show his new colleagues that habit. They would probably think it meant he was nervous and he didn't want them to think that. Having years of experience of keeping his face neutral and straight was real handy tool when it came to concealing emotions he didn't want others to think about. All the same, the temptation to vibrate that leg was strong. It would go away once he stood again.
He'd done this dance before, so why was it that it never go easier? Can the self-asking questions, Simon thought to himself, focus here and shut your mental self up. Take in what he's going to say to you.
Unknown to Simon, Rogue was noticing how his muscles were tightly clenched, even though to an outsider he might look relaxed. Rogue knew he would be tense like that. And even though she wasn't psychic and unable to pick up his feelings, she could relate. This was reminding her of her of when she turned her allegiance over to the X-Men when she had absorbed Mystique's thoughts and memories in the underground cave where she had tried to defeat Rogue and Scott. She had sat in with the rest of the senior students, had the formal introduction that Professor Xavier was about to give right now, and of course, she was the center of attention at that point like Simon was now. Being the loner type she was, she never being the center of an entire crowd. She hadn't really enjoyed that. It stood to reason that Simon felt the same way.
"First off," said Xavier kindly, "I would like to tell you on what to prepare for the times ahead, both here and at Bayville High School that you will be soon attending."
Simon was not surprised as he expected himself to be at Xavier's words. The professor had told him that since he wasn't finished with High School, he would be completing it at Bayville High, which was where all the Senior X-Men attended. Simon wasn't surprised with that. Move to another state, move to another school. It was a packaged deal. He was more interested in the part of what lay ahead in terms of his training as Xavier had put it.
"Here at the Institute, we have numerous training sessions almost on a daily basis," said Xavier, "These training sessions include a wide variety of learning fields. The reason for these is to help you familiarize yourself with your powers, as well as prepare yourself for the many types of missions we go on a lot of the time.
"There will be sessions as a group and also individual exercises. Each member of the student body has both group activities and personal training sessions, both to help them learn on how to master their abilities and to help them become familiar with their team members. It helps us understand each other's strengths and weaknesses so that we can function together as a team and as a single unit as best possible."
"Sounds good to me," said Simon, almost automatically.
"And of course," said Xavier, shifting the topic, "here we do not use our powers in view of the public."
"Right," said Logan, "Which means, no daredevil heroic stunts." He gave Simon a look that said, no arguments, no exceptions, follow that rule at all times.
Hearing that from Logan, it sounded disproving. The others could clearly tell Logan didn't exactly approve of Simon's act last night, when he saved the two girls from the robbers. In truth, he didn't approve period. Either Logan approved of something entirely or not at all. Simon's actions got the latter.
Simon shifted his gaze over to Logan, this time, there was no hostility or anger in his eyes. Only understanding of what Logan meant. "You're still not upset about what I did to help those two hostages, are you?" he asked, calmly, "What was I supposed to do, just sit back and let them get hurt?"
Logan let out a sigh of frustration. Right now he did feel frustrated. Keeping out of sight was the best thing to do right now in the world if you were a mutant, but he knew the kid had a point that couldn't be denied. It was pretty much a stalemate of logic here.
"Simon," said Xavier, "Yes, helping others is the right thing to do. We're not criticizing you on your motives. But we must try to remain anomalous. It was lucky that no one knew the cause of it all, and that it wasn't you who did it. But right now, with so many people not ready to accept us for all we are, we simply must try to blend in with the general population. For now, we simply must maintain our secret gifts as 'secret.'"
Simon let out a large breath of air. "Yes, Professor," he admitted, "I just felt like I had to do it."
"I understand, Simon," said Xavier, "But you really mustn't do things like that. Until the world is ready to accept us, you really must follow the lead that all of us do."
"And that means no playin' hero commando," said Logan, "Or doin' any lightshows with powers or things like that. I hope that's clear to ya."
"Yeah, it's clear. I assure you," said Simon, leaning back in his chair, feeling a little pounded into the ground with them repeating it over and over.
"So, are there any questions you have?" asked Ororo.
Simon looked at the weather witch, then at Logan, then at Xavier. "Not right now," he replied, "but I'm sure I'll have some soon once I see what this place is like."
That response made Xavier smile. Logan and Ororo smiled as well. "I'm sure you will, Bub," said Logan, "I'm sure you will." The smirk on Logan's face was enough to make a person's skin crawl, sly and mischievous, which it sure did to Simon.
Suddenly, Jean had an idea. It was something that may be sudden, but she figured it was a good idea to take care of this little chore now. In addition, maybe the others could help him decide on it, or at least give ideas to work with. That could be another benefit of doing it now. She decided to ask Scott to see if he agreed.
"Scott?" she asked her boyfriend telepathically.
"Yeah, Jean?" he thought back in response.
"I just got the idea that now might be a good time to asked Simon to decide on his codename. I jus thought now is as good a time as any."
For a moment, Scott merely thought. He thought some more. Then, after a few seconds he told her, "Sounds good to me."
Jean looked from Scott and towards the Professor. "Professor," Jean said, "How about we ask Simon to decide now?" she said.
Xavier looked up at Jean's statement, his brow furrowed with lines of confusion. Decide. Decide on what? He wasn't sure what she was referring to at his point. They hadn't really brought up anything that needed to be decided. Surely if something had to be decided right now, it had to be important. And of course, Xavier would have thought of it. "Uh, ask him?" he asked aloud. Then he communicated with Jean via his telepathy. "What are you referring to, Jean?"
"Well, Scott and I just thought that now might be a good time as any for him to decide on his codename. It's open for deciding, so we figured what the hell." The redhead responded back with her own thoughts.
The confused look on Xavier's face vanished just them, and a look of understanding and realization came over it. "Ah, yes," he said, trying to play along with Jean and Scott, who were smiling at his little part of the game, "Simon," he said, turning back to his new student, "While we're here and thinking about it, I think we should decide on you codename."
Simon arched on eyebrow, which the others took as sign that he wasn't expecting for that sort of thing to come up. "Codename?" he asked, sounding curious.
"Yes," said Xavier, "Scott." He thought that maybe the other students could help out here.
"You see, Simon," said the young field leader, "We all have codenames. They're names that we go by whenever we're in training or on missions."
The look on Simon's face didn't change, indication that he still didn't understand what Scott was getting at.
"We have them so that we can conceal our true names for safety reasons and to help us remain anomalous. It helps use conceal our true identities. It's sort of like what they use in the military," Scott hoped that would make sense.
For a moment, Simon thought deeply on that. He knew a few things about the military's need for being secretive and to keep true identities from falling to the knowledge of the enemy. For this, with all the secrecy and need to lay low, it made perfect sense. It came to him. "Ah," he said, "I get ya." He was quiet once more, and his features took on a thoughtful look. "So, what's mine?"
"Well, Simon," said Jean, "Each of use chooses our own. That's one of the good parts of it."
"What we basically do with codenames is use our powers as a basis for it," said Scott, "Ororo can control the weather, so she got the code name Storm. There's one example."
Storm as a codename for a mutant who could manipulate weather. That made sense. "I can see the connection," said Simon, "What's yours?" the question was directed at Scott.
"Cyclops."
"Cool." Even though Simon couldn't quite see how Scott's namesake could apply to him, other than having a unique feature in relation to the eyes, he thought it sounded cool.
"So what do you think would be a good one for you?" asked Kitty, trying to be helpful.
Everyone watched as Simon thought for a second. Then for two seconds. Finally half a minute. He tried to think of a good name that could go along with his powers of energy and armor, but he had trouble. There were so many words he could think of that related to either power, some comic, some scientific, some mythical, some merely cool-sounding. He couldn't decide. His eyes lost their deep look at that point. "Any help would be appreciative."
"Hey," said Evan, "How about Dynamo?"
"That sure fits with my ability create energy," Simon agreed. Evan started to beam a little with the possibility that Simon would accept his suggestion. "But that makes me sound like something from a battery commercial. No one would respect a guy with a codename like that"
Kitty and Kurt started chuckling at Simon's remark, finding his statement that that made him sound like a battery commercial funny. They figured no mutant who wanted his enemies to respect him would take a name like that. Even Xavier looked a little amused, as Scott and Jean smiled. Evan however, didn't like being turned down. "Hey, it was a good name."
"Maybe so, Evan. But I prefer something else," said Simon.
The next person to make a suggestion was Kitty. "Simon, you wouldn't like to have the codename Sparky would you?" she smiled teasingly at Simon, hoping he would be amused by her joke. However, Simon looked at Kitty and gave her a bored/annoyed look that said, oh course I don't like that, so why did you even suggest it? Realizing he didn't find her joke funny, Kitty merely shrugged at that. "I thought not," she said, smiling slightly at him.
Meanwhile Kurt was trying to help Simon as well, trying to think of a possible suggestion. As Kurt searched his thoughts, he remembered something that Simon's powers of energy reminded him of. The flashes and power of Simon energies reminded him of thunder and lightning. Those words sounded serious enough, and cool at the same time.
"Vell, How about Thunderstorm or Thunderbolt?" he suggested, remembering such names as the names of superheroes form a few comics he had read while he was here.
Thunder. Simon thought on that word. Yes. That word did sound serious, as he liked. Simon had never been one to name characters with comical sounding names or funny sounding names. But thunder, that really seemed to relate to his energy. Thunder and lightning were good metaphors of his powers, at least his energy powers. "Lighting" suddenly sounded too cumbersome a word, and a little too fancy. "Thunder" however sounded less of a struggle and more to the point. He decided he liked that word more.
"Yes," he said, "Thunder. That's a good word for energy. But maybe I could add another word after that. Make it a little more…personal."
Kurt suddenly looked confused. "Vhat's vrong vith Thunderstorm?" he asked.
"That sounds too much like Ororo's," said Scott, "We need to make ourselves as different as possible in the battlefield. If both of them heard the name STORM, there could be confusion."
Kurt thought it through. He suddenly realized that the codenames of all the members were totally unlike the others. None were similar. "oh, I zee," said the German mutant.
Possible companion words for "thunder" were going through Rogue's mind as Kurt said what he did. She came up with a lot of them, for a lot of good-sounding words came up, like "knight," "phantom," "ghost," "man," or maybe even "blade." But as Rogue thought of those, she kind of thought they sounded too fancy and cumbersome. This was proving to be difficult in a lot of ways. So many possible things to choose from. But this was Simon's name they were deciding, not hers.
Suddenly, Rogue thought of looking for a name that could represent Simon's nature. In fact, she them realized that a lot of people had codenames that told someone about their nature. Hell, she was one of them. She was a rogue, which was her codename. As hurtful as that word sounded, it was a very apt and fitting one for her. Then of course, there was Berserker, whose name gave clues to his hotheaded attitude. Finally, there was Wolverine, who was like his namesake in everyway imaginable; senses, ferocity in battle, animal cunning. Hell, he even had the wolverine's claws to make the portrait complete. Rogue tried to think of a good name for him in that field of thinking. But couldn't.
"Well," said Xavier, seeing that everyone was having problems helping Simon, "I may be of help."
"What?" asked Scott, curious.
Xavier saw that Simon thought thunder was a good word to go into his title. But maybe it could be a little more exotic possibly. Maybe have a title that was the namesake of a thunder elemental or god. Being intelligent and having spent years outside the states in many countries around the world, the professor knew a few things about world mythology and elemental spirits.
"How about Raiden?" he suggested, directing it right at Simon.
People looked to Simon to see how he liked that name. Some half-expected him to turn it down, but instead, he brought his hand up to his chin. An eyebrow rose. For a moment all he did was look that way. Finally he spoke.
"Uh," he said slowly, "what does it mean?" The others were thinking the same thing, for they all had curious looks on their faces.
"Raiden," explained Xavier, "is the Japanese god of thunder. I know a little about Asian mythology. Since Simon thought thunder was a good metaphor of this powers, I thought maybe some mythological representative of it could be an interesting approach."
Simon thought for a second. Being named after an ancient god of thunder and lightning seemed to fit him. Besides, he liked the sound of it, for it wasn't comical or humorous and sounded serious enough without sounding egotistical. "Yeah. I like the sound of that. Raiden will be perfect."
"Well, now that that's taken care of, I now believe it's time to introduce our newest member to the remainder of the institute, said Xavier, smiling in satisfaction, "After he gets settled in."
People started to climb to their feet to stand. A few stretched their limbs out to get the tightness out of their joints and muscles. A few pops of joints could be heard as well.
"Scott, Jean, Rogue" said the professor.
"Yes, Professor?" asked Scott. Jean and Rogue were looking at Xavier, as well wondering what he would request of them.
"Would you three please show Simon to his room? I believe that he will want to place his belongings in a safe place before he meets the rest of our students."
"Sure, Professor," said Jean.
Simon had picked up his bags, and was already placing the last on over the top of his shoulder to secure it.
Xavier steered his wheelchair over to Simon just as he put the strap over his shoulder. He then reached out with his hand to Simon's to shake it. Simon didn't notice at first, for he was too occupied with his task. However, he took notice right away and then reached out his hand to Xavier's, who shook it warmly. "Welcome to the X-Men, Simon."
Simon smiled back, a full one this time. "Thank you, Professor," he said politely.
"Come on, Simon," said Scott, "We'll show you to your room."
Simon walked towards the young trio. "Lead the way," he said, and they left.
Once the four were gone, Xavier looked to the rest of the senior students. "Will the rest of you please go the living room? I'll inform the others to meet up there as well so we can all give Simon a full welcome."
"On it," said Kurt.
"We're so like there," said Kitty.
The remaining three teenage X-Men left the room, leaving Xavier and his two instructors alone. Xavier sat, looking at the door, deep in thought.
Logan and Ororo left their spots behind his desk to join Xavier. "So, Charles, ya think he's X-Man material?" asked Logan.
"He definitely has great potential, Logan," responded the psychic, "A world of potential, I might say, just like all our students." It was true. Xavier believed that all mutants had potential for good in the world, to make good of powers, and Simon was no exception. But he always had to keep track of other things as well. His thoughts drifted back to the conversations he had had earlier with Simon, sensing the frustration and anger in his voice when he asked to be cured of his "disease." Xavier had long realized that he may have to do some emotional sessions with Simon as well.
"You ok, Chuck?" asked Logan, seeing Xavier deep in thought.
"Yes," Xavier replied, "However I do believe that our new member's emotional issues run very deep."
Logan nodded. "Yeah," said the former Weapon-X soldier, "I could tell back when we first met him that he has some issues with himself."
"That do you mean, Logan?" asked Ororo, "What did you see?"
"The kid's got quite a temper," explained the Canadian mutant, "You should have seen 'em when he looked me right in the face, which no kid has ever done to me up until now. He looked ready to pounce on me at the slightest move. And he didn't exactly have the normal, 'innocent teenager' air to him."
"What are you saying, Logan?" asked Ororo.
"What I'm sayin' Ro," said Logan, "is that he looked like a kid who never knew the cozy comforts of teenage life. Unlike some of the others here."
"I sensed a lot of anger in him," said Xavier, going on with the conversation, "Strong anger and frustration. Even guilt."
"Kinda like the Scarlet Witch?" asked Logan, hoping that the answer was no. If this kid had anger like that, Logan would see to it personally that he was given restrictions that would prevent anyone from so much as ticking him off. He didn't want a teen with anger that was able to literally bring the house down on your head. Well, perhaps not bring down the house, but leave holes the size of craters in your wall.
"Wanda's anger is far greater than Simon's," said the professor, "But Simon still carries a great deal of it in himself. More than the ordinary teenager I might add. We may have to do a fair amount of things for him in order to help him with that. Part of giving him the help he needs could very well be helping him come to terms with whatever caused it."
"Why is there guilt?" asked Ororo, "Do you know what the source of all this emotion in him is?"
Xavier shook his head. "No, he didn't tell us yet. And I'm not going to pry. We must give him time to adjust to life here, and then we will see if he is ready to tell us.
"Well," Xavier continued, "Why don't you two head down to the living room and meet up with the others. I'll be down shortly to introduce Simon." Logan and Ororo nodded and left the room.
The professor placed his fingers to his temples to send out a telepathic message to everyone. "Everyone, could you please meet in the living room for an important announcement?"
Through the hallways of the mansion, up staircases and down again, and opening the occasional door, Scott, Jean, and Rogue walked towards Simon's room, Simon himself in tow, hauling his luggage in his arms and over his shoulders. Scott and Jean were leading the way, as Rogue maintained her position by Simon's side.
As they walked through the hallways, Simon was taking the opportunity to see the sights. He would have been lying if he said this house didn't impress him. IN fact, he was nothing short of astounded right now. For one thing, this was fancier than any house he had been in during his life. Even his own, house, which had been a mansion itself was half as large as this one. And not to mention perhaps 25 percent less fancy. Everything was so elaborately decorated and arranged, as if paid butlers and maids kept this place squeaky clean every second of every day. Oil paintings, fine furniture, so many things that Simon knew could only be owned by a wealthy person were in abundance here, along with busts and chandeliers as well. This mansion was one of a kind.
One of a kind in more ways that one. Simon was even more impressed with the facilities he had seen deep underground below the mansion, the metal corridors, the massive hanger built into the side of the cliff, and finally the X-Jet. Simon had been temped to ask the Professor how the hell he managed to afford such a piece of technology, but didn't. Xavier had seemed like a resourceful sort of man, more resourceful than the presidents of most business companies. Simon still thought that stuff was so state-of-the-art that perhaps it shouldn't even be made yet. But he pushed all his wonders aside. If he wondered anymore, he was sure to have brain pain from over exerting his thoughts.
"This is some place," said Simon, "I was expecting this school to be like an academy sort of place, some military school example, not in a mansion with more state-of-the-art tech stuff than the CIA, and not to mention its own jet. I never expected to see a jet like yours in my life."
Rogue looked surprised at that. "Really? That's what you were expecting?"
A shrug was Simon's response. "Maybe," he said.
"What do yah mean by 'maybe?'" she asked, a little confused by his answer.
"Well, Mr. Xavier said it was a school, so I thought in terms of dorms, classrooms, maybe even a lab for experiments or two here and there. But since this was a school for mutants, my mind just did a lot of twists and turns on me."
"Well, this school has all that an' more," said Rogue, "It has a pool, gym, weight room, tennis court, and a lot of other nifty stuff yah might enjoy." Rogue found she liked the exercise rooms a lot, which she used to help vent her anxiety or frustration then she felt it, which apparently was more often than she wanted to admit. If Simon had a lot of pent up energy in him, which she wouldn't be surprised at given the nature of his powers, he might be putting those things to good use.
Scott only laughed at Simon. "Trust me dude," said Scott, "You've seen nothing yet." Scott was looking forward to seeing how Simon would react to the abilities of the Danger Room, which was probably the most advanced piece of equipment in the mansion, except of course for Cerebro. He was really wondering how Simon would react to seeing that machine. If Simon fainted from sheer overwhelming awe, he wouldn't have been surprised.
Simon gave Scott a look. "Why do I have the feeling that's an understatement."
"Scott likes to give new recruits a little cautious warning of what's to come," said Jean, "
"Professor Xavier has a lot of sources that allow him to get his hands on all the stuff we use here at the institute," said Scott, "He's always on the look out for things that could improve our systems and machines. That cloaking device you saw on the Blackbird was the latest upgrade he gave the Blackbird. He thinks of something that will improve things, he does it right away."
"I'm not even gonna ask," said Simon. Scott was about to ask what he wasn't going to ask about, but thought better of it.
Finally, they arrived at a door on the side of the hall. Scott pointed to it. "Here we are," he said, "This will be your room, Simon." He opened the door and led the group inside.
The three X-Men looked as a look of surprise came over Simon's face as he saw his new living quarters. Simon was totally not expecting to have a room like this one. The room was much larger than he anticipated, over twice as large as his old room back home. The bed was nice and large and had a quilt and blanket that looked as comfy as soft silk to the touch. There was even a large dresser for cloths with a large mirror he could use to tidy himself up in the morning after getting out of bed all scruffy and sleep-ruffled. There was even a large stereo and speakers.
"Well, What do you think?" asked Scott, "You like it?" He smiled at Simon's amazed face. It was almost humorous. Jean and Rogue were smiling too.
"This-is cool!" Simon said, "I was expect to get a fairly decent room here, but not this." He looked all around the room, taking in every nook, every cranny, every detail, every single line, feature, and point. "Man, this makes my old room look like a hotel suite."
"I see you like it," said Jean, still smiling.
"Oh, yeah," Simon agreed. He went to the window and opened it to get a glimpse of the outside view. The view provided him a fantastic sight of Bayville, seeing the tallest buildings towering over the tops of the trees of the forest that surrounded the mansion. Everything was so clear it was hard to describe. But what was more, it even had a balcony, which was the last thing in the world Simon expected to find out here. He could definitely get used to this.
"You know," said Simon as he walked back to where he had placed his bags near the foot of his bed, "I think I'm going to like it here."
That only got Scott, Jean, and Rogue to feel more at ease around him. Simon was really showing there was more to his personality that one-sided gruffness.
"I should hope so," said Scott.
Simon opened one of his bags and took out what Rogue saw was a picture frame on a stand. Since the back was facing her, she couldn't quite see who was in it. But Simon was looking at whom it presented. He was looking at it deeply, as if he felt a deep connection to it. After staring at the photo in the picture, he went to his dresser and placed it on it. Once that was done, he started to empty his bags onto this bed so that he could sort things out and put them away.
As Jean and Scott watched Simon sort a few things out, Rogue went to the dresser, curious as to whom the picture was of. She wasn't sure if Simon minded, but she was curious enough to do it.
She carefully picked up the silver frame to see the photo. What she saw made her narrow her eyes in confusion. There were to people in the photograph. One was Simon, wearing a midnight dress jacket over what looked like a golden dress shirt with a golden silk tie. He looked slightly younger than he did now and he was smiling brightly, his eyes filled with happiness. Rogue was a little confused, for in the time since meeting Simon she hadn't seen his eyes become filled with any sort of emotion like that.
But the part about the photo that really got Rogue's attention was that there was a girl in the picture with Simon, wearing a somewhat revealing dress of bright pink material with spaghetti straps over her shoulders. But more attention getting still was that the girl looked a lot like Jean, beautiful, clear-skinned, with long bright red hair falling past her shoulders. But unlike Jean, her eyes were bright blue instead of green. She was also smiling brightly, with love and admiration.
Lines slashed themselves in Rogue's brow as she stared at the photograph. Sudden images of Jean came flaring through her mind once more, ones she preferred to forget, but always had them with her not matter how hard she tried to forget them. Jean was popular, beautiful, well liked, athletic, and also admired by others. Everything Rogue wasn't. In times past, Rogue had been somewhat hurt seeing Scott with Jean, kissing, hugging, doing things she herself could never do thanks to her "gift." Rogue would never say it out loud, but she was jealous of Jean's social status.
A slight ache came to Rogue's heart as she thought of those times, one of them being mere hours ago at the pool party. Seeing Simon with this unknown girl sort seemed like a mockery that was taunting her. It was unjustified, but it was there nonetheless.
Two shadows came over Rogue. She looked over he shoulders to see Scott and Jean had joined her, and were looking at Simon and the unknown girl's faces.
"Who's that?" asked Scott quietly.
"Ah don't know," said Rogue, feeling a little uptight for some unjustified reason. She handed to picture to Scott.
Scott looked at the photograph for a few moments. "Simon, who's this?" he asked, turning to face the blond-haired boy.
Hearing Scott ask him a question, Simon looked up from putting a portable laptop computer on his bedside table. He looked at Scott with confusion for a second, then saw the picture in Scott's hand. He felt a lump in his throat develop as the girl there caught his gaze, as if often did when he looked at it. Simon asked himself for the seventh time that night on why he had brought that with him. Honestly, he wasn't sure why. Maybe he should have left it behind.
The others couldn't help but notice Simon swallow hard. His eyes grew dim. He let out a breath before he talked. "Her name's Kimberly Bloom," he said quietly.
"Is she a friend of yours?" asked Jean.
Simon shook his head. "She's my girlfriend. Well… she used to be."
Surprise washed over the faces of the three X-Men as they looked at Simon. "'Used to be?'" asked Scott, not liking the way that sounded.
"We---broke up two years ago," said Simon, his voice still soft, as if it hurt to speak, "We…didn't part on the best of terms."
"Oh," said Scott, "I'm sorry to hear that."
Simon said nothing.
"What went wrong?" asked Jean.
Simon raised his eyes to Jean's, green met green with gaze. "I-I'd rather not talk about it," he said, a small spark of guilt and hurt in his voice. However, his eyes were hard, as if he was trying to discourage them from continuing.
Jean felt Simon's emotions. They were strong too. Even though Jean's telepathy was not as powerful as Xavier's it was still pretty strong. If a person had strong enough feelings, those were projected, just like thoughts that were thought about to "loudly." Jean didn't like the feel of the emotions she sensed in Simon. She immediately knew it wouldn't be wise to further the conversation. Scott did to, for he knew what it was like to not want to discuss painful issues. But still, he was curious as to why Simon was acting like this.
Rogue couldn't help but notice Simon was stiff in the posture. She took that as a sign that he hated having this conversation, like she didn't enjoy speaking about herself in terms of her powers. She took that cue and snatched the picture from Scott's hand, placing it back on the dresser. "Weh understand," she said, trying to help Simon regain his previous mood.
Simon only nodded.
Seeing Simon react that way made it clear to all three of them he didn't want to talk about it. With that, they dropped it right then and there, almost like a collective mental decision.
After a few awkward moments, Scott tried to talk a gain on a different subject. "Well, Simon, do you want to head down and meet up with the rest of the students?" he asked.
Simon considered that for a moment and didn't respond right away. For a few seconds he was silent, as if he was thinking. Then he said, "I'd like to tidy myself up quickly first," he said, "Make myself presentable."
Rogue was a little confused by that, for he looked presentable enough. Hell, even the scrap he got from Evan's little act was almost invisible, indication that maybe Evan's harpoon, as sharp as it was, had only lightly scraped the skin. Otherwise, he looked in tiptop shape. But she could understand it.
"No problem," said Jean, "Once your ready to meet up, we'll see you down there."
Simon nodded. "Alright."
Scott, Jean, and Rogue then headed for the door so that they could make their way down to the living room where everyone was waiting to meet their new recruit. But just as they were about to leave, Simon's voice stopped them.
"Uh, guys," he said suddenly.
The three X-Men turned around, wondering what Simon could have to say. "Yeah?" asked Scott.
Simon stood there with a look of careful composure on his face, like he was readying himself to say something he wasn't really ecstatic to say. The look in his eyes revealed genuine sincerity. "I-I just wanted to say…I'm sorry for throwing all those blasts at you back at the docks. I freaked when you "lifted" me and just lost control. I didn't really mean to go all out blaster on you."
Scott and the others were a little caught off guard by Simon's apology for using his powers on them. Given Simon's attitude, they were not expecting that sort of thing at all from him. They didn't know of many mutants who would do something like this. Evan Daniels, Mr. Calcium Cannon Cowboy, sure wouldn't. It was also fairly certain that Bobby Drake or Ray Crisp wouldn't be so anxious to expressed regret for using powers. Even Tabitha herself might not show a lot of thought on that issue. All the same, Scott felt relieved and better from Simon's words, as did Rogue and Jean.
Scott smiled at his new teammate. "Yeah," he said gently, "Don't do that again. I can understand that you got freaked. But we all make mistakes. That's one reason why we're here. To learn to avoid making them."
Simon seemed to brighten at that. "Thanks. I just felt a little bad about sending those beams your way," Simon told them, "I just lost my control."
Jean only smiled at Simon as well. "Simon, don't feel uptight. We understand, so no hard feelings."
The words seemed to make Simon relax more. "Thank you," he said carefully, "Anyway, those were some pretty wicked red beams you had there, Scott." He smiled a little on that last sentence.
Both of Scott's eyebrows arched at that comment. He wasn't expecting that line either. Simon was definitely deeper than once thought of. Scott was starting to wonder why he even thought Simon might be a little like Duncan Matthews. He wasn't like that football player at all. Scott now felt like he and Simon just might get along.
The young deputy leader then let out a small laugh. "Thanks, Man," he said, "But you had some pretty bad blue beams that could give mine a run for their money."
"Want a rematch some time soon?" asked Simon with a teasing smirk, "After I get a little practice?"
Scott and Jean just burst out laughing at that. Even Rogue herself couldn't stop her smile from forming. "Maybe," said Scott, bringing a slight smile from Simon. "But I'll probably beat you again easily with no problems," he added quickly, a sly smile forming on his face as he spoke. Simon's green eyes widened at that. He was so not expecting Scott to say that. Rogue smirked and Jean just laughed at that.
"Is that a promise, Four-Eyes?" asked Simon, suddenly smiling threateningly at other boy, "You know that they say 'an eye for an eye.' Or in your case and mine, 'an eye blast for an eye blast.'"
"Oh, you got something big in that mind of yours, Energizer?" Scott shot back with his own name for Simon, his confident tone and smile growing more and more obvious, "Because I've got something even bigger."
Jean decided she just had to intervene before Scott "Cyclops" Summers and Simon "Raiden" Valley went into an all out verbal match to try and outdo the other, as males of all ages were known to do. Even though she would have much preferred them doing that sort of match rather than playing knock-your-opponent-down with optic blasts, she really didn't feel up to any sparing between the two teenage mutants. "Will you two geniuses just stop and think for a second?" she barged in, getting her laughter under control, "You'll be trying to outdo one another all night."
Scott and Simon both looked at the redhead and sighed. "Fine," they both said at the exact same time. That caused them both to look back at one another and laugh. Rogue just had to shake her head and roll her eyes. Men!
"Well, Simon, we'll see you down stairs in a minute?" asked Scott after he regained his stance.
"Sure," Simon replied, "I'll see you real quick."
Rogue left the room, followed by Jean and Scott walking hand-in-hand, leaving Simon alone.
A lot of things went through Rogue's mind as she walked towards the living room with Scott and Jean and a lot of them were hard for her to even understand. Rogue thought about it a good hard way in order to understand things, just letting her thoughts overwhelm all other signals from the outside, except of course for her senses so she would know where she was going.
It had been quite a night, and maybe Rogue was having trouble deciding what she was thinking because she was tired. Honestly, she wouldn't have been surprised if Scott, Jean, Kurt, or even Logan was tired after the things that had happened. AS for their latest recruit, he was either tired, or simply packed to the brim with energy over excitement of his new surroundings.
Rogue had wondered if Simon ever had trouble sleeping at night because he was too energetic to settle down. Of course, the theory that was based on was that he powers acted like chemical stimulants to his system. However, Rogue had noticed that Simon didn't seem comfortable talking about powers, not his, not Scott's, not the Professor's, or anyone's. In fact, he hadn't seemed comfortable even knowing that powers existed, even if his own flesh and blood that contained the power-producing X-Gene was proof that never left his side, always proving powers were in the world and he had some of his own.
Powers, powers. Rogue suddenly was confused why she was thinking on the one subject so much. She hardly thought much about powers, if she could avoid it. She knew already that she wasn't on some power craze, but something was bugging her anyway. The only question was what.
The more Rogue thought about it, she finally came to a realization. And it was one she was not looking forward to. It was that sooner or later, hopefully later, the new member would ask or find out or be told about her own powers. If there was anything about her powers that she hated more other than its not allowing her to touch another human being it was the reactions she got from others who heard about it. She remembered the various reactions she got from people when the heard about her abilities. It followed a pattern that was now expected in every case. There would be a moment of silence, then looks of emotion on the face. Looks of pity or sympathy. Those were what she truly hated. Sometimes a phrase would accompany that reaction, such as "I'm sorry," or "That's freaky," or maybe even "Ouch." Rogue was getting frustrated with hearing those things over and over again. The hatred she had of the limitations her powers cursed her with seemed to grow with every "I'm sorry" and look of pity she got. And now, she was realizing that Simon was going to give her one. Another one. Just another in a long list. Could she handle it? Probably, but she didn't want to. She was robbed of something that so many people took for granted. That just proved to the world that it never knew what it had until it was lost.
She wasn't looking forward to when Simon found out. She just hoped that it could be put off for as long as possible.
That hope had just about been pushed away when the three X-Men reached the living room where everyone was waiting. The New Mutants, just as the three of them had predicted were all wide-awake and lively. Being so young, it was only logical to suspect that they would be up for as late as possible. Kids will be kids!
Beast, Wolverine, and Storm were there as well, keeping close watch over the peppy young mutants to make sure they were not causing too much damage to the house with their powers, lest they use them for a little prank.
"Oh hey, there you are Rogue," said Kitty, noticing her roommate approaching where she sat along with Tabitha, Amara, and the rest of the girls at the institute, "Where were you just now?"
Rogue shrugged, "We were just helping him get settled into his new room," said Rogue.
"Hey, Rogue!" Tabitha, the blonde fun-loving wild girl of the institute, leaped into the conversation, like she known to do, "What's all this about?"
"I was hoping to know that myself," said Jubilee, "It's not everyday the Professor has us gather at this time of night."
Unknown to Jubilee, Beast heard her. "The Professor has good reasons for the things he does, Jubilation," he said, "But I think you'll like this gathering."
"Yeah, what's so great about a gathering?" asked Ray, was seated near his buddies, Sam, Bobby, Roberto, and Jamie, "I mean, what's in a gathering?" Ray pretty much had a habit of wanting to know what was going on with things when they were going on. With gatherings like this, he was not fond of them, as most of the other New Mutants were.
"We've got a new member. He's coming down here to meet the rest of us," said Scott, trying to take on his leader role by making everyone feel as at home as possible.
Tabitha's eyes lit up at that. Amara, Jubilee, and Rahne merely looked interested. "A new guy?" she asked in her happy cool manner, "Is he cute?"
Rogue rolled her eyes at that comment. "You always hope that new guys have looks Tabitha," said Kitty, "Why don't you just give that a break."
"I don't know," said Jubilee, "I sure wouldn't mind having another guy around."
"What's he like?" asked Amara.
"Well," said Rogue, "He's pretty mysterious one since weh don't know much about em. But he seems alright. Though, he can beh a little hotheaded."
Bobby's ears perked at the mention of that. Then he smiled, "That sounds like you, Rogue," he said, chuckling.
Rogue snapped her head to look at Bobby. "Don't go there, Ice Cube," she said warningly.
Bobby started all out laughing as Rogue felt her cheeks grow hot. Ray and Roberto started chuckling as well.
"Rogue, Yuir face is getting red, lass!" said Rahne, giggling at Rogue's condition. Amara started giggling as well, as teasing smile on her tan skinned face.
"I hate to say this, Rogue," said Kitty, a smile on her race, "But they're right. That IS kinda like you."
"Don't push it, Kitty," said Rogue, even though she felt herself on the verge of laughing. She was about to say something when Sam beat her to it.
"So what's this new guy's powers?" asked Sam.
"I'll tell you right off ze bat," said Kurt, "He'z got extreme powers."
Ray and Bobby seemed interested in Kurt's remark. "Extreme? As in how?" asked Bobby.
"Well," said Jean, standing next to Scott as he watched over the younger mutants, "He can shoot energy of all sorts from his hands and eyes."
"You mean, he has optic blasts like Scott?" asked Jamie.
"Yeah, but he can shoot energy from his hands too," said Scott.
"He doesn't have electricity in that does he?" asked Ray. When Scott nodded, Ray puffed out his chest. "Ha, I could outdo him in that apartment any day."
"Yeah you wish," said Evan, "This dude has bolts way more extreme than yours."
"Since when?" asked Ray.
"Trust meh," said Rogue, "he does."
Bobby and Roberto started to snicker at Ray. "Well, I guess your status as our number one source of charges is out," said Roberto.
"You may want to move over, Ray," said Bobby, smirking.
"I don't do that!" said Ray defensively, "Maybe I'll challenge him to a little duel to see whose got the bigger bolts." Kitty and Rogue both groaned. Ray could be so competitive sometimes.
"What else can he do?" asked Amara.
"Well," said Kitty, "he can like make his energy do all sorts of effects. He can make shatter something. Or to act like a lightning bolt. Or to make something explode happens. And then there was another case where he made it act like heat and melt solid stone."
Amara's deep brown eyes looked a little surprised at that, and intrigued as well. She wasn't sure about this new guy, but it sounded like maybe they would have someone on the team with powers similar to hers.
"Hey, Amara," said Jubilee, "Maybe if this guy can turn his entire body into heat, maybe the two of you could do a little Nova Roman dance, mutant heat style!" She gave her friend a small wink.
"Gee," said Amara, feeling a little embarrassed, "I don't know about that." Amara, being a princess from a kingdom outside the rest of the world, was still adjusting to life here. And that included, the teenage cool suggestions the other girls made for her. She was often unprepared for them.
"I think that's a great idea!" exclaimed Tabitha, a big smile on her face, "A hot girl with a hot guy! Doin' the Mutant Fire Tango!"
"Tabitha!" gasped Amara.
"Oh come on, girl. You gotta live a little!"
"Not to worry," said Bobby, "This guy gets too hot for us, I'll cool him off!" To make his point he made his fist into ice.
"Whoa," said Scott suddenly, "Lets not rush the pranks on this guy, okay."
Bobby sighed and nodded. Leave to Scott to take the fun out of everything.
"Attention everyone," Xavier's voice suddenly reached everyone's ears "I would like to introduce you all to our new student." The students turned to see Xavier wheel himself into the room, and immediately everyone's attention rested on the tall, blond boy with the penetrating green eyes walking in beside him, whom none of the new mutants had seen before.
Many faces were before Simon, some of the X-Men he had meet earlier that night, along with many faces that were new to him. Of all the faces he noticed, the one that really got his attention the most was that of a big, blue, furry man who had big fangs, feet that were like those of a tree-climbing primate, and arms that were longer than his legs, much like that of a gorilla. In fact, he even supported himself on his knuckles, like a gorilla did when it walked around. Having hear of Hank McCoy from the other X-Men on the way here from Washington, as well as hearing about his appearance and having seen Kurt in his natural form already, Simon was able to keep his surprise in check, even though he was amazed at the sight of Beast.
"This," Xavier told everybody, motioning to Simon, "is Simon Valley, from Moonriver Falls, Washington. He's agreed to enroll here at the institute." A series of cheers came from several people, mostly the New Mutants. Even Kitty and Kurt gave a little applause as well.
"So," said Xavier, after the small applause had quieted down, "For those of you whom Simon hasn't met yet, why not introduce yourselves."
With that, the New Mutants started to introduce themselves. One by one, they said hello to Simon personally and gave him their name. It finally ended with Hank, who gave him not only his human name, but also his codename as well saying "For obvious reasons." That got several people to laugh at that.
Once that was done, Simon was invited to tell them a little about himself. Simon had been center stage fro over four times in one night now. Yet, this time, it seemed easier than last. Maybe doing it over and over again was making it easier. He told them a little on his life, saying of how he was from Washington, had moved over three times in the past seven years due to the nature of his parents' careers, and also that he enjoyed martial arts and long walks at night for exercise.
Once Simon was finished, one of the new mutants, Tabitha, spoke up. "So, Simon," she said in her usual carefree voice, "Why not give us a little demo of powers?"
Simon's eyebrows shot to his forehead, as did Scott and Jean's. "Um, sorry," replied Simon in an apologetic tone, "but that would make a mess of things." That seemed to get Tabitha to accept it pretty fast but the others didn't.
"Come on," said Bobby, "Show us a beam or something. It won't hurt."
Logan and Storm were shaking their heads. Logan had guessed that the new mutants might want to see what Simon could do. Logan however had seen what he could do and he agreed with Simon entirely. It WOULD make a mess of things.
"Look, Bobby," said Jean, "Simon's powers are like Scott's. They're not exactly the 'indoor-friendly' type."
"You should listen to Jean," agreed Simon, "She's right."
"Well surely there's something that's not too destructive you can show us," said Jubilee, "Maybe a little change or something."
As this was going on, Kitty was thinking on what Simon could do to show the new recruits an example of his powers. She thought of his making a blade out of himself, which wouldn't hurt anything unless he tried to cut something with it. But then, another idea struck her. They had seen Simon use his energy morphing powers, but the professor had said he also had a secondary mutation that allowed him to surround himself with a living exoskeleton of armor. She hadn't seen that, and neither had any of the others. She had been curious as to what he looked like in his armor, and now seemed like the perfect time, when he could show everyone at once. And besides, it wouldn't hurt anything.
"Hey, Simon," said Kitty in an excited tone.
Simon looked at the valley girl. "Yes?"
"How about you show us your armor? We never got to see what that looked like."
Evan's face got a similar look. "Yeah man, I was wondering what that's like."
"You got armor?" asked Jamie, surprised by that statement, "Cool! Let us see it!"
"Ja," added Kurt, "love zhat idea!"
Despite of all the excited voices, Simon suddenly looked nervous. His eyes were slightly wide, and his mouth slightly open. "Uh-well," he said in a hesitant voice, "I-I don't know."
Ray didn't see to like his tone. He spoke up then. "Come on, Man! What's wrong with a little suit of protection?"
"Well," Simon explained, "It's just that I look kind of-of--," he paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word to use, "freaky when I'm armored up." However, that only seemed strengthen the other mutants' curiosity.
"Sounds cool," said Bobby, as impatient as ever, "I wouldn't mind seeing that."
"Yeah," added Jubilee, "I mean, take a look at Kurt. He's looks a little out of the ordinary." She then quickly turned to Kurt, hoping that he wasn't too offended by that. "No offense intended," she said quickly to him.
Kurt only smiled. "None taken," he said gently, to the Asian girl. Jubilee winked at him to say 'you're welcome.'
"No, trust me," said Simon, holding out his hand, "Kurt doesn't look half as weird as I do when I'm armored." But as before, that only made the students ever more eager to see him armored up. Simon was beginning to guess that nothing he did would stop the New Mutants from asking him until he finally showed them.
"Sounds cool," said Jamie.
"Come on," pouted Tabitha, making a little pouty face that she hoped would convince Simon, "We're tough. We can handle it."
"So," said Kitty, "Let's see it. We all want to. And I'm sure the professor wouldn't mind." At that last sentence, she looked over to Xavier. "Would you, Professor?"
Xavier was thinking on that. It seemed alright to him. After all, it sounded like Simon wouldn't hurt anything with that power. He was, however a little uncertain with supporting the New Mutants when Simon himself was not too keen on showing them. It was Simon's choice. He really shouldn't force Simon to do that if he really didn't feel like it. Xavier sure wasn't up to another long session of begging from the New Mutants. He'd been through that before, and it had been one headache after another. Rising kids could give a person a lot of head hurt, but rasing kids with mutant powers made it even worse. Still, he felt that he needed to say that they needed to respect Simon's wishes and let him be. But before he could speak, Simon spoke up again, with a sigh in his voice.
"Okay, you win," he surrendered to their requests, "I'll show you."
"Great!" Tabitha and Amara did a high-five and Bobby and Ray grinned at each other. Jamie on the other hand was shaking with excitement to see this. And so was Kitty.
"You may want to stand back, Professor," Simon warned, "My transformation is pretty extreme."
"I understand," said Xavier, and wheeled himself away several feet.
Everyone was now looking at Simon, eagerly awaiting to see him in his armored state. A select few were nervous, not knowing what to expect. But their excitement overshadowed it tremendously. Simon looked over the sea of eyes staring at him, and took a deep breath. "Here goes," he said.
No sooner that Simon said that, the transformation began. Simon's eyes turned cobalt blue, then glowed and grew featureless. Then the blue energy spread like a living blanket from his eyes over his face, then it covered his entire head. But even then, the flashing energy kept going. It enveloped his shoulders, arms, hands, torso, legs. Within the span of only one or two seconds, Simon's entire body had turned into living energy, bearing only the most superficial features of a humanoid figure. Then, as everybody watched, a small cloud of energy appeared at Simon's feet, and then rose over his feet to his legs, going higher and higher like a puff of glowing blue smoke. Once it reached Simon's head, it vanished. In less than three seconds, the change was complete and Simon stood there in his armored state . And the sight was more than enough to make everyone's eyes widen.
The armor was a glassy black carapace, composed of a keratin/chitin polymer interlaced with organic nanofibers of carbon and silicon. It covered every part of his body, even his head, face, hands, and feet, like a one-piece, all-body, form-fitting jumpsuit. Though mostly black, the armor had what looked embossed patches of glowing blue crystal on it. There was a small blue patch on each forearm, triceps, outer thigh and calf, with a sumac leaf-shaped one over each pectoral, an egg-shaped one over his solar plexus, and two oval ones with a hollow in the center were on the upper back sides of his head. But perhaps the most striking part was his face. In this form, he had no hair, ears, or nose. His eyes were no longer green, but bright blue with no visible irises or pupils, and were twice their former size and shaped slightly different. Originating from the forehead was a pointed, horn-like crest that curved over the top of Simon's armored skull, like that of a Parasaurolophis duckbill dinosaur. His lipless mouth was lined with jagged chrome-colored fangs that extended from the edges of his jaws like steel spines. All the teeth were the same length, except for the canine teeth, which were twice as long as the others.
Simon stood before them in all his armored glory, not looking human in the slightest. The light from the overhead lamps made his exoskeleton gleam like polished obsidian armor. Everyone was finding it hard to believe that they were actually looking at a human being.
"Well, there you go," Simon spoke out in a deeper, slightly metallic voice. As he spoke, the X-Men could see the inside of his fang-rimmed mouth, and the interior was flaring blue and glowing, just like his eyes.
For a few minutes, no one spoke. Then finally, Rogue managed, "Whoa!"
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Scott commented.
"Vhoa is right!" said Kurt softly, his eyes wide with surprise.
It was then that other started to regain their voices, even though they were still struck by Simon's radical change. They were expecting Simon to change in a noticeable way, but this was more drastic than they had imagined. They weren't surprised that Simon was able to transform himself. Lots of mutants could do that. It was just they were not expecting a change like this. Simon had not been exaggerating when he said that when he was armored, he looked a lot weirder than Kurt did.
"DUDE!" Jamie suddenly shouted, "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!"
Even Logan seemed a little surprised by Simon's change. "Quite a change you got there kid," he said, shaking his head.
Xavier could see why Simon had been hesitant to show everyone this power. He made a mental note to tell Simon later to never use that power in view of the non-mutant public.
Simon turned his gaze to Scott. As earlier that night, he saw everyone in the same golden glow as the X-Men had appeared to him. Everyone was glowing gold. The question as to why that was came to his mind, but he figured now was not the best time to ask about it. There would be plenty of time later on.
"That would be a great costume for Halloween!" remarked Bobby, "You'd scare the pants off of everyone who saw you! You look like some sort of alien cyborg terminator!" He started laughing at that. Sam and Ray started laughing too.
"Now why would I use this on Halloween?" asked Simon, looking at them with his big eyes. There was a tone of disproval in his voice.
Scott was about to tell Bobby that that wasn't funny when Xavier stepped in again. "Alright everyone, that's enough," he said. He looked to Simon's armored form. "You can shut your power off now, Simon."
"Gladly," answered Simon. His armored epidermis then retracted down his body, leaving his energy body underneath exposed. Then the energy retracted to his eyes, and then vanished once all of it reached there. Simon was looking human again. Once more, the change was so drastic it was hard to take it in.
"Okay everyone. I think it's time we all head for bed. Simon has had a long journey and I believe he would like some time to rest. You can all see him again in the morning."
"You got that right professor," said Simon, "I'm beat."
Scott let out a yawn as well. "That sound good to me too," he added.
Tabitha looked at Simon as if he were crazy. "Oh come on, Simon," she protested, "How in the world could an energy lord like you need sleep."
Simon only smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, Tabitha, but even the master of energy needs to recharge his batteries."
Pleased with how well the introduction had gone, everyone then headed off to their rooms to turn in for the night.
The presence knew he was coming. It could sense him. His thoughts, his life. He was coming closer. It merely sat and waited. No one would see it. No one knew it was here. It was as good as not even being there to those who dwelled in the mansion.
It watched and waited, and then, just like it had felt, the doorway of the room it was looking into opened. The new X-Man, Raiden as they called him, came into the room, looking groggy and tired. It watched carefully, feeling totally calm, as Raiden had no idea it was here, watching him.
Raiden took off his black turtleneck and stood in shorts and a black tank top. After stretching himself out, he pulled himself into bed and turned off the light, leaving the room dark as the night outside.
But of course, the entity's evil was darker than even the pitch blackest night. It would be so easy to take the revenge on the one person here whom the entity hated. So easy, so tempting. But yet, it couldn't. Not just yet. It would spoil the plan that was being put in motion tonight. In addition, if it attacked that hated rival now, it wouldn't have the defeat on him that the presence so desperately craved. It wanted to see the shock, the anger, the fear in its prey's eyes. It would need to wait in order to get that chance. And of course, it wanted to look into Xavier's eyes to see the fear and astonishment there before it pushed Xavier's consciousness into the cold, endless, shapeless void of the Astral Plane. But now there was nothing else to do other than rejoin its other part
With that thought in mind, the invisible psychic form of the Shadow King's essence moved away from the window and flew off.
He could see the mansion, through the trees. And feel it as well. Feel the thoughts inside, the emotions, the bond he had formed with a few students there to do his stealing. He had to be careful to conceal his power, lest the two psychics of the X-Men learn he was here.
Mesmero heard a slight groan next to him, coming from the stone-still body of the Shadow King. Mesmero looked at his demonic companion, and realized his spirit was returning to his body. The red glow of the Shadow King's eyes returned, and he let out a long breath of air that formed a slight fog in the cool atmosphere of the forest. The Shadow King took a few moments to gather his bearings, then looked at his tattooed partner.
"Is he here?" asked Mesmero in a calm and indifferent voice.
"Yes," answered Shadow King, "Their predictions of those calculations were more accurate than I predicted."
"I must admit I had my own doubts on this," said Mesmero, "This was not my first choice option to determine the right course of action. But it is affective nonetheless."
The Shadow King and Mesmero looked back to the Xavier mansion, red hatred burning in their eyes. Of the two, Shadow King had the more powerful anger. And of course, Mesmero knew why. He himself didn't have such hatred for Xavier, for he wasn't force to live out ten years in the Astral Plane.
"I would have been so easy to simply take him by surprise and finish him," said Shadow King, balling up one of his blue, scaly, clawed hands into a dragonish fist.
"Patience, my friend," Mesmero tried to warn him of their position, "We cannot attack them. It will put our true plans to ruin. Besides, the fruits of our victory will taste the sweetest when we harvest them at just the right time."
The Shadow King looked at his tattooed, telepathic ally. He lowered his fist. "You are right," he said in his dark voice, "We must tell them that now all the pieces of the puzzle are in one spot."
"Yes," Mesmero agreed, "Now that all the pieces of the puzzles are in the same location, all that is required is to put them together. They will be pleased to know that their predictions of time were accurate."
The Shadow King laughed a dry cold laugh that matched his hellish face. "Indeed."
Well, folks, there you have it! Stay tuned for later chapters to find out more on what lies ahead! I hope this chapter helped make the story more complex that it seemed before because that was my intention. Also, I'm going to put this fic on hold for a little bit after this chapter so I can do an update for my other fic. I'd like to keep it balanced and I'll try to not keep you waiting too long. And, just in case you forgot, REVIEW and tell me what you think? Do you like this? Do you hate this? Why? I must know! I love comments on my work!