The Xavier Institute, New York, NY.
Four months later.
The Mansion had been easy enough to settle into. The curriculum was extremely varied, from the regular subjects, through to the odd subjects, like Automotive Repair, Applied Powers, and the regular training sessions held as team-building exercises. English was taught by Xavier, Maths and Physics by Mr. Summers, Chemistry and Biology by Dr. Grey, and History and Geography by Miss Munroe. The four teachers managed very well with a rolling timetable, and the classes were all tailored to fit the differing age groups. The oldest students at the Institute were eighteen, the youngest, ten. A more varied selection of mutations you couldn't hope to find. The youngest had a blue forked tongue. One of the other youngsters was able to change television channels by thought alone, demonstrating control over electromagnetic and radio waves. Another boy could walk on water. Siryn, one of the girls, emitted a piercing, high-decibel shriek that was used for incapacitating people. Marc got to know them all over the next four months.
John had been watching from the sidelines as Marc and Bobby both skated around the pool at high speed. Bobby looked a little unsettled at just how good a skater Marc was. "What's the matter, Icepop? Annoyed that someone's challenging your area of mastery?"Bobby just looked at him.
John held up his hands defensively. "Just saying…" He turned to Marc. "Moving swiftly on… isn't' it your birthday in a few days time?"
"Oh…yeah!" said Marc. "I'd forgotten that. July 25th, four days from now. It's a shame I won't be back at the Embassy for that."
Marc, do you have a moment?
Sure, Professor, what's up?
I was wondering if you'd like to invite your parents up to see how you're doing for your birthday. Kitty Pryde's parents are coming from Illinois, and as she has the same birthday as you, I thought we could make something of a party for you both.
Wow! Yes, please, Professor! Can I call them tonight?
Certainly, Marc. Ask them to be here for the early afternoon, as I'm sure you'll want to spend as much time as possible with them.
As the mental contact faded, both Bobby and John looked at him.
"And just when you think that all is bad, the gods of Fate smile on you," he said, a grin on his face. At their blank expressions, he explained further. "The professor's just contacted me skull-to-skull to let me know I can have my parents up for my birthday, which is also Kitty's birthday! How's that for fortune?"
The other two broke out into broad grins. "That's excellent," said John. "It'll be nice to see them again. They always had a nice word for me."
"What, ratbag?" asked Bobby jokingly. A small stream of fire made its lazy way over, heralded by the click of the lighter. Bobby formed an ice shield and warded it off. They both stopped before one of the teachers could come running to yell at the pair of them.
"But seriously, how cool is that?" asked Bobby. "I just wish that I could get my parents to come here, but that's never gonna happen."
"What, don't they know you're going to Mutant High?" asked Marc. Bobby grimaced.
"They think this is a prep school. I told them it was a prep school that didn't require parental fees, and therefore parental input. They think I'm paying my way through by having a weekend job and helping out."
"Which I suppose is fairly close to the truth," said Marc. "I mean, you're not exactly lazing away the days, are you? And it is prepatory, just not in the way they think." He smiled, marvelling at Bobby's quick thinking. "Come on, I smell food. Let's get there before Jamie snags all the best seats."
The next three days passed quickly, with little in the way of incidents. On the 25th, however, Marc awoke late, to find that his trainers seemed to have been caught in a battle between Bobby and John. They lay in a smoking, steaming heap of burnt fabric and melted rubber just outside the doors. He shifted to a panther, picked up the shoes in his teeth, and tracked them both down. He had discovered this by accident, when trying to shift into Lockheed, and successfully managed it. He had then covertly tried out other animal forms, but only told the professor about this. For the others it would be a surprise. He had also found out that he retained the telepathy when in animal forms.
They were outside, sitting by the pool in the brilliant July sunshine. They failed to notice the giant black cat that was stalking them from the shrubbery. With a snarl, he leapt forward, jumping clear over the two boys and landing three feet in front of them, body tensed, ears flat, snarling. The trainers fell from the big cat's mouth, unnoticed by the two boys in their petrified state. He held the pose, snarling continually for about ten seconds.
The next time you want to have a fight, leave my trainers out of it!
"M…M…Marc?" asked Bobby shakily. He had gone sheet-white at the sight of the cat, and was still trying to control his racing heart.
Of course it's me, you muppet, who else do you know that can shift?
"That's my point, Marc, no-one can do that. Why didn't you tell us?"
Must have slipped my mind, thought Marc, complacently. He dropped the snarling cat pose, and lay down, and started absently licking a paw. Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. The looks on your face, though? That's a priceless picture, right there. I just wish I had a camera.
He shifted back to his usual body, and sat up. He smiled at the other two teens, who were just recovering from the scare of their lives. He pointed to the trainers. "What happened? And why was my alarm turned off?"
"We had a powers fight earlier, I accidentally froze them and John decided that the quickest way to unfreeze them would be to melt the ice. But he didn't stop in time. Miss Munroe's going into Bayville later on to pick up some party supplies, so you could go to Foot Locker and get a new pair."
"Yeah, I'll do that," he said. He stood up, picked up the trainers, and walked round to the kitchen, where he dumped them in the trash. Going to find Miss Munroe, he located her in the Rec Room, supervising the placement of party decorations. A large banner with the words "Happy Birthday Kitty and Marc!" was being levitated into place by Jean. Piotr had armoured up and was holding Jubilee in place so that she could tack the poster into place. Marc lost count of the number of Jamies he saw running around, trailing paper streamers.
"Uh, Miss Munroe, if you're going into town later on, can I come along? It's just that I need to buy a new pair of trainers. Bobby and John destroyed my pair this morning."
"Certainly, Marc. I'll be leaving at ten o'clock. I won't be staying long, though, as Kitty's parents will need picking up from Bayville Train station. I'm meeting them there at eleven, and your parents are arriving at one in the afternoon. They have directions to get here, so there's no need to worry about them."
"Thanks, Miss Munroe, much appreciated," said Marc, and he ambled out, going to his room to find a pair of sandals.
Ororo took him into Bayville, and parked in the same car park as before. As she got out, she gave him the same warning that she had given him previously.
"No powers, Marc," she said. "Regardless of what you told me last time, I know something happened. As there were no mobs forming, I assume you dealt with it, but don't do it again."
Marc nodded. He walked into the mall, and made straight for Foot Locker. He picked out a pair of trainers, and paid for them, all in the space of five minutes. Taking them to the Starbucks, he ordered a tall Americano, and sat down outside, where he laced the trainers and put them on. He sat there, idly flipping through a newspaper when an old man with steel-grey hair sat down at the table next to him. He was joined by a giant of a man who wore a fur coat, made from the skins of what looked like bear, and a short, hunched man whose skin had an odd green tinge to it. An attractive blonde sat down to the right of the old man, and leant back in a confident manner. She was striking in her attractiveness. Had it not been for the fact that they were joined by the green man and the giant, Marc would have written them off as business associates.
What perked his interest, however, is that the old man and the woman both had psychic defences firmly in place.
The other two, however, didn't. Marc took the easy option, and quietly slid into the giant's mind. What he learned shook him to the core.
This was a meeting of Magneto, Sabertooth, Toad, and Mystique. The last name caused Marc's head to snap up, and reappraise the blonde. Marc listened with Sabertooth's ears.
"While I realise that this is not the most covert of meeting areas, the background noise should prevent us from being overheard. Now. Toad, is the machine ready?"
"Nearly, boss. I've just got a few more bugs to work out, then we'll be ready for a test run. Who've you got in mind?"
"Kelly. I've managed to get myself into the gallery for the upcoming debate, and I'll be watching. If that snivelling homo sapien hasn't changed his tune, then we'll go ahead and take him back to the island. What about the other?"
"Up in northern Canada," Sabertooth rumbled. "With another. I'm going to get both tonight. They'll both be on the island in a few days. The other one we can dispose of as and when."
"Good. Mystique?"
"I'll get the aide later, and take his place. This one's gonna be fun." She smiled, a cruel, cold, heartless smile, and Marc knew in that moment that all the stories he'd 'heard' of Mystique were most definitely true. She was completely ruthless.
He returned to the car, to find Ororo waiting for him. "Let's go."
"Miss Munroe? Can you tell me what happened to Mystique after she left?"
"I don't know what happened to her, Marc. All we know is that she took off after the Professor managed to stop Cyclop's blasts from destroying everything. She'd helped him through, but she'd not told him she was blue. It was a bit of a shock, which he handled badly, and she took off. She got revenge on him by sleeping with him, in Jean's form. Why do you ask?"
"Because I've just seen her in the mall with three people who are calling themselves Sabertooth, Toad and Magneto."
There was a squeal of brakes.
After Marc had peeled himself from the windscreen, he turned to face her. Her face was deathly pale, and she was shaking slightly. "Where?"
"In Starbucks, about five minutes ago. They were discussing something about a machine, an island, Senator Kelly, and two people up in Canada."
She fiddled with the air conditioner for a second, and Marc wasn't too surprised to see the panel retract and pop out a comm device like the one on the Blackbird. She held it out to him. "It's voice activated, just speak into it. Say the Professor's name to get a connection.
He took it from her hand, looked it over, then held it to his ear. "Professor Xavier," he said calmly.
There was a soft brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
"Yes, Storm, go ahead," asked the Professor's voice.
"Professor, it's Marc. Miss Munroe's asked me to contact you regarding some people I saw in the Bayville mall." Quickly, he gave a full report to the Professor, leaving out nothing.
"Thank you, Marc. I will have plans ready by the time you return to the Mansion. Oh, your parents are here, by the way, they showed up early. I'm having Kitty show them round, and if I'm not much mistaken…" there was a pause. "They are currently looking at the painting of Lockheed. I'll see you back here with Kitty's parents, all right?"
"No doubt, Professor," said Marc, and hung up. He replaced the device in the slort, and watched as the panel slid down to cover the device.
"Are all the cars kitted out like 007's?" asked Marc. She smiled.
"Only the teacher's ones, I'm afraid," she said.
They reached the Bayville train station ten minutes before the train from New York City pulled in. Kitty's parents had caught an interior flight from Chicago O'Hare to John F. Kennedy Airport, and then a train from NYC to Bayville. They were a smartly-dressed couple, and looked almost exactly like their daughter. They got in after exchanging pleasantries with Ororo and Marc. The drive back was spent with Marc answering questions.
"How long have you been at the Institute, Marc?" asked Mr. Pryde.
"About four months now," he replied. "I came here at the same time as another one of the students, St. John Allerdyce."
"Isn't he the pyrotechnic?" asked Mrs. Pryde.
Marc looked at Ororo. She nodded very slightly.
"Yes, he is," he said, the pause barely noticeable.
So they know?
They requested Charles' help for Katherine. She was phasing through things uncontrollably. More than once they had to retrieve her from a sewer. They know about the true purpose of the Institute, and they wholeheartedly support it.
"And what can you do, Marc? What's your ability?"
"I'm telepathic, telekinetic and metamorphic," he said. At that point, the car rolled through the gates, and stopped at the stone stairs leading up to the entrance. The Professor waited in his wheelchair, the Ambassador and his wife stood behind and to one side. Marc jumped out of the car and raced to his parents. "Mom! Dad!"
"Marc!" they both said, and hugged him. "Happy birthday. We've got your present, but you'll get it later. The Professor would like a word with you before."
"Follow me, Marc," he said, and turned back into the mansion.
What happened at the Mall?
As I told you, sir, there were four people there, Sabertooth, Toad, Magneto, and Mystique. They were talking about some kind of machine that Toad was going to test on Kelly, and two people that were in Canada that Sabertooth was going to collect. At a guess I'd say that Mystique will kill and take the place of Kelly's aide, but when they'll kidnap him I have no idea. Because he's so anti-mutant, he's got a near-permanent guard on him. The only time that that doesn't happen is when he flies. Aside from that, there's nothing else.
Marc noticed that they were heading to the lift that descended to the Hangar. But instead of turning and wheeling off to the hangar, Xavier went to the other end of the hall and stopped in front of a heavy metal door that was sealed shut. A beam of blue light lanced out to the professor's face, conducting a slow retinal scan, and then a heavily processed voice said, "Welcome, Professor." The door slowly slid apart, and Marc followed Xavier into a perfectly round room that featured a platform leading out to the exact centre of the room. Marc looked around and whistled. "What is this?" he asked, awestruck.
Xavier picked up an odd-shaped helmet and put it on. "This is Cerebro. It amplifies and magnifies my telepathy, allowing me to far extend my reach. I'm going to see if I can find these two people that Sabertooth spoke of. Now, don't move."
With that, the room dissolved. The panels disappeared, and were replaced by a holographic representation of the world, edged in white. There were millions, if not billions of tiny white pinpricks of lights, which Marc guessed to be representations of people. Suddenly, about a tenth turned red.
"What are the red ones?" asked Marc.
"Mutants," said Xavier simply.
The map rotated, until Canada was displayed in front of them. The focus sharpened, and the major population centres were discounted.
"He said something about it being Northern Canada, Professor."
The image changed again, this time displaying only the top half of the country. Two red dots in the display caught Marc's attention. "There, Professor, Alberta province. Right in the middle."
"I see it. All right. Now, let us see who they are."
The two dots expanded, taking on corporeal forms through the hologram. One was a young girl, not much older than Marc, the other, a man of indeterminate age. A third red dot was making its way towards them at high speed.
"Well, I think we've found them," said the professor. The map faded, the panels reappeared, and he removed the helmet. Replacing it on the console, he turned and headed for the door. He mentally called Scott and Ororo to his study.
"I've found two new mutants in a place called Laughlin City, in Canada. It's little more than a truck stop with a bar, but Sabertooth is on his way there now. If you can take the Jet and collect them, bring them back. Magneto wants one of them, but until we know which one, we'll take care of both. If you leave now, you can be there by late afternoon. I realise that you'll miss the party, and I deeply apologise, but-"
"We'll get the Jet prepped now, Professor. Save us some cake. Oh, and happy birthday, Marc," called Cyclops as he and Storm went for the elevator.
Marc and the Professor returned downstairs to find the party in full flow. Kitty had already opened her presents, and was now showing off the clothes she had gotten. A pile of wrapped parcels lay on one of the sofas, and everyone looked up as he entered the room. He was immediately besieged by well-wishers who pushed the presents at him. Opening them all, he soon amassed a complete ice-hockey kit, from gloves to pads, to brand-new stick. His profuse thanks were lost amid the noise of horns and party poppers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Blackbird rise from the basketball court, and turn north.
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The rest of the day passed in a blur. Too soon, it was time for his parents to say goodbye, for they had to attend a social dinner tomorrow and needed to get home early. It was nine p.m. before they left. Marc went to bed feeling extremely happy, and very tired. He worried about his parents on the drive home, but they had a quicker drive than him ahead, as there would be less traffic. The embassy driver pulled slowly out of the gates, and as the headlights disappeared down Greymalkin Lane, Marc watched from the steps.
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Later on, as he was getting ready for bed, his roommates Bobby and John walked in. They were all dead on their feet, and quickly stripped down to shorts and t-shirts and fell into bed. Marc remembered to set his alarm clock just before he slept. It had been his best birthday to date.
The drive back to the embassy took a little over four hours. The car drove serenely up to the front entrance, and a man took their coats as they went into the building. They failed to notice that they were being watched.
"I don't see the kid," muttered one man to the other.
"Doesn't matter, they're parents of a mutant, so it's just as good," replied the other. "Sos long as they get the message that muties aren't welcome in this country, it doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process. If it's some big-shot Ambassador, well, who's gonna give a shit?"
"I'm still not too sure about this, Graydon, I mean, they're innocent. It should be the kid who gets it, not the parents."
The man called Graydon slowly removed his eyes from the binoculars and stared at his companion. He continued to stare until the smaller man started fidgeting.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
"No, Sir!"
"Good. Do it now."
The small man fiddled for a second with a small box, and the calm night was suddenly shattered by the sound of a rocket taking flight. It raced from an unseen launch tube, and lanced into the side of the embassy where the residence's windows were visible. Penetrating through a window, it detonated with massive force and blew out every window in the building. Shockwaves from the blast dissipated down the streets with concussive force, shattering windows in a zigzag pattern as it ricocheted down the streets. Car alarms started going off, in a high-pitched counterpoint to the low explosion. Gouts of flame and smoke now started pouring out of the residence, giving the night sky an eerie glow. Guards and other security personnel started to run out of the building.
"Come on, let's go," said Graydon. "We don't want to be around when the police start hunting. Leave everything and go."
The two men stole away into the night, leaving behind the shattered wreck of the building, after making the first act in a war that nobody knew was occurring.