Outsider Chronicles: Three Claws
Getting reborn into a world with crazy people with powers is annoying. Getting reborn as a character considered a joke by everyone is worse. That said, I never in a million years imagined that I'd Trigger with a Healing factor and metal claws. Oh, and I'm also apparently a character whos considered to be a joke by most. Joy.
And we're back. Nothing much to say, other than enjoy!
Chapter 2
This is...weird. When I was born into the world of Worm, I never once imagined that I'd end up sitting in the X mansion across from the Professor and with the likes of Storm, Cyclops, Jean Gray and Wolverine scattered around the room. Maybe I should back up a little.
After introducing himself, Xavier had directed his companions (who, by the way, looked a heck of a lot like their movie counterparts, although not close enough to be mistaken for the actors themselves) to retrieve Taylor and gather some photos to use as evidence later on, before hustling us out of the school and into a pair of vehicles, a nice car and a van set up as an ambulance. Rather than hospital, we'd ended up at the Xavier mansion which, considering Taylor was now dark blue, was probably a good idea.
Yeah, you know how when I found her she was cycling through skin colours? Well, it had finally stopped on a shade of dark blue with patches of scales that looked a heck of a lot like the depiction of Mystique in the movies. Something tells me that things are about to get extremely complicated.
When we reached the Mansion (which was located just out of town because of reasons I guess. Wonder what made Xaviers family settle here instead of New York?), Logan carried Taylor inside and headed downstairs with Jean.
"Don't worry, shes in good hands," said the Professor as he led me into his study, "Now, lets talk. I'm sure you have questions."
"I guess so," I said, "Starting with how in the hell you did that...thing back at school. Are you a Cape?"
Xavier smiled in that mysterious way kindly old manipulative mentors had.
"I have powers, but I'm not a Parahuman," he said, "Parahumans are a very recent thing, but I've had my powers since I was born. Jean and Scott both gained their powers in childhood, as did Ororo and Logan...well, we're not sure, although I can say without a doubt that he's had his power for even longer than I have."
"You talkin about me Chuck?" asked Logan as he entered the room, "Never mind. The kids secure and Hanks looking over her. She should be fine. I'll be in the garage if you need me."
He walked out.
"Alright, so if your not Parahumans, what are you?" I asked, deciding not to comment.
Charles tilted his head on one side.
"We're Mutants," he said, "But...you already knew that...somehow. Theres something in your mind, something even I can't get at…"
He shook his head.
"My apologies, I don't normally read people's minds without permission," he said, "However, that knowledge was almost...shouted and I couldn't help but pick it up."
"Your a Telepath," I said.
"I am."
"And thats how you found Taylor and I?"
Xavier just nodded. I frowned.
"Why?" I asked.
Xavier sighed and sat forwards, leaning his elbows on his desk.
"Mutants...are not like Parahumans," he said, "All Parahumans, regardless of who they are, have a drive for conflict. Its why they inevitably become either Hero or Villain and take part in the game of cops and robbers that they constantly play. Mutants on the other hand, don't have that. True, there are those who quite happily join either the Protectorate or walk a darker path, but there are still those that wish to live a normal life. I have made it my mission in life to find young Mutants and do what I can to help them."
He smiled sadly.
"Most Mutants have fairly minor powers, enough that they're barely perceptible, but those with larger ones end up being mistaken for Parahumans and, well, you can imagine. I help where I can, but alas, I have far fewer students than I'd like."
"Yeah, I can't imagine that many people would believe in something they've never heard of over the commonly known Parahumans," I said.
"Actually, you'd be surprised," said Xavier with a thin smile, "Its finding the young Mutants before something bad happens thats hard, especially those with more...obvious mutations."
He paused and tilted his head.
"Ah, it seems that they've arrived," he said.
"They?" I asked, before the door suddenly slammed open and in marched an incensed, skinny man who could only be Danny Hebert and Mum, who looked more amused than annoyed.
"Where is she Xavier?" snarled Danny in a voice that held a hint of menace and a hint of something inhuman.
A slight flickering made me look down and I was startled to see that the DWU chief of hiring apparently had scaled claws instead of hands. Guess that explains where Taylor's scales came from.
"Shes in the infirmary," said Xavier, apparently not phased in the least by Danny's anger, "Jeans with her, so she'll be fine."
"We'll talk later," growled Danny and stomped off.
"Well, that was bracing," said Mum, "So, I take it you have a reason for taking my son out of school?"
"Of course," said Xavier, "I intended to come and speak with you soon anyway, but there were more urgent things that required my attention and I knew that you could keep him safe."
Mum frowned, before she suddenly looked sharply at me.
"You've got claws," she said.
I nodded slowly, mentally putting things together. By this point, I'd basically concluded that my family had to be Mutants, likely descended from Logan in some way. Taking into account the inevitable differences between worlds due to the intervention of Scion and who knows what else and my family name and it didn't take long to come to the most logical conclusion that Mum was (somehow) this worlds version of X-23...maybe. Or it could just be a massive coincidence.
Mum sighed and shook her head.
"Well, I guess I can't argue with that," she grumbled, "And I take it you intend to organize a transfer if we agree?"
"Of course," said Xavier, "You know that the only reason James didn't get into Arcadia when he first started high school was because of his protracted absences making the Board wary."
Mum growled and muttered something about fucked up genes.
"Um, agree to what?" I asked.
Xavier smiled.
"Well my boy, let me tell you about the X-men..."
When Taylor woke up, the first thing she was aware of was the smell of disinfectant, followed by the sound of a heart monitor. For a moment, she lay still, trying to figure out why that was strange. Then, the memory of what had happened at school slammed into her and she sat bolt upright with a gasp of horror. She barely noticed the heart monitor going crazy beside her as she clutched at herself, desperately trying to get the disgusting mix of rotten blood, human waist, vomit and biting insects off her, completely oblivious to the fact she was clean and doing nothing but carving bloody furrows in her skin.
She screamed as a pair of hands suddenly grabbed her, forcing her arms apart and down onto the bed. She kicked and thrashed, earning a stifled curse as her leg connected with something soft.
"Taylor, calm down!" said a voice, cutting through her panic, "Your safe, you don't need to be scared!"
Despite her panic, the voice and the waves of calm and safety rolling off it allowed her to claw her way out of the rolling fear and horror and back to herself. Her thrashing slowed and stopped as she relaxed back onto the bed. Now that she wasn't blinded by fear, she could finally take in her surroundings. It looked like a perfectly normal hospital room, with the exception that the walls were made of some kind of metal blocks or panels and the doctor was a hulking, blue furred beast with sharp looking teeth looking extremely odd in a lab coat and glasses as he rubbed his stomach ruefully.
"Thats quite the kick you have there young lady," said the blue man.
Taylor could only stare as her mind absently noted that his voice was surprisingly cultured for such a beastly looking man. The man seemed to notice her confusion and sighed.
"Maybe I should have worn my projection watch," he muttered.
"Your blue," said Taylor weakly, her mind to busy spinning to realize how stupid the statement was.
The doctor paused and smiled at her.
"Actually, I'm quite happy," he said, "Now, lets get you checked out to make sure theres nothing wrong. Can you tell me your name?"
Taylor nodded slowly, her mind still spinning to the point she didn't even notice the joke.
"T-Taylor Hebert," she said.
"Its nice to meet you Taylor, I'm Dr Hank McCoy," he said, "Now, I'm going to take some blood, is that alright?"
Taylor nodded and watched as Dr McCoy gently took her arm and drew a small amount of blood, the red standing out harshly against her blue skin. Wait…
Taylor gasped as she yanked her hand back, turning her hands over as she felt more panic welling up in her chest as she absorbed the fact that she was now dark blue and apparently covered in patches of scales.
"W-what happened to me?" she whispered.
Dr McCoy sighed and rested a furry hand on her shoulder.
"I know its a shock," he said, "But rest assured, you're perfectly fine. We can help you."
Taylor looked up and met his yellow eyes.
"Help me how?" she asked, "And where am I? Are you a Cape?"
Dr McCoys smile widened slightly.
"Not exactly," he said, "Hmm, how to explain this? I'm not a Cape in the same way that someone like Armsmaster or Miss Militia is, although I do have powers, as do my colleagues."
He walked over to the edge of the room and put the sample of Taylor's blood in a machine she didn't recognize.
"I suppose the simplest explanation for it would be that we aren't Parahumans," he continued, "We don't go through Trigger Events anywhere near as bad as they do. Well, usually."
He shot her an apologetic look.
"We also don't have the Corona Pollentia or Gemma that grant Parahumans their abilities either," he said, "Instead, our powers come from our genetics. Something in our genome is different from regular Humans, granting us abilities ranging from superhuman strength, to psychic powers and so on."
"So what, we're genetic mutants?" asked Taylor, "The next step in evolution?"
Hank glanced over at her and smiled.
"Some might say so," he said, "I know some people who refer to Mutants and Homo Superior, although I don't believe it myself."
Taylor stared at the blue man, not quite sure what to make of all of it. It sounded completely insane after all, even in a world where people could casually break the laws of physics on a whim. Actually, maybe it was because of that that she didn't really believe him. After all, there had never been any evidence of anyone with powers appearing before Scion and there were plenty of Parahumans who had been changed by their powers. True, most of them were Cae 53s, but even so. She opened her mouth to call him out, but before she could, the door slid open and the very last person she expected to see walked in, looking rather annoyed and accompanied by a beautiful redhead with green eyes.
"Ah, hello Danny," said Dr McCoy, "Is been a while."
"Yeah, sorry about that Hank," said Danny, "But after Annette…"
"Of course," said Hank as Danny trailed off.
"D-dad?" said Taylor, looking between her Father and the blue furred Doctor in confusion, "What are you doing here?"
Danny looked over at his Daughter and smiled a little weakly.
"Hey kiddo," he said, "Jean called and told me what happened."
"I...what?"
Now Taylor was really confused. Her Dad knew Dr McCoy? He certainly didn't seem surprised by the fuzzy man's appearance and he hasn't even reacted with the smallest bit of surprise to her own new skin tone. In fact, he looked almost nostalgic.
"Heh, and I thought you looked like your Mother before," he said, "You know, when Annette was pregnant, we'd often discuss who we thought you'd take after more?"
"Huh?"
"Um, Danny? Maybe you ought to start from the beginning?" said the redhead who had accompanied Danny.
"Huh? Oh, right," said Danny and did something with the watch he always wore.
There was a flicker and Taylor's eyes went wide as the apparently projected disguise vanished to reveal that Danny's skin and hair were both green, his ears were slightly pointed and his fingers were tipped in sharp looking claws.
"We'll leave you two alone," said Jean as she and Hank headed for the door.
"D-dad, whats going on?" stuttered Taylor, "Why are you green? And what did you mean when you said that I looked like Mom now?"
Danny sighed as he pulled up a seat beside the bed and sat down.
"I was honestly hoping that your Mother would be around to help me explain this to you," he said, "She was always better at it than I was, but I'll do my best. The fact is that Annette and I...well, we're not exactly like everyone else."
"You mean your Capes?" asked Taylor.
Danny smiled thinly.
"Not really," he said, "We're Mutants."
"Mutants?" asked Taylor.
Danny nodded.
"I was born like this," he said, indicating to his green skin, "Scared the hell out of my Parents, especially when I started turning into animals I saw on TV. Fortunately, the Professor found me before anything...unpleasant could happen. He taught me how to control my powers, gave me a place to call home and friends who didn't judge me for my appearance."
He snorted.
"He even introduced me to Annette."
There was a moments silence, before Taylor spoke up again.
"You said I looked like Mom now," she said, "What did you mean by that?"
Instead of answering, Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out a photograph. It was of Taylors mother, looking slightly annoyed with a paint brush in her hand in what Taylor recognized as their living room. She had a blob of green paint on her nose, which stood out rather dramatically against her dark blue skin, the exact same shade as Taylors. She even had the same scale-like patterns, easily visible because she was completely naked. Taylor felt her cheeks warm when she realized that particular fact, making her Father laugh.
"Yeah, Annette always hated wearing clothes," he said to her unasked question, "She never told me why, but her powers meant that she didn't really need it."
"Whats that supposed to mean?" asked Taylor.
"Well, she was a Metamorph," said Danny, "She could change her entire body if she wanted, so making it appear that she was wearing clothes was easy for her. She was also highly resistant to temperature and weather, so she didn't even need it to keep warm and dry in foul weather."
"I...see," said Taylor, not really feeling any better about the realization that her Mother had probably been nude the entire time she knew her, "So...what do we do now? I can't exactly go back to school like this."
"Actually, you probably inherited your mothers powers, so you could easily make yourself look normal," said Danny, "But theres no way I'm letting you go back to that...school again."
He caught Taylors look.
"Jean filled me in on what happened," he said, "And I want to know everything later."
Taylor winced, but nodded. She knew better than to go against her Father when he used that tone of voice.
"Alright, then what do we do?" she asked, "I don't think Arcadia will let me transfer in in the middle of the year…"
She was cut off by Danny letting out a bark of laughter.
"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem," he said, "The Professor runs a school for Mutants, but they still need to attend a normal school. And since Ororo is the headmistress of Arcadia, its easy to get the young Mutants a place there."
Taylor blinked.
"Huh, thats...convenient," she said, "So, whats this about a school for Mutants?"
Danny smiled and lent forwards.
"Well, let me tell you about the X-men..."
And done. Well, that was interesting. Before I sign off, a few points.
Point number one, my knowledge of any comic universe is limited, so most of what I have will come from a mix of general knowledge, the movies, cartoons and reading the Wiki, as well as modifications where needed that will be explained away as different timelines. Most notably, in this world, Weapon X isn't a thing. Mainly because the Cauldron took offence that there was another bunch of amoral nuts doing experiments on people with superpowers and shut them down. That basically means that there are no clones running around. There is however one experiment from Weapon X running around who will likely be putting in an appearance.
James' mother is called Laura Kinney and has the same claws and powers as the original, but she isn't a clone and her claws are just bone with no Adamantium.
Yes, I turned Danny into a Mutant, what of it? His powers are basically the same as Beast Boys and have resulted in Taylor's getting a bit of a boost when compared with Mystique.
Speaking of Mystique, my original version had her as Annettes true identity, but then I decided to change her to Taylors grandma instead. Shes old enough, regardless of version.
Next point, Mutants and Shards don't mix. At all. If a Mutant was to Trigger, it would result in their X-gene going completely out of control, booting out the invader and the host's mutation becoming much more obvious. The trauma and brain damage would also likely result in retrograde amnesia. Fortunately, Mutants are mostly invisible to Shards as potential hosts, so they can't naturally Trigger. Make of that what you will.
Final point, I don't intend to add anything else from Marvel, despite the fact I've had some amusing ideas, like the Hulk fighting an Endbringer. However, that will likely just end up confusing me, so I scrapped it.
And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!