Disclaimer!
I don't own Marvel or any of its media or characters. I don't claim any money from this fanfiction and the only thing I own are my OC's and original ideas.
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Issue #4: First Contact
20th of April/2024
Salem, New York/Xavier's school for gifted youngsters
Abraham cracked his neck a bit while drying himself off with a towel in his room after a morning exercise routine as he didn't get any stat increases, but he did limber himself up and mentally relaxed from the few stressful days he had along with practicing with a certain skill to help level it up.
[The skill [Psionic Reinforcement] has leveled up! Level: 6-7!]
Not only did Abraham level up the skill but he learned that the skill increased one attribute specifically at a time and if he tried to enhance two or more the skill would take up much more energy and work less effectively as well, meaning that it was best used for specific actions instead of spreading out the ability through his entire body in one go.
"No classes today. I could go around town and maybe find a job like other students do." Abraham said to himself with a sigh since he didn't deny that he could use the cash as well as some time out of the school with how much tension had been going on.
So, after drying off and changing into his usual clothes, which he noted that he needed more of. Abraham made his way off the school grounds and towards the main gates where he noticed a few dozen other students also heading off campus to hang out in the city.
Abraham might have incredible game-based powers, but he was still rather introverted and hung back from the large group until he noticed a familiar pink-haired girl who turned and saw him.
"Abraham, what brings you out here?" Megan asked with a bit of awkwardness and a giggle as she beckoned Abraham to come closer, which he did after taking in a breath of what he hoped was courage-based air and spoke to his friend.
"I'm heading out into the city to look for a job. What about you?"
"Same. But I already have a job, so I guess it isn't the exact same thing I suppose." Megan said while putting her hand to her chin and thinking about the semantics of her statement while Abraham mentally cursed at Megan for being so stinking cute.
"Close enough. Nice to meet you dude." A blue haired Asian girl said as Abraham noticed the strange gauntlet like devices on both her hands that went halfway up her forearms. "The name's Noriko."
"Abraham." Abraham replied before shaking the extended metal gloved hand. "Are you also heading out for work?"
"Yeah. Most of us work in a nearby mall that helps mutants with getting work or requiring special assistance like me. My powers can't exactly turn all the way off, so I wear these gauntlets, and my boss understands that and lets me work with them on." Noriko explained with a carefree attitude.
"They look cool. Like something out of Cyberpunk 2077. An underrated game if you ask me." Abraham said while Noriko smiled.
"I know right. That game kicks ass." Noriko said before the sizeable group boarded the nearby bus from the closest bus stop and headed towards the closet mall which is when Abraham noticed that the students were all dressed in work uniforms.
He also owed Noriko for giving him a bus pass in exchange for promising to pay her back later. So, when he was alone in the mall he just started wandering and searching for a store that was looking for someone to hire. Abraham wasn't some self-absorbed fool and was willing to take any job from dishwashing to janitorial since he needed the cash and soon enough, he found a help wanted sign at a nearby store within the mall.
"Alright kid I'll give you a shot. But you've got to work hard, and I don't want to hear any complaints about the deep fryer or the bathrooms." The manager of a fast-food store said while he just hired Abraham to work at the place known as Bessy Burger. "Your first few days will be spent learning the ropes from other workers and I have a work shirt in your size luckily enough. So, for now, go back home and come back tomorrow at five. We can work out the finer points of your work schedule then."
"No problem." Abraham said before his new manager handed him a work shirt from one of the dozens of boxes in his office before allowing Abraham to leave.
So, with a job secured he took an early bus back to the mansion and informed professor and principal Xavier about being a student with a job before he returned to his room to try and relax.
Midnight
Abraham woke up with a yawn and an urge to use the toilet, so he did his business in his bathroom and crawled back under the covers to sleep but found himself unable to sleep for several minutes and just when he felt a bit tired, he heard some strange sounds coming from the outside when he knew that everyone should be asleep or in the school grounds during curfew hours.
"What the hell?" Abraham asked as he moved towards the window of his room and opened the curtains and blinds to see people on the large lawn of the school, but these people weren't students and instead they looked like some kind of soldiers or mercenaries, and they weren't just on foot. Jeeps came onto the ground along with helicopters lighting up the courtyard.
[Quest Alert!
Name: Survive the attack on Xavier's school.
Professor Charles Xavier, Emma Frost, Storm and Beast are away from the school grounds now and now the school is under attack by an unknown force of soldiers.
Survive and help others do the same.
Objectives: Help defend the school or escape with other students.
Rewards: 5,000 XP, 1x Random Skill Book, Increased Reputation with various students and faculty.
Failure: Possible Death!
Due to the nature of this quest, it has been automatically accepted!]
"Oh, fuck!" Abraham practically screamed before he got dressed as quickly as possible and exited his room to the sounds of several doors and windows being broken along with some student screams.
"Everyone, wake up! The school's under attack!" Abraham yelled as loudly as he could to try and get other students to wake up.
Abraham stopped when he heard a door breakdown behind him, making him spin and see two camo dressed soldiers with rifles come out of the room and before, Abraham could even think he quickly fired a kinetic blast at them which firmly sent them crashing into the ground hard and destroying their guns and body armor.
Abraham rushed into the room they came out of and notice an underclassman was knocked out cold due to some dart like needles sticking out of his neck and upper chest. His roommate was in the same state, and they were both tied up with handcuffs meaning that they were going to be taken, and that Abraham had alerted the enemy to his presence.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Abraham asked himself before he carefully dragged both teens out of the room and saw other students had rushed out of their rooms due to the noise.
A lot of them had powers for sure but they weren't trained for this kind of situation or stress and they sure as hell knew better than to just blindly use their powers without care or focus, so most felt useless right now.
"Big guy, grab these two and led them to the school's basement. I've got to regroup with the other squads." Abraham quickly said to a guy similar to Santo based on the fact that he was also composed of rocks, but the difference was that this guy has four orange eyes and was a bit spikier in comparison.
"I'm in the Chevaliers squad but you won't hear me complain. My squad and I are going to help as many people as we can. Our squad is based on rescue situations." The guy explained calmly before picking up the two knocked out students while giving Abraham just enough time to see the name and title above his head.
Sidney Green, Level: 16
Onyxx/X-men Trainee
"Good. But if you run into soldiers don't hold back." Abraham said before he took off out of the dorms while leaving the Chevaliers squad to handle evacuation and when he reached the main hallways and rooms of the mansion he was greeted with chaos.
Dozens of soldiers had been taken out by the combination of Logan, Remy LeBeau, Xorn and Jean-Paul or right now they could be called by their X-men names of Wolverine, Gambit, Zorn and Northstar. Wolverine was the most disturbing to look at since he was literally coated in blood.
"Thank God you guys are still here." Abraham said, getting the X-men's attention.
"What the hell are you doing here kid? Why ain't you evacuating?" Logan asked bluntly and in a pissed tone of voice.
"Sidney and the rest of his squad are helping get students into the basement levels through roundabout ways to avoid the soldiers. I've got to find anyone else who isn't evacuated yet." Abraham quickly explained to the group.
"Well, ain't you a bleedin' heart, aye? So, put that heart of your's to use and follow me. We've got grounds to cover and these three can handle the fightin' from here, yeah?" Gambit asked the other X-men while Abraham had a bit of a hard time understanding the man due to his accent.
"We'll handle the brunt of the forces. We've already got their attention, but you two be careful and don't let your guard down. There could still be soldiers in the school grounds." Northstar warned before Gambit and Abraham made their way towards a large hallway linking to more dorms and classes.
Gambit was fast but Abraham was able to keep up thankfully as they checked rooms before rushing to the sounds of fighting nearby and when they rounded the corner they saw a girl shrouded in what appeared to be a blue suit of armor covering her body as she beat a few soldiers senseless while others shot at her, but her psionic armor seemed to protect her from the dart shots and further proved to Abraham that these soldiers were looking to kidnap instead of kill which made the situation stranger.
"No time to waste, yeah." Gambit said before reaching into his trench coat and throwing a few playing cards at some of the soldiers alerting them to the presence of an X-men and a rookie.
Abraham quickly rushed towards the soldiers while activating his skills to protect himself.
"Psionic Reinforcement: Dexterity! Telekinetic Barrier!" Both skills activated flawlessly and allowed Abraham to not only close the distance quickly but it also allowed him to summon a barrier of psychic energy around him in the form of a bubble like shield that protected him from the shots before he quickly punched the face of one of the soldiers while also taking note that his shield was quickly cracking under the pressure of the dart shots.
So, layering another shield under the first he continued to attack nearby soldiers with punches and kicks along with the girl in her own psionic armor with Gambit helping with ranged combat until all the soldiers were knocked out of commission.
"Not bad. You both make Emma and Kitty proud with your skills, no?" Gambit asked without expecting an answer from the teens.
"Thanks for the help but these guys won't stop coming. I don't even know how many I've knocked out before getting here." The girl said and, like always, Abraham glanced up to look at her name and title.
Hisako Ichiki, Level: 19
Armor/X-men Trainee
"How many other students were hurt before you made it this far?" Abraham asked Hisako before she crossed her arms under her ample chest.
"A few dozen but the other squads and I were able to push back before I got separated from them. And that's what got me worried because now I don't hear much fighting." Hisako said bluntly before the trio moved out through the halls and noticed several knocked-out soldiers along with some teens trying to help each other hide in rooms or make their way to the basement.
Abraham glanced outside and saw the remaining X-men forces taking on the rest of this invading force and leaving Abraham with more questions than answers.
And those questions only piled on when the group rounded a corner and saw one student down in front of what Abraham assumed to be the general of the invading force. This guy is humanoid and wears some futuristic metal armor of alien origin with his head being visible and a dark green color with a bald head with what looked to be some kind of syringe-based weapon in hand.
"Wing!" Hisako shouted in concern before she stormed towards the guy while activating her psionic armor mutation once again and the guy responded by dropping his weapon and quickly raised both his hands to catch the girl's fists with his own before he lifted her up and tossed her over his head and onto the ground with an incredible show of strength.
"Nobody hurts our kids." Gambit said before he rushed in while taking out a collapsable bo-staff from his trench coat. He charged it with energy along with charging his own body before he attacked the stranger with several well-placed strikes before the stranger countered and retaliated with his own martial arts, based combat.
Ord, Level: '?'
Elite Warrior of Breakworld/Alien Invader
Abraham didn't know how or why an alien was here with an attacking force, but he didn't care and instead prepared a kinetic blast and fired the moment Gambit was out of the firing line.
Ord was pushed back an inch or two but seemed nearly unharmed until Hisako surprised him with a double axe handled strike aimed at the aliens back which sent him off his feet towards Gambit who swung his kinetic energy enhanced bo-staff like a baseball bat and knocked Ord clear into a wall that shattered upon impact and temporarily buried Ord in rubble before he pushed some of it off him and only received another blast of kinetic energy from Abraham that caused even more rubble to cover him since Abraham not only sent a blast towards the invader, but he also aimed a blast at the roof above him and caused large chunks of wood and metal to collapse onto him.
"Did we get him?" Abraham asked after swallowing a lump of saliva that was caught in his throat from the intense and stressful experience he was having.
"If you're a psychic, why bother asking?" Hisako asked bluntly and with annoyance.
"I'm an optimist."
"You're an idiot." Hisako replied to Abraham's words before the rubble burst outwards and made the trio of mutants cover themselves to deflect some debris via Hisako's psionic armor, Abraham's telekinetic shield and Gambit spinning his staff so fast that it thoroughly pulverized anything that hit it into dust.
"You're both wrong. You're dead." Ord said with a glare of anger before he cracked his knuckles before the gauntlets on his alien designed suit flared to life with some form of crackling energy before stray bolts of lighting shot out at the mutants making them each try to dodge the blast, but Gambit was the only one fast enough.
Hisako and Abraham both screamed in pain from getting hit with several electrical jolts that went through their different types of protective shields. Hisako and Abraham both collapsed onto the ground unable to control their twitching limbs and extremities.
From the downed position, Abraham saw that Hisako's armor faded away as she was on the ground and that Gambit had fired several charged playing cards at Ord who raised his arms and guarded against the attacks.
"P-Psionic Reinforcement: Constitution." Abraham grit out in hopes that the skill could allow him to regain control of his body and thankfully he gained some control and stood back up before he charged at Ord after he dodged to the right to avoid Gambit's charged staff from hitting him after said staff hit the ground.
"Psionic Reinforcement: Strength." Abraham thought to himself as he basically cast the skill twice before casting it again on his DEX as he unleased a powerful and fully charged kick enhanced by his martial arts skill, momentum and his enhancing skill.
Abraham felt the shock and blowback from the strike in his right leg and grit his teeth tight as he instantly knew that he just badly fractured or cracked the bone in the process, but it paid off since he managed to dent the torso part of the armor decently enough to create some cracks and knock the breath out of the unexpecting Ord who took a few steps back to try and regain his breath.
Before Gambit could charge in and deliver a finishing strike, Ord was sent crashing through another wall and landed outside the school among various debris with his armor now being seriously damaged courtesy of Cyclops himself and was fully dressed in his X-men outfit no less as his hand was on his visor.
"Sorry I'm late. How bad are they?" Scott asked Gambit as he looked at the downed Hisako who struggled to move and Abraham who collapsed onto the ground holding his damaged leg while refusing to scream out in pain.
"Bad. That rotten shrimp boat ain't no joke, yeah. I'm barely still standing from that shock he made." Gambit said before he put his staff away and helped Abraham to his good foot while placing one of Abraham's arms over his shoulders to give him more support. "Not bad kid. Will make an X-men, out of you yet, yeah."
"Don't worry about me. Help the other students. I'll be fine." Abraham argued through the pain.
"Let us worry about that." A familiar voice said, causing Abraham and Gambit to look down at the hall where they had entered and see Onyxx and the rest of the Chevaliers squad, which put a smile on Gambit's face.
Gambit forcefully moved Abraham through the halls and took him to the lower levels with the rest of the students while the Chevaliers and other remaining squads helped with the wounded and recovery while the staff members were dealing with the slow-moving authorities that finally came to the school to address everything that was going on.
[Quest Complete!]
[Name: Survive the attack on Xavier's school.
Survive and help others do the same.
Objectives: Help defend the school or escape with other students.
Rewards: 5,000 XP, 1x Random Skill Book, Increased Reputation with various students and faculty, Increased Reputation with S.W.O.R.D and S.H.I.E.L.D factions.]
[You have leveled up! Level: 5-7! You have gained 10 Stat Points and 2 Perk Points for a total of 20 SP and 4 PP!]
Abraham had completed the quest, but he couldn't help but feel like he had failed somehow as he lay in a medical bed in the large laboratory that belonged to Mr. McCoy. Other students were also here and had various wounds while he got off relatively light with a cast over his right leg with slight exhaustion.
Some students died along with some faculty when non-lethal methods failed to knock them out which meant that the invading force considered taken only a few alive while killing the rest.
Above all of these thoughts, Abraham couldn't help but feel disappointed in himself because he basically felt powerless during this entire experience. Ord hardly took any damage and when Gambit was taking Abraham away, he noticed Ord had not only stood up but somehow, he had teleported away and worst of all was that some students were injected with a mysterious agent that seemed to nullify their mutations.
That was the biggest hit to the school faculty and student body. The things that made them special and were a big part of their lives had been taken from them, by force, and nobody seemed to know what the reason was.
Professor Xavier, Vice Principal Frost, Mr. McCoy and Ms. Munroe were officially declared missing and none of them could be contacted. In addition to that, Mr. Rasputin was also missing.
Abraham let the meds do their thing before drifting off to sleep just as the sun started to rise. He had no dreams that night and only had regret and guilt for feeling so powerless.
5th of May/2024
Salem, New York/Xavier's school for gifted youngsters
The school was quiet, and it had been for some time as dozens of students were taken out of the school by their families or required advanced hospitalization from the attack and negative reactions to the tranquilizers used on them.
"Mr. Xorn, I'm begging you here. I need to know if there has been any news on finding the other X-men and who were the people that attacked us." Abraham said to Xorn as the two of them walked the silent halls.
"Abraham, you did good during the attack but you're still not ready for situations like this and you're still hurt. So, just let us handle this." Xorn said back in a heavy and sincere voice.
"But I can help without fighting. And the remaining squads also helped, and they deserve an answer too. You can't hide something like this from us and expect us to be ok with it." Abraham replied while walking a bit faster with his crutches under his armpits.
"Abraham…The people that attacked were a group of people known as the Purifiers and we don't know much. The higher ups are keeping details on a tight leash, but from what I could gather with my limited powers. The being you fought is an alien and he was the one that helped introduce these purifiers to the serum that nullifies mutations." Xorn explained before sitting down on a nearby bench along with Abraham.
"I worked out that he was an alien, but why would an alien help try to attack us?"
"That I don't know. I might have limited telepathic abilities but nowhere near enough to get much useful information from people's minds. Were all scrambling in the dark for now."
"What about Jean? Isn't she a powerful psychic like the principal and vice principal?" Abraham asked while Xorn while also thinking that it was a bit weird that he didn't prefer to use his normal name outside of his X-men business.
"She is but she struggles with controlling her abilities. So, she doesn't risk entering minds unless she absolutely has to. So, right now Abraham, just rest and heal up." Xorn said before he stood up and left Abraham alone making the teen sigh as he looked down at his legs and balled up his fists.
"I hate this." Abraham said to himself bitterly before he raised his head and looked up to the repaired building roof before remembering that he had been sitting on a few stat and perk points. "Statistics Screen."
[Statistics
Name: Abraham Van Helsing, Race: Mutant, X-Gene Positive
Title: The Player, Alignment: Good, Level: 7 [390/5,300 XP!]
Job: Psychic
HP: 250/250, Energy: 325/325, PSI: 300/300
Strength: 17, Constitution: 19
Dexterity: 17, Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 18, Charisma: 10
Stat Points: 20, Perk Points: 4
Perks: [Players Mind-Rank MAX, [Players Body-Rank MAX, [Kinetic Blast-Rank 2, [Olympian Athlete-Rank 1]
End of Statistics.]
After a moment of thought and consideration, Abraham altered his stats accordingly.
[Statistics
Name: Abraham Van Helsing, Race: Mutant, X-Gene Positive
Title: The Player, Alignment: Good, Level: 7 [390/5,300 XP!]
Job: Psychic
HP: 250/250, Energy: 325/325, PSI: 300/300
Strength: 23, Constitution: 25
Dexterity: 25, Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 18, Charisma: 10
Stat Points: 0, Perk Points: 4
Perks: [Players Mind-Rank MAX, [Players Body-Rank MAX, [Kinetic Blast-Rank 2, [Olympian Athlete-Rank 1]
End of Statistics.]
[Perk Acquired!]
[Perk
Name: Telepathic Bond
Rank 1
You can form a telepathic link with another person's mind in order to speak with them exclusively or communicate a coded message or simply as a way to hide conversation from other mental intruders.
Increases [Telepathy] skill experience gains by 20%
Range: 20 Meters and scales with the [Telepathy] skill level!
Next rank up at level 9!]
[Perk Acquired!]
[Perk
Name: Mind Palace
Rank: MAX
You can enter the innermost projection of a being's thoughts that represent who they are, or their current state of mind and this place is known as a mind palace. You can use this place as a battlefield against other telekinetic beings or as a form of escape from mental intrusions.
This place is mostly used as a dueling ground and be warned that damage taken in this place will occur in your body in real time.]
[Perk Acquired!]
[Perk
Name: Telepathic Senses
Rank: MAX
You can sense telepathic impressions or lingering feelings and emotions from objects or places of psychic significance. Be warned however that this ability could be used against you as a negative influx of psychic emotions could distract you in battle if you're underprepared.
[Perk Acquired!]
[Perk
Name: Combat Focus
Rank: 1
You can slow down your perception of time for ten seconds in combat as well as having an extremely limited form of precognition to enable you to counter or dodge an enemy attack.
Cost: 50 PSI to activate!]
Abraham focused on perks that he would need to help improve his usefulness instead of grabbing various perks that just sounded cool and after he was finished, he felt the influx of negative emotions around him from the attack on the school, but at the same time he felt the joy students had before the event.
"With these perks I can help find the professor and the others." Abraham said to himself before he stood up. "I refuse to be useless."
END!
Narrator: Okay so in addition to dealing with a possibly unstable Danger Room. Abraham has just survived a school attack from the alien being known as Ord along with having several powerful and important X-men members being taken out of the equation.
What is going on and what is the enemy planning and how will some students respond with their powers suddenly being stripped from them?
Stay tuned for the answers to these questions and more in the next issue of Legacy and Psychic Powers.
Excelsior!
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