Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel. I need $450K. I just saw some dude with a flying suit in England and he's selling them. I'm all over that.

Chapter 26: Time Is On Your Side

Fighting people when they can teleport is a bitch and a half. I can't get this point across enough. It's a wretched experience. You don't get close to them, unless they want you to be close, and they can turn up anywhere around you.

Skip was a terrible draw to fight, because not only could I not close the distance against him, he could teleport my blasts away from himself whenever I did manage to get a bead on him.

Eddie wasn't doing much better. He wasn't a one-dimensional, go-really-fast-in-one-direction type. Wing was the most versatile and controlled flier out of all of the student trainees, able to stop on a dime and turn at any angle like it was nothing, but he was finding it hard to get a decent shot at our opponent as well.

I took aim at Skip and tried to time it with Eddie's approach from another angle. It didn't do much to throw him off. I fired a blast and he created a portal with one hand to catch it, another to return fire with it in Eddie's direction. It was a trick he'd tried before, so Eddie was ready for it, but Skip was ready for Eddie's preparations.

He created a portal that Eddie flew through, dumping him out on the other side. He'd tried to get Eddie to crash through the fence of some poor family's backyard. A nice try, but it was enough space that Eddie could pull up, saving himself from taking a header into solid wood planks.

It took way too long to start coordinating our attacks, but my excuse was a combination of factors coming together. Eddie was still pissed about Hisako's power scare. He had also never fought a real person before outside of spars or drills.

I couldn't get the idea out of my head that I apparently destroyed the world years from then. That was a mistake, as there were more important things to deal with, like the guy trying to kill me.

Skip wasn't playing games. After dealing with enough blasts from me, he decided to take a few shots of his own, pulling out a handgun. I took cover behind a concrete barrier as he took potshots in my direction. I swiped my arms to signal Eddie to stay away, as if he needed me to tell him anything after hearing gunfire.

I couldn't even throw my arms up without hot lead flying my way, "You had a gun this whole time, you pink eye! Why didn't you start with that?" I yelled at Skip over the gunfire. At least I had cover for the time being. I could try and think of a way to attack, 'Come on, you're the idea guy! Think of something good!'

I'd come into this rescue half-cocked. We'd meant well, but Eddie and I had only been prepared for so much of a fight. Hisako couldn't help from where she was, and he could just shoo my blasts away. We couldn't get close either without him using his damn portals.

...Speaking of which, one opened up in front of me above my head, behind my cover, trying to aim down at me. I realized it just as it started firing inaccurately at me. In a panic, I launched a blast that exploded on the gun in his hand.

"Gah!" Skip pulled his burned hand back through the portal, and an opportunity arose.

He knew how my powers worked. He knew other things about me. He didn't know anything about Eddie though, and the fairly new little wrinkle Eddie had discovered about his powers – that they didn't just let him fly. He could control the gravity of other things by touch.

Eddie finally had the chance to get in and divebomb Skip. He hit him with a punch, but Skip's hands were up to block. That didn't matter though. The most important thing though, was that because Eddie had touched him and then willed it to be so, Skip's feet were off of the ground, and he had no control of himself.

That meant no portals to dive into for him.

He was a sitting duck, slowly drifting higher into the air like a balloon. He couldn't move. He couldn't do much of anything. And I had dynamite in my hands.

With great vengeance and anger, I popped up and blasted him from forty yards away with my un-casted hand. Center mass – a fantastic shot. In hindsight, I probably should have picked up the gun and tried my luck at shooting him with that instead.

I knocked him to the ground. The sound of breath being forced out of his lungs was sweet. I hope I broke a few ribs, the bastard. I jumped the barricade to push my advantage. Eddie swooped back around to try and get him again while he could. Neither of us could get to him before he opened a portal underneath himself and slipped away again.

Eddie and I met at the spot Skip had just vacated, "Oh, come on!" Eddie complained at a lack of defeated foe at our feet, "The only way that shot could have been better is if it was a head shot... or if you blew his stinking guts open. But I guess you can't kill people."

Well, I could have, if I'd been thinking about it. I could have done it and called it an accident. I had to stop myself from saying that out loud. That was a slippery slope to start going down. The more pressing issue was where our quarry went.

"Where the fuck did he go? Hisako?" I asked, looking over at our bound teammate. She just shrugged her shoulders, "Alright. I'm coming to get you loose. Eddie, keep an eye out from above," It wouldn't do to let our guard down and get ambushed.

"Aye-aye, captain," Eddie saluted me before taking off for recon.

I looked both ways like I was crossing the road before taking off in a sprint for Hisako, jumping up to where she was held in the elevated bulldozer shovel in a single bound. I complained out loud while I ripped her restraints apart and checked her over for injuries or any other nasty surprises.

"Complete bullshit," I muttered like a grumpy old man, "I'm enacting a goddamn Paladin buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone anymore! You take Wolf with you to classes if you have to! I don't even care if he complains! I'll make that metal S.O.B. go!"

I didn't mean to bitch in front of her like she'd done something wrong. She hadn't. I was just worried. Anger means I care, otherwise I'm sarcastic and apathetic about the things that go on around me.

Once Hisako's hands were free and I'd shut up, she threw her arms around my neck in a hug – one I readily returned. She was still powerless, so I had to scoop her up and jump down. Eddie flew down and was the next to receive Hisako's grateful embrace, "What took you two idiots so long?" She said.

"Jesus, Armor," Eddie said with a chuckle, patting Hisako on the back as she buried her face into his chest, "You let a dude named Skip knock you out and drag you off? For shame," He got her to laugh and give him a punch, which was a victory for him, "Bel, I haven't seen the guy since he teleported again."

"I'm not going to dignify that guy by calling his powers something as cool as teleporting," I said, waving my hand to dismiss our enemy, "From now on, we call what he does 'skipping', because fuck Skip."

That we could agree on. Besides, I didn't have all of the facts, but for as strong as his power could be, it had some weaknesses that I could pick out. It wasn't really teleporting. What Mister Wagner did was teleporting.

"I don't think he's coming back," Hisako said, once she finally got away from Eddie, "Bel, you got him good. If he couldn't telep-, skip," She corrected herself, full of resentment for the person who took her away, "-You guys would have got him. I'd put money on it that he's on his last legs right now."

Eddie punched into his palm, "So let's go find him and regulate his ass!"

As much as I wanted to make sure the shot I landed on Skip counted, I was also in my right mind, "We're not getting that guy," I was aware of the situation. If Eddie didn't see him when he swept the area, he was gone, "If he ran, he's miles away by now. We could never catch him ourselves. You know I'm right," I said, seeing the look of displeasure on Eddie's face. I changed the focus to the girl we had come out there for in the first place, "...Besides, we really should have Dr. McCoy look at Hisako and make sure she's alright."

Hisako scowled at me. I gave her a look back. What, was I not supposed to show concern over her well-being, "I'm fine. And he said I'll get my powers back in a few hours."

Reminding Eddie of the reality that Hisako could have, or still could, lose her powers put him firmly on my side, "I don't trust that guy! He says Bel's gonna destroy the planet," He reached out and grabbed my head to present to Hisako, "This guy. This is the guy that's gonna cause Armageddon. This is the guy that's gonna screw over the Earth."

I went out of my way to give her the dullest, driest stare I could to back up his point. I was far from impressive-looking enough to convince anyone that I was going to destroy anything.

"Okay... you've got me there," Hisako conceded, "But I still feel fine. Seriously, I don't feel any different."

"But you still can't armor up," Eddie said, "Please go see the doctor? It would make me feel a whole lot better," He begged her.

Eddie pleading for Hisako's health was her breaking point, "Fine. But you two better be ready," She put on a smug grin, "You're gonna be in so much trouble when we get back."

I knew she was right, but Eddie scoffed, not believing her, "Yeah right. We kicked a bad guy's butt and rescued a damsel in distress," Hisako pinched him at being referred to as a damsel in distress, "What are we gonna get in trouble for? Being heroes?"

XxX

Within thirty minutes, Hisako had been taken down to the medical bay, and Eddie and I were sat outside of the school's administrative office. The moment we'd spotted anyone to hand Hisako off to, we'd been ordered to head over and wait.

...You know... like heroes.

I was completely chill about the whole thing. I'd been there enough times in the last few months to be familiar with the atmosphere, but Eddie was beside himself.

"Hey-hey-hey! That was some heroic stuff! We're heroes! Why are we basically waiting outside the principal's office?" He asked, fidgeting about in his seat. He stopped and turned to me, "...Does this always happen?"

I let out a sigh, resigning myself to my fate of seemingly being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time, "Every. Single. Time," I said, giving Eddie a sardonic smile, "Welcome to the club."

Eddie clearly expected more fanfare from doing the right thing, "I still don't get why we're in trouble."

"No? You don't?" A strong, Russian accent got both of our backs to straighten up, "How about, because you left the school during lockdown procedures. Or because you battled a dangerous enemy that even the X-Men know nothing about?"

We turned to face the towering Colossus. From the look on his face and the cross of his arms, it was clear he wasn't pleased, "Hey, Mister Rasputin. What's up?" I said, trying to play things cool. I failed.

"Nothing good," He said as he walked over and placed a hand on each of our shoulders, "Bellamy, Eddie, I respect your desire to protect your teammate, but there were better ways to handle this. Safer ways. You put yourselves in great danger."

I knew that. But the alternative was leaving Hisako in a bad guy's hands. I let him know as much, "Skip said he would kill her if any X-Men showed up."

Mister Rasputin seemed as confused by the name as he should have been, "Skip?" I almost laughed.

"That was what the guy called himself," Eddie clarified for our advisor's sake, "He's totally full of crap. There's no way anyone ever called him that before he showed up in front of us. God, I hope not, at least."

"Why did this man contact you?" Mister Rasputin asked. Funnily enough, it was suspect as to why someone would bother trying to interact with a student when full-fledged superheroes lived on the grounds, "What did he want you to do for him?"

"He wanted me to die," I said before I got somewhat hesitant to elaborate further, "He said... some things."

I didn't want to talk about it anymore, and he could see as much, but it was his job to know what problems and threats we had against us out there, "Bellamy... I know that you do not know me as well as you got to know Katya before she disappeared... but I am here to help you. I want to help you."

I had to give him a chance. He was our advisor, and the X-Men were experts at dealing with this kind of thing, "He said I destroy the world. A long time from now, but he said it happens," I revealed.

Mister Rasputin was stunned before trying to take things logically, "I do not understand. How? Why?"

Eddie stepped in at that point, having been there for the entire thing as well, "We didn't really get a lot of details from him before he started in on Bel. You don't think he's telling the truth, do you?"

That was a loaded question. If he said 'no', he was a fool for disregarding something that potentially dangerous, and if I went off we would all pay the price. If he said 'yes', he acknowledged that I was a ticking time bomb that would eventually take all of existence on Earth and beyond with him.

Mister Rasputin stood me up and looked me in the eye, "Remember, there was a prophecy that I was the one who would destroy an entire world," I remembered, of course. Breakworld, "It was nothing more than the manipulations of one desperate individual. Important things were lost because of it."

Yes, but in the end, he didn't destroy anything. He didn't doom a planet. He helped save it, and ours.

"The Paladins are my responsibility now," The gigantic Russian man assured me, "I will do everything in my power to help. I will not let anything bad happen to you."

I tried to smile. I don't think it ended up being much more than a well-meaning grimace. I wanted to believe him. I really did.

XxX

The next day came and no random acts of violence or malice were posed to me or my school. Fortunately, no word had gotten out about what had happened the other day, so I could at least try to shove it to the back of my mind while I was in class.

It didn't even take that long for wonderful distractions to pop up. I love Xavier's so much. That school refused to let you dwell on any one thing.

Some of Megan's team, Ben and Nick, caught me while I was trying to grab something quick for breakfast and went to walk with me on the way to classes. Ben was a pretty serious guy, so any small talk with him lasted a few moments. Nicky was a lot more talkative, which made getting any kind of enjoyment out of the two bottles of orange juice I snagged tricky.

I had to resort to unscrewing the top with one hand and my mouth because Nicky was curious about the cast on my other hand, "Why does everyone try to screw with you when you have one of these on?" I asked through the plastic cap.

Ben stepped in to reel his teammate back in before he could annoy me, "You shouldn't mess with that thing, Nick. Megan told us it's protecting the implant in his hand."

"Does it itch?" Nicky asked me, curiously poking at the cast with one of his clawed fingers before I pulled it away.

I gave the wolf boy a sour look, "Yeah, it itches. It's like having a marble surgically embedded in the back of my hand," I said, tapping him on the head. He barely responded at all, and I looked at my hand longingly, "I wish I had a hard cast. The only good thing about any cast is getting to hit stuff and not feel it."

My complaints fell on deaf ears when it came to Ben. It sounded like I was just bellyaching, "There's no way anyone's going to let you fight until that thing is off," Which meant no one would let me spar or otherwise train. I scowled and reached for the underside of the cast. Ben swatted me, "Don't rip it off."

Was I really that easy to read by now?

Nicky tried to encourage me to be patient in my recuperation, "Yeah, it's like a protective cocoon for your broken hand caterpillar. If you keep it on, it'll turn into a healed hand butterfly."

Ben and I looked at each other before he responded first, "That was beautifully dumb, Nick."

The moment was interrupted when Julian came over and threw an arm around me, trying and failing to move me away from earshot of the male Paragons. Nicky could hear him from just about anywhere in the courtyard, and Ben wasn't going anywhere he didn't want to. It was best to just get things over with, "What is it, dude?" I asked.

Julian took a deep breath. Whatever he was going to say was difficult for him, "Marcher, I need your help."

The grin I had could have split my face, "...Whaaaaaat?" I drawled long and deliberately, making a show of it. Ooh, he hated that, "Do you want to repeat that for me? I'm not sure I heard you right."

Julian's face started turning red, "Don't be an asshole," The fact that he hadn't shoved me away and stomped off meant he really needed a favor.

"Oh, but I am an asshole. I can admit that," I said, stroking my chin, "And like the asshole that I am – the asshole that you also are, by the way – I'm going to savor this."

It irked him to ask for any kind of assistance from me, "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Eh, it depends on what you want," I said. Julian grit his teeth and his body outlined in a telekinetic green glow, signifying that I was getting to him. That was all I wanted, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'll help. Whatever it is can't be that bad."

Seriously, a guy had tried to kill me the other day. I doubted what the leader of the Hellions wanted compared to that.

Julian calmed down, anger quickly replaced with a cocky stride, "I got Sofia to agree to go out with me."

Huh. He'd been chasing her for a while, "Good for you," I said honestly.

That wasn't all to the story though, as he would reveal, "-But her team talked her into bringing them with us, so Foley and his girl... uh, Wallflower, they're going. I think Ashida and Alleyne are going too, which is gonna tank the whole night."

Absolutely it would. That was a recipe for a mini war zone in Salem Center, "Bad for you," I said, stating the obvious.

"-But it's not just a double date," Julian continued, trying to salvage his own situation, "It's more like a couple's night. So, more people can come."

"Uh... good for you?" I said confusedly. He didn't need to say anymore for me to know he wanted my girl and I to take part, "How is my going with Megan supposed to help you?"

"Because you don't straight up hate me," He said. Wow, that was the criteria we were working with nowadays? Fair enough, "Not like the rest of the New Mutants do, anyway. You won't try to provoke me like the others will. At least you'll be neutral and call out anyone else."

The man had a point. I was straight-up Switzerland, as far as the issues between the New Mutants and the Hellions went. I'd already expressed in the past how annoying it was that both teams always seemed to be at each other's throats. It was a common opinion around school too.

Aside from that, I did owe Julian for the thing in California. That didn't mean I couldn't try to get something out of it on my end though, "Fine. On one condition," He seemed a bit nettled at my request, but he heard me out, "I can get Eddie to go too, but you've got to get him a date."

Julian raised an eyebrow at me. I hadn't given him that bad of a condition. Just an odd one, "What? Why can't you do it?"

Nicky snickered while Ben smirked and gave Julian the answer, "He already tried with the other girls on our team. Jessie's a precog, so she shut it down before he even came up with a way to approach them. Poor bastard."

I narrowed my eyes at the flaming-headed boy, "Are you talking about me or Eddie?"

"Yes."

I snapped my teeth spitefully at Ben before turning my attention back to Julian, "Anyway, you're gonna thank me for bringing him if anyone tries to start something," I said, continuing to try and convince him, "He's way better at deescalating things than I am."

My streak of persuasive reasoning continued, as Julian seemed to think this was a good plan, "I have an idea of who I can bring. Think he'll go with Cess?"

That was a great idea. I had no clue why he seemed apprehensive about it, "Oh, absolutely. Why wouldn't he?" Cessily was pretty, and from her interactions with Laura she was a nice girl. Julian gave me a deadpan look until I realized what the problem might have been, "Oh, the whole metal body thing? Yeah, I don't think he gives a fuck about that."

A dismissive attitude wasn't the one to take here. Julian took the possibility of Cessily being received badly deadly serious, "Make sure before it becomes a problem later."

I rolled my eyes but pulled out my phone and gave Eddie a call to keep the peace. It rang for two beats before he picked up, "Hey, Bel. What do you want?"

I walked off for some semblance of privacy, again in vain, "I want you to say I'm the best leader you've ever had. That's what I want," I started off smugly.

"You're the only leader I've ever had." Meh. Semantics, "Why? What did you do?"

"Got your bitch ass a date. That's what I did," I said, dropping the bomb on him.

In my wondrous mind, I envisioned Eddie taking off into the air when I told him that, because I heard a whoosh, "No way! Finally! Who is it?"

"Cessily."

"Mercury? Fucking awesome! When is it?" There you go. Didn't care about the metal-ness at all, just like I knew.

My ego levels were at an all-time high by this point. Julian wasn't even mad. He just shook his head with a smile on his face while I spoke to my friend, "Saturday night. It's some big couples' thing, so you won't even have the pressure of entertaining her by yourself. Lucky you."

Eddie immediately booed me over the line, "Aww, but I wanted a solo date. This doesn't count. You suck."

What the-? I was doing him a favor. He could show some gratitude for what I'd managed to pull off, "If you don't fuck up, you can ask her out again later. Better to do it this way first and figure out if you even like her."

"I'm more concerned about Mercury liking me than the other way around, but you've got a point," Eddie eventually conceded, "That's why you make the big bucks."

"I don't make any bucks..." I muttered before deciding to finish up, "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was up. I'll tell you more later," I said, ending the call there, "Right. That's done. I'm assuming he's got to ask her or something."

"She'll say yes," Julian assured me, more subdued than I ever remembered hearing him sound, "This is actually gonna be a really good thing for her. You're kind of doing me two favors here, Marcher," I wordlessly asked him to elaborate further, "Cess... takes her mutation kind of hard," He admitted, not knowing how much it was his business to say, "She doesn't think anyone will ever want to get with her because she's made of metal."

Understandable. High school years gave you enough problems with worrying about being odd. Now take that sentiment, and add it to the fact that we were in a school full of kids that the rest of the world would consider freaks, "Well, lucky for you, Eddie doesn't give a shit. He just wants to try his luck with a pretty girl."

Julian nodded before freezing and giving me an odd look, "When you say 'try his luck-.'"

"Yeah, he's gonna try and get laid. I'm like 95% sure," There was no need for me to be subtle. We all knew what the score was. I pointed right at Julian before he could respond, "I don't want to hear it either. You're putting this whole thing together to try and get laid too, you big hypocrite."

"I wasn't going to say anything," He replied, waving his hands defensively, "...Come to think of it, I'm not sure how Cess-."

"Ah-ah-ah," Knowing where he was going, I let our talk end right there, "-Let's just stop speculating about that," Best to leave that for Eddie to find out if he had enough game, "Even if they do hit it off, she probably isn't gonna give it up on a group date."

I probably didn't have to tell Eddie to behave, but I had to make sure he would be on his best behavior. His character would reflect on me, damn it!

XxX

The day dragged on and saw us all out at the basketball courts after our last classes ended. Hisako, Ruth, and I were posted up on the bleachers, where we had kicked Eddie away from in order to ask Cessily out. She was with a few other girls that went to school, but conversation aside, her attention seemed focused on her surroundings, trying to solve an unspoken mystery.

She had been smartened up to some degree. Clearly, she was expecting something.

Eddie, meanwhile, had refrained from taking another step her way after he'd gotten out of casual speaking distance from the rest of us. God, he looked awkward, trying and failing to make it seem like he was just chilling. As welcome a distraction as it was from my ongoing trials and tribulations, it was kind of painful to watch, and he hadn't even initiated a conversation with Cessily yet.

"He's gonna blow it," Hisako declared, shaking her head pitifully.

Whatever happened to believing in your friends? She was his identified best friend, not me, "He's not gonna blow it. He's fine," I sighed back.

"Right. Sure," She chuckled at my expense, "You'd better check again. Look at his face, he's scared to death!"

I squinted and observed Eddie as well as I could from a distance with my eagle-eyed vision. He looked like a man set to go off the high dive for the first time, "But why? He talked a big game this whole time! How's he scared?"

Hisako slowly angled herself toward me to give me the full scope of her dismissive attitude, "Why do you think he needed you to get him a date in the first place?" She asked as though it should have been obvious the whole time.

Suddenly, I saw it, but it didn't make sense. I had seen him flirt. I had heard him whine insufferably about someone hooking him up. Now that I did, I needed him to come through, "Look, Cessily is expecting to get asked out. Julian didn't tell her who was gonna do it, but he got her hopes up. If Eddie pussies out, he's probably gonna restart my beef with the Hellions, and they'll be in the right this time."

Hisako didn't have an answer for me, nor was she very helpful in coming up with a solution, "Guess you better cozy up tighter to the New Mutants for more allies."

No. That was not an option. I hadn't succumbed to high school's clique bullshit yet and I didn't plan on doing it then, "Fuck that. Ruthie, put me in Eddie's head," Our telepath dutifully did as I asked, 'Eddie, quit being a bitch and go talk to her!'

He shivered and looked around sharply before turning back to where our team was observing from, 'Bel, get out of my head! Blindfold, get him out of my head!' He demanded once he knew what was going on.

I held up a hand to keep Ruth from ejecting me. There was a job to be done, and damn it, it was going to get done, 'No, you will listen! You wanted me to make this happen for you, and I did! Now put your big boy pants on and finish this!'

'You didn't do anything! She doesn't know it's me that's gonna ask her out! What if she says no?'

I felt like pulling my hair out. Hooking a friend up was not supposed to be this difficult, 'Then you're in the same position you were in before any of this started!' I continued to shout at him in our heads, 'Dude, you'll flirt like a moron in class and talk shit, but when go time rolls around, you fall back? Come on! You seemed so excited about this a few hours ago.'

The more we went back and forth, the more he seemed to panic at the thought of marching across the yard and talking to Cessily, 'Under false circumstances! I thought you talked to her already and she said yes! The deal was supposed to have been sealed! This is not what we agreed on!'

Sealing a deal? What did he think this was, a charity dating service? Well, until UNICEF got into the goddamn matchmaking business, this was the best he was going to get. He wasn't going to get a girl handed to him on a silver platter. He had to do something himself.

'What, do you want me to go on the goddamn date for you too?' I stopped and went wide-eyed. That gave me an idea. I looked over at Ruth to ask her an unvoiced question. The little mind-reader nodded yes, and I grew devious, 'Fine! I'll do this myself! Last chance. Float your ass over there and ask that girl out before I have Ruth hijack your brain and do it for you!' A fear the likes of which I hadn't seen on Eddie's face formed at that moment. I had him, 'You have ten seconds! Ten! Nine!'

Some unholy combination of curses and angry noises drifted back through the mental connection before Eddie walked off to do as he was commanded. The closer he got, the more the nerves seemed to offset his anger, leaving him somewhere in the middle, and oddly composed, by the time he got to her.

Hisako let out a hum as we returned to our previous position as spectators from afar, "That seemed intense, from the look on your face. Think whatever you said worked?"

I let out an irritated grunt, "Doesn't matter. He went over there. That's all that's important," Once Eddie's episode was over, I gave her a sidelong glance before looking away again, "So, how are you doing?"

She acted like the whole concerned leader thing was a pain, but I knew she appreciated the sentiment, "My powers are back, Bel. You saw me armor up this morning."

"That's not what I mean," I said, giving her a nudge, "Breakworld was one thing. Getting kidnapped was some scary shit on its own. I just want to make sure you're okay upstairs."

Hisako raised an eyebrow with a ghost of a smile, "Shouldn't I be asking you that instead? I'm not the one who destroys the world. You are," She tried to play it cool, but there was real concern there.

"I'll be fine," I still wasn't convinced, but again, I wanted to believe in Mister Rasputin. He was taking steps to make sure we got all of this figured out, so I was giving the benefit of the doubt, "Apparently, I'm supposed to go and get checked out by some specialists."

Hisako seemed skeptical that we could just find help so easily, "Specialists on galactic-scale power that you may or may not have?"

I gave her what I hoped was a confident wink, "The X-Men ain't the only superheroes in the world."

XxX

Mister Logan dragged me to New York to see these specialists, and he was none too pleased about it. I don't see why though. I guess he figured I'd embarrass him in front of the goddamn Fantastic Four.

…Yeah. That was who had been called to take a look at my potentially destructive future.

It was a major mind trip, flying the Blackbird into the Baxter Building. The entire way there, Logan was telling me not to fuck up or do anything dumb. Thankfully, it had been a remarkably short flight.

"Rule number five: don't touch anything," He barked from the nearby as I sat on an examination table in my underwear. I felt drained by the preemptive lecture, "Rule number six: don't run your mouth."

"-I'm gonna break that one," I managed to slip in as Mister Fantastic attached more sensors to me.

Mister Logan growled back at me, "I'm serious, kid. We're calling in a favor for this one. A second favor, actually. And by that, I mean I'm calling in a favor. For you. Fucking waste of a favor," He looked back in the middle of his griping to find me with my arms wide open, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting on my hug. Because you love me. I knew you had a soft spot for me," The sound of the claws on one of his hands popping got me to put my arms down, "I was just kidding."

"Please, don't damage any of the equipment, Logan," Mister Fantastic said, chiding the angry senior X-Man and protecting me.

Logan harumphed and got up from his seat, slapping a quiet, introspective Mister Rasputin on the shoulder as he passed by him near the door, "Come on, Tin Man. Time's a wastin'. Let's see if Sue has anything for us."

Mister Rasputin had also come along, deciding to kill two birds with one stone. He wanted a conversation about Miss Pryde's whereabouts and the progress, or lack thereof, when it came to getting her home. I hoped I wouldn't catch the details of that.

Once I was settled, my teachers walked off, leaving me lying on a table alone inside of a lab. A machine looming over me hummed, doing… whatever it was doing. The grown folks had other things to see to.

"Alright, Bellamy," Mister Fantastic said, "My machine is set to determine your internal makeup; the various processes going on inside of your body that allow your powers to function. I'm aware that mutants oftentimes have unique physical properties that aren't always readily noticeable. With this, we can probe you down to the very cell, look for any variances from the common human biology and determine what it is that sets you apart, and if it's something that needs to be closely monitored."

I stared at him, wondering how to politely tell him that everything that had just come out of his mouth went clear over my head, "…I'm sorry Dr. Richards, I got about thirty percent of that," I said apologetically, "My science chops are more computer and programming related," And even then, I was, like, university-level.

He smiled the smile of a man used to dumbing things down for people in layman's terms, "This machine will help me determine the physical nature of your powers, so we can see if there's anything to fear," He reiterated, "I hope you're comfortable. This may take a while. About as long as a CAT scan. I can assure you, it's very thorough."

"You're fine. I've got more time in a day than most people," I said. In reality though, sitting there getting scanned, or whatever the hell was happening to me, was painfully boring.

Dr. Richards seemed to be using the time to work on other things, and I wished I could move. I would have spent the time doing my homework, but instead I had to wait until later. Damn it, I had an essay due in history class that I'd been procrastinating on.

I lingered on a table, staring directly into the light above that scanned my entire body. My brain almost turned off, until I turned to the side and found a little blond kid in a Fantastic Four jumpsuit staring at me. I couldn't tell how old he was. Younger than eight, maybe.

I was bored, and freaking out Mister Fantastic's kid by staring him down probably wouldn't go over too well, so I tried to engage him a bit, "Uh… hey there, little guy," I didn't know what to say. I was terrible with kids. They scared the shit out of me. You couldn't screw up with them the way you could with older people, otherwise you might mess them up, "What's going on? You doing good?"

He walked up closer, but stopped short of the containment wall that was keeping the light from Mister Fantastic's machine all on me, "Are you a mutant?"

Well, that was a straightforward question. I could work with that, "Yeah, I am. I go to the school the X-Men run and everything."

He put his hands on the wall and started hopping up and down, "That's so cool! I'm a mutant too!" He said excitedly, "What do you do?"

I held up a hand and made it glow to illustrate, "I do stuff with light. Blast stuff, power myself up. Those kinds of things. At least, I think so," I said, feeling the frown on my face, "Some stuff came up where I'm not exactly sure what my powers do exactly anymore."

"Oh," He said with big, wide eyes, "Is daddy helping you?"

I looked over at Mr. Richards, fully engrossed in whatever else he was doing while his machine was checking me out, "Yeah, he's working on it... and other things, I guess," I said lamely before turning the topic to him, "What's your name, little buddy?"

"Franklin."

"Franklin, huh? Well, I'm Bellamy."

And that was how I met Mister Fantastic's kid. I expected some kind of brilliant egg head that would make me feel like a moron because he was a genius and I wasn't. I mean... that would happen later with another Richards kid, but not Franklin.

The two of us just hung out and talked while my test was going on. It was a welcome distraction. He just asked me things and told me about what he'd seen and what his family had done. The little runt had big stories, and a lot of questions.

"Let's see," I said, in the midst of answering one of those questions, "I've been in space. I've been to other planets. I've never been to another dimension, and I've never time-traveled. I've been attacked by someone from the future though... err, allegedly."

The talk of me getting into a fight excited Franklin, "Did'ja beat him up?"

"Of course, I did," I said, knowingly preening in front of the boy. My ego was primed and ready for some much-needed hero worship, "You didn't know? I'm one of the X-Men. I'm strong. Not just anyone can smack me around."

Franklin tried his best to swell up and look badass. It was more hilarious than anything else, "Betcha I'm stronger than you!"

I didn't mean to laugh in the kid's face, but I did... because I'm an asshole, "I'm sure you are. I'll tell you what; drink your milk, take your vitamins, and say your prayers. Then maybe one day you can be big and strong like me!"

If I could go back in time and slap my past self across the face. Dear lord, I had no idea what I was saying at the time.

The light shining down on me changed colors and the machine scanning me gave off a noise, getting Dr. Richards to look up from his other work, "Alright, I think that should do it, Bellamy. You can go ahead and get dressed."

I exited the containment wall and poked Franklin, getting him to run me down and hit me in the side of the leg until I picked him up under one arm like a sack, "Here. I believe this is yours," I said, depositing him in front of his dad while I walked past him to get to my clothes, "I've gotta go put on some pants."

Once I was properly dressed, Franklin had been sent out of the room while one of the smartest people in the world sat me down and tried to figure out how to explain what he'd figured out about my powers and what exactly they did to me.

Dr. Richards more or less took me to school on my own shit, which really shouldn't have surprised me. It was why I'd been dragged off to see him, more or less.

"I guess we should begin with how you even gather energy in the first place," The man said, choosing an area to start from, "Your skin acts as a solar cell, drawing light in. From that point however, things are wildly different. Instead of converting the light into electricity, you simply store it."

...Okay? I knew that much. I didn't shoot people with electricity. I shot them with light-generated plasma. I needed a little more than that, "What, like in an organ or something?" Did I have an extra organ just for storing light energy? Like an internal battery?

"Not quite," Dr. Richards explained, showing me images of something that I couldn't recognize. He knew what it was though, so good for him, "Do you see this? The second source of energy in your body circulates constantly, which lends itself to your insomnia. But it isn't supplementary – it's vital. Whatever is stored goes into the cells that comprise your organs. The reason a complete loss of energy would be fatal for you is because it would equal organ failure."

"What I absorb circulates through my whole body, like blood?" I asked, trying to put together more pieces for myself instead of struggling to understand it from a goddamn genius, "It would definitely explain why fluorescent light and LEDs mess me up when they're my main light source."

"Artificial junk lighting, for you, works like junk food," Dr. Richards commented on my 'nutrition' with a chuckle, "Anyway, as you get older and grow more accustomed to the energy, you'll definitely expand what you can hold. You'll also find new sources to draw from and your body get used to those. But you're also gathering energy quicker than you used to in order to compensate."

This was all wonderful. It wasn't what I needed to know though, "How dangerous am I?"

Enough fumble-fucking around. There was point to all of this. It was time that we got to it.

Dr. Richards seemed a bit put off by the sudden shift in topic on my powers, but rolled with it nevertheless, "I suppose that is what you came here to find out," He said before laying things out for me, "...If you felt like it right now, you could do a good amount of damage, depending on where you were. Here in New York, considering your training and the power currently available to you, maybe a few blocks before someone with the ability to stop you stepped in. In Smalltown, USA, though, you could probably raze the place to the ground in an afternoon if you wanted to."

"Could I destroy the planet?"

"Earth? Absolutely not."

A spark of hope lit up inside of me, "Even if I overloaded?" I asked.

Dr. Richards let out a laugh, "If you absorbed more energy than your body could handle, you wouldn't destroy the world. You wouldn't destroy New York. You can't destroy a full town. A neighborhood, maybe. Maybe."

Hearing that gave me no small measure of relief. I mean, overloading in any scenario was bad, but if I wouldn't do that much damage, it wasn't so terrible by comparison, "So, if someone told me that I would destroy Earth way out in the future, they'd be lying?"

He hesitated, and my relief all but dried up. It was never good when anyone hesitated while answering an important question, "In the future? How far in the future?" The more he said, the more my heart sank, "I meant you wouldn't be able to do it now, but at the rate your powers are expanding... I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility."

If cursing out loud wouldn't have been so disrespectful, I absolutely would have, "I know these questions are getting really specific, but do you have, like, a timetable here?"

"I would say… by the time you're 25 years old?"

25 years old? Skip said I destroy the world in 30 years! Although, I guess just because I get strong enough to do it before then doesn't mean I automatically do it. Well wasn't all of that just a cold slap in the groin?

I stood up, stiff and uncomfortable. There was a lot to think about, and not much I could do about it in the moment. There was a possibility that all of this was real, "Thank you, Dr. Richards. I appreciate you taking the time to see me."

Being miffed was no reason not to be polite. There was no need to shoot the messenger, so to speak, but I was not happy. Dr. Richards obviously knew it. It showed on his face when he got up to shake my hand, "Think nothing of it, Bellamy. Wolverine tells me you're a bright young man. Determined as well."

I snorted in disbelief, "He actually said something nice about me?"

"...Well, what he called you had 'smart' in it," Oh. He called me a smart-ass. Got it, "And stubborn is another word for determined," Realizing he was killing his own argument, he stopped rambling, "The point is, you're the one in control of yourself. It's your power. If an issue arises somewhere in the future, I don't doubt you can find a way to solve it."

Yeah. That sounded really nice. It sounded like something an adult was supposed to say to encourage a kid. The only thing was, I was sixteen, not ten. And maybe it still would have worked, but I was a superhero-in-training, and I'd had too many snafus by this point to just buy someone else's spiel, "Oh yeah? How can you say that and mean it? You don't even know me, man. You just met me today."

Dr. Richards gave me a stern, lecturing look, "Because of how upset you seem. But it's not the kind of upset where you're giving up," He said, "I know that look in your eyes. The look of a man that refuses to accept that there's no viable solution. I've known many men who've accomplished great things, Bellamy. Things that most people thought were impossible. They've all had that look."

If Mister Fantastic was telling me to sack up and get something done, who was I to tell him I wasn't man enough to do it? It wasn't like I needed it done by tomorrow. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.

With that in mind, I puffed my chest out and tried to wrestle back some of my swagger, "Well, I spent the last hour telling your son how awesome I am. I can't just go and lie to a little kid, can I? I'm not that much of a jerk."

Dr. Richards took my arrogant reply in good form. From what I heard, he was a pretty arrogant guy himself, "I'll be sure to hold you to that. Good luck, Bellamy."

I shook my head, "Doctor, I think the next time I get a lucky break since getting my powers will be the first time."

But from my view, relying on luck to get you through something was for losers. A better plan was just to make sure you were good enough to deal with it.

XxX

Despite my best attempts to distract myself from the spirit-crushing thoughts of the possibility that I might one day end the damn world, I couldn't get it out of my head. Even as I sat curled up on my bed with Megan watching a movie, I was absorbing the energy from the glow of the goddamn TV.

What could I not absorb light energy from? I had never stopped to see just how many things there were out there I could power up off of. At this point, it was probably best to run off of the assumption that if it created light, I could siphon from it.

In the middle of traveling down the rabbit hole that was my power and the potential they held, Megan gave me a nudge that got me to look down at the girl leaning against my chest, "Are you okay?" She asked, looking up at me with bright eyes.

"Huh?" I was confused. I hadn't been any kind of grump that evening, "Yeah, I'm good. Why? What's up?"

Megan gestured to the TV where a movie was playing on Netflix, "We're watching Storks," She said, as though it explained everything. It kind of did, "You haven't complained once. You didn't even fuss when I picked it."

"I don't hate this movie," I argued weakly. I had no distaste for animation. A lot of them were pretty good, "Now, if you picked The Emoji Movie or something, I probably would have dumped you on the floor," I tried to add with some joking snark.

"Also, you're not trying to... you know," Megan added, gesturing to where my hands were situated- innocently around her waist... which was the problem apparently, "When you invite me over to watch something... we usually don't do a lot of watching at first."

I paused the movie, because I was in fact watching it. 45 minutes in, Storks was legit decent to me, and I shouldn't have known that. Normally my attention would have been on getting Megan's clothes off by the 30-minute mark and either finishing by the credits or coming back a minimum twenty minutes down the line and trying to figure out the plot from there.

"Crap. You're right," I said, moving my hand down to give her bottom a squeeze, "What kind of predictable jackass am I that you can gauge my mood off of how quickly I try to get your panties off whenever you come over to watch Netflix?"

She didn't pout or laugh, instead keeping her attention on my apparent mood, "What's wrong, Bel? Something has to be. You've been weird for the last two days."

I hadn't told her about the most recent Paladins problem. We'd chosen to keep our troubles closer to the vest this year unless we needed to tell other students. Then again, what was the point of trying to have a girlfriend if you weren't willing to tell her some important stuff?

"I'm not safe, Pix," I told her, "The longer you stay around me, the more likely you get caught in the splash zone."

Megan rolled her eyes and stroked my cheek, "We've been over this already. I really don't care. Duh! I still go to this school, don't I?"

The girl had a great point. At this point, between going to Xavier's, training to be one of the X-Men, and dating me, she was stacking danger multipliers like there was no tomorrow.

I laughed a bit. She was endearing enough where I still smiled, even though we weren't talking about anything particularly pleasant, "This is different. I'm a time bomb," I revealed, "One day I'm gonna go off, and from what someone I talked to recently said, I'll end up taking the whole world with me."

She didn't back up and move away from me. She didn't let go. She didn't even move my hand off of her butt, "Well... are you gonna explode tomorrow?"

"No."

"Next month? Next year?"

"It'll probably take longer than that... by like a decade or two."

Megan nodded and swung herself over to straddle me, hands set on my shoulders, "And even if I wasn't with you, you're still gonna go off, and you're still destroying the world. So, it doesn't matter how close or far away I'll be. I'm on Earth, so..." She trailed off.

The more she said, more I faltered in my resolute belief that I was dangerous, "I guess so. S-Stop making so much fucking sense, Pix!" I glared at her.

Megan giggled at my response. She was about as afraid of me as she would have been of a puppy, "So, you might go 'boom' and take us all with you when you do. Buuuut... you might not," She said, "And even if you do, that's then. This is now."

I touched her chin and pulled her in, "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," She punctuated with a kiss, "You've never lied to me.

"Do you believe in me?" I asked, reaching down to unbutton her jeans. Her freckles shifted on her cheeks as a knowing grin came to her face.

"Yes," Another kiss, and her wings gave a beat as she moved herself to help me get her pants off, "You've never given me a reason not to, silly."

'Do you love me?' I caught myself at the last moment before those words would have thoughtlessly come out of my mouth. No chance I asked that. I hadn't before, and I wouldn't then. I wasn't that goddamn needy.

What the fuck did I know about loving someone anyway? Nothing. So we weren't going there. Not yet. I wasn't touching that with a ten-foot pole unless she brought it up first. But damn it... as close as she was, as warm as she was, the way she looked at me... if Megan only knew, she could have gotten me to say anything she wanted me to in that moment.

We stopped watching the movie at that point, having found something much better to do on my bed in the meantime. I wasn't any closer to solving my problem or getting my hands on Skip before he could take another shot at me, but that was what tomorrow was for.

As an added plus, because I paused the movie earlier, we got to see the rest of Storks when we were finished. So that was neat.

Hello people. Another day, another chapter. I've not got much to bloviate about in my author's note this time, so I'll just leave you with this.

I hope you all enjoyed. I'll be back with more stuff later.

Kenchi out.