Chapter 2: The Vampyr of Bayville
After recruiting Gavin, the group of four returned to the institute. The car pulled up to the gate and after Scott used the hand scanner, the giant ornate gates opened. The boy stared in awe as he looked out the window at the huge building that came into view.
"Whoa, this place makes Dracula's castle look like a shabby old hut." He said as they parked on the round curb.
"You're a real fan of vampires, aren't ya?" Scott asked as they got out of the car. The older teen helped the younger get his bags out of the car.
"Been one ever since I was ten. I've read the original novel like, over a hundred times at least." He said, shouldering a one strapped duffel bag.
"Well then, if you'd like we could have a few books like that put in your room." Xavier mentioned as they entered the building's main room. "I'm sure I have a few extra copies lying around here somewhere."
"Really?! That'd be awesome! I'll take all of them!" Gavin exclaimed in delight while looking around the room. "But do me a favor and don't get the Twilight series… Nice place." He added.
As if on cue both, Kurt and a girl with brown hair in a ponytail who looted to be fifteen came into the room. The former teleporting in a puff of sulphuric gas and the latter literally phasing through a nearby wall. These sudden appearances caused Gavin to nearly jump out of his skin and start to dissolve into smoke.
Scott grabbed the collar of the leather jacket he was now wearing and kept him in place. "Easy there man, they won't hurt you." He stated.
"Oh." Gavin sighed in relief, rematerializing, which now showed he had changed clothes: it was now a pair of loose fitting faded blue jeans, a black leather biker jacket a gray Old Navy hoodie, a black T-shirt with Hellsing: Ultimate on the front and the phrase "The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to keep me tame" in red gothic lettering on the back. And lastly he wears a pair of white trainers and a pair of black Oakley sunglasses with red lenses.
The two kids ran to meet him. The boy with the blue fur was the first to introduce himself. He walked up to him and held out a three fingered hand. "Hi, I'm Kurt, Kurt Vagner." He said cheerfully.
Gavin shook his hand and smiled, his fangs shining in the light. "Gavin, Gavin Shirakumo." He greeted.
Next was the girl in the ponytail. She smiled as she also shook his hand. "Like hey there Gavin, I'm Kitty." She said as her eyes widened at the sight of his long fangs. "Whoa, are those, like, real? Freaky." She got out, feeling a little unnerved.
"Yeah, it's my, uh, mutation." He said, scratching his head. "I can also do this, look." The boy said as he dissolved into smoke and whirled around her before appearing behind her. "Boo." He said in a way that was meant to scare people.
Kitty yelped in fright before she whirled around to face him. "Whoa!" She exclaimed.
The boy grinned as he leaned in and his face was level with hers. "I vant to drink your soul." He hissed, Kitty shivered but seemed confused.
"Soul? Don't you mean blood?" She asked. Gavin shook his head as he took his shades off, putting them in the pocket of his jacket.
"No, my fangs suck vitality, or life force energy from my victims in order to boost my own." He explained.
Xavier rolled up next to him and the boy faced him. "If I may, I'd like to examine them." The Professor requested. Gavin bent down and allowed the man to examine his elongated canines. The professor was silent for a moment while he pushed on one tooth, causing it to sink in before it returned to its original position, then he pulled back. "Interesting."
"What?" Gavin asked.
"It seems your fangs are retractable. Yet you prefer to keep them visible?" The man inquired.
"They're retractable?" Gavin asked, reaching in his bag and pulling out a hand mirror and pressed down on the same tooth, getting the same reaction. "Whoa, gnarly." He said.
"It seems we'll have to practice on how to retract your fangs, but for now, as long as people go under the assumption that they're most likely fake, I think it'll be fine." Xavier told him.
Gavin nodded, after this Scott came in with his last suitcase and what looked to be a black and red scabbard. The teen was starting to wobble which made Gavin become worried as he dashed towards him. "Don't drop that!" He yelled as Scott accidentally did just that and Gavin had to dive in order to catch it in time. "Gotcha!"
Scott fell as he rubbed his rear and Gavin strapped the scabbard to his right side. "Watch it! This thing's an heirloom!" He said to the boy in the shades with a slight glare.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Scott grumbled as he got up. Kurt helped him get the bags upstairs by teleporting up. Gavin meanwhile looked his sword over, it seemed to have no damage.
Xavier chuckled at their antics as he faced Jean. "Jean, show Gavin to his room if you could, please?"
"Will do, Professor." Jean nodded as she gestured for the boy to follow her. "Come on Gavin, right this way."
"So, you have your own sword?" Jean asked as she lead him upstairs to his new room. The boy opened the door and saw that it was fairly basic while still being extravagant, a mirror was on top of a dresser in front, a twin sized bed was furnished with well picked sheets and was right next to a window, with a nightstand right next to it, and he also had a bookcase full of books and a desk of his own.
Gavin walked in and looked around. "This'll do nicely… But, do you think we could have the bed moved out in a couple days? I'm shipping mine down here and it should be here by Wednesday." He informed.
"I'm sure we can." Jean nodded. "What does it look like?" The boy smirked as he pulled out a picture of a black coffin made of what looked like to be polished mahogany with red velvety satin lining and cushioning and a red and silver pointed cross on the lid, it also had several travel decals on the sides. "... A coffin?" She deadpanned.
"It's also soundproof, I like to be as authentic as possible, plus it really helps me fall asleep, I have sharpened hearing so I need an enclosed and soundproof area to avoid hurting my ears." The boy explained. "Plus, it kinda makes me feel like I'm camping."
"How does a coffin make you feel like you're camping?" Jean questioned, unable to find a connection.
The Japanese-American tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Isn't it obvious? It simulates how a sleeping bag feels like." He stated.
The redheaded telepath seemed puzzled before realizing he did make a point. "I see. Well, I'll keep an eye out for it."
"Thanks Jean." He smiled. The girl smiled back as she left him to get unpacked, which he did and then proceeded to put his already folded clothes into the drawers of his dresser and hung up the other clothes in his wardrobe, then he started to hang up some posters, like one for the Castlevania games and tv series, bands like Voltaire and several others. Once he was done he nodded, satisfied. "That should just about do it."
As he finished up he then walked over to his bed, it had a box on it that wasn't there before. He went over to it and opened the box, and he smiled at what he saw inside of it. He pulled it out and revealed some sort of costume, a red high collared trench coat, a black skin tight shirt, black pants, red segmented metal greaves, black forearm length fingerless gloves with red segmented metal plating, a red fedora hat with a wide, floppy brim, and lastly was a pair of black Oakley sunglasses with heavily tinted red lenses similar to what he wore, only these were round.
He didn't get to look at it for long however, because Kurt suddenly appeared into his room and interrupted him. The boy jumped back as he reflexively grasped the hilt of his sword.
"Sorry, just wanted to tell you that the other instructors, Logan and Miss Munroe are back from Japan." The fuzzy mutant told him.
"Oh, okay. I'll be down in a minute." The boy nodded as the other boy vanished. "I'm never gonna get used to that." He muttered.
After putting his sword and costume on the bed, Gavin ran down the stairs and almost fell off the last few, but was able to turn into smoke and floated next to Kitty safely before hitting anything. He saw both the instructors and they didn't seem all that happy, a scraggly man and an African woman.
"What's the matter?" He asked. The African, who he assumed was miss Munroe, looked at him and sighed before looking at the professor who nodded.
"We tried to recruit your brother while we were in Japan, but it seems our enemy, Mystique, has gotten to him first." Ororo explained. This caused everyone but Gavin to seemed shocked.
"Who?" He asked, scratching his head. He didn't understand who this Mystique woman was or why she seemed to be so dangerous.
The professor sighed as he laced his hands together. "This is indeed unfortunate news, however, we can not let that stop us, we can still try and earn young Devin's trust and see if he's willing to join us."
Gavin meanwhile couldn't help but snort. "Good luck with that. If there's one thing about my brother, it's that he would probably stay with the opposite side just to spite me, even if his values don't align with theirs." He stated like it was a fact… Which it was.
"Your relationship is really that bad?" Scott asked, feeling a little shocked.
"Oh Yeah, it's because he's got a big brother complex, he's always trying to make himself look better than me because he can't stand that people think of him as the 'little brother' even though we're twins. And since we only get to see him for a week each month and that doesn't exactly help things. And not to sound mean, but he's basically a walking talking T-1000 reference, powers and all, he's like a human robot." Gavin said matter of factly.
This made everyone seem either uneasy or surprised. Then Logan spoke up next after clearing his throat. "So you're the new recruit, right kid? What's your power?" He asked.
The boy smirked and showed his elongated teeth, pointing at them as he opened his mouth let his tongue roll out. "Ahhhh!" He said. This caused the feral mutant to wrinkle him nose.
"Urgh, your breath smells like fish." He growled, pinching his nose.
"Probably because I had Sushi for lunch." The boy smirked as he turned smoke again and reappeared next to the man. "If you want, I can show you just how good I am."
Logan turned around and blinked in surprise before getting a smirk on his face. "A'right Smokey, yer on." He grinned.
Everyone looked at each other as Kurt seemed giddy. "Ooh, dis is going to be good!" He said, jumping up and down. Scott looked like he was interested. And Kitty was surprised.
Ororo and Jean seemed concerned, however. "Professor, are you sure this is…?" Jean asked.
Charles held up a hand. "It's alright, after all, we need to see how well he's already adjusted to his powers, this will be a good opportunity." He then turned to the boy. "Go ahead."
Gavin nodded and then disappeared upstairs for a minute or two and then reappeared in his new costume and his sword, then was lead down an elevator with the others to what looked like an open metal room, with an observation deck. Scott called this room the Danger room, though Gavin couldn't understand why.
Logan was in a costume of his own costume also, which was a pair of black pants, Orange strap on boots, orange gloves with three openings at the knuckles, an orange top, and an orange cowl with black domino mask extensions. He stood ready as three metal claws came from each of his hands.
"Alright Smokey, come on!" He growled.
Gavin adjusted his gloves before turning to the observation deck was. "Excuse me, Professor? Can I ask you something?" He called.
"Yes Gavin, What is it?" The man called back through the speakers.
"Is it alright if I use the full extent of my power?" The boy inquired.
The professor on his part seemed to be a little confused, but decided to just answer. "Yes Gavin, go ahead." He told the boy.
The pseudo vampire grinned madly as he unsheathed his sword, which was an Estoc styled broad sword with a Blood Red blade. It had a cross guard with two faceting and overlapping ruby red colored diamond shapes which were set in a hourglass-like fashion as well as being lined with silver. There was a slender, rose red handle which has a silver spiral going down it. And lastly the spear word has a silver pommel that's in the shape of a curled up sleeping bat as well as a set of pointed cross overlays on each of the flats of the blade towards the guard. He pointed it at Logan.
"Now what did you say your name was?" He asked.
"Logan, but when we're in here, call me the Wolverine." Wolverine said.
"Well then, Wolverine, let's get started." Gavin said as he raised a hand. "Releasing control art restrictions 3, 2, 1." He said as he counted down. "Approval of situation A recognized. Commencing Cromwell Invocation. Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent." As soon as he finished saying this smoke started filling the room as it seemed to be pouring out from his body endlessly.
Wolverine seemed unnerved as this development. "What the hell?"
Gavin laughed as he readied himself. "Now, Wolverine, you shall face me, Vampyr, at my full strength."