AN: Well it's been a while since I've updated this fic and well I would like to thank a particular reviewer for reigniting my spirit for this fic. blaznXrapture, you have my thanks for helping me to get this thing started again. Otherwise you probably would have to wait longer for an update. I did this rather quickly so I'll probably post it and post a few revised chapters later to handle any situations that come up. Also I do have a forum that I advise the readers of this fic to post their ideas or things they would like to see. By doing this you can help me make the chapters that much faster because it allows me to bounce ideas off of people or come up with things that make the fic more enjoyable for us all. For those of you who have been so patiently looking forward to this next chapter, I hope it lives up to your expectations. As always take it easy and enjoy.
Edward Elric took his time walking on his own around the institute. He would occasionally stop and look at a painting or something else that caught his attention. Television had caught his eye for a moment before he walked off utterly confused by a music video that Ray, Roberto and Tabitha were watching. Now he had stopped in front of a suit of armor, and for just a moment he thought he saw it change into his little brother.
"Hiya shortie," Tabitha yelled as Ed's face twisted before he yelled right back. "I'm not short damn it!"
"Ooh touchie, any way I was wondering if you could tell us about your home and stuff. Everyone wants to hear the new guy's story." Tabby spoke an enthusiastic tone coming out of her voice.
Ed sighed slightly before speaking, "Look now isn't the best time for me, maybe later."
'I'm not dealing with this right now; I've got other things to worry about. I'm not the only one that went into that gate, which means somewhere around here Envy and my old man are around. Just great and I didn't exactly kick Envy's ass the last time I saw her. I need to kick some ass; this is just making me angrier.' Ed thought as he walked away from the disappointed girl, he eventually made his way to the Professor's office.
Ed grabbed his head quickly as the Professor sent a message for him to come on in. Shaking his head the alchemist found it very hard to process that this man could communicate with mere thoughts, something that even he thought was impossible. Opening the door, the young blond haired man took a seat in a nice chair.
"Ed, I was hoping you would stop by, what do you think of the institute?" Xavier asked as the young man watched him carefully.
"Well in all honesty, I'm still having a hard time believing this is true. Granted seeing is believing and all that garbage, but this is a very nice place." Ed started as he relaxed in his chair. "A nice place, but I have to know what the damn catch is. No one would do this just out of the goodness out of their heart. I was also hoping you could help me make sense out of that jumble of bull you sent into my head."
Professor Xavier smiled politely before speaking, "I see well my reason for creating this place was so the gifted could learn to control their abilities. It is my dream that those with gifts like ours can live in peace with normal human beings."
"Peace huh, sounds like a very noble and grand goal. Honestly though, I don't know if that's a possibility based on the experiences that I have seen. Then again, maybe this world is different from mine." Ed replied as the Professor listened to him carefully.
'This student sounds a lot like Logan, and I have to wonder how experienced he really is in combat. He sounds like he has definitely been through a lot in order to say such a thing with that much conviction. If I help him understand the current situation then perhaps he might share more with us.' Professor Xavier thought as Ed seemed to be observing his every reaction and movement.
"Let me try and explain the situation about this world more clearly, perhaps that will help you understand what is going on…" Professor Xavier started as he went into great details about the world's history.
In another part of the institute Dr. Hank McCoy was checking on something that he had been asked to look into. It had been unusual finding Ed like that and the fact was Xavier was no longer sure he was a mutant, so Dr. McCoy was looking at diagnostic reports on Cerebro. Lifting the unit that went over the head up, he opened an internal compartment to check out some parts.
'Hmm this is unusual; according to the diagnostics this computer chip malfunctioned when the Professor located Ed. The curious part is why this part, it serves no purpose other then regulating energy consumption. It wouldn't need to send a computer signal unless…hmm most interesting.' Hank thought as he reached for a screwdriver and started to remove the offending device.
"Hank, are you down here?" Ororo Monroe asked as she carried a tray of food for the man that normally spent all of his time working.
"Ah yes, Ororo over here." Hank started as he noticed the tray of food and set everything he was working on down. "It's dinner time; I must have been way too occupied. My deepest gratitude for bringing me supper yet again, I seem to have lost track of time yet again."
Ororo walked forward handing him the tray before speaking, "That's okay, Charles said you were doing some important work and that I should bring this down to you. How is your work going by the way?"
"Very intriguing is the only way to say it, I've found something that shouldn't have happened but did happen. I think some sustenance is just what I need to give me a fresh perspective on the situation." Hank answered as he took in the first bite of the food.
"Oh, well I'll be back down later to get the tray and any leftovers. Forge is still here if you need any help though." Ororo started as she slowly walked to the door. "If you need anything else…"
Hank merely nodded as he quickly ate his food, he was more interested in getting back to work then people at the moment. As he took another generous bite of his Salisbury steak, a sudden idea popped into his head maybe that was the reason why they found Ed. It was the only plausible reason his mind for something like this to happen.
'It seems someone designed this device to send out a signal when Ed appeared. It would make him appear as a mutant, and whoever it was knew Xavier would send someone out after him. The question is who would do such a thing, why they did such a thing, and how they managed to pull his off?' Hank thought as he put the food aside and picked up right where he left off in his work.
Back upstairs with Ed, the young blond haired man had been listening carefully to everything that was being said. The entire history of the world seemed to be completely different then what the other world was like. Technology and science reigned supreme in this world, and the fact was that even the wars of the past were fought with technology that was barely starting out in Ed's world. He closed his eyes as he listened to the man move into the present and started talking about the increasing population of mutants.
Ed coughed slightly to get the man to stop before speaking, "So let me get this straight, the people here have a gene that causes them to develop special powers. You came for me because you think I'm also a mutant, is that the bulk of this stuff?"
"That's correct, I understand this is very confusing but it is the truth. This is a much different world then the one you came from Edward." Xavier started as he handed the young man a book about world history. "This should help give you a more detailed explanation of the current world. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"First, you can call me Ed. Next you can stop calling me a mutant, say it with me now, alchemist. That's what I am, and now that you've been in my head you know it's true. Finally I'll be leaving as soon as I figure out how to get back home." Ed stated a more sarcastic tone then usual in his voice.
"Yes. I understand and I believe I know the perfect way for you to work off some steam. You are very agitated right now which is totally understandable, so I was wondering if you would like to use our training room to work out some of your anger issues." Xavier stated politely, this young man had anger issues much like another resident of the institute.
"Hmm is that so, well it sounds good to me. I want to look around this place some before I kick someone's ass. There is something else we need to talk about though, some other people made their way into this world besides me. I know of at least two and one has to be stopped before causing too much trouble." Ed spoke as his mind immediately went to the trouble that Envy could cause in this world.
"I see, so who would these individuals be exactly?" Charles Xavier asked concerned due to the possible threat to his students and Ed as well.
"First one probably isn't a threat, but if the gate sent me here then I'm willing to bet my father might be around here somewhere. I think I've been to this world before, but it's a lot different then it used to be. He's never around when you need him though so he really isn't a problem." Ed began as his distaste for his father showed up in his voice. "The other one is a problem though, Envy's a homunculi and well the best way to say it is that he can change her appearance to anyone he's met. To make matters worse…the only thing you need to know is that he isn't to be taken lightly."
'I can't tell him that he could possibly be unstoppable without the remains here, I'm not even sure if I can beat him after that last battle before I was sent here. I'll need to think of a way to beat him without them, but first I'll have to find him.' Ed thought as he was concerned that Envy could appear to attack him.
"Hmm, thank you for telling me this Edward. I'll be sure to start looking for your father right away. I'll also inform Logan about this Envy character so that we can find a way to deal with her. In many aspects she sounds like Mystique, but we'll talk about her later." Professor Xavier spoke as the young man seemed slightly agitated.
Ed shook his fist at the air before speaking, "If you happen to find my old man, he's probably as useless as ever. I'm not even sure if he's here just thinking about it pisses me off. So, who will I be training or fighting against?"
"Oh you won't be fighting against a real opponent, but holographic enemies and a training scenario. You can still be harmed, but none of the attacks will be fatal. It's just something too…" Professor Xavier stated as Ed cut him off.
"What the hell are holograms? Forget it, I'll just find out when I get there. Two hours, that should be enough to check this place out and learn what I need to know. What's the name of the place before I go though?" Ed retorted as waited as patiently as he could for an answer.
"The Danger Room, you wont have a hard time finding it if you ask anyone here." Charles Xavier answered as the young man nodded and left the room.
'It seems our new resident is a very temperamental individual. He reminds me of Logan except a bit more sarcastic; however, I know he's speaking the truth about being from another world. He's not a mutant, which begs the question why Cerebro picked him up as one. Hmm, I'll just have to wait until Hank gets done with the maintenance check to start answering that question. In the meantime I better talk to Logan about this Envy person, she could be just as bad if not worse then Mystique.' Charles thought as he leaned his upper body against his desk.
As Charles stood there lost in thought about the situation, Ed was walking down the halls of the institute. The young man had taken a few turns and ended up in another part of the institute lined with doors. Like a normal guy, Ed just continued walking down the hall until he came to a dead end and decided to turn around. It was at that time however that a petite and pale, brunette girl had stepped out of her room.
"Like hello there, you must be Edward right? You are like kinda short though; I thought you would be taller." Kitty asked as the rumors of the new guy had already swirled around the institute.
Ed's face literally started twitching before yelling, "The name's Ed and for the last damn time I'm not short. Why is it everywhere I go people comment on my height?"
"Sorry I didn't mean to…" Kitty started as a pouting look appeared on her face causing Ed to momentarily stop his rampage.
"Fine its okay, so what's your name? Its rude to not introduce yourself you know." Ed commented as the girl started to smile at him.
"My name's Kitty, I'm also called Shadowcat around here. I can phase my molecules through solid matter, like this." Kitty started as she phased her arm through a wall causing Ed's eyes to widen. "So what can you do?"
"Guess I can show you what I can do, hmm I'll use this suit of armor here." Ed stated as he pressed his hands together and touched the statue engulfing it a hazy blue light.
The suit of armor shifted shape and form as Kitty's mouth literally dropped open. Ed had just changed the armor into a mirror image of her, a metal statue of her. The fact was he had gotten every detail right as he stretched slightly and looked at his new arm. It had performed admirably during this usage of alchemy as well and Ed couldn't wait to try some of his older tricks with it.
"Like wow, that's incredible. You rearrange the molecules and change its shape into whatever you want. That means you could change any substance into something that makes things easier on you." Kitty stated as her mind was scientifically piecing everything she had seen together.
"Yeah whatever you say, but it's not as easy as you make it sound. It's bound by a lot of complex rules and there are some things that you shouldn't mess with naturally." Ed started as his voice started to fade into a whisper. "Believe me I know that to be the truth."
"Really, well you look lost. Would you like me to show you around?" Kitty asked as the young man merely nodded his head in agreement.
Kitty grabbed his left hand as she led him back down the hallway and then turned around so they could look down it. Pointing her left hand down the hallway, she managed to get the young man's attention.
"This here is the girl's wing of the institute, but you like want to avoid coming down here at night. Logan patrols the halls and he'll catch you for sure if you are down here." Kitty spoke as he nodded and she turned him towards the lobby.
"Okay and the other side is the boys' wing, so we can head downstairs now right." Ed spoke as the perky girl nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, this is like a foyer for guest and to the left is the new game room so to speak. TV, videogames, pool, music, and so on. It's pretty popular when everyone can agree on something." Kitty started as the two walked down the stairs and moved down a hallway. "What you probably want to know though is where the kitchen is right?"
Ed's stomach started to rumble right when he started to speak, "I guess that would be right."
As the two walked into the kitchen, Kitty quickly opened up the refrigerator showing him more food then he ever thought possible. All Ed could hope for was that it didn't taste like the gruel the state would serve for the most part. If you weren't a colonel or higher, you pretty much got the same slop as the enlisted. Staring at all of the food, Ed had to stop himself from drooling as he was handed a slice of pizza.
"What's this thing? Obviously its food, but I've never seen food like this before." Ed commented as Kitty started to giggle in response.
"Its pizza, how could you not know what pizza is. Its like totally universal, it's served everywhere." Kitty began as the young man shook his head before taking a bite of a cold piece of leftover pizza. "No, you don't eat it as is, you stick in the microwave first."
Kitty literally yanked the slice right out of his hand tossing it into the microwave for a minute and handed the warm slice right back to Ed. Ed was slightly disappointed that she took his food, but went right back to eating almost shocked that the food was now slightly hot instead of cold.
"Look, I'm not used to having all of this stuff, so you'll just have to help me out okay? There wasn't a manual to all this crap when I got here after all." Ed retorted as he tried to keep his usual sarcasm to a minimum.
Kitty smiled again before speaking, "Look don't worry about it, like I should have thought of that too. It's not the first time we've had someone here totally unfamiliar with technology. Amara was even worse then you when she got here, the toaster literally freaked her out."
"Okay…look I got to get to a place called the Danger Room so I can kick some ass. If you wouldn't mind could you show me that place now. I think I've got everything down here and if I don't there are a lot of people to ask." Ed replied as Kitty just started walking motioning for him to follow her.
She stopped in front of the elevator that Ed had rode on earlier, and went back down to the lowest level of the institute. It felt slower this time to Ed or maybe it was just because he had been totally lost in thought a lot lately. As soon as the elevator stopped the two stepped out and walked a short distance before stopping in front of a pair of massive doors.
"This is like the entrance for the Danger Room, good luck you'll need it. First though you'll need to change into a training uniform, believe me you'll be glad you did later on today." Kitty commented as she walked off, she was surprised to find a lot of people in the control room.
'Luck, huh, this probably won't be that hard compared to what I've been through. Oh well I'll just do things how I usually do them.' Ed thought as the massive doors opened and he walked inside of a large empty room.
Up in the control room, Logan stood there leaning up against the wall adjusting the difficulty. All he was waiting for was Xavier and then they could get started. He barely acknowledged anyone until the man finally arrived and turned on the microphone. The control room was rather crowded as most of the X-men with the exception of Rogue and a few of the New Mutants were eagerly waiting to see what the new guy can do. As for Ed, he just slid into a basic combat stance that his teacher had taught him.
"Ed, the goal of this exercise is to make it from point A to point B in one piece. Be prepared for a few things, this is going to be a bit harder then the usual introductory course we use." Professor Xavier started as he gave Logan the signal after turning the microphone off. "Put it on level 7 Logan, I think that Ed is a bit more talented than the usual new recruit."
"You sure about that Charles, shortie there probably will get tossed around a bit in this one. He'll do better than the kids though, that's for sure. He might not look like it but that stance he has taken is like a few martial arts styles." Logan growled as he activated the machine and the environment began to change.
Ed was watching the scene slightly fascinated as pieces of the floor started to move and stun weapons started to appear out of the wall. Finally a large set of robotic droids appeared marching out in front of Ed before pointing there weapons at him. It only took a moment for what seemed like a wall of lasers being shot at him, he barely had time to use alchemy to erect his usual style of barrier to protect him.
'This shouldn't be that hard, I already have a plan for dealing with them.' Ed thought as he touched his hands again and placed them down on the ground.
The others could only watch as large stone fists started appearing from underneath the droids and sending them flying into the air. Droids landed on the ground with a hollow metallic thud as more were sent to challenge Ed. Taking a deep breath Ed noticed a few had managed to get out of the way, he smiled again as he touched his hands again this time creating his familiar short sword attached to his mechanical arm.
In the control room, Logan watched with interest before speaking, "Seems shortie there fancies short range combat. He didn't even bother with the weapons on the wall; he's just letting that barrier of his block them. Let's see how he handles them when they start tracking his movements."
"He's holding his own against them, that iz very impressive." Kurt stated as he watched the young man twirl around and slice one of the droid's head clear off.
Professor Xavier flipped the microphone on before speaking, "Ed, we can up the difficulty if this isn't enough for you."
"Nope this is just fine, I need to see how the arm and leg perform in situations like this any way." Ed retorted as he slid on the ground and used his right hand to launch a spin kick into one of the droid's chest.
Stabbing the sharp short sword into the droid, Ed ran along as he rolled to the left. Touching the ground again the familiar blue glow appeared as he pulled a spear out of the ground. Charging forward Ed slammed into two of the droids using the sharp part of the spear to literally run the two through before letting go and launching another attack with his sword like arm.
"As much fun as this is, I better stop showing off so much. These things are starting to become annoying." Ed muttered as he slashed another droid's head clear off.
Ed however, was still just messing around as he easily dodged the attacks and retaliated. His teacher's training methods were much harder then this and these droids did nothing but stop and shoot at him. They really had no counter once you made it past a certain point was the laser basically became useless. The bigger problem however was the set of laser defenses embedded in the wall, they were following him now and firing at his every moment. More then a few times, he had bit hit by the lasers tearing small holes into the training uniform he was wearing.
"Damn, this might be a bit harder then I thought…who the hell thought up these damn things, I destroy one and two more take its place." Ed yelled as he stopped and ran off taking cover behind a series of pillars he had created to protect himself from the lasers.
'Hmm well if this is how it's going to be I'll just have to improvise. I think I know how to stop those little defense things.' Ed thought as he ran out and weaved in and out of the incoming blasts.
In a surprising turn of events, Ed clapped his hands together again. This time he slammed his hands down and a wave of iron spikes impaled the defenses. Using the technique one last time, he disabled all of the defenses before doing alchemy one last time. This time he created a binding prison to hold any droid that was left standing, much like he had done to Greed in the past. Running to the finish line, Ed smiled as he finished the exercise and the situation ended.
In the control room Logan was the first to speak, "Well that wasn't half bad for a midget."
"I heard that, why don't you come down and say that to my face. Damn people always making fun of my height." Ed bellowed with an angry tone as he finally changed his arm back to its normal shape.
Professor Xavier coughed slightly to interrupt the two before speaking, "Very good Ed, you performed very well during the exercise. Why don't you get cleaned up and we can talk about your performance later."
"Sure whatever, I'll be in my room. I need a shower and thanks for letting me blow off some steam." Ed stated sincerely as he left the danger room.
The control room was a mixture of emotions; Ed had just outdone the New Mutants single-handedly. Not to mention that he out performed some members of the X-men, it was an interesting sight. Professor Xavier had leaned forward reading some data that had been gathered on Ed while the exercise was occurring. He leaned forward hearing Hank contact him as he went over the data and he didn't want to alarm his students about the possibility of something being wrong with Cerebro.
"Whoa iz all I can say, that waz fantastic." Kurt commented as a few agreed with his sentiment about the situation.
"Like I heard about the plant and that statute was cool but I never thought he could do things like that. It makes me wonder if we saw everything he can do." Kitty said as Scott looked over at Jean.
"What do you think about this, Jean?" Scott asked as he always valued others opinions, but it wasn't a secret that he valued hers a lot more then most.
"He's good Scott; I guess he's a very promising recruit if we can work past his…" Jean started as the Professor stopped her.
"I realize you are all interested in the new resident, but I need to go over these results in private. If you would all excuse me for the time being. Logan, we'll talk about his placement later, if he decides to stay." Professor Xavier spoke as he loaded the data onto a CD Rom and slowly wheeled out of the room.
"Sure Chuck, you okay?" Logan asked a tone of concern in the usual husky voice; this wasn't normal behavior for the man in his opinion.
"Yes Logan, I appreciate your concern but I assure you it isn't necessary. It appears that today and the next few days are going to be very busy for me and probably everyone else at the institute. Now if you would excuse me Hank needs me in the lab." Xavier replied as everyone nodded and accepted the explanation that had been given to them.
'This is very surprising data indeed, I never expected for Ed to perform like this. He clearly learned how to fight somewhere and if what I saw was true then he would be the youngest person to ever have military experience as an active member.' Xavier started thinking as he turned left towards Hank's lab. 'However, I'm not totally for certain if he is or isn't a mutant. I'll have Hank run a test on his blood for the mutant gene before making any more lead way with this material. Still he is a gifted individual and this is a place for the gifted.'
As he entered Hank's lab, Charles couldn't help but laugh at the mess that was in the room. Like most scientist Hank was neat to a point but the room was shared with Forge when he visited and between the two things could get quite messy. The large form of his friend was sitting in a rolling chair hunched over at a microscope looking at something as he motioned for his friend to take a look.
"Hello Charles, I believe that I've found the problem. It's quite the unexpected conundrum, but part of it may have been solved." Hank began as he moved aside allowing his friend to take a look. "This piece is integral to the function of Cerebro, but it seems to have sent out an unusual signal when Ed appeared. I haven't completely discovered what it sent out but it definitely has a connection to him."
"Hmm, quite the problem this would appear to be. This part was purchased after the mansion was destroyed, so it had to be preprogrammed to do this kind of thing." Xavier stated as Hank nodded in agreement.
Hank wheeled over in his chair to a computer before speaking, "Yes, that would be correct. I believe we may need to contact Stark Enterprises about this, they are the company that supplied us with this particular chip and we have never had a problem with anything they have supplied us before this situation."
"Very well, I'll contact Stark and see if he can shed some light on this situation. I would like you to continue researching the chip and see what you can come up with regarding Ed. In the meantime however, I would like you to run the usual battery of tests on the sample of Ed's blood that was collected before he underwent his surgery." Xavier spoke as the two sighed slightly before both decided to head off to work.
Next Chapter: Unforgotten Memories
Ed spends some quality time with the members of the X-men but when an old face appears on the television, his anger surfaces. In order to get him to calm down a few people take him out to see the town. In the meantime Xavier speaks with Tony Stark about the problematic computer chip.