Greetings and salutations my friends, I am back to bring you chapter 8! I would first like to thank all of my readers that have read and reviewed my story up until now! You guys rock! Your feedback is very much appreciated! Thank you all so much! XD
I would also like to welcome aboard all the newcomers to my little story! I really hope you guys are enjoying this story so far! Some of you might have noticed that I recently changed the title from The Fallen to The Devil's Shadow. At the recommendation from one of my really close friends, I decided that this story needed a better title for this project and the Devil's Shadow came out as a result. I, myself, am really proud of this new title and hope you will enjoy it as well.
Without further ado, I give you Chapter 8 of The Devil's Shadow! Enjoy!
Mike walked beside Rogue as the two teens made their way down the foyer stairs. After concluding their 'friendly' conversation, the blonde had asked the southern belle if she could give him a small tour of the main areas of the mansion. The southern belle was annoyed with the idea of playing tour guide at first, but eventually agreed to at least show him around a little.
The blonde teen remained silent the entire time as Rogue briefly explained where everything was on the first floor. The first stop was the first floor lounge area, but they didn't stay for very long after noticing that they were being stared at by Jubilee and Amara off in the corner. As they moved from room to room, the two teens passed Scott, who simply nodded in their general direction. Mike could have sworn that he almost saw Rogue look at the tall brunette's retreating back with a look of longing out of the corner of his eye. But the look only lasted a second before it was gone. He almost thought about commenting on it, but quickly decided against it.
The next stop on their little tour was the kitchen, which was thankfully empty at the moment. Following Rogue inside, he took a moment to study the room. It was a moderate sized kitchen. He could see the fridge and stove off to one side of the room, and a dinning table on the other side. Grabbing two apples off the nearest counter, Rogue threw one to Mike. Nodding his thanks, the blonde moved to take a seat on one of the bar stools.
Aside from the occasional chirp of the birds outside, the two teens ate in silence.
Every so often, Rogue looked at the blonde out of the corner of her eye. Mike had only taken a few small bites of his apple and was currently staring at it. It didn't take a genius to realize that something was bothering the half-Italian half-Japanese teen.
"Wanna talk about what's bothering you?" She asked, taking another bite out of her apple. Mike looked up in surprise, but it only last a second before he wordlessly shook his head. Rogue frowned slightly at his silence.
"I-It's nothing, I'm fine." He retorted quietly.
"Is it about what happened in the Danger Room?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
The blonde tensed up.
"W-What about it?" Mike asked, avoiding the southern belle's gaze. Mike cringed as he recalled the events from earlier. The scene was still vivid in his mind's eye. The feelings of absolute terror and being overwhelmed caused him to lose what little control that he had built up.
"Well for starters, you've been pretty quiet since we left the upstairs lounge. Also you've been staring at that apple for the past two minutes now." Rogue answered simply. Tossing the finished remains of her apple in the trashcan, the southern belle gave him her complete and undivided attention.
Shifting in his seat, Mike sighed.
"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Mike muttered in defeat. Turning his gaze back to the apple in his hand, he lifted up to his lips to take another small bite. After swallowing, he put the apple back down. "You're right though, I can't get what happened earlier out of my head. One minute I was doing fine, then the next moment I lost control. It's like I took one step forward, only to take ten steps back."
"I'll be blunt with you. You're powers just manifested, so it's obvious that you won't be able to fully control them on the very first try." Rogue explained simply, pushing herself away from the counter. "You have to keep working at it."
"You know, you sound just like the Professor." The pale teen let out an annoyed huff.
"I'm being serious here, you idiot. We're mutants, not machines for Pete's sake." The southern belle crossed her arms with a scoff. "Things have a limit for a reason, and our powers are no exception. Some of us here are still struggling to learn how to control our powers, me included."
The blonde was a little taken aback by her straightforward response. He let her words sink it as he forced himself to look down at his hands. He knew deep down that she was right, but it didn't take him until just now to finally realize it. He wasn't the only one currently struggling with his powers. After what happened earlier, the only thing that he could think of was himself and his problems. But now that Rogue had pointed it out to him, it only made him feel that much worse.
"I'm sorry."
Rogue was caught off guard by the sudden apology. Where did that come from, and what did he have to be sorry for?
"What do you have to be sorry for?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"For the past few hours now, I've been only thinking of myself and that was selfish of me. I realize now that I'm not the only one here struggling with their powers." Mike gave her apologetic smile, running a hand through his blonde tresses.
"After what you've been through, I don't blame you for feeling the way you do." Rogue said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. She gave him a brief sympathetic look before continuing. "But like the Prof told you, the only way for us to master our powers is to keep using them at a pace that we feel comfortable with. I haven't made any significant progress with my powers, but that doesn't mean that I should give up on it."
The pale teen contemplated her words before turning his attention back down at his hands. Placing the apple directly in front of him, Mike positioned his hands on either side of it. He closed his eyes, trying to will the familiar energy into his hands. It took a few minutes but he could feel it slowly built up in the center of his palms. He exhaled the breath that he was unknowingly holding, and willed the energy to surround the desired object. Rogue watched in silent fascination as wisps of ebony black energy came off the blonde's fingertips like smoke. The wisps of energy encased the fruit in a black light in a manner of seconds. Opening his eyes, Mike lifted his hands off the table and the apple with it.
"You don't seem to be having problems controlling your powers right now." Rogue commented, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, only because I'm not in a room full of killer robots that want nothing more than to rip me to pieces." Mike snorted dryly. He flicked his hand, sending the fruit into the garbage can.
Sliding off his barstool, the blonde teen moved over to the sink and washed his hands. He looked up when he heard a dog barking outside in the backyard. Peering out the window by the sink, the pale teen saw a young teen, who he assumed to be Jamie, playing fetch with a familiar reddish-brown colored dog. Well, maybe 'dog' wasn't the correct word. He learned yesterday that the 'dog' was actually a Scottish girl named Rahne. Mike watched Jamie throw a tennis ball across the yard as Rahne chased after it. The blonde noted how happy the young brunette looked as he and Rahne continued their game of fetch.
Things are probably better off this way, He thought, turning his gaze away from the window. Looking down at his hands, he watched them glow black for a second before returning to normal.
(-)
Hank frowned as he reviewed the data that the Danger Room's main computer managed to gather from this morning's disastrous session. The blue furred scientist ran every possible test to find cause of the malfunction that nearly injured, or worse killed, their newest recruit. Each attempt came up empty, much to his growing annoyance. Slamming a fist down on the nearest console, Hank let out a low aggravated growl.
"Easy there, killer," A gruff voice called behind him. "The place is already damaged enough, and I doubt Chuck would appreciate it if you damaged it further."
Hank sighed in aggravation, spotting Logan leaning up against a nearby wall out of the corner of his eye.
"Yes Logan, I am well aware of that." The blue furred scientist retorted.
Typing furiously away at the console in front of him, Hank input a few choice codes as the power in the main chamber of the Danger Room shut down with a low hum. Bending down to look underneath computer terminal, Hank easily pried the protective metal cover off the console and peered inside. The smell of burnt circuitry assaulted his heightened sense of smell causing him to stagger back a few steps. Producing a small flashlight from his lab coat pocket, the blue furred scientist covered his nose in the crease of his elbow before looking back inside. The circuit panels on the inside were completely charred black, which was never a good sign. After quickly surveying the rest of the circuit panel, Hank went to pull his head back when something caught the light from his flashlight and reflected it into his eye.
Looking out of the corner of his right eye, he spotted the main power cable for the observation deck's main computer. Carefully maneuvering his body, Hank reached further inside and felt around the thick cord cautiously. He stopped when he felt his fingertip brush against a small black cable that was protruding out the protective rubber cover. From what he could observe, the cable had started to show the obvious signs of wear and tear. Satisfied with his investigation, the blue furred mutant clicked off his flashlight and pulled himself free from the console.
"Well furball, did find something or not?" Logan grunted gruffly, pushing himself off the wall that he was leaning on.
"Indeed I have," Hank answered, dusting himself off. Reaching over to pick up his small portable tablet, Hank typed in a few commands on the touch screen before setting it down again. "It would appear that the main power cord was damaged, which in turn created a minor power surge that caused the main system and the safety protocols to glitch out."
"So that's all there was to it, huh?" Logan grunted unimpressed. All that destruction to the Danger Room was because of some stupid worn out power cable?
Hank nodded in response, turning to look out one of the undamaged windows to survey the clean up process on the ground floor below them. Jean levitated a few damaged combat sentries off to one side of the room, while Forge checked one of the circuit panels by the main exit to the Danger Room. At the rate they were currently going, they could possibly have Danger Room back up and running by the end of the week. Replacing a few charred circuit panels and a torn power cable was a simple task, trying to erase the traumatic experience from the mind of a teenager with dangerous powers would prove to be a bit more difficult.
If only I had checked the system the night before, then perhaps this whole situation could have been avoided. Hank rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. A multitude of 'what if' scenarios formed in his mind, but he pushed them into the back of his mind for the time being. What happened in the past had happened, and now it was his job to make sure that it didn't repeat itself in the foreseeable future.
Picking up his tablet again, Hank pulled up some of the Danger Room's earlier camera footage that he managed to transfer from the main computer. The blue furred scientist had gone over the test footage several times now, and with each additional playback he managed to collect further data. The damage done to the Danger Room was the least of his worries at the moment. What really had him concerned were the energy readings the main computer managed to collect before their newest recruit's powers went haywire. From what he noticed at the beginning of the session, Mike's powers seemed to give off the expected readings for a mutant whose powers had just manifested. The readings stayed the same the entire time up until the combat portion of the test. He was already familiar with Charles' earlier explanation of how Mike's powers worked in conjunction with his emotions. At the time, however, Hank had hypothesized that the first few emotional flare-ups wouldn't have been this destructive since Mike's powers had just manifested themselves. But he couldn't have been more wrong.
If this is just a small fraction of what his powers are capable of, then...
"I know that look, what's on your mind furball?" Logan asked gruffly, drawing the blue furred scientist out of his silent musing. The short Canadian fixed him with a hard stare.
"Sorry Logan, I was just trying to make sense of the energy readings from Mr. Soletta's Danger Room session." Hank retorted, punching a few commands into his tablet. "I've reviewed the footage from earlier, and the results leave me feeling a bit...uneasy to say the least."
"A bit? The kid nearly blew up the damn Danger Room, and you only feel 'a bit' uneasy?" Logan snorted loudly in disbelief. Anyone that can cause this level of damage to the Danger Room, a room specifically designed to handle even the most extreme of training scenarios, should be setting off a lot of red flags.
"Again, I am well aware of that Logan. What really concerns me right now, however, are the energy readings from Mr. Soletta's powers. We need to know exactly what we're getting into." Hank fixed the short Canadian with stern look.
"My thoughts exactly."
Hank and Logan turned their attention to the elevator doors, their glaring contest was quickly forgotten about. Charles Xavier frowned at the two men in front of him. Just how long was he waiting here, and why didn't they notice him sooner?
"Hank, have you made any progress in figuring out what might have caused the Danger Room to malfunction?" The telepath inquired, wheeling his chair over to the blue furred scientist's side by the main control terminal.
"As a matter of fact, I have Charles. Apparently the source of the malfunction was the main power cable. The cable was showing obvious signs of wear and tear, which in turn caused a small power surge." Hank retorted, turning to face the computer terminal again. "Aside from replacing a few circuits and the main power cable, the Danger Room's repair work shouldn't take much time and effort."
"I see," Charles mused, eying the computer terminal in front him expressionlessly. "And what of the energy readings that you managed to pull from the Danger Room's main computer?"
Hank simply nodded response, lifting his tablet up to type in a few commands before handing it over to telepath. Logan remained silent as he moved to lean back against the wall again, attentively watching the other two occupants in the small observatory. Hank gave Charles a few more minutes to skim over the contents of his detailed analysis before clearing his throat.
"Within the last hour, I've reviewed the footage of Mr. Soletta's session more times than I'd care to admit. I also took some time to analyze the two separate energy readings from start to finish multiple times. But to be completely honest, I've never seen energy readings this high before." Hank sighed tiredly, massaging the bridge of his nose. "But then again Charles, I do recall you mentioning that a very similar situation had happened to Jean when her powers evolved. Am I correct?"
"That's correct. Much like Mr. Soletta's power, Jean's powers quickly overwhelmed her and caused her to lash out unintentionally. That level of power was far beyond her ability to control." Charles recounted, already knowing where Hank was going with his explanation.
"So you're saying that the kid's powers are on the same level as Red's?" Logan snorted incredulously.
"Hypothetically it is a reasonable possibility, Logan." Hank affirmed, accepting his tablet back from Charles. He typed a few commands before setting it down on the console beside him. "Since his powers just manifested themselves, I think we can safely make the assumption that his powers are on a level just below Jean's."
"Oh yeah, that's a real comforting thought furball." Logan muttered sarcastically.
"In any case you two, we need to start focusing our attention on how to better assist Mr. Soletta in these situations should they happen again." Charles eyed the other two adults sternly. He took one last look at the clean up going on down below before wheeling himself back to the elevator.
(-)
Mike let out a weary sigh, staring blankly back at his reflection in the second floor bathroom mirror. After parting ways with Rogue in the kitchen, the blonde found himself migrating back up to the second floor to avoid running into anyone else, especially that bubbly valley girl. He shuddered to think what would happen if she had managed to corner him while he was alone. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he returned to staring back at the reflection projected on the cool, smooth surface. His eyes gradually shifted down to the bluish purple bruise on his right cheek. The ugly combination of colors marred his pale alabaster skin.
Lifting a shaky hand, Mike tentatively brushed the tips of his fingers gingerly against the abused skin. The pain was almost immediate as the blonde felt his eyes tear up a little and let out a small hiss of pain. He let his hand slowly drop back down onto the marble countertops. Taking a few small breaths, Mike reached over towards the faucet and turned the cold tap on low. Leaning forward, he brought his hands under the small stream and let the water pool in his hands for a second before bringing it up to splash a little on his face. A small hiss of discomfort escaped his lips as the cool waters sent a small shock to his warm skin. Repeating this process a couple more times, Mike risked a glance back up at his reflection. His face went from its usual pale white to a faint flushed pink color. The blonde's eyes drifted to his bruised cheek, and grimaced at what he saw. The bluish purple tints seemed to stand out even more than before.
Mike groaned tiredly before reaching over to grab a nearby face towel, and gingerly patted his damp face dry. Placing the towel down on the counter, Mike reached over to the left side of the vanity and started opening a few drawers before finding what he was looking for in the bottom drawer. Grabbing the freshest looking washcloth out of the drawer, he pushed the dark oak drawer closed with his knee and turned the cold water back on. Bring the washcloth under the stream of water, the blonde teen let it soak up as much water as it could before shutting the tap off and wrung out the excess water. Gently bringing it back up to his cheek, Mike held it tenderly against the abused skin and tried his best to keep the hisses of pain from escaping his lips. After a couple of minutes, he removed the cloth and ran it under the cold water again before placing it back on his cheek. He repeated this process a few more times until his skin started to feel numb from his makeshift cold compress.
Heaving one final sigh, Mike turned his body so he was facing away from the vanity before leaning back against the counter. Staring blankly down at his black and white checkered vans, the blonde felt his thoughts beginning to wander. One thought being his mother, and how she would ultimately react to seeing the unsightly bruise on his face. Oh god, she'd have a friggin field day.
I guess video chat is out of the question then. He thought sheepishly.
Pushing himself off of the counter, Mike turned his body back to face the vanity to study himself in the mirror once again. His face had lost the faint flushed pink color, and was finally returning to its usual alabaster pallor. Turning his gaze back to his cheek, Mike noted that the bluish purple coloring didn't appear as prominent as it did a few minutes ago. Setting the damp cloth down, he reached over for the face towel that he used earlier and gingerly dabbed the leftover moisture off with the soft cloth.
Maybe I could ask Rogue or Jean to help me cover it up with makeup... no, mom would see right through that. Ugh, maybe I should just stick to my cell. The blonde let out an aggravated groan.
Tossing the cloth down on the counter, Mike made his way for the door and quickly stalked back to his room in silence. He pushed his door open slightly before sliding his body through the ajar door, and promptly closing it with a soft click. Glancing around the room for his mobile, he finally spotted it resting atop of his nightstand by his alarm clock. From his spot by the door, Mike could faintly see the device's screen was flashing dully. In three quick strides, he reached his nightstand and fumbled to grab onto the small mobile device. After almost dropping it twice, the blonde frantically pressed the answer button and brought it up to his ear. He hissed when the plastic device pushed roughly against his bruised cheek.
"Ciao?" He asked in a rushed voice.
"Michael, tesoro stai bene?" His mother's concerned voice asked from the other end.
"S-Sto bene, mamma." Mike answered quickly, trying to keep his hisses of pain out of his voice. Mentally cursing himself for forgetting about his injured cheek, Mike quickly moved his phone to his left side. "Io spegnevano il mio dito del piede, questo è tutto."
"Il mio piccolo fiocco di neve, si prega di essere più attenti!" Rosella exclaimed lightly, switching into her 'mother hen' mode as Mike called it.
"Mamma!" The blonde groaned at the use of her childhood nickname for him. He was sixteen years old already for god's sake, when was she going to stop calling him by that silly nickname.
"Io sono tua madre!" Rosella laughed lightly. "Mi è permesso di essere preoccupato per te!"
"Sì, ho avuto che." Mike groaned tiredly as he moved to take a seat on his bed.
"So sweetheart, have you settled in all right?" His mother asked, sensing that a change in topic was needed.
Mike almost snorted at her question, but he knew better than to be rude to her. He had only been at the institute for almost an entire day, and he had already lost all control of his 'powers'. Plus he managed to severely damage a room, which was specifically designed to help him learn how to control his 'powers'.
"Yeah, everything's going great so far!" Mike lied nervously, hoping that she'd buy it. As much as he hated lying to her, his mother didn't need to know this particular piece of information right away. "I spoke with a few of other students here, and they all seem like a great group of people."
"That's great news, sweetheart! I was a little worried that the differences in culture would overwhelm you, and you would have a difficult time adjusting to it. But I guess I was worried for nothing!" His mother laughed teasingly.
"Gee, thanks mamma. Your concern is overwhelming." Mike retorted sarcastically.
"Is that sass, I hear?" Rosella warned, clucking her tongue in disapproval. Even though she couldn't see him, Mike cringed and quickly sucked a sharp breath in fear.
"No ma'am!" He retorted earnestly.
"That's what I thought, my little neve." Rosella chuckled in good humor. The sound of his mother's phone being rubbed against the fabric of her suit filled his end of the receiver. Mike could faintly hear his mother's voice speaking to someone on her side. The sound of brushing fabric filled his ear again, his mother let out a tired sigh. "I'm really sorry my little neve, something has come up that I need to take care of. I can call you right back."
"Mamma, I completely understand." Mike knew just how busy his mother was, she was the current head of the Soletta estate after all. He had been used to her hectic busy schedule by now. "Take care of whatever you have to do, and call me back when you have time."
"Thanks sweetie! I promise to call you right back!" Rosella said apologetically.
"Take your time mamma." Mike replied tiredly.
"Ciaomio piccolofiocco di neve!" Rosella called sweetly.
"Ciao mamma."
The blonde listened to the sound of the line going dead for a few seconds before pressing the end call button. Placing his phone back on his nightstand, Mike let himself fall back onto his bed with small thump. Mike allowed his thoughts to wander as he stared up blankly at the high ceiling. After a few minutes, his thoughts immediately drifted back to his mother. He had lied to his mother not once, but multiple times. Mike didn't like lying to her, but he didn't want her to worry about him like she usually did. He had dug himself into this whole mess, and now he had to deal with the consequences. There was no going back now.
Hey guys, Happy New Year's Eve!
It's been quite a while... who am I kidding. It's been two years, *cough* almost 3 *cough*, since my last update and I am deeply sorry for that. My life as of late has been a lot of ups and downs, but mostly downs sadly. The past couple months have been extremely strenuous and I'm still trying to adjust to the 'life after college/university' as people call it. I'm currently seeing someone to help me with my anxiety and learning some new ways to cope with personal and work related stresses. I'm gonna try to write more in this coming year to make up for lost times, and hopefully will be starting a new project onto of this one. I'm hoping that by working on two stories will help me to balance my ideas for one story if I get stuck on one.
Anyways, I hope everyone has a great last few hours of 2015, and I hope to see you all more frequently in the coming year! Please don't forget to R&R, and if anyone notices any errors/misspelling/missing words please let me know so I can fix them!
Peace out fellow readers and writers!
Translations:
These were done through Google Translate, so I apologize if any of it is inaccurate. I took Italian at my college, but I was terrible at it. Again I apologize if any of these words I used weren't accurate.
Ciao (Hello/Bye)
Michael, tesoro stai bene! (Michael darling are you all right!)
Sto bene, mamma (I'm fine, mom)
Io spegnevano il mio dito del piede, questo è tutto (I stubbed my toe, that's all)
Il mio piccolo fiocco di neve, si prega di essere più attenti! (My little snowflake, please be more careful!)
Io sono tua madre! (I am your mother!)
Mi è permesso di essere preoccupato per te! (I am allowed to be worried about you!)
Sì, ho avutoche (Yeah, I got that)
Ciao,mio piccolofiocco di neve! (Bye, my little snowflake!)