Chapter 15: Caddyshack: Chelsea gets her GED.
It had been around four weeks since the Asteroid M incident and everyone was finally starting to get back to normal. And in that time the Institute had become the new home of several new students, a group of kids who had come to be affectionately known by the older students and the teachers as the 'New Mutants'.
The group consisted of five boys and four girls. There was Robert "Bobby" Drake (aka Iceman), Roberto DeCasa (Sunspot), Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Tabitha Smith (Boom Boom), Sam (Cannonball), Ray (Berserker), Amara (Magma) and finally little Jamie Maddrox (Multiple).
These kids were all the eager new arrivals at the school and were making themselves right at home, which was honestly a good thing. Though the new teacher, Chelsea Marks was finding it hard to adjust with the new kids all running around. Not that she didn't like them she liked kids, hell, she was actually quite fond of some of them. But with the new mutants around, things were kinda… Crowded, for lack of a better term.
Luckily for the blonde Dragoness, she had her friend with benefits, Logan, and pseudo vampire little brother figure, Gavin to help her adjust.
Speaking of the vampire boy, he and Chelsea were currently in the danger room doing some sparring. After what had happened with Gavin's seals, Chelsea had decided to make it her personal mission to help him become strong enough in his base form so he wouldn't have to constantly release his seals to win fights, which made Gavin both grateful and irritated at the same time.
Chelsea was in her X-men uniform, which was as black leotard with red boots similar to Cyclops's, arm length red fingerless gloves, strong red compression material on the sides, back of the arms and legs, as well as tough and thicker shoulder pads and a chest pad made of the same material, lastly her costume had two functional slits in the back near her shoulder blades for her wings to come out.
The blonde spread her wings and attempted to dive kick Gavin, who blocked her with the flat of his sword, Bloodfallen, sparks flying off the metal as the two clashed. After a moment or two, the vampiric swordsman shoved his trainer back.
"You're moving too slow." Chelsea chastised him as she skidded back.
"Well maybe I wouldn't be so slow, if I wasn't so goddamn tired!" The boy hissed as he held his sword close to his face before doing a forward lunge at the woman's red padded chest.
"Says the man who's practically nocturnal." The dragoness shot back while sidestepping the sword before breathing a stream of flames at him. Her horror loving student evaded the fire stream before charging at her, his blade poised to strike.
"That's only on weekends and vacation. I still have to go to school, you know." Gavin hissed back, while turning into smoke and surrounding her before striking from behind. "Not like you'd know anything about that would you, Marks?" He growled while slashing at her left flank.
"I never even finished high school in the first place!" She exclaimed indignantly, causing Gavin to pause mid-strike.
"... Come again?" He asked, unsure if he was hearing things or not.
Chelsea took this opportunity to sweep his legs out from under him, causing him to fall flat on his back, his floppy brimmed fedora slowly falling on top of his face after it got knocked off from his fall.
"You heard me the first time." She stated as she folded her arms.
"Okay, we are fixing that." Gavin declared seriously as he got up.
"Hey, don't go shaming me. Being kept as a test subject by a terrorist organization didn't exactly leave me with enough time to get my diploma." The blonde snapped, her green eyes turning draconic for a second.
"You're basically family to me, Chels, and I don't exactly like the idea of you not having a diploma. You're gonna need one eventually, the way I see it." The pseudo vampire said with folded arms.
'That is something I think we can both agree on, Gavin.' The voice of Xavier said in both mentor and pupil's minds. 'I apologize for intruding, but seeing as that we're on the topic, could both of you please come to my office to discuss it further?'
'Sure.' Gavin thought back in reply before noticing Chelsea trying to avoid shuddering. He raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Before you ask, let's just say I've had some… Unpleasant experiences with telepaths." She told him, reading his body language.
"Tell us when you're ready to share it." Was Gavin's simple reply.
The two left the danger room and then went to Xavier's office, once inside, the man gestured for them to take a seat as soon as they entered, both taking one of the desk chairs in front of him.
"Alright Chuck, what gives?" Chelsea questioned the headmaster of the Institute.
"To put it mildly Chelsea, while I do understand that your circumstances are unique, and that your work here in training the children has been quite exemplary, I must admit that I would like for you to consider finishing your education." Xavier explained. "If only to improve your chances of finding other ways to supplement your personal income, if not anything else."
"I'd suggest a GED. They're the equivalent to a normal high school diploma and you can work at your own pace to get it." Gavin proposed, having heard of them and the working environment set up for students to get them.
"An excellent idea, Gavin." Charles agreed.
"Look guys, I appreciate the thought, really, but I didn't break out of HYDRA's iron grip and the hell I had to go through just to throw my brain in a blender by trying to go through high school, again." The blonde stated, crossing her left leg over her right and folding her arms.
"It's not a normal high school you'd be going to, though." The youngest one in the room pointed out.
"Gavin is right. While there are regular classes for adults trying to get their GED held at Bayville High during the weekends, the board of education has also made steps to allow people who prefer to do things at their own pace, and do the necessary work at their home with the provided materials." The telepath nodded.
"See? It's the best option available for you. Don't you want to at least give it a shot?" Gavin asked. "And besides, I'll help you if you need it."
Chelsea was silent as she thought it over. She really didn't want to melt her brain, but the idea of working at her own pace did have a good amount of appeal. Working from home was also nice, but it could be distracting if she wasn't careful. In the end, she decided on her response.
"Alright you two, you win. I'll give it a shot." She conceded.
The woman's vampiric pupil's face lit up almost immediately right before (as if on instinct) he wrapped his arms around her neck in a friendly hug. "Good to hear!" He smiled.
The green eyed woman's eyes widened as she awkwardly tried to return the gesture, resulting in an equally awkward hug that lasted a few seconds. "Uh… Yeah, sure." She said in a rather uncharacteristically sheepish tone.
After Gavin let go and sat back down, the Institute's headmaster began speaking again.
"I'll begin the process of getting you enrolled. When it's done, you'll be informed." He told the dragoness, getting a nod from her in return. The man then turned to Gavin. "As for you Gavin, I have some good news. I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns the Bayville Oaks Country Club and it seems he has a job opening for a new Caddy, so I took the liberty of scheduling you an interview." Xavier informed the boy while handing him the said forms.
"Alright, I can finally do something fun!" Gavin whooped in joy.
"Don't Caddies carry around golf bags?" Chelsea chuckled.
"As long as I get to drive something, I don't care." The young vampire lover replied in a more calm tone. "Besides, haven't you ever seen the movie Caddyshack? If working at that country club is anything like that, then lugging around a few bags is a small price to pay."
"At least you'll be enjoying it." Charles sighed with a bit of relief since Gavin wasn't complaining.
-A couple of days later.-
About two days later after he went to the job interview Professor Xavier set up for him, Gavin was walking into the Institute with a pep in his step, twirling the keys of his 72 Chevelle as he walked into the kitchen. Whistling the tune of 'I'm Alright' by Kenny Loggins the whole way.
Everyone looked at him as he walked in and, Chelsea, still being the one to be dogging on him like an archetypical older sister, decided to find out what got him so happy.
"Hey Gav, what's up? Did something good happen or something?" She asked him.
The boy simply walked over to the fridge and pulled out a glass bottle of Coke, removed the cap with his fangs and spat it into the trash.
"Well *gulp* if you must know, I actually just got that job today at the Country Club downtown as a Caddy." He said as he drank his soda.
"Wait, you got the job? Nice!" The blonde said with a smile. "So, did you run into Rodney Dangerfeild and Chevy Chase over there?" Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I wish. Bunch of other kids were there for the job, but I got the job because during my trial run, the patrons liked me the most out of all the other kids." The boy laughed. "But there's a problem with it."
"What's that?" Logan asked.
"I have a second job for when I'm not being a Caddy, which is pest control, more specifically, gopher duty." He explained with an annoyed expression.
"Oof, that sucks." Chelsea said with a wince.
"Gopher duty?" Logan huffed. "Should be pretty easy for you. Just smoke them out of their holes."
"I'm not going to do that!" Gavin yelped, appalled. "I'm not going to use my powers to kill some innocent animal, even if they're annoying as all hell."
"Alright, how about rodent killer?" The older man offered, unimpressed.
"I'm not doing that either!" The pseudo vampire snapped back.
"Alright, alright... Geez, we should have taken away one seal. It would give you some balls at least." The clawed mutant shrugged.
"Not funny Logan!" Gavin growled.
"Suck it up kid, a gopher will be the least of your worries." Chelsea chimed in.
"How so?" The boy questioned.
"I know the sort of people you'll be working for. Most of them are just trying to keep up appearances despite being in dead marriages for one reason or another." She leaned back against the kitchen island. "And let's just say for a lot of those older men, golf balls aren't the only type of balls they like to play with..."
"Ew, ew, ew, no! I don't need that in my head." Gavin said, nearly choking on his coke.
"What do you mean by that? Did you used to be a prostitute?" Jean questioned pointedly.
"No, I used to be an escort. Two completely different things, it was one of the few jobs I could handle at the time." Chelsea corrected.
"There's a difference? Well then, please continue." Jean said in a sarcastic tone, which the blonde ignored.
"Alright Red, I'll enlighten you." The woman snapped. "For me, having sex for money was the easiest way to get enough cash to pay for the necessities and yet still be on the run. Although I wouldn't limit myself to that, I would also find ways to manipulate men into thinking I was a professional escort, agreeing to be paid by dudes desperate for attention and social interaction of a beautiful woman." She continued rather angrily, before her temper urged her to continue, making everyone wonder if she realized what she was saying.
"Also, it was a way for me to reclaim control of my body after HYDRA did so much to me. I mean, not to sound vulgar, but I'm definitely a dom in the sheets, and honestly, for me, putting men in their places while being so vulnerable was almost therapeutic for me really." The woman shrugged as she finished talking.
Everyone was quiet while she said this before she continued while stretching. "I mean sure I used to work as an escort, but I only did actual sex work on the occasion that whoever was paying paid good, and even then I only did oral or anal, mainly because I didn't want to have to constantly carry around a bunch of condoms for an occasional job." She shrugged before looking out the window. "That and since I'm more… Fertile due to some stuff HYDRA did to me. So I'd rather be completely certain that when I actually have 'real' sex with someone, it'd be with someone I want to stick with." She then turned back to the others. "Get what I mean now?"
"I was being sarcastic." Jean deadpanned.
"... Yeah. I think so." Gavin replied after a moment of silence, being caught off guard by what she just explained.
Chelsea was quiet for a moment before she realized what she had just said, smacking herself in the face in a face palm. "Did I just say all that out loud?" She asked.
"Yup." Evan replied as he looked away to hide his blush.
"Shit, I knew I should've taken two hormone pills instead of one this morning." The blonde snapped to herself. Due to her higher hormone levels she tended to be more talkative than she'd usually be if she didn't take enough of her medication.
"I'm not even gonna ask…" Scott muttered to himself as he looked away awkwardly.
Jean, meanwhile, was covering Jamie's ears while she glared at Chelsea. "Perhaps next time when you're feeling more talkative, be sure to keep an eye on the subject." The telekinetic said.
"Noted." The blonde sighed as she held her head in her palm.
"Can ve please change the subject?" Kurt pleaded.
"By all means." The woman shrugged, the talk then returning to Gavin's new summer job.
-Later that day in the garage, with Logan and Chelsea-
Both healing mutants were in their usual hideaway in the garage of the mansion while the blonde dragoness began working on the schoolwork required for her GED, she and Logan both enjoying a cold Miller Light and occasional small talk to help pass the time.
"So your hormones make you more talkative, huh?" Logan asked.
"It's more like a nervous tick I got when I was younger and never quite shook. After my powers emerged and all those treatments done by HYDRA, it just progressively got worse as time went on." The woman shrugged.
"Hormones are connected to emotions." Logan shrugged as he sipped his beer.
"I know that, but it gets pretty embarrassing when you accidentally say something you'd rather keep to yourself." Chelsea said as she continued working.
"That aside, since HYDRA did try to turn you into a breeding stock, did that stop you from wanting to have kids?" Logan asked. He had been curious about this for the past couple hours, mainly because boredom drove his mind to the question.
"At first? Oh yeah. I mean they used fertility treatments on me before I escaped to try and repurpose me to just pop out babies. But... As time went on that feeling slowly started to fade. I'm guessing it's the chemicals that they pumped me with boosting my maternal instincts, but I'm definitely not opposed to it, but I'm not gonna do it on a whim. I'll decide when I'm ready and no one else will." The woman declared.
"Good for you." The scraggly man said as they sat in silence for a while. "So those training sessions with Gavin, how're they going?" Logan asked.
"We're getting there." Chelsea shrugged. "But I think I'm starting to see what Chuck meant by the kid having a deep rooted feeling of self loathing."
"Yeah, I can see him not feeling proud of what Japan did back then myself." The metal boned man agreed.
"Not just that, he hates his Level 0 self, since it's his quote unquote 'true psyche', and that only grew after his brain recovered and he remembered everything that happened on Asteroid M." Chelsea explained.
"Wait, I thought he couldn't remember anything when he switches personalities?" Logan asked as he scratched his head in confusion.
"Oh no, he can. What you're thinking of is Dual Personality Syndrome-Chuck told me what it was-But actually he's Bipolar, each of those seals? They just block off a specific amount of his true psyche in his Level 0 form, which is why they all seem somewhat similar. They're just smaller parts of a bigger whole." Chelsea explained. "And apparently? He hates that part of himself."
"Damn." Logan nodded as he opened another beer while she kept taking notes. "And how are his powers adjusting?"
"According to him, he's now as strong as he was in Level 3 at base, as strong as Level 2 at Level 3, as strong as Level 1 at Level 2, as strong as Level 0 (before the enhancement) at Level 1, and… Well we already know what he's like now at Level 0." The blonde listed while typing on a calculator Kitty loaned her.
"No kidding. I don't think we'll be forgetting that day anytime soon." Logan commented.
The woman sighed as she wrote down the last of her answers to the assignment. "Done, fuck me that was torture!" She groaned as she sat back, running her hand through her hair as her fingers shifted into claws, her scalp healing as soon as she scratched.
"If you hate mathematics now, then you're gonna learn to loathe the more advanced versions pretty quickly." The scraggly mutant said, causing Chelsea to slump in despair.
"Hooray for me…" she sighed as the man handed her another cold beer.
(Meanwhile)
Gavin was on his phone while having upside down from his room's chandelier. "Wait, so you're leaving for Japan tomorrow to start your investigation? What about school?" He asked the person on the other end.
"I'll be dropping out since I'm going to be busy with the investigation. When it's all said and done, I'll resume it." Came the voice of Devin.
"You're sure about this? That's really risky." The pseudo vampire questioned.
"I want to get rid of our mother's guilt and give her some peace of mind. I can't stand the thought of our father not resting peacefully." Devin confessed.
"Are you sure you don't want my help? I mean he was my dad too." Gavin stated.
"I'm sure. I need to do this alone. When I find out how it happened and who did it, I'll share it with you." The metal controlling mutant replied. "And the other reason is because I'll probably end up going really deep into the Japanese underground. You don't know the yakuza like I do, you could get hurt, or worse."
"... As much as I want to refute that, you're right. I don't know the local yakuza like you do." The elder vampiric mutant admitted. "Just be careful, okay bro?"
"I will." Devin nodded before hanging up.
Gavin sighed as he dropped from the chandelier and walked out his room, on his way downstairs he bumped into Rogue.
"Oh, uh, h-hey Rogue." The boy said as he corrected himself after he almost bumped into her, her purple eyeshadow and lipstick nearly touching the respective areas on the boy's face.
"Hey, Gavin. What's up?" Rogue asked.
"Uh, not much. Just got finished talking to Devin, he told me that he's leaving for Japan tomorrow." Gavin told her while scratching the back of his neck, still blushing due to the close contact they just had.
"Why's he going back to Japan?" Rogue asked.
"He's investigating our father's death. He thinks it was staged and wants to find out who caused it." The bat owner of the institute replied.
"Isn't that dangerous?" The girl asked.
"That's what I told him, but he knows the local yakuza over there better than I do, so he'll make better progress. Doesn't mean I don't fear for his well being, though." Gavin replied as he looked down slightly at that last part.
Rogue smiled and she hugged his shoulders in a comforting manner as they walked. "You really are a great brother, ya know that?" The southern girl said.
"I've been trying to be since our grandparents tried to keep us divided. I want to make it clear that they failed." Gavin replied with a firm tone.
Rogue smiled at him as they went to the Rec room. "So, you wanna go out this week? We haven't been able to do that ever since you and Chelsea started training together." She asked.
"She's gonna be busy with her GED, so I think we'll have plenty of time for that… Unless she finds a way to balance it and the training sessions all at once." The resident horror expert said with that second part being an afterthought.
Rogue paused at Gavin's words. "Wait, she never got her diploma?" She asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I paused myself when I heard it, too." Gavin replied with a shrug.
"Makes me feel even worse that she got captured by HYDRA. She never got to see what her life would've been like if it never happened." Rogue sighed sadly.
"All the more reason to hate the sole remnant of the Nazi's dark existence." The pseudo vampire muttered darkly.
"Hey… Do you think she has, ya know, PTSD?" The southern belle asked in a whisper.
"Oh yeah. You don't spend the amount of time she did with HYDRA and not get it. She seems to be good at hiding it, though." The institute's horror expert replied in his own whisper. That's when he had an epiphany. "Say, that's it!"
"What" Rogue asked.
"I know a way we can help Chelsea get over her PTSD: We get her into counseling." He told her. "I mean it's what I did when my powers overwhelmed my brain and caused me to go crazy, and look at how I turned out."
Rogue thought about it for a moment before coming up with an answer. "Alright, let's do this." She replied with a determined smile.
"No need *Achoo*!" A familiar voice said from the Rec room's doorway. Both turned and saw Chelsea standing there in the doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, a school binder in her hand.
"How long have you been standing there?" Gavin asked.
"Long enough." She said simply. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me behind my back, Gav." She added.
"... Sorry." He replied as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Anyway, who exactly would you ask to give me counseling?" The dragoness asked.
"Well I was thinking of asking my therapist, Emma Frost." The boy shrugged.
"I'm not sure that would be a good idea." Chelsea said, making Gavin frown in confusion.
"Why's that?" Gavin questioned.
"Like I said before: I've had bad experiences with telepaths." The woman told him. "And on top of that, I think it's completely shitty of you to think that I need counseling. I don't need anyone's help, especially not from a telepath I don't even know." She stated firmly.
"I'm just trying to help. And besides, I can vouch for Ms. Frost, I mean she really helped me get my head together and become who I am today." Gavin told her. "I mean, in the past I used to be an absolute dick because all you could see was my Level 0 self. And after Ms. Frost helped me, I really turned around."
"As true as that is, my answer is still no." The dragoness rebuked firmly. With that the woman left heading to her room.
"So that's it? Do you really want to keep having nightmares and flashbacks, always looking over your shoulder for trouble? Are you saying you don't even want to try and find peace?" The boy called at her as she left. Chelsea paused mid-step, but said nothing as she continued.
(Later that night)
Chelsea laid on her bed, enjoying a deep sleep, before she started tossing and turning, she was having another flashback, and this one was a wrecker.
-Chelsea's mind-
She was laying on an exam table, her body devoid of any cover other than a towel on her lower and upper halves, the cold air and metal of the table causing her skin to bump and tense up.
A bright light shined in her eyes, but she was unable to cover them because of the restraints that were on her arms, legs and neck. The scientist, Victor Rowner stood over her as he moved the light, then latched some sort of head device on her skull. After he was done attaching it, he went to the rest of his colleagues.
"We are ready to begin." Victor told them.
Chelsea gritted her teeth. "Rowner, what the fuck are you going to do to me?!" She growled, small puffs of fire puffing out of her mouth as she spoke.
"The first off many mental reprogramming procedures, Subject Tiamat, where your mind will be slowly redirected to one thing: Breeding." He said while leaning down to her ear. "You refuse to fight, so my superiors have ordered to 'repurpose' you."
The dragoness' eyes widened in alarm and fear before she began thrashing around, trying to escape her restraints.
The man simply put a mouth guard in her mouth as he gestured for his assistants to begin the process, which they did by pressing a few buttons. The machine came to life as the helmet-like device started sending electricity into her brain. The woman screamed through the mouth guard as she kept shaking from the shocks that kept attempting to rewrite her mind, her screams echoing through the lab and the halls.
-Back in reality-
Chelsea shot up in a cold sweat, clutching her head she breathed heavily from what just happened.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" She growled angrily. "Even though I got out before they could even get going with that shit, it's still affecting me?!"
The woman laid on her bed as she thought back to what Gavin had said. "Stupid kid, of course I wanna find peace… I just don't want to go through something like that again with a telepath at the wheel." She then turned over to her side as she continued to try and fall asleep. "Maybe I should ask Logan or Chuck on what I should do, those guys seem to get where I'm coming from at least." She sighed as she slowly fell asleep.
And just so you know readers, these original chapters will each be taking place in between each episode of the series from now on, just thought I'd say that.
-Dragon Emperor0