Chapter 7: Colossus and Beast
It was just about time for P.E class with Colossus. Zach was honestly unsure what to think of it. He doesn't seem to be much of a sports person besides being decent at basketball and baseball. With Colossus teaching, what could go wrong?
"Students. Old and new. Today is a free basketball match. It will be a five on five. Today's captains are Magik and John. Please. Pick teammates wisely." Colossus instructed.
"Easy. I'll take Bobby." Magik called out. Bobby smirks and steps up to the field.
"I got Nick." John said.
"I pick Kitty." Magik said and Kitty came to the field.
"Ink." John called. A bald boy with a small lightning symbol on the left side of his head heads to John's team.
"Warren." Magik said to her friend. Warren takes the field. He's ready to play.
"Siren." John said and the girl Siren takes the stand.
"I call dibs on the new kid." Magik points to Zach. Zach takes a couple of deep breaths and heads to the team, much to the joy of his new friends.
"Ah, I see. Thinking of a way to pin the blame on the new guy when you lose, I see how it is. Have it your way." John antagonizes her. "I pick Arthur." Once the teams were settled, Colossus announces the rules.
"This will be first to score 10 points wins. No superpowers. Let us make this an honorable game. And no other form of cheating allowed. And begin!" Colossus shouted.
Colossus tosses the ball into the air and Zach nearly trips running to get it, only for John to shove him out of the way and grabs the ball first. He laughs as he starts dribbling the ball and attempts to make his way to the goal.
As everyone is defending their hoop, Kitty helps Zach up and checks for any injuries.
"You okay?" Kitty asked, feeling worried.
"I'm fine." Zach said. This agitates Shadowcat as she glared at Pyro.
"Dang it. One of these days, he's gonna pay." Kitty grunts. "Come on. Get your game face on."
Kitty charges towards the team as Warren knocks the ball out of the air when John attempts to score. Magik grabs the ball and passes it on to Kitty. She dribbles towards the net before passing it to Zach and he does it to Bobby. Bobby jumps and does a slam dunk. Giving Magik's team two points.
"Nice pass, Zach! Keep it up!" Bobby compliments him.
"Y-yeah. Thanks." Zach nods back.
Pyro and his team have the ball again. They play on the defense and try to score from their side, but Warren was able to jump high enough and grab it with his open hands. The opposite team spread out and try to outmaneuver them. Warren quickly passes it to Kitty and she runs around them.
"Zach! Your ball!" Kitty shouts as she passes it to him. Zach does not waste anytime and throws the ball from their side and luckily manages to score. Now the team is leading five to nothing.
"Nice one, new guy!" Magik pointed out. Zach smiled.
"Wow. I'm beginning to like him already." Ink said.
"Me too." Siren agrees.
"Hey. Who cares? Less talking, more shooting." John ordered. Siren and Ink just roll their eyes. Apparently some people don't like how he is towards new guys.
All of a sudden, Warren scores the game again, bringing it to 7-0.
"Hey, that wasn't fair." John complains. "I call a recount!"
"Well, you weren't paying attention. That's your fault." Bobby smirks and points out. Colossus nods, knowing that Bobby is right.
"Why you little." John starts getting angry.
The score was 7-0. And Magik's team has the ball. The game resumes and they play. Magik messes with everyone by dribbling the ball sideways. Siren runs over, only for Magik to step backwards and bring the ball to Kitty. She then avoids Nick and Arnold and passed it to Warren, who then was about to pass it to Zach. But John then gets in the way and elbows him in the stomach, knocking him into the grass and grabs the ball.
"Hey! That's a foul! I saw that, John!" Warren shouted to the teacher.
"John Allerdyce! That is a penalty and a warning!" Colossus points out.
"He was in my way." John tries to defend himself.
"I saw what you did. You elbowed and pushed him. That is a penalty. You get to step out of the game for the rest of the period. Or I will inform the professor of your dishonor." Colossus warned him.
John grunts out of annoyance as he is kicked off the field for the rest of the game. His other teammates glare at him for messing them up and for hurting a new student. Warren helps Zach up while everyone else was focused on the game.
"Are you okay, Zach?" Warren asked.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Zach said. He is trying to hide a cut that he got on his right elbow he got no thanks to John, but this does not go unnoticed.
"We're with Doctor McCoy next. He can help you. Alright?" Warren offered. Zach slowly nods to him.
The game finishes 10-0. Clean sweep. Everyone high fives each other for a job well done. Then Bobby, Kitty and Magik all walk over to Warren and their new friend Zach.
"Nice passing and throwing, my man. You did great." Bobby fistbumps Zach.
"And way to shoot it. That was a nice shot." Kitty smiled at him.
"You're Zach, right? I'm Magik. With a K. I'm Colossus' younger sister." Magik shakes his hand.
"Uhh, nice to meet you, I suppose." Zach said, shaking her hand. "Sorry that I nearly screwed up." Zach looks down, feeling bad for messing up.
"No, no, you're fine. It wasn't your fault that you got pushed to the ground twice. Speaking of which…" Magik turns to confront John for his actions. "Hey! What's your problem?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." John tries to lie.
"Don't lie. We saw what you did. Why the heck did you push my friend down like that? Today is his first day! You're lucky he got a scratch on his elbow!" Magik yells at him while defending Zach.
"He was in my way. I don't have time to tolerate newbies like him. Y'all just got lucky because of him." John claimed. This only causes Magik to grab him by his shirt.
"You so much as hurt him one more time, you won't like what I'll do to you in Limbo. You get me?" Magik threatened as Colossus breaks up the fight.
"Enough! Both of you! This is not how we treat each other in a fun game of basketball. John, you and I will go talk to the professor after this. I will not let this one slide." Colossus tells John. With no other choice, Pyro sighs in defeat as he goes to sit on the bench as he glares at everyone, including Zach. His teammates approach.
"Hey. I'm really sorry about John. He does tend to show off a lot. And very envious." Ink apologized.
"Yeah. If he gets out of line like that again, we'll teach him a new one." Siren offered. Artie turns to John and sticks his blue-forked tongue out at him.
"Alright. Class dismissed. Mr. Martinez. Wait a moment." Colossus said. "Are you alright?"
Colossus examines the cut on Zach's right elbow. Thankfully, it doesn't look bad. It is the length of a pencil broken in half.
"I'm fine. It's just a scratch." Zach defends himself without looking at his gym teacher in the eye.
"Mr. McCoy can help you. Now just like others, the professor asked me to help you with advice and show how to control your powers." Colossus reminds him.
"I knew you would say that." Zach points out.
"Now. To demonstrate, try to use them on this court. Remember to think about what you want to know. And when to stop." Colossus instructed.
Zach nods. He kneels to the ground,, removes his gloves and touches the concrete on the field. He closes his eyes and sees other students that have been on it before numerous times. And when it was made.
"This basketball field. It was made in the 1990s, but I can't tell when. But the professor wanted to keep everyone entertained and encourage them to go outdoors every once in a while. And this basketball is brand new." Zach said.
"Good. Good. You're slowly learning. Now try to send that information to me. Please. Do not be afraid." Colossus holds out his hand. Zach takes a deep breath and touches the back of his hand and transfers the knowledge he just absorbs and slowly transfers it to Colossus. Once done, Zach manages to pull away, albeit with a little bit of a hard time.
"S-sorry. I am still learning." Zach apologizes.
"No need for apologies. It is I who should apologize. We do not tolerate bullies at this school. And I am happy to see that my sister Magik defended you. She too wishes to be your friend." Colossus puts a metal hand on his shoulder. "You got heart, Zachery. When it comes to standing up for yourself, do not hesitate. Bullies, or anyone in general. Never let anyone push you around. If you let them, then they will use you to their advantage. Your instincts will tell you as part of autism."
"I see. I've never tried to stand up to bullies before. Sometimes I had support, but not this m-much." Zach said.
"You do now. And you did well in today's game. I must attend to the professor. Magik can tell you stories, if you are interested." Colossus said.
"T-thanks, Mr. Colossus." Zach nods.
"Please. Just Colossus. You'll be one of the best around." He replied. Zach smirks a little before he leaves. He follows Warren to the first sublevel where he will have his next class.
Down below in the first level was math 1 class. Zach was not looking forward to it to be honest. He's not a fan of math. But hopefully he should be able to do his best at it. He arrived earlier than planned where he sees Doctor McCoy. Beast tends to his elbow injury.
"I'm terribly sorry about what happened with Pyro. He has always been like this. It is a good thing the professor doesn't tolerate bullying around here. But I'm pleased that Colossus stepped in. Are you enjoying your classes?" Beast asked.
"Y-yeah. I suppose so." Zach answered.
"Good. And you know about this already, but I do like to see you after the class is over." Doctor McCoy reminds him. Zach nods as more classmates start walking in. Zach walks back to his chair and has his math book ready as well. Warren sits next to him as well as Magik.
"Hey. You okay there, Zach?" Warren asked. Zach silently nods. "Good. It was a pleasure to meet you, by the way. Good game." He compliments Zach, much to his joy.
"Yeah. Give us some fives. You've earned it." Magik and Warren raise their hands in the air. Zach begins to smile and high fives the both of them. Once that was out of the way, it was time for math class. And Zach was nervous.
"Hey." Magik sees this. "We can help you out if you need help. Don't be afraid to ask for help, okay?" Zach nods once more as they pay close attention to their teacher.
"Hello, class. Welcome back to Mutant High for the second semester, or for those who are new, welcome to your first class. I am Dr. Hank McCoy. I will be your science and math teacher." Hank McCoy introduces himself as he writes his name and subjects. "Now, you should clearly know that given the fact that everyone has brought their proper books and calculators, we will be looking at Algebra today. Now. What is algebra?"
Nearly half the class raises their hands, particularly Magik and Warren. The latter was the first to answer. "A type of mathematics that involves symbols and takes place before statistics and calculus."
"Yes. Basically the first step before those two subjects that succeed it. Now, even in high school, algebra is used in word problems and are more advanced. Here's an example." Hank said. "Tobias is scared that the banks will close on him and he's afraid that a fire will happen and burn everything he has. He keeps his cash savings frozen in a big piece of ice in the freezer. His brother, Jude, keeps his cash stuffed inside a teddy bear. Jude has half the money Tobias has. How much money does Jude have?"
"The answer is 2150." Magik raised her hand.
"That would be correct, Magik." Beast smirks. "Now, there are algebraic expressions. Some of you should know by now. But for those who are new, can one give an example?"
Zach slowly and shakingly raised his hand. He does his best to speak up as best as he can. "Umm, x and y?"
"See, now we're getting somewhere." Beast supports the answer. "They're mostly used for a binomial. But we also use monomials. They're our most important terms for algebra. Monomial is one term. It is multiplied by binomial, which is two terms. So for example, a(x + y). A times X equals ax, while A times Y equals ay. Since this is 9th grade, you also need to simplify the expressions. Now here, if we write down a + b in parenthesis just like we did with the x and y, we can multiply two binomials. What do we do now?"
"Easy. We multiply everything in the first bracket by everything in the second bracket. That gives us four different variables to work with for us to add. And we can also simplify the symbols same with numbers." Warren answered.
"Yes. Let's provide an example, shall we?" Hank asked as he turned to his board.
Math class was over, much to Zach's relief. He's not the biggest math person but does somewhat understand some of it. But he did have some support from Magik and Warren. They know more about math than he does and they were more than happy to help him out.
"Hey. Don't forget to sit with our group for lunch and dinner. You know where the kitchen is, right?" Warren asked Zachery.
"Yeah. On the first floor." Zach asked, after some hesitation to look him in the eyes.
"Great. See you there. And don't be late. Or else I'll have to send you to limbo… ha! I'm just joking with you!" Magik laughs as she and Warren left the room. This leaves the new kid alone with Mr. McCoy.
"I trust that the lesson wasn't too painful?" Beast asked.
"N-not entirely. M-math has always been a tough subject for me. Algebra is n-new to m-me." Zach admitted.
"It is understandable, particularly for a scientist such as me. It's not always for me, I'll admit. I do also teach science. How good are you at science, young one?" Beast asked.
"I-I'm pretty decent at it. But I-I'm still learning other things about it. What science stuff do you teach here?" Zach asked.
"Physical and environmental science. Biology, chemistry, and sometimes I help the professor with physics. Mr. Summers mostly does engineering in his higher classes, but I do also tend to lend a hand from time to time." Beast answered.
"Umm, I-I would like to take some of t-those classes a-at some point." Zach is interested.
"Good. I'm sure you'll get there one day." Hank nodded. "Now, I'd like to ask how are you progressing with your teachers and your gifts?"
"W-well, so far, Storm and Mr. Summers have been really kind to me, especially the former. And they both showed me how to control my powers, and it's h-hard. Same with Colossus." Zach answered.
"Interesting to hear. Now, the professor tasked me to help you show how your powers work more. And know when to show restraint. And I do apologize for my appearance the other day. I get the fear a lot." Beast apologized.
"O-oh no. I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to offend. I-I think you look cool." Zach said to him.
"Thank you. I appreciate that, Zach. Now do you know how it works?" Beast asked.
"Umm, well. I touch someone or something, and gain their knowledge and history. Who or what created this or that, where it came from, and when. And I absorb or transfer intellect to others." Zach answered.
"Excellent. Now, why don't you try them on me?" Beast holds out his hand. Zach removes his gloves and touches his blue-furred hand. They both close their eyes as they see Hank's memories.
"I-is this a factory?" Zach asked. He and Hank look around and they both see signs everywhere. It appears to be a nuclear factory and Zach nearly panics.
"Relax, relax. It's okay. It's only a memory. We cannot be affected in any sort of way nor can anyone see us." Beast assured Zach.
"But why here?" Zach asked.
"This was were my father worked in Illinois before I was born. He was exposed to intense radiation, which may explain why I am a mutant today." Hank explained.
Zach and Beast then see memories of the latter growing up and taking part in sports such as football and wrestling. However, many people began to fear him because of his appearance. Zach then uses his powers and sees the exact person he expected to see.
"That's the professor." Zach pointed out.
"Yes. I have been his closest friend and I was invited to study at the school you live and learn now. I became one of the first X-Men." Beast said. "I found this place to be a fountain of amazing studies and a sanctuary for us mutants. But I led my own studies and helped him find the studies of genetic mutation. And he has more experience than I do, personally."
Zach nods. He begins to hear some strange, evil laughter. He doesn't seem to recognize it. He tries to follow the laughter to see where it came from.
"Zachery, no. No. You must control it." Beast tries to tell him.
"I-I can't. It's getting louder. I-it hurts." Zach gestures to his head in pain.
"Resist it, Zach. Think of the way you want. Cancel out any bad thoughts. Focus on any good memories you have. Your new friends, and your family." Beast said.
The evil laughter starts toning down and Zach begins to calm down more. He thinks about his new friends Bobby, Logan, Kitty, Magik, Jubilee and Warren. And his teachers Storm, Scott, Colossus, and Hank.
"Now, think about stopping. Think that you don't want to absorb any more knowledge. Don't give in." Beast advised.
Zach slowly nods and it took him sometime to open his eyes. He gasps for air and nearly falls backwards, but keeps his footing despite his head hurting a little.
"Are you okay, son?" Beast approaches and helped him.
Y-yeah. I-I suppose so. Who was that? That person laughing?" Zach asked, sounding afraid.
Beast was very reluctant to tell Zach about that voice. But he wouldn't want to make him even more afraid by telling him it was Magneto. And he knows that Charles would find it to be a bad idea as it is not the right time and place to tell him.
"Listen to me very carefully, Zach. Not all mutants out there in the world. Some of them are bad, like the ones that attacked you and Wolverine. We formed this group to protect the world and mankind from the evil mutants who look down on humans. When the time is near for you to be ready, I promise you, we can tell you everything. But I would have to discuss it with the professor. Don't think about that man, and don't be afraid. Do you understand me?" Beast asked him with a concerned glare.
"Yes, sir." Zach said.
"And one more piece of advice. You're making some slow progress with your powers. I see that you absorbed some knowledge of that book. And according to you, it's a brand new copy that was updated a month ago and the professor himself bought it in person." Beast said. "And I've been helping the professor study autism. And you're the special one, Zach. You deserved to be called one. There were words that someone who used to be my friend said to me once: Mutant and proud."
Zach nods, as he slowly understands what he means. "I-I think I get it. It means don't be afraid of who you are."
Exactly, Zach. Exactly! And in your case, autistic and proud. It is a special thing to have. You're a smart one, son. And you'll do good with your gifts in ways you wish for them to be." Beast gives a friendly smile.
"Thank you, Dr. McCoy." Zach nods in appreciation.
"You're welcome, Zach. Just in time for lunch. Have fun with your new friends." Beast said.
Zach grabs his book and leaves. He is beginning to take everyone's words to heart as he is starting to warm up to everyone here at the school. And he feels like he's regaining social skills bit by bit. And he's happy. But he can't help but shiver on the thought of evil mutants out there like the ones that attacked him. But secretly, he still can't figure out the girl Rogue.
Note: First off, I like to apologize if I wrote the basketball game badly. I don't watch a lot of it. I prefer baseball and soccer more. But I wanted to show the Xavier's school does not support bullying and that I myself am against bullying. This chapter's morals are to never let anyone push you around, otherwise, they will take advantage of you. And don't be afraid of who you are. Enjoy!