Chapter 20
A Thunderbolt
In Cleveland
Disclaimer: I had this come to me recently and I thought it would make sense that Jake and to a certain extent, Clara, would want Kyle to be somewhere like the Cleveland School to give him a much more stable environment.
"Well!? I'm waiting!" Kyle declared as he looked towards Jake with an angry look on his face, causing his older Brother to sigh heavily.
Not paying attention to the fact that Ace 'Wildstar' Starr, the youngest Son out of six of Clara Starr (formerly Creed), had pulled the Tour Bus to the side of the road since he figured it was probably a good idea in case Kyle got a little rambunctious. "Sweetie…" Began Clara gently and getting his attention on her.
"Your Brother and I had a talk after Alison Blaire got on TV two weeks ago and told the World about her School here in Cleveland."
"And what? Decided to enroll me!?"
"Pretty much, little Brother. Because as much as I love Jason like another Brother, his and his old man's habits aren't ones I want having any more of an influence on you than what they already do." Jake told the younger Wildfire with blunt honesty.
"And this will give you a chance to be around other kids your age who also have Powers instead of being home schooled. A chance to have a more stable life since the Cleveland School has dorms." Clara added, as she and Jake had both talked with Alison herself on the phone about the School.
And while Jake and Kyle weren't her boys by blood, they were hers in her heart and had been so for several years after encountering them while on the road. Something that had happened thanks in part to Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club threatening to cause all manner of problems if they didn't join them and so to protect their parents and the Wildfire Reputation, the boys went on the run and giving both of the boys something of a trigger button where Emma and the Club were concerned in the process. And as far as they knew, their parents were being left alone by the Club but Jake wondered how much longer it'd be before that changed. Kyle scowled as sparks of Electricity were seen coming from him. "I'm not doing it!"
"Too bad for you that you're only 13 and have to do it since its already been put in the works, little Brother. Besides… Think of it this way, you joining the School here will make it harder for the Hellfire Club where you and I are concerned."
Not too surprisingly, a series of unkind remarks with a lot of profanity would come from Kyle's mouth at the mention of that bunch and the mere thought of Emma Frost. Making Jake, Ace, and Clara all wince at the vitriol of the youngest among them. "Language!" Chided Clara seconds later and got a scowl in return!
"If I get myself thrown out, I can come back, right?" Asked the young Wildfire in a hopeful manner.
Earning himself a reproachful look from his Brother and Clara while Ace from his spot at the driver seat shook his head in amusement. "Nope! Outta luck there!" Jake declared and got a dismayed groan from Kyle in return!
"Damnit!"
"Language!"
The Next Day At The Cleveland School
The next day dawned after the Starr/Wildfires had gotten to a hotel the previous night and once everyone had gotten dressed up, which did not please Kyle in the slightest due to the fact he had to wear a suit, they were off to where Kyle would be attending School for the foreseeable future! Alison herself had been the one to greet the group and barely reacted to the sight of their Double Decker Tour Bus given her own past history. Though quite a few in the area couldn't help but stare at it! "Uhh, before we get this show started, I gotta ask a question." Started Ace with a dead serious expression on his face.
One that wasn't usually the norm for him given his carefree nature. Alison, his mother, and the Wildfires all looked at him. "Go ahead, like I said, I'm more than happy to answer any questions you all may have. You especially, Kyle." She told the group warmly and despite that, Kyle kept on scowling as he'd been doing since arriving.
"How come you and yours took so long to reveal yourselves? I mean, you guys obviously have the means to protect not only yourselves but the kids that go here."
Alison sighed heavily at the question. "It boils down to the Government sticking their nose into our business. Namely, more so Nick Fury and SHIELD. He didn't like that we refused to play ball with him about recruiting from us and threatened to use all the power at his disposal to make things difficult for us to the point of shutting us down unless we stayed quiet since he couldn't exactly get what he wanted." Informed the long time Singer and Mutant.
And having to once again thank Odin for stepping in on that whole situation as it could've been so much worse! Grimaces all came across the faces of the Starrs/Wildfires while Ace got a dark look on his face. "And that is why I just can't respect The Man whatsoever. They pulled trash like that with the First Line and the Blue Marvel!"
Clara frowned as she remembered what her son was talking about and shook her head while Jake himself spoke up. "I guess keeping quiet wasn't all that important anymore after Mutants got revealed?"
"Pretty much, Fury didn't have a leg to stand on anymore. Oh, and Mr. Starr? If you'd like to meet him, Adam Brashear is here today as he teaches courses here three times a week on Electrical Engineering and Theoretical Physics." Informed Alison and Ace's eyes lit up like a kid on the morning of Christmas Day.
"Hell yeah, I'm down to meet him!" Ace told her excitedly, causing her to laugh and inform him of where he could find Adam.
"Maybe I should enroll here!" Came his voice as he ran off.
"At least someone's happy." Muttered Kyle to himself and getting an elbow from Jake.
Deciding to get things back on track, Alison took the remaining 4 on a tour of the School. Allowing them to meet the likes of John 'Thunderbird' Proudstar, Danielle 'Mirage' Moonstar, Spencer Allen 'Sonic Blue' Burton, and various others. Spencer himself being a Human that taught at the School while also being the owner/operator of a small Tech Business over in Cincinnatti thanks to his Tech Genius. It was also thanks to said Tech Genius that he operated as the speedy Hero known as 'Sonic Blue' and had operated under the radar for years since the 90s. Even if he had started out as something of a small time crook until his mom had discovered what he'd been up too and set him straight. Granted, an encounter with Kid Razor back then prior to his leaving Earth had also helped him on the path to being a Hero as well. And due to his Genius mind, he'd been invited to join the Think Tank known as Eureka and as well as Stark and his company but had declined both to do his own thing. That and not wanting to be a part of Stark's weapons creating he'd been doing at the time.
And thanks to updates on his gear, Spencer was currently able to run at 300 miles per hour. The fact that Alison and those at the School had essentially achieved Professor Xavier's Dream, albeit on kind of a smaller scale, would be surprising but really great at the same time. Something that when the Professor himself learned of when he was finally invited for a tour, would shed a tear over. The School was designed to teach both Humans and Mutants to help bridge the gap between the two and had been successfully doing so for years. This had also helped to make Ohio overall much more accepting of its Mutant Population in addition to the fact that they were knowledgeable and accepting of Aliens thanks to the likes of Howard Duck and the fact that the Jammers accepted Aliens to the School much to the shock of the Starrs/Wildfires! "Are you screwing with us!?" Asked Kyle in shock.
Getting himself another elbow from his reprimanding Brother. If anything though, Alison didn't seem offended by his language. "No, I am not. In fact, we have a secondary facility off planet for greater Educational Purposes for those interested."
"Holy *$#*! This place just got more interesting!" Yelled the boy as his Brother and Clara both shook their heads in dismay at his language.
"So you aren't all that upset anymore about attending this place then, Little Sparker?" Ace asked of him and getting a glare in return from the younger boy.
"Don't call me that, Ace! You know I hate that name! But yeah, its... Kinda grown on me."
He loves Sci-Fi and a chance to interact with Aliens and all that? Count him the Hell in! "Happy to get your approval! In which case, let's head to my office and we can enroll you!"
"Hell yeah!"
And with that, Kyle 'Thunderbolt' Wildfire became the newest student at the Cleveland School and gained the more stable environment his Brother and Clara had been hoping for.
Author's Notes: I hope folks enjoyed! I'll certainly have to change up later chapters that had touched on the revelations in this chapter but I don't mind that. Spencer 'Sonic Blue' Burton and the Starrs of course belongs to L1701E!