"Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!"
"Go, Bayville! Go, Bayville!"
High school, always filled the over dramatic ones. Be it band, choir, acting, or those who love sports, there is always something that drives people to be excited about it, some more so than others.
"Blue 22! Blue 22! Hut, hut!"
"Touchdown! Touchdown!"
"Touchdown, Bayville!"
But, I know what really is behind everything. The Darkness that lies behind the scenes. See, we're all humans in our own ways, but deep down, we are all different from each other. More so in genetics. There was this paper that my father read a long time ago, written by one Charles Xavier, about a genome called the X-Gene. It's used to give others mutations, be it physical or internal, whatever that means.
It was there that my father experimented on himself, and found that he didn't have the X-Gene. He then turned his sights onto my mother, brother, sister and then me. Mother and I didn't have it, but my brother and sister did. Father's experiments killed Mother, and it would have killed me if it wasn't for my brother and sister. Brother sacrificed his body, turning into a black slime and coated my body with it. My sister turned into a massive form of energy and was absorbed into my body while brother died to protect me.
Long story short, there was an explosion and I found myself extremely far away. I went from Texas to Canada. And boy was that a mess. I fought this big giant monster that could only say Windigo, and hurt it with the Black Slime that is my brother. Turns out the black slime can form weapons like swords and the like, but not guns or bows and arrows. It healed, and when it hurt me back the energy of my sisters exploded, hurting it worse. This time it didn't heal and ran, so that's was something. Cool thing was, I healed through both my sisters energy and my brothers slime.
Next I found myself being hunted by some lion guy, sharp claws, fangs, hairy and large. Turns out I can use dirt to stop or slow healing factors. It was an interesting trick, and it scared him off, especially with all of the holes I put in his body. He either cleaned himself off or he died from bleeding out. Either way, I found myself back in America and was out into the foster system. I eventually "found" a large sum of cash and bought my own place in Bayville.
I chose here because Charles apparently lived here, and I wanted to pick his brain about what I was. I wasn't a mutant, that became clear when my father experimented on me. Was my brother's fusion what changed me? Was my sister's fusion what changed me? Was our fusion what changed me? Gave me the X-Gene?
Seeing the quarterback get tackled, I watched as a camera girl with long red hair walk over to him and take his photo. "Jean, did you get that for the yearbook?" The quarterback asked with a smile, where I then learned the name of the girl.
"No. This one's for my personal collection." Jean responded, where I felt like gagging as that was a cheesy line. Cheesy lines, relationships for that matter, made me sick. It didn't use to happen but once I fused with my siblings it became a norm for me. It was clear that we had became more than family and more of a single person. I knew my brother hated that kind of stuff, so I knew that I got it from him.
"Duncan Matthews does it again, this time with a quarterback keeper. The Bayville Hawks seem to have this one wrapped up with time running out." The announcer said, where I got the name of the quarterback, Duncan Matthews. I didn't know any of them, after all it was my first time here. I wasn't a student yet, and once I became one I would be the background character. I needed to learn more of the area, such as where one Charles Xavier lived, his purpose here, and if anyone here knew where he was.
"Hey, look at that!" I heard one of the football players, with me looking at him. "Tolansky's at it again." He said, where I saw that he was looking at me. Looking down, I saw someone pickpocketing me. Knowing that I could get it back, I let out a sigh and got up. Walking away, I could see that he was still pickpocketing. The football players even went under the bleachers to deal with him.
"Looks like the Hawks are a shoo-in for the playoffs." The announcer said, where I saw someone else going under the bleachers. It was weird to see someone wear shades at night, but it was possible that they had epilepsy.
Walking under the bleachers myself, the black slime that is my brother took the shape of a black cloak. This covered my face, and pretty much everything else that was my body. I was the shadows now, and to all I was less than the shadows.
Watching as they pulled the boy down, the wallets fell onto the ground. "Oh, man. My cash." The boy, Tolansky, said while rubbing his rear.
"Hey, check it. Looks like someone's taking up a collection." Duncan said with a smirk.
"Whoa, should we call the cops?" The other said with a grin. "Well, hey. If it ain't Toady Tolansky picking up a little spare change." He said, where Tolansky looked up at him.
"Hi, Duncan. Look, I can explain." Tolansky said while holding his hands up sheepishly.
"Shut up, frog face!" Duncan said as he cracked his knuckles.
"Let's crush him, Dunc!" The other one said as he did the same.
"Let's not, Dunc." The one with the sunglasses said as he stepped out of the shadows. "Just chill. The wallets are still there." He said as he stopped a few meters away from them. "How about we have him give back the cash? No harm done." He said as he fixed his shades.
"Yeah. Yeah. See? Here's the money." Tolansky said as he pulled the money out of his pocket and held it out to them.
"What do you care about this scuzzo, Summers?" Duncan said as I used my slime to take the wallets from ground and bring them over to me. If he wasn't going to use it then I would. I needed the money after all, and whatever he didn't take I was. Credit cards, Identification cards, social security numbers, exc. It was the same way that I had "found" my moneys worth. The only difference was instead of leather it was a large metal box.
"Not much. But I'm not crazy about three against one either." Summers said as I looked through the wallets and took what I wanted. He seemed to have the right idea in stepping up for Tolansky, so I would leave it to him while I took the opportunity to take what they had left on the ground. "So how about we settle this peacefully?" Summers asked as I tossed the wallets on the ground and crossed my arms.
"I think me and my buds are gonna squash this slimeball. So you and your stupid "sunglasses at night" can just bail." Duncan said as he shoved Summers.
"I said, knock it off!" Summers ordered as he shoved Duncan back, giving Tolansky the perfect opportunity to get out of there.
"Hey! He's getting away!" The other one called out as he pointed at Tolansky, who hopped away like a toad.
"Big mistake, Summers." Duncan yelled as he shoved Summers away, harder this time. This caused his glasses to fall off and fire a red energy beam from his eyes. They all moved out of the way, with me watching on in awe. The red beam of energy came ever closer to me, revealing me to all. Smirking, I held my hand out, with the energy connecting to my hand. As it did, a blue energy came out of my body and connected with the red, where it absorbed into my body.
"What the hell?!" One of them said as they looked at me.
'Whoops, guess I'm found out.' I thought as I ran forwards and hit them all with a three hit combo that took them all out. Looking at the one who fired the red beam, I saw him covering his eyes. I could put him down, not as in kill but knock him out. Or, I could use this to my advantage. He was clearly a mutant, so he might know where to find Charles Xavier.
Walking over to the sunglasses, I picked them up. "Who's there?" He asked as I looked the sunglasses over. They were made out of a special material, almost like a ruby like gem. Could they be used to hold back his power? If so, it was impressive to find something like this.
"No one." I said as I looked at Summers. Walking over to him, I knelt down before int and put the sunglasses on his face. "Open your eyes." I said as I stood tall, looking down at him. I watched as around the glasses glowed red before calming down. "So... your shades prevent your powers from going off, and gives you sight." I said as he looked up at me.
"Who are you?" He as I turned around as it felt like someone was grabbing my head. Seeing the red head, Jean, saw her hands were on her head. A telepathic ability, she was most likely trying to get into my head. I don't see how she wasn't, or maybe she was, I wasn't sure as I had never had someone enter my head before.
"No one." I said as I walked towards the girl.
"Scott, I can't read him!" The girl called out, with it clarifying that she couldn't get into my head. Was it due to the slime that covered my body? Or the energy that flowed through me? Either way, it made no difference. Within a blink of an eye, I was in front of her, her eyes wide with fear. "Scott!?" She called out, where I chopped her on the head, with her crashing into the ground.
"Jean!?" Scott called out, with me looking back at him. I dared him to attack me with his eyes. He even grabbed his glasses to do so, but stopped as if someone told him not to. I felt the same feeling as before, so I knelt down and rolled Jean over and found that she was knocked out still.
'So, there is another one close by?' I thought as I started walking away and like before I was gone in a blink of an eye. Of course, I only moved to the other side of the bleachers, removed the slime and walked around. "Where did I drop my wallet?" I said as I looked over at them. "Oh, hey? What's going on down here? Were you jumped or something?" I asked as I walked over to Scott and helped him to his feet. "What are you doing down here?" I asked, with him making his way over to Jean.
"Y-yeah! A crook was taking others wallets! We came down to stop them and he got the upper hand on us!" He said as he picked Jean up. "I've got to go, later!" He yelled as he ran away, leaving me behind, my hand extended to try to stop him, but he was already gone in the wind.
"Man, could have at least stayed behind to answer some questions." I said as I took Duncan's wallet as well as the others. "It's not much, but it's something." I said as I tossed the wallets and walked away with everything they had.
The next day
Sitting in the office, I had my arms crossed as I waited next to Tolansky. I didn't know why he was here, but I knew what I was here for. I was here for my first day in school. I had to introduce myself to the principal, get my schedule and proceed to my classes. While doing my time as the background character, I would learn more on everyone here and find out who was a mutant and who wasn't.
Finding two, possibly three, mutants on my first day was a huge jump in my plans. Simply knowing two of them means that I could get closer to them and learn of Charles Xavier's location. The third one was next to me, sitting in the chair like a frog. I didn't know what he could do, but I had a guess. He had the mutation of that of a frog, or toad.
"Mr. Tolansky?!" The Principal yelled as she entered the office. He got up and followed her into her office, closing the door behind them. Letting out a yawn, I closed my eyes. "Excuse me a moment while I open a window." I heard, where I sent the black slime out my back and out the window behind me. I moved it around to the other side of the building and to the now opening window, where it peeked inside, an eye forming from it.
This was another ability I had learned, I could form body parts out of the slime, though they were not mine but my brothers. As weird as it sounds, I could see through the eyes that I formed, hear from the ears and exc. This was further proof that I had fused with my siblings.
"There." She said, where she turned to face Tolansky. "Now, Toad, shall we talk about your new friend, Scott Summers?" She said, where her tone said that she knew what really happened last night.
"What about him? He's cool." Tolansky said as he looked away. "Heck, if it wasn't for him, them jocks would've stomped my skull flat." He said as he looked back at her.
"Yes. Well, Summers, as you've noticed, has special powers." She said, with me knowing that she was aware as she spelled it out. "There are others like him. We need to know more. Much more." She said as she looked at him with a malicious eye.
"Oh, look. I don't wanna..."
"Silence! You'll do as you're told!" She interrupted, shutting him up and scaring him while she changed into a monster. "Understand?" She questioned as she grabbed his face, with him nodding. She then looked at the window, with me pulling my black slime back as to not be seen.
Opening my eyes, I looked at the door and saw her opening the door. She was back to normal, her human form. She looked at me, with me tilting my head at her as I "wanted to know what she was thinking." She had most likely seen the slime, if not then suspected that there were eyes in her. "Are you ready for me?" I asked as I got ready to stand, but she only narrowed her eyes at me.
"No, I only grew curious on what you looked like, that is all." She said as she closed the door. She was most likely going to have Tolansky hand out with Scott and try to infiltrate Charles home. Whoever she was, she was more than the principal. She had a plan, and was apart of something bigger. Was she the middle woman, or was she the one pulling the strings? Who knows, all I knew was that my plans had slightly evolved into follow the frog.
Later
The best thing about being the background character is that no one remembers or recognizes you. It happens so often that some background characters get put in different shows or movies to the point that some would say that they jump dimensions in order to perform their roles. This also gives them the perfect opportunity to gather any information on anything and anyone.
"Hey, see you in the cafeteria." A student told Scott as I was down the hall at my locker. I had my locker open and I was "looking" for my books. In reality, I was spying on Tolansky, who was watching Scott.
"Just grabbing my lunch. Save me a seat." Scott said as he waved his friend off. Then Tolansky moved closer to him, arms crossed, trying to play it cool.
Once Scott closed his locker, he looked at Tolansky who was on the other side of it. "Yo, Summers!" Tolansky said as he jumped on top of the lockers with a single bound. "What's up?" He said, using it as a pun to his current position. Scott was looking around, and stopped once he saw that I was the only one here. My locker was open, blocking him from looking at me directly. He could see my legs, but that was it. I was looking at them through the cracks of the Locker, where I saw him look away slowly.
"That's quite a jump." Scott said, almost a whisper as to not draw attention to me.
"Like it? Surprised you could see it through them smokies of yours." Tolansky said as he pointed at his eyes. "Here, let me help." He said as he shot his tongue out and took the shades away from him. This further proves that he was a mutant with frog like abilities.
"Hey!"
"What's the matter, Summers? Afraid to open your eyes?" Tolansky said as he caught the glasses in hand and waved them around.
"Obviously we both know what'll happen if I do." Scott said as he covered his eyes with his arms. "Now give me back my shades before I go nuclear on you." He threatened, with me wondering if I could survive such an attack. A nuclear blast from a nuclear weapon, the chance of that was slim to none for anyone. I would be vaporized in an instant.
"You got it." Tolansky said as he put the shades in his hand while using his tongue. "Well, as you can see, you and me, we got something in common." Tolansky said as he jumped off the locker and now stood behind him.
"Yeah. Now we're both slimy." Scott said as he cleaned off his shades while wearing them. I would have taken them off and then cleaned them, it would have been easier that way.
"No. I mean, we ain't like other people." He said as he looked back at Scott while on the ground like a frog.
"And your point is?" Scott asked, where Tolansky jumped onto the lockers, holding onto the side of it.
"I just want to talk." Tolansky said, making it seem like he was interested in being friends. "You know, get to know each other better." He said before eating Scott's lunch that was on the ground. "You know, maybe do lunch." He suggested, with Scott narrowing his eyes at him.
"I'll think about it." Scott said as he walked away.
"Sure. You think about it, Summers." He said as he watched him walk away. He then looked my way and then started hopping over. As soon as he got closer I closed the locker and put a book in my bag. I saw him stop, looking at the headphones on my head and then walk away, like a normal person. Well, it was more or less that he followed me towards the cafeteria.
So, now that I had drawn his attention, for now, it was time to activate plan "Boring Background Character". This is where I do the most boring things that people do. Draw in my notebook, eat, walk around with nothing in mind, wave at people I pass, ask for directions, use the bathroom, classes, shopping, exc. Whatever came to mind at the time would work. When he left to go do his thing, I would follow.
Later that night
After a days work of just doing boring school stuff, Tolansky left me alone. I followed him, he even changed into some green armor thing. In the cover of night I too changed, using the same form I took when I was under the bleachers. Anyways, I followed him through the trees, it was easy as he hopped about instead of being stealthy about it.
Reaching a large gate, I watched as he jumped over it. Walking over to it, I looked up and let the black slime lift me over. Stepping on top, I stepped off and continued to follow Tolansky with a simple walk. Walking, I saw a shadow above me. Looking up, I saw a person fly over and then it started to rain.
'So, that person can control the weather.' I thought as I continued to walk on. If I had to guess, that included a good majority of the elements. Water with the rain, ice through hail, wind through tornadoes, and lightning for obvious reasons. Water wouldn't pose a problem for me, ice might as the colder I get the slower my slime gets, Wind wouldn't be too much of a concern but it could eventually blow me away, Lightning might be able to be absorbed, but I've never tried before.
I watched as lightning struck down where Tolansky was, with me walking forward as he was eventually blown away into the building. Stepping out of the tree lines, I saw the person flying above look down at me. She threw her hand out at me and lightning came my way. Holding my hand out, it hit my hand and like before with Scott's laser eyes I absorbed it.
I could see the shock in her eyes, and she continued to attack with the lightning. It reached the point that she gave up on attacking with lightning and moved over to ice shards. These I had to run away from as I didn't want to get hit by them. Running towards the tallest tree that she was above, I ran up it. This surprised her, even more so when I formed a metal bar out of my black slime. She sent lightning down at me, with it connecting with the metal bar. Instead of it being absorbed, the energy surrounded it. Jumping off the tree, I was now before her, her eyes wide in shock as the jump was almost like a teleportation. I smacked her with the lightning infused metal bar, getting a scream from her as she was electrified by her own attack.
While she could control the weather, there was no guarantee that she was immune to their attacks. As she fell towards the ground, I dove after her. Catching her in my arms, I landed on my feet. Moving over to the tree, I set her down and then proceeded inside. Once inside, I could tell something was going on, most likely that Tolansky was causing chaos.
"Who are you?" I heard, where I looked to my right and saw Charles Xavier. He was in a wheelchair, and not standing like I had seen in some of his photos. "Were you sent here by Magneto? Or Mystique?" He said, where I turned to face him. He placed his hands on his head and I got that same feeling again, meaning that he was the second telepathic person from yesterday.
"My father read your paper on the so called X-Gene." I said as I walked up to him, shocking him as he flinched, his eyes opening wide. "It drove him mad with the possibility that there might be a chance that he too could be a mutant." I said as I stopped I front of him. "He experimented on himself, and was disappointed with the result. So, he turned his experiment to his family." I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "My mother didn't have it, and neither did I." I said, where he backed up.
"Clearly he was wrong, your ability to absorb and create is proof of that." He said, where I continued after him.
"My sister had the X-Gene." I said as I held my left hand up, showing the blue energy that was my sister. "My brother had the X-Gene as well." I said as I morphed the black slime in my right. "His experiment killed my mother, and nearly killed me." I said as his eyes widened further as I put the slime and energy away. "My brother lost his body and became what you call a slime. My sister lost her body and became what is known as energy. They gave their bodies to ensure that I survived." I said as his wheelchair hit the wall.
"You're not a mutant, but you have special abilities... It's your siblings powers... they fused with you to ensure that you are protected!" Charles said as he now understood. "Your father, what became of him?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as I stood before him, towering over him, like a Lion looking down at his prey.
"Who knows, all I know was that there was an explosion powerful enough to send me across the world." I said as I got in his face. "So, because of you, I lost everything. Now, I want compensation." I said, watching him gulp. "Tell me, if I am not human, and I am not a mutant, what am I?" I questioned, honestly wanting an answer from the one person who could tell me.
"Human." He said, where I stood up straight. "Your father's experiment caused your siblings mutation to activate early, and it resulted in a horrific result for the both of them. They are neither dead nor alive. They are apart of you, protecting you. I am sorry." He said as he lowered his head at this. "But, their will is apart of yours now, and you control their abilities, so that means that you are in complete control over their abilities. This alone, I would classify you as a Mutant as well." He explained, where I walked over to the wall, looking up at the photo that was hanging.
"I see, so that is your answer?" I said, placing my hands behind my back. Honestly, not the best answer. Being human but classified as Mutant? Seemed wrong but right at the same time. It wasn't fair but it wasn't at the same time. It made sense but didn't at the same time! Hearing a commotion from the next room, we made our way over there. Seeing Tolansky and a blue mutant jumping on everything, with Tolansky attacking with his tongue.
"This test is over!" Charles yelled, with both of them stopping. Todd Tolansky does have the special gift of the X-gene. "He's welcome to join us if he so desires." He said, where I looked at him.
"Only thing I desire is blue boy's fuzzy head." Tolansky said as he wrapped his tong around the blue one's arm. I jumped up at them and grabbed their arms as they both fell. The three of us were then teleported into a metal room. We fell to the ground, with me landing on my feet while holding both of them over my shoulders.
"Where are we?" The blue one asked as I stood up on his own as I set them down.
"You asking me, fool? You brought us here." Tolansky, or Todd, said, looking around.
"I think I'm about to regret it!" The blue one said as he pointed at the wall as turrets and buzzsaws came out of it.
"Behind me, NOW!" I ordered as I swung my arm around, covering us with the black slime as they attacked us. It formed a barrier around us, with it shaking from the impacts of the attack. It was pitch black, so no one could see. "Blue, DON'T even think of teleporting away, we don't want you getting killed! Tolansky, you even try attacking and I will put you in the ground." I said as the black slime formed spikes and they were all aimed at him in an instant.
"Cool man, cool!" He said as he held his hands up.
Closing my eyes, I saw through the slime and looked around. Seeing a door open, Scott and Jean ran in. "Move with me, if you down, then it will be harder to get out of here." I said as I walked towards them, with Jean keeping the physical objects away while Scott took out the cannons and turrets.
"Who are you?" Kurt asked as he placed his hands on my shoulders as we walked, with Todd literally sitting on my head as I held my hand out, touching the slime wall.
"No one." I said as we reached the door and passed through. Once out, I let the slime cover me once more, pushing Todd off while doing so. Walking over to the wall, I leaned against it as Scott and Jean ran out and the doors closed.
"Forget this, man. I've seen enough. I am out of here." Todd said as he started jumping away.
"Tolansky!" Scott called out, holding a hand out to stop him, but it was too late. "Sorry, professor. I couldn't stop him." He said, looking down the other way, with us doing the same.
"It's all right, Cyclops." Charles said, with me pushing myself off of the wall and looking at him. "Now, shall we continue our conversation?" He said, but looked back. "Sorry, I must speak with one other before we do." He said as he started rolling away.
"So, who exactly are you?" Scott asked, making me smile.
"No one." I said as I vanished before their eyes, following Todd out of here. Only difference was, that I didn't follow him out. I made my way towards the same room that I had cornered Charles in. He was here for a reason, and had set up a test for Todd. Why be here and not in a more secure room for such a purpose.
Walking over to the wall, I saw some gaps in it. Using the energy in my body, I forced it to open automatically. Walking over to a computer, I saw that it had a head piece to it. Grabbing it, I looked it over before putting it on. Everything went dark as I came face to face with a bright blue skinned man, almost Egypt like area. He threw his hand out to me, and I was pushed back. I landed in a cell, with a woman with messy hair looked up at me and exploded with red power, pushing me back even more. I continued to fall until I landed in a swamp, with me seeing a scared goth girl running.
Taking off the head gear, I made sure to remember those faces. Something told me that they might be in the computer. Searching all of the files, I was only able to find the first girl, one Wanda Maximoff. She was institutionalized as a kid, meaning she pretty much had her childhood taken from her against her will. Charles even frequently visited her, most likely to help her. She was classified as a mutant, but his report said blue energy not red. Was there something else to her that not even Charles knew?
I needed to know more, and staying here I would not learn it. The first clue I had was finding this Wanda person, so I turned around and left through the window. I knew that Charles would suspect that I was on his computer, but it was all for a good cause. What that cause was? I didn't know, but I would work it out through the shadows.