Stargazer

by The Dark Zodiac

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. Marvel does.

Author Notes: Welcome to chapter 2 of my fic. I hope you enjoyed chapter one! Reviews are much appreciated! And I lied about the dialogue. Hehe. Enoy!

Chapter II: Awakening

Rhys began to stir midflight, the memory of what occurred not-so-long-ago flooding his mind, causing him to shoot up on the medical bed in the X-Jet. Panicked, he began frantically looking around to gather some semblance of where he was. Then a voice penetrated his mind.

"Calm down, Rhys. You're safe now."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jean Grey. I'm a mutant, like you."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Our base of operations in Upstate New York. Another mutant, Peter, is coming to you right now."

Just then a door slid open and Peter came through. Rhys was still a little uneasy about the whole thing and made a telekinetic barrier between them, just in case. He gave Peter the once over, taking in his massive stature and well-kept crew cut as he focused on the space and energy separating them

"Peter, I presume."

"Rhys. It's a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it could've been under different circumstances."

"Where am I? What the hell do you want with me?"

"On our plane the X-Jet. Now please, lower your barrier and come with me. The others are waiting for you up front."

"Others? What the hell is all this? Is Saturn okay?"

"Saturn?"

"My dog. And who's Jean?"

The door suddenly slid open again, this time revealing a girl with short red hair and piercing green eyes.

"I'm Jean," she said as she sauntered into the room.

"Finally, a face to go with the voice. Take me back home. Now!"

"Do you really want us to drop you off so more of those robots can try to kill you?" Jean asked.

"Rhys, please calm down. I know this may seem a bit strange, but we're all mutants trying to help one another," Peter added as he tried to pacify Rhys.

Rhys backed away from them but held the barrier between them. He was starting to panic now; the feeling of being a rat in some kind of cage came over him in waves. Swirling energy began to envelop Rhys as his eyes began to glow a piercing white while the same black and white energy manifestation grew from Rhys' body. Jean and Peter both stared in awe, but a telepathic message from the Professor broke their wonderment.

"You must subdue him until you get to the Mansion!"

"Peter!"

"Right. Take down the barrier!"

"I…he's so strong. I can't get through."

Peter grabbed one of the chairs next to the med table and slammed it against the barrier; the resulting reverberations caused Rhys to flinch for just a moment, allowing Jean enough time to knock him to the ground with a blast of telekinetic energy.

"Now Pete!"

Peter rushed Rhys and held him in the gentlest bear hug he could as his body shifted to its organic metal state. Jean pressed her hand to Rhys' head to try and knock him unconscious, but he continued to struggle.

"Jean?"

"He's...resisting? He's so powerful."

"You cannot subdue me!" Rhys declared in a voice much deeper than his own. "I am Z…"

Finally Rhys' struggling ceased as he collapsed in Peter's arms and the Russian carried his limp body back to the medical table. Instead of heading back to the cockpit with Jean, Peter took a seat next to Rhys sleeping figure.

"I'll wait here, Jean...just in case he wakes up again."

"He won't until we get to the Mansion...hopefully."

When Jean took her place in the front of the jet next to Cyclops, he looked at her expecting an explanation for what happened.

"Relax, Scott. He's scared. His powers are...immense and he doesn't have a grasp on how to control them yet. But his telekinesis and telepathy seem to be well developed and powerful."

"I hope the Professor knows what he's doing."

"Under the Professor's care, Rhys will be well taken care of," Hank chimed in.

In the back of the jet, Peter stood above Rhys and stared down at the sleeping boy. Dark brown bangs lay splayed across his forehead while eyelids kept his deep brown eyes hidden and Peter noticed while he wasn't slender, he wasn't fat either. Suddenly his eyes fluttered open.

"You're...awake?" Peter exclaimed.

"Heh. Yeah. Sorry about before. It's weird waking up in a really strange jet surrounded by other mutants. I lost it for a second and….kind of took the liberty of reading your minds. Sorry."

"It's understandable."

"So, Peter, right?" he asked as he extended his hand with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Rhys," he responded as he took Rhys hand and returned the smile.

"So where are we going?"

"The Mansion. We're taking you to meet Professor Xavier, the one who sent us to get you. He's the leader of the X-Men."

"What are the X-Men?"

"I thought you read our minds," he said with a smirk.

"Funny."

"We fight to bridge the gap between humans and mutants and protect humanity."

"Protect humanity from what?"

"...Everything."

"So you turn into steel?"

"Organic metal, but yeah, pretty much. What about you? That was a pretty impressive display of power."

"Telepathy, telekinesis, and…I don't know what to call my other power. It has to do with stars, but that's really all I understand about it. I can feel the energy of the stars...kind of communicate with them. It's really weird. I can't really control it so I haven't been able to experiment with it."

"The Professor will help you with that. Sometimes Jean's powers flare up too. I guess it's a telepath thing," he quipped.

"I'd turn metal if I were you."

"Huh?" he asked with cocked eyebrow as his body shifted to its metal state and Rhys sent a medical kit flying at his head. "Nice."

"If you stand outside during a lightning storm, can I use you to charge my iPod?"

"That's not funny."

"On the contrary, it's quite hysterical."

"So do you intend to fling a few of those at the Sentinels?"

"How much do they charge you to get waxed at the car wash?"

"Peter," came Scott's voice over the intercom, "we're coming up on the Mansion now."

"I'm going to the front. You can join me if you'd like."

When Rhys went to stand his legs buckled and Peter caught him before he hit the ground, affording the perfect opportunity for an awkward moment followed by an awkward smile. Peter helped Rhys to the front of the jet to the surprise of Jean, Scott, and Hank.

"Did you wake him up, Pete?" Jean asked.

"I..."

"I'm a light sleeper," Rhys interjected with a smile.

"I'm Scott," Cyclops said as he maneuvered the jet over the Mansion.

"And I'm Henry McCoy, also known as Beast. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I'm Rhys. Nice to meet all of you. And Beast...is that some kind of inside joke or something?"

"No my dear boy, it's a codename. All of the X-Men are assigned codenames based on their powers. For example, Scott shoots a blast of energy from his eyes and the Professor bestowed the codename Cyclops upon him."

"...Cool?"

The jet slowly descended and landed with a slight thud to which Scott offered an unapologetic 'Sorry.' As they made their way out of the jet, Professor Xavier sent them a telepathic message to bring Rhys to his study.

"Pete, do you think you could bring Rhys to the Professor? I've got some stuff to do with Scott and Hank's got some stuff to do in the med lab."

"Sure."

Peter and Rhys made their way out of the sub-basement while Scott, Jean, and Hank bided time in the hangar.

"And what exactly do we need to do?" Scott asked.

"I thought we should give Pete and Rhys some alone time. And I have a headache so I could use some aspirin."

"Why?"

"I'm not even a telepath, Scott, and I could sense something," Hank chimed in.

With a smile Jean added, "I think they're a little taken with each other."

End Chapter II: Awakening

Thanks for reading!