Chapter 6: Speed Bump
Days had passed since the Blob incident and pretty much everyone was glad that it was over, especially Jean who was at the center of the whole fiasco.
As of right now everyone was enjoying their weekend off, the Professor and Wolverine keeping an eye on the kids while Storm was visiting her nephew, Evan, who lived in another part of the state.
And Gavin? He was currently taking his noontime nap inside his coffin, which was part of his routine on weekends and holidays. He was still sleeping soundly when all of a sudden, his alarm clock went off. This alarm was set to play the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, otherwise known as the Dracula theme, every hour on the hour.
Right as the song played, Gavin started rising out of his coffin in a manner not that different from a real vampire, which would scare anyone who saw it slightly if they were present to watch it happen.
The boy yawned as he rubbed his eyes and stretched. "Man, I needed that." He sighed as he turned his alarm off. After that he went over to his dresser drawer and got out a can of crickets he had at the ready and whistled, right before holding out his hand and allowing his pet bat Brownie to roost inside it.
"Supper time, Brownie." The boy smiled as he allowed the bat to eat a handful of crickets from his palm.
After feeding the little creature, it flew up to its roost and then went back to sleep, causing its owner to sigh in exasperation. "Lazy little bum." Gavin snickered.
The boy then put on his regular clothes and started to walk down stairs, heading towards the kitchen for a snack of his own. That's where Gavin saw Logan, who was reading the newspaper. The man looked up at him briefly and then went back to his paper.
The Japanese-American shrugged as he went over to the refrigerator. 'Nice to see you too.' The boy thought as he opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a KitKat bar he had stashed there for later.
As he was eating his candy, Kurt, Scott and Jean came in.
"Oh hey, look who decided to wake up." Scott said as they all sat down and got their own stuff. "You always sleep till 2:00 in the afternoon?" The boy in shades asked.
"Eh, only on the weekends. Don't ask why, 'cause I don't know either. It's just kinda…. There." Gavin said with a shrug. It was the best explanation he could give right now.
The students continued to go about their business, until Ororo arrived back from her brief trip.
"So, how'd your visit go?" Scott asked.
"All went well, for the most part." Ororo told him before sighing. "Unfortunately though, my nephew, Evan, is not exactly willing to listen to reason and consider letting us help him with his powers." She then added. "Which is why tomorrow I'll be talking to his parents after he finishes school."
"Well, I can't exactly say that I blame the guy." Gavin chimed in, arms rested behind his head. "I mean, the reason why I joined you guys was because it seemed like a good way for me to improve, I was looking for a change, some people just aren't like that. Trying to force them, either directly or indirectly (which is kinda what that plan of yours sounds like) won't help things."
Professor Xavier nodded in agreement at his words. "Gavin is correct. We can't, and won't, force this on Evan." He stated firmly.
"I understand, Charles, but I've got a bad feeling that he'll end up doing something that won't really give me much of a choice." Ororo said solemnly.
(Elsewhere)
-Evan Daniels' school, the next day-
Storms nephew, Evan, who was an African American boy with blonde hair that was cut into a butch cut, was currently sifting through his locker, immediately finding that his wallet had been emptied, meaning the boy had been jipped. An occurrence that had been happening all too frequently in recent days…
"Aw man! Not again!" The boy groaned as he shook his wallet.
"What's the matter?" A white haired boy next to him asked. He had appeared out of nowhere from behind the former's open locker door. "Let me guess, got ripped off again?"
Evan groaned in irritation. "Yeah, it happened again, Pietro. I even changed the combination." He replied.
"Huh, this is a real mystery ain't it?" Pietro noted.
"Where'd you come from anyway? I didn't see you." Evan asked his friend/rival.
"I was quiet enough for you to not notice." Pietro replied with a bit of smugness in his tone. "Though I bet I coulda done the same thing at the game last night, but I guess we'll never know." The boy shrugged.
"Hey I know you're fast man but-" Evan tried to say, but was immediately verbally swatted down by Pietro.
"Ah ha! So you admit that I'm faster than you?" The silver haired lad smirked.
"Faster, but not better." The blond haired boy corrected. "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." He added.
"Sure ya do, Daniels, like getting ripped off two times this month." Pietro said, jabbing at the boy's apparently vulnerable ego.
"Yeah, well this time I'll be waiting to nail the sleaze ball." Evan nodded, punching his fist into his hand for emphasis.
"Well to do that, you're probably gonna need some bait." The silver haired teen told him, handing him back his wallet and a wad of cash (after having swiped it a few seconds earlier).
Evan, for his part, was surprised but nonetheless grateful. "Wow, thanks man! I'll give it back after I catch the thief." He told his friend while the two did a lock arm hand shake. "Catch ya later." He added before leaving.
"Not even on your best day, Daniels. You'll never catch me." Pietro whispered under his breath as he watched the boy leave.
-Later that night, Daniels Residence-
"Man, you just don't quit, do you Auntie O?" Evan groaned as he paced in his living room, his aunt, parents, Jean and Scott were all there too, trying to talk to him about joining the institute. Gavin was there too, mainly because he wanted something to do, but was just sitting there watching the show unfold, which he was thoroughly enjoying.
"She's doing this because she loves you." Jean tried to say.
"This would certainly explain why you keep coming home with holes in your clothes." His mom stated, recalling the numerous times that had happened.
"What's the total number of times that's happened so far?" Gavin asked curiously.
"A little over twenty." The woman replied, making the boy give an impressed whistle.
"We always knew this was a possibility Vi." Ororo told her sister. "While you didn't show any signs of an X-gene as I did. You knew it could show up in later generations."
"It's really not so bad Mrs. Daniels, having your own super powers can be really cool sometimes." Scott added.
"Hells yeah!" Gavin chirped from his corner with a smirk.
"Oh yeah? Tell you what, Shades, why don't you tell what your powers are if they're so great?" Evan snapped.
"Evan!" Ororo warned the blonde.
Evan looked at his aunt. "Sorry, but it's true." He told her before looking at Gavin who was glaring back at him. "What're you looking at?"
"Me? Nothing. Just a little punk who's got absolutely no manners." The pseudo vampire said simply.
"Gavin!" Jean snapped at the boy.
"Don't even start Jean, you know it's true." Gavin stated while crossing his arms, sneering with his lip curled and fangs showing.
Evan actually took a step back at the sight of Gavin's fangs, feeling a little intimidated. Said boy took this opportunity to hiss at the blonde with a vampire hiss he had been practicing since he was a kid. He then gave the blonde a serious look.
"Look, I agree with you on that Evan, some things you need to do yourself. But others? Some things you just can't do alone. Take me for example: my X-gene is so advanced that I had to get both mental blocks and control art seals on both them and my personality to keep it in check." The Japanese American then held up his hands to show the gloves that he was to wear at all times; which had control art seals on them.
"These are my control art seals. They help keep my powers and personality in check, they also have four levels. The others at the institute know what I'm like when it goes down to level 1, which is bad enough. But god forbid anyone sees me when I'm forced to have to release level 0. Because if that happens...nothing in heaven or hell would be able to stop me."
Everyone was quiet when he finished saying that. But that did little to improve Evan's attitude. Not in the slightest.
"Whatever, I'm happy right here where I am, I'm not just gonna go and leave, especially not to a school for freaks." Evan stated before storming up stairs.
"Evan!" His mother called him, but it was too late.
"I'm sorry about my son. I'll go talk to him." The boy's father said as he started to leave.
That's when Jean gasped. "Wait, he's going out the window!"
As it was stated by Jean, Evan was leaving through the window. His destination? His school. Scott ran out with the others to try and stop him, but he was already gone.
"We really gotta work on our sales pitch." He said, Gavin walking onto the porch.
"You guys stay here." The boy said while stretching. "I'll follow him." He added as he dissolved into smoke and disappeared.
"Gavin wait!" Scott said, trying to stop him, but it was too late.
(Meanwhile)
-Evan's school-
Evan had just made it to his school and to his locker. His plan was simple: Wait for the thief to show up, and use his own spikes to pin said thief to the wall, whoever it was.
"Alright, thief, hope you're ready, cuz the Spyke man is waiting for ya." Evan said as he waited.
A few seconds passed and then the hallway was then filled with a strong gust of wind that got stronger and stronger, it caused school supplies to blow everywhere and the locks on the lockers started spinning until they unlocked and the doors started flapping around.
Evan fired four spikes into the ground and covered his face as the person causing the gust stopped, revealing it to be Pietro, who was in some sort of costume.
"Wha-? Pietro?" Evan got out in shock. "You got powers too?"
"Hey there, Daniels. Yeah I got 'em, check it out." He then spun around causing all the lockers to open. "Like the costume? Made it myself, took about a quarter of a second." He then took Evan's wallet. "I'll take that back now, thank you."
"You're the one ripping me off? Why?" Evan questioned the boy.
"For the kicks, man, the challenge!" The silver haired lad said before dashing off before returning with purses in hand. "Ya see, when you live as fast as me, I gotta find stuff to occupy my time!"
Evan growled before he tried to punch the silver haired boy in front of him… That went about as well as you'd expect.
"Whoops! Too slow!" Pietro smirked as he dodged and pushed Evan from behind. "Like I said Daniels, you'll never catch me."
"He may not, but I probably can." A voice said, causing the two boys to turn and see Gavin, who was rematerializing from having entered through the air conditioner units. He stood there with Bloodfallen strapped to his waist and his left hand hovering over the handle. "Speed won't count for anything if all you do is just run around like a headless chicken… Which you just might be." He said with an intimidating edge in his tone.
"What are you talking about? Who're you?" Pietro asked as he backed up in fear. Gavin smirked at this and slowly drew his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at the white haired boy.
But before he could do anything, the sound of sirens started coming towards them. "Shit! Who called the cops?!" Gavin yelped.
"Can you say, scapegoat?" Pietro smirked before dashing off before Gavin could stop him.
Gavin looked around in panic as he sheathed his sword. "Okay, plan B. Evan, listen, I know you're not gonna like this, but I gotta get the others, which means I gotta split. I'm sorry." He told the blonde.
"What why? You're just gonna leave me high and dry man?" the blonde questioned.
"Look I don't like this anymore than you do. But we don't exactly have much of a choice here." The Japanese boy told him as he slowly disappeared into smoke and went into the vents.
All Evan could do at that point was stand there like a deer in headlights as the cops came in and saw him.
(Later…)
-Random jail cell-
Evan sat in the cell that the police put him in and just kept waiting. The guy with the fangs, Gavin, said he was going to get his aunt and the others, he just hoped he wasn't getting jipped, that wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now.
Right as he was thinking, Ororo, Scott, Jean and his parents all came in. "Evan! Are you alright?" Storm asked in concern.
"Yeah I'm fine." Evan grumbled.
"Yeah, this is the downside to having powers: Use them for the wrong reasons, ya go to jail." Scott told the blonde from the other side of the bars.
"Scott, why don't you shut up? I told you, it wasn't Evan who trashed those lockers. It was that kid, Quicksilver or whatever his name was." Gavin snapped at the red visored lad.
Scott ignored him. "Anyway, we talked to the professor and he's willing to use his connections to get you out of here, and in exchange you give the institute a shot, how's that?"
"I'll tell ya how it is: It sounds like a roundabout method of coercion." Gavin jeered at Scott, getting a smack in the back of the head from Jean.
"Not helping." She stated with a slight glare.
Evan was quiet before he gave a heavy sigh. "Do I really have much of a choice?" He questioned, though the question seemed more rhetorical.
"Hey, there's always a choice Evan. We just wanna help you make it the right one." Scott smiled as he and Evan shook hands.
(A couple days later)
-Xavier Institute-
Everyone was having breakfast and they were all currently talking about Evan. And also Gavin's Level 0, which he had never mentioned before.
"So, like, hold on, when you were fighting Mr. Logan, you weren't at your best?" Kitty questioned.
"No, I was only at level 3. I get stronger as I go down the levels, and my personality becomes progressively more and more unhinged. In fact it's because of that, that the therapists that have seen my Level 0 personality had labeled me as "Clinically insane, with sociopathic tendencies and an inflamed god complex'." The Japanese American explained.
Everyone present, minus Charles and Logan, shivered at the thought. They made a collective mental note to never piss him off to that extent, though they wished they could apply that to their enemies.
"It's also the one state that is the hardest to release, mainly because of the three conditions that have to be met for the seals to be broken." Gavin shrugged. "Anyway, Jean pass the sausage please."
The redhead did as requested and used her powers to make the plate of food float in Gavin's direction. Gavin took three and waved the plate away.
"Thanks." Gavin said to her.
"That aside, how is our new addition?" Xavier asked.
"Still in his room, getting settled." Jean explained. "Though honestly, who could blame him? After all he's gone through lately."
"Yeah, I feel sorry for the poor guy." Kitty nodded.
"Well if you ask me, I think the kid's got something else on his mind other than that." Logan said. "Pass the sausages, will ya Red?" He added as he deployed his metal claws.
Jean telekinetically passed the sausage to him as He took some while Kitty wrinkled her nose. "Ew, that stuff, like, really clogs your arteries." She stated.
"Has that ever really stopped us?" Gavin deadpanned as he took a bite of sausage.
"... Good point." The ghost-like girl conceded.
"Gah! Elf!" Logan growled as he tried to stop himself from falling out of his chair when he saw Kurt hanging from the chandelier trying to get some pancakes.
"Sorry. Didn't want to interrupt." He told the man.
"What do I keep telling you? Ask and it'll get passed to ya." Logan berated the boy as he teleported back to his seat. "That's better, now as I was saying."
"Yes, what exactly are you saying Logan?" Xavier Asked.
"I may not be a mind reader like you or Jean, but I know what goes on in a young man's head when he's been wronged." Logan told the telepath.
"Yes, you're right. Which is why I've decided to already enroll Evan into Bayville high, as well as speak to the basketball coach to allow him to join, hopefully to keep his mind off of it." Xavier nodded.
"Good idea, coach'll jump at him." Kitty nodded.
"If you ask me, I think you're just prolonging the inevitable." Gavin stated as he downed his glass of milk.
"Well regardless, let us hope that Evan's desire for revenge is short lived." Xavier nodded.
As they were talking, Evan listened from the top of the stairs. His spikes poked through his clothes in aggravation as he went back to his room to get ready for the day.
(Elsewhere…)
-Bayville high, Darkholme's office-
The brotherhood was all sitting outside of the woman's office, two in particular: Devin and Rogue were showing obvious signs of aggravation from just being in the same vicinity of the other members, but both for different reasons.
Meanwhile, principal Darkholme was in her office talking to someone, someone who was in the dark corner of the room, his appearance partially concealed, but was clearly in some sort of red and purple suit with a cape.
"You've come at a rather interesting time, sir." Darkholme said to the man as she sat at her desk. "What brings you here?"
"I'm not here for your little community meeting, Mystique, I am here because there is a mutant I wish for you to recruit." The man said as a holographic image of Pietro appeared. "His name is Pietro Maximoff, he is of, particular interest to me."
Then an image of Evan appeared next to Pietro's. "He has a long time rivalry with Evan Daniels." The man said, gesturing to the image.
"Ah, that's the new student that Xavier enrolled here this week." The woman nodded. "What does this have to do with the other boy?"
"Pietro is headstrong and believes that he doesn't need anyone, but we must have him. His abilities are too strong to lose to Xavier, so I will need you to give him the necessary push." The man told her.
"Very well then, and I think I have the perfect way to bring them together." The principal grinned as she started dialing the phone.
"Excellent." The man nodded.
(The following night)
-Bayville High-
Gavin and the others were all walking to the school the next night, apparently the principal had scheduled a game between their school and Evan's old one at the last minute, which seemed rather odd.
As they were walking to the building, Pietro suddenly showed up. Evan stormed up to his old rival and then the two started arguing, causing the others to join in.
"Hey, what's going on?" Scott questioned.
"None of your business." Pietro snapped back at the teen in shades.
"Hang on, he's the kid who trashed those lockers." Gavin told them.
"That true?" Scott asked.
Pietro smirked as he crossed his arms. "Ya know what? Yeah, I trashed those lockers. What? You gonna do something about it?" He challenged him.
"Oh I'm gonna do something about it." Evan growled as he went for the speedster, only for it to prove to be a fruitless effort.
"Ooh, sounds like a challenge! But you're gonna have to catch me first!" Pietro snarked before speeding down the street.
"After him!" Gavin called out to the group.
The four all chased after him and the silver haired speedster sped down the road past a bunch of cars, causing a wind tunnel and the cars to be wrecked in the process.
"We need to stop him, before he does any more damage!" Jean told the guys, who had changed into their costumes.
"On it. Scott, I need someone of authority's permission to release my seals, do I have your permission to release Level 2?" Gavin asked while adjusting his seal covered gloves.
"Permission granted." Scott nodded.
Gavin then took a deep breath. "Control Art Seal release: Level 2." He said before he started speaking in an odd language, though Jean could tell it was probably an old European language. As he finished the incantation he opened his eyes and the others could see that his expression completely changed, now it was as if he was looking down at those in front of him, with obvious disdain in his gaze at the silver speedster ahead of them.
The pseudo vampire raised his hand and his dark smoke started covering the highway until it boxed the boy in, causing him to slam into it as if it were a brick wall.
Pietro shook his head as he slowly got up. "What the?" He wondered aloud as he tapped the wall of air in front of him. "Okay, this is weird."
That was soon met with Gavin appearing right beside him and kicking him in the stomach, sending him backwards.
"Gotcha." Gavin taunted with a smirk.
"What? You think you'll be able to hold me? I'm the fastest thing alive! No one can catch me!" Quicksilver snarked as he gripped his stomach. "You won't even be able to touch me, freak."
"You've got nothing but insults, have you? A tired little-" Gavin tried to say while standing ready with his sword drawn, but was sucker punched out of nowhere by Quicksilver at blinding speed.
"Sorry, what was that?" The boy chuckled, holding a hand to his ear.
Gavin hissed before he lunged at the boy with a slash of his sword and started attacking with his weapon and speeds that rivaled the speedster. The two locked into a clash before Pietro suddenly thrust his knee into Gavin's groin, but surprisingly, the pseudo vampire didn't even flinch in the slightest.
"Please, this isn't a bar fight, have some class." He said to the silver haired lad smugly. This was met with a swift headbut to the skull by Pietro before he started running away. "Jean, now!" Gavin growled.
The red haired telepath took action and lifted the silver blur off the ground with her powers, causing said boy to look around in confusion and mild panic. His feet were still going, which caused him to start spinning until he started creating a small tornado in the street.
"Get ready, baby! It's twister time!" The boy laughed as the wind he made started lifting things off the ground.
Scott and Evan grabbed onto a light post for support while Gavin was able to keep grounded by digging into the concrete.
"Evan! Lock and load!" Scott yelled over the howling wind.
Evan did so and prepared his spikes for a shot. Once Scott was sure he was ready, he fired a laser at the center of the twister, hoping to hit Pietro. His luck won out, if Pietro crying out in pain was anything to go by.
Gavin then tackled him mid air and slammed him into the adjacent wall, causing it to crack and let Evan shoot spikes to pin him down, which made the silver haired boy struggle.
"Grr, you think you've one Daniels? You haven't, you still can't prove I trashed those lockers!" Pietro growled while trying to get free.
"Oh, sounds like a challenge!" Evan said mockingly before pulling out a tape recorder, which played the silver blur's confession for all to hear.
After Evan left the recorder at the scene, the group then left, Gavin returning to normal as soon as the fight was over.
Not a moment later, the police arrived on the scene.
(Next day)
-Xavier Institute-
Everyone was relaxing at the pool the day after that and were having a great time. Gavin though, was out in the sun, sun bathing with a reflector on a pool chair.
"I thought vampires hated the sun." Scott laughed as the boy gave him a 'don't 't even joke about that' look over his round Oakley sunglasses.
"Well this one does." The boy sighed.
Meanwhile Ororo and Xavier were both with Evan who was talking to them. "So Evan, I've heard that you were cleared of all charges." Xavier noted.
"Yeah, it feels good to have that off my record." He replied with a nod.
"What a relief." Ororo sighed happily.
Evan smiled as he ran over to where the others were and jumped into the air, about to do a dive bomb.
"You know Ororo, I'd say your nephew will be fitting in just fine here." Xavier said before Evan crashed into the water and caused a huge wave, splashing everyone and popping Kitty's raft in the process, as well as soaking Gavin.
"Yes, but I have to wonder, is that a good thing?" The woman asked as she watched her nephew have fun and the others all trying to get him.
(Elsewhere that night)
-Bayville county jail-
Pietro was in the county jails main cell and was trying to bust out, all the while yelling for someone to let him out. Though he stopped when everything metal started to move and the man who was in Principal Darkholme's office came in front of the cell door.
"Hello Pietro. It's been a long time." The man said.
"You…" Pietro said in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"To help you of course. But, in return, I am in need of your services, if you think you can handle the job." The mystery man explained firmly.
"Yeah, anything man. Just let me outta here." The silver haired runner responded, wanting to get out of his cell.
"Impatient as always. Just remember I won't offer this again." The man said.
"Alright, fine, now come on and let's bail this jail!" Pietro said as he kept pulling on the bars of the cell.
"Excellent." Said the figure as the bars bent to the side and the boy stepped out. "Now come, the best is yet to come."
Author note: In regards to feedback, and lack thereof.
Dear readers, it has become apparent to both my Co author, Thermalsnipern7 and I that we've been getting a large influx of Follows and Favorites, but have not gotten very many new reviews. This is a troubling development for a few reasons:
One; this either means you guys like it and we're doing okay, or just well enough to where you don't have to say anything then that's fine, but we can't do any better if you won't say anything.
Two; it makes it seem like we're boring you or maybe that you guys don't feel like you'd be heard if you suggested something. But this is untrue, your opinion counts. If you have suggestions, let us know. If you have questions, ask. If you have critiques, tell them, we won't bite (unless your comments are completely inappropriate or unhelpful).
Please dear readers, we need feedback if we're going to avoid losing readers. Please help us out, we need your help. That is all. Thank you.
-Dragon Emperor0