A/N: OK, I lied. Sorry!!!!!! The breakfast part of this chapter ran a little longer than I thought it would, so the fight got pushed back to chapter 4 (and thus the bloodbath I teased in chapter 1 got pushed back as well). Oh well, maybe it'll be a blessing in disguise, I might be able to expand the fight a little bit.
Also, I need to thank a couple of people who have been helping me with this story. First, Terri, because she is the one who let me ramble on about what I had gotten stuck in my head, then convinced me that I should write it down and publish it. Secondly, Digifanatic (who requests I call him Ian, though I'll probably forget), because he's been proofreading the chapters for me before I stick them on here. Both of them have also been my sounding boards as I throw ideas at them for this and future stories, so to them both I'd like to say THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, and I probably never will, unless I somehow win the lottery....
Chapter 3- Breakfast
Kurt led the way into the kitchen which also served as the dining room of the mansion. As he ran through the doorway, he suddenly yelped and teleported. John, running right behind him caught movement heading for him through Kurt's unexpected smoke screen and immediately went into a feet-first slide to avoid whatever it was coming at him. Kurt ended up on the other side of the dining room table, with two females John didn't know staring at him in surprise.
The first girl to speak was the shorter of the two. She had brown hair tied into a pony tail so that it barely came down to her shoulders. She was wearing a bath robe that was partially open, as it wasn't tied to well, and underneath John could see she had on a one-piece nightgown. "Geez, Kurt, sorry about that. Rogue and I were fighting over the last pancake and it just went flying!"
"Ja, it was a little surprising having a UFO coming at you inside your own kitchen, wasn't it?" Kurt wasn't looking at the girl, but rather behind her to the right. Both of them turned toward John, not having noticed until now that he was even there, since Kurt's teleport had grabbed their attention and John's slide was silent. John had taken the time of their distraction to recover from his slide and had picked up the offending breakfast food, and was now standing near the table, behind the one girl, and across the table from the other.
"Well, it wasn't what I expected to have happen first thing in the morning, that's for sure." John laid the pancake on the table and looked at both of the girls. "Uh, hi, I'm John." He held out his hand to the girl closest to him.
"I'm Kitty, Kurt's girlfriend." She shook his hand while nodding to the blue mutant across the table from her. "I guess you've already met him."
"Yes, he came down to say 'hi' a little while ago." John turned to the other girl and held out his hand, but the girl held hers up in front of her.
"I'm Rogue. Sorry, but my mutation prevents me from shaking your hand without protection." John noticed that most of Rogue's body was covered with clothes, but her hands and face were bare. Her hair was long and dark brown, with black streaks in it. In front of her hair was one white streak. She had put on black lipstick, and if she didn't have makeup on, she looked like she hadn't seen much sun in quite a while, which John found odd, considering she had a noticeable Southern accent. He was a little confused about her statement, but decided not to dwell on it as he looked around the table at the three standing before him. Before he could say anything else, however, Kurt spoke up.
"How come we're out of pancakes? There's usually more than enough to go around!" John picked up a note of disappointment in Kurt's voice, though he wasn't sure if anyone else had.
"We ran out of flour. Ororo said she was going to town today, we'll just add it to the list of stuff to pick up." Kitty was somewhat apologetic with her tone. Apparently, she knew Kurt was going to be upset about not being able to have pancakes.
"Well, if you have eggs, milk, and bread I can make us some French toast." John looked around as Rogue and Kurt looked at him a little surprised, but excited. Kitty, wasn't quite as enthusiastic.
"Sorry, I'm a vegetarian. I'll just have to make due with something else, I guess." Kitty walked over to the fridge and without opening the door reached her hand into it. After about thirty seconds, she pulled her hand out, along with a full loaf of bread. She turned around and noticed that John was looking at her a little funny. "What?"
"Nice trick you have there." John pointed at her arm, which cradled the bread as if it was a small baby. "I don't think I've ever heard of someone being able to do that."
Kitty suddenly realized what he meant and blushed lightly. "Oh, the phasing? Yeah, I do it sometimes without thinking."
John smiled at her and stepped around her to get to the refrigerator himself. He pulled out a box of eggs and a gallon of milk, before reading the milk label with an obvious look of surprise. "Soy milk? Ugh, no offense but I've had this before, and I'd rather not again."
Rogue laughed at John's comment before responding. "There should be some regular milk in the back on the bottom shelf. Sometimes we have to hide stuff to keep it from those who can't have it, for whatever reason."
Kitty gave Rogue a look at that comment before turning to Kurt and kissing him. "I'm going to go get changed to do yoga, see you later." She jogged from the room before anyone could say anything.
John watched her leave, then turned around back to the fridge. "So, where is everyone?"
"What do you mean?" Kurt was confused at the question.
"I thought there was quite a few students at the Institute, but it seems to be deserted." John noted as he grabbed the milk and shut the door.
Rogue laughed at John's comment. "It's Thanksgiving week, Darlin'. Everyone's gone home to see their families, at least those who could. Oh, and Scott and Jean are studying abroad in Europe."
John paused for a second, obviously thinking about the date. "Oh, yeah, your right, it is. It's been so long since I've been in the U.S. this time of year, I'd forgotten about the holiday." Rogue couldn't help but laugh at John's comments, and after a few seconds John and Kurt laughed as well. "Hey, either of you want cinnamon or anything mixed with the toast?"
Rogue shook her head, but Kurt spoke up. "Cinnamon sounds good to me."
"All right, then. Where is it?"
"It's up here, in this cupboard." Rogue stood up and started to walk to the pantry she'd indicated, but as she did so, she slipped. John reached out and caught her before she fell, and held her until she got her feet under her.
When he let go, though, her hand brushed against his arm, and suddenly John felt dizzy. He stepped back, and then leaned against the table, breathing heavily. "What.... the hell... was that?" John asked between breaths.
Kurt had realized what happened and was standing next to John to make sure he was all right. "Rogue's power. When she touches someone, she steals their life force and gains some of their memories. In the case of mutants, she also temporarily will gain their powers." He paused for a second, looking behind John. "Oh no."
John stood up and looked at Rogue. Her eyes were wide and glowing, and her mouth open, as if she was trying to say something, but no words were coming out. "Rogue?" John was concerned and when he called her name he got no response. "Kurt, get me some gloves or oven mitts or something, will you?"
"Ja, sure." Kurt found a pair of gloves and quickly gave them to John. "What's wrong with her?"
"Like you said, she took some of my memories. It doesn't appear she touched me long enough to completely drain my powers, but she does have some of it within her right now. What she's seeing, both from the memories that are now within her, and her sudden ability to read my mind, has sent her into shock."
John put the gloves on and turned his attention to Rogue once again. "Rogue? Can you hear me?" Once again, there was no response from the female mutant. Sighing, John realized he'd have to be more forceful with her. He grabbed her chin with his left hand, and her left hand with his right, forcing her to look at him as he guided her back into her chair. "Rogue, come on, snap out of it, will you?"
Once he finally got her to sit down, she seemed to become aware of what was happening around her. Tears began to fall as she blinked for the first time since she'd touched John. "John, I... God, I.... I'm sorry. I..."
"It's all right Rogue. I know what you saw. It happened a long time ago, and I've long since gotten over it." He hugged her and let her cry into his shoulder as Kurt watched them both with concern and confusion on his face. "The memories she steals, are they permanent?"
"No, like her borrowing your abilities, the memories are only temporary. Though, they tend to stay within her a lot longer than the powers will."
John turned his attention back to Rogue, who was still crying on him. "I'm sorry Rogue. What you saw nobody should see. If I could take those images away, believe me, I would. I don't want them in my mind, let alone someone else's."
The crying had calmed down now, Rogue was now more in control of her emotions, but it was quite obvious that the memories were still bothering her. "How could you...?" She couldn't even finish the thought.
"Honestly, I don't know the answer to that myself." Rogue sat back in her seat and rubbed the tears still on her face from her eyes. John smiled lightly at her. "Just be thankful that it wasn't you who actually went through that, all right?"
Rogue nodded and smiled lightly back at the newcomer before turning to Kurt. "So, how's the toast coming along anyway, Elf?"
"Vas?" Kurt was shocked and surprised at the sudden change in her emotions. Rogue and John couldn't help but laugh at the situation, and their laughter started Kurt laughing as well.
"'Elf', huh?" John stood up from where he'd been kneeling next to Rogue. "I'm going to have to remember that for later. Meanwhile, let's finish making breakfast, huh?" He turned back to the bowl and other items on the counter, and Kurt joined him, making some fresh eggs for the three of them to eat.
Meanwhile, completely unaware to the trio in the kitchen, they were being watched. In the third floor of the mansion, in Charles Xavier's private quarters, he sat at a monitor watching the live security feed along with Logan. "It appears there is a lot more to our guest than we had believed."
"Chuck, whatever it was that Rogue saw, I don't think I'm going to like what it means." Logan was scowling more than even he usually does. "I'm a little surprised that she didn't completely lose it like she did last time she was suddenly psychic."
"She didn't touch John for very long, John himself said his powers weren't completely drained, only weakened. It's possible he was using what power he retained to keep her from losing control. I wonder though, he said many times last night that his telepathy wasn't the only power he had. If that's the case, I wonder what else he's capable of."
"I have a few theories on that one, Professor." Beast had silently entered the private room. Both of the other men had been expecting him, though, so they weren't surprised he was there. "If I may, would you mind letting he have control of the computer for a minute?"
He pointed to the monitor the two had been watching. Charles moved his wheelchair out of the way and Beast began typing. After a few seconds, the image went from the security feed to the picture of a DNA strand. "This is our guest's DNA, I have found two different places where the strand has been cut and replaced with a different strand." He pressed a few keys and the strand slid down as if it was on a conveyor belt before stopping and a spot on the strand became highlighted. "The first one, here, I've seen a similar structure twice before, both times in people who had telepathy."
"Jean and myself." The professor was fairly certain what Beast was getting at.
"Yes. This portion of John's DNA was spliced into his existing genetic code. I can tell you two things just by looking at it. First, it was done when he was still young, probably soon after he was kidnapped. Second, whoever did this knew what they were doing, they were engineering John to be a psychic soldier." Logan growled slightly at this news, and Charles sighed quietly. "But, there's more. The splicing, it is much closer to Jean's DNA than it is yours."
"You don't mean..." Logan didn't like where this was going. The professor wasn't happy about it either, though he was more curious than angry.
"Yes, I do. There is a chance that John may have telekinetic abilities as well. Though, why he hasn't shown it yet, I don't know." Beast hit a few more buttons and again the strand slid around on the computer screen, before stopping with another spot becoming highlighted. "This area here, it was spliced as well. And the DNA splicing here is quite similar to a portion of DNA that you have, Logan."
"You mean...?" Logan wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but he knew he'd find it out eventually anyway.
"Yes, I do. He has some advanced healing ability. As far as I can tell, this work was much more recent than the first. He said he was dieing, correct?"
"Yes, he said that the mutation he'd been given was interfering with his natural mutation that had appeared when he was a teenager. He said that when he realized what was happening, he went to a group of doctors who told him that the work that had been done previously hadn't been finished. They went in and finished it."
"That might explain a few things, then. His body was probably rejecting the splicing in favor of the natural mutation. But, in doing so, he was slowly killing off that section of DNA, and without it, his body would have started to shut down. This second splicing, if it is indeed a regeneration enhancement, would have stopped the breakdown of that DNA strand. I noticed that it does have some differences to yours, though, I don't believe it's as powerful." He clicked some more and another section of DNA was highlighted. "This is a section that I don't believe I have ever seen in this particular configuration before. I believe it is his natural mutation, but I don't know what ability it gives him."
"What the fuck does THAT mean, Beast?" Logan was barely containing his frustration now. This man they'd let into the mansion last night could potentially be more powerful than every other person on the campus, and now that he was here, it may not be possible to stop him, should anything happen.
"Language, Logan." Professor Xavier admonished his friend. "And calm down. He hasn't done anything yet, and we have no reason to suspect that he will."
"I still don't like it, Chuck. We don't know the extent of his abilities, or his intentions."
"I doubt he's hostile. If he was, he would have probably already struck." Charles knew it was going to be nearly impossible to get Logan calmed, but he had to try anyway. "If you are that concerned about him, maybe you should give him a test downstairs."
Logan caught his friend's meaning. "You want me to put him in the Danger Room? What program?"
"The standard training program will work. If you want to give him a challenge, maybe you should face him while the program runs."
Logan smiled at the idea. "All right, Chuck. You've got it. Me and him in the Danger Room. This should be fun." Logan turned and began walking away, but was stopped suddenly by Charles.
"You might want to wait a few hours so that he can recover from Rogue's influence. Besides, I'm pretty sure Kurt, Kitty, Rogue, and Ororo will all want to see this."
"All right, I'll let him know." Logan then left the room to the other two adults.
"Charles, you saw John's back. I can't imagine what he's been through, but I don't think Logan is going to scare him at all."
"No, he won't, Hank. Rogue acquired some of John's memories a little while ago, and she nearly passed out from the shock. Whatever happened to him, there isn't anything we can do that would be worse." He turned the monitor back to the security feed, and noticed that the three were just finishing up their breakfasts.
"That was pretty good, John. I'm impressed." Kurt smiled as he finished off his glass of orange juice.
"Thanks Kurt. Truthfully, it's been a while since I've had the opportunity to actually cook anything." John sighed as another old memory crossed his mind briefly. Shaking his head, he looked at Rogue, who was sitting across from the guys, her eyes closed. "Something wrong?"
"Huh?" Rogue opened her eyes and looked at the two. "Oh, no, I was just...... I think I can hear Evan."
"Evan? That's the name of the guy making all that noise this morning?" John smirked.
"There is no WAY you could hear him, he's in the third basement, you were in the first." Kurt wasn't buying for a second what John was trying to sell.
"No, not physically, anyway. But he's been down there grunting and panting and doing God knows what else since about six thirty."
Rogue and Kurt looked at each other and at the same time responded. "Skateboarding."
John looked at them for a second, then shrugged. "To each their own, I guess. That's not my thing." He stood up and went to the sink to clean up his dishes. Rogue and Kurt both came over to help.
"Hey, now, you cooked, we can clean." Rogue smiled at him. Her eyes had quit glowing soon after she stopped crying, but it was obvious to John that his powers were still present within her. He smiled and stepped back, letting the younger two mutants do the work.
"Rogue, do you know how much longer you'll have my abilities?"
"Sorry, hon, I don't, but I'd say probably not much longer. They've weakened quite a bit already. Why do you ask?"
John pointed to his head. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been trying to help you keep control."
"I noticed. Thanks for that, but I think you can stop now."
"All right, if you insist." John closed his eyes for a second. Rogue stiffened a little bit, but then relaxed once again, and went back to helping Kurt with the dishes.
After about another ten minutes, everything was cleaned up and put away. Rogue waved at the two and disappeared in the direction of room John had met Charles in the night before. They sat there in silence for a few seconds before Kurt spoke up. "Hey, John, they didn't give you a tour last night, did they?"
"Huh? No, they didn't, it was pretty late when I got here, so the only things I've seen so far other than the den and kitchen is Beast's lab."
"Good, then I can give you the grand tour. Though, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to show you everything in the basement levels."
"It's not gonna matter much, Elf." Kurt jumped and nearly teleported out of the room at the new voice behind them, but caught himself. They turned around and saw Logan standing in the doorway leading out to one of the halls.
"What's going on?" John wasn't sure he liked the smirk on Logan's face.
"Well, bub, you and me are gonna have a little skirmish downstairs in a couple hours."
"You're taking him to the Danger Room? This should be interesting!"
"Yeah, Elf, the two of us are gonna have a sparring contest, and you and the others are invited to watch, if you want."
"Vas? We get to see Logan in action? This will truly be a treat!" Kurt's sarcasm was evident even through his accent.
"Can it, Elf. Noon all right with you, John?"
"That's fine, Logan. See you then."
Logan grunted then turned around. He took two steps before stopping. "Oh, Kurt, for now, don't take him below the first basement."
"All right, no problem." Logan then continued walking away as Kurt turned back to John. "What was that about?"
John shrugged. "Beats me, but I guess I'm going to have to wait on a shower. Not that it matters, I have no clean clothes anyway."
"Actually, I'd go ahead and shower if I were you." Kurt waved his hand in front of his nose. "You smell like you haven't had one in a while."
"It has been a couple days, I don't really get many opportunities when I'm spending my nights in the wilderness."
"Vas? You sleep in the wilderness? Why?"
"I have my reasons." John wasn't going to elaborate on the subject, and Kurt let it go.
"You know, I think Scott has some clothes somewhere, maybe they'll fit you. Let's go ask Storm!" Before John could say anything, Kurt had grabbed him by the wrist and teleported them both to the greenhouse.
Storm was quite startled as Kurt and John appeared right in front of her, standing on some sort of flowering bush that she had just finished planting. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?"
"Sorry, Storm, but John needs a change of clothes and I thought that since Scott isn't around and they're about the same size, he could borrow a couple sets." Kurt suddenly realized that the weather goddess was scowling at him, and when he looked down, he yelped and jumped back, dragging John with him. "Sorry, I didn't know that was there."
Ororo sighed and stood up, eying both of them suspiciously. After a minute, she sighed. "Go ahead and show John where the showers are. I'll find a box of Scott's clothes and bring them up to your room, Kurt, since we still don't have one ready for John."
"All right, Storm. Danke!" Storm nodded and Kurt gabbed John and teleported again, this time to the second floor hallway.
John, for his part, was a little unsteady, he wasn't used to moving in this fashion. He staggered a little bit and leaned against the hallway. "Kurt, do me a favor. Next time you're going to teleport us, tell me, will you? I think if I have to do that any more, I'm going to see my breakfast again."
"Sorry, Mein friend." Kurt looked ashamedly at John. John smiled at him and pushed him lightly.
"It's all right. Come on, you said something about a tour?"
"Ja, we can start up here, I'll show you my room and the bathrooms so you can shower, then we can start the tour for real."
A/N: Well, here's chapter 3, as always, feedback is appreciated. Next time, I SWEAR the Logan vs John fight will be on!
In response to the Reviews I've gotten: Buddy: What happened is that when I was putting my storyline for the series together, I realized during my research that some of the stuff I had happening wasn't consistent with the canonical versions. For the most part, the characters will be unchanged, though the powers may be altered slightly. I'll discuss it more when I get to the characters that I mean. (There are two by my count, and the first doesn't show up until the third story.)
Fanatic1229: Depending on the continuity, or the source you use, Kurt Wagner was either in a monastery or was a circus performer before being discovered by Charles. I'm going with circus performer, because it seems more likely, though I may mention him as having been in a monastery at some point, I'm not sure on that part.