Raid on Graymalkin
A week had passed since the meeting with the Avengers, and all things considered, everything was going well. I’d had some good combat training with Kwannon and Scott, although it was mostly Kwannon. Illyana had been working with me on controlling Geulimja. Although, I had to confess that Geulimja was rather cooperative, and it made everything pretty easy. All Illyana was really showing me was how not to get lost within his dimension, which was what I’d entered the night I’d seen him sleeping. She had also taught me, with Geulimja’s help, a few different applications of my power. Scott had given me a strategy lesson, something which Illyana and Idie had both protested, but I’d gladly taken. I found it interesting, and rather informative. Max had been helping me brush up on mutant history, with Jennifer and Ben as my pseudo classmates. I had Hank going over math and science for me, which Kwannon and him both insisted was necessary, since I was high school aged. Lastly, Xorn had taught me some first aid tricks. Although I was pretty sure most of his healing had to do with his powers, it was useful to have in a pinch.
All that to say, things were going great, until they weren’t.
“An X-Man has been taken.” Scott said, leaning over a table. Idie, Kwannon, Xorn, Quentin and myself. I was only there because I’d been training with Kwannon a few minutes ago.
“Target?” Kwannon asked, while Quentin’s eyes glowed a faint pink.
“I was on the phone with Hank when they got him. They grabbed him in Merle. I lose track of him until someone sees him in a small, unknown aircraft, assuming it’s one of ours. Then, I pick up on memories of commercial pilots noticing that aircraft on a flight path that I predicted. A path that leads to Westchester, New York.” Quentin explained, his hands moving around the air.
“Hank’s in Graymalkin prison. It’s time we broke it.” Scott growled, clearly failing to fully restrain his anger.
“Do you mean ‘broke in’?” Kwannon asked, her arms folded over her chest.
“No. Quentin, copy-paste the battle plan from my brain and into the common knowledge pool. Then, ready the Hellions protocol. X-Men, gear up, we’re moving.” Scott ordered. I got a blast of a battle plan, although it didn’t involve me. I could only assume Geulimja had allowed the information into my head. I walked away from Scott and Kwannon, alongside Xorn, Quentin and Idie. Evidently, I wasn’t part of the plan, but neither was Xorn.
“Don’t worry, Jared, we’ll get Hank back.” Idie assured me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I frowned at her words. I didn’t doubt that they’d be able to rescue him, but I wanted to be able to help Hank as well. He’d been really good to me since I’d arrived, and I had superpowers. Shouldn’t I be able to help too? The moment I was separate from the rest of the group, Geulimja mouthed off in my head.
‘I like how that Summers guy thinks.’ He said, as I walked towards my room.
‘Usually, me too, but I don’t like that I can’t go with them.’
‘Who said you couldn’t?’ Geulimja questioned, a little bit mischievously. His words just made me frown.
‘They’re teleporting in. They’ll know if I’m on the ship with them.’ I pointed out, walking into my room and sitting down on my bed. Geulimja just laughed at me.
‘You forgot that I’m a damn god! Or demon, depending on who you ask… listen, what makes you think that you couldn’t just teleport there yourself?’
‘Well, you’ve never told me I could do that!’
‘Eh, it didn't seem important.’
‘Whatever. How do I do it?’ I asked the demon. So he explained it to me. The way it worked was that I’d essentially sink into the floor, as if I was stepping in quicksand. Then, I’d emerge wherever I was teleporting, pulling myself out of the ground. Apparently, this meant I could only teleport to somewhere with a surface of some kind, but for now, it was fine. With that knowledge, I prepared myself to leave. I had to wait until the X-Men left, and I had to dress myself up like an actual superhero. Unfortunately, all I had were my normal clothes, so I just put on long, black pants, and a black hoodie, pulling the hood on.
‘Heh, hope you don’t get shot at.’
‘Yeah, me too. You ready?’
‘Whenever you are, kid. Let’s go save the blue guy.’
‘Right on.’ I had to focus, and it took up a lot of energy, but I could feel myself slowly descending into the floor. It was strange, my vision went completely dark, and I couldn’t hear or smell anything. In fact, all of my senses were essentially turned off for a terrifying few seconds. Thankfully, it only lasted for a few seconds. I felt my arms again, and then slowly gripped a hard surface. I carefully pulled myself up, allowing myself to get a look at my surroundings. What I saw made me feel like, perhaps, a rescue was unnecessary. Hank was wearing a red prison uniform, standing over four defeated men in grey and green armour.
“Who’s that?” An asian woman I’d never seen before, also in the red prison uniform Hank was wearing, asked, pointing at me. Hank turned to look at me, and seemed to notice me immediately.
“Mr. Karshoder. Did Scott actually bring you here on his rescue mission?” He asked, frowning. I shook my head, pulling myself out of the floor completely.
“Uh, no. I came here on my own. Thought I should come try to help out, you know?”
“Why, I must admit that I’m touched. Although, I don’t think it was the best decision you could’ve made.” Hank said with a smile, before waving to the two people standing with him.
“Meet Jubilee and Calico. I am just now meeting them, but they seem to be allies.” Hank explained to me, pointing first to the asian girl who’d noticed me, and then to a younger blonde girl standing next to her.
“Pleasure.” I said with a brief wave, before turning back to Hank.
“Everyone else is here to bust you out of here. Not sure exactly where they are right now, but-” my words were cut off as sounds of what was most likely combat made their way to us. I heard a few sounds I actually recognized, like Scott’s optic blasts, or Cain’s shouting. I hadn’t realized he was actually so loud in the middle of a fight.
“Shall we?” Jubilee asked, not waiting for anyone else before taking off towards the sounds of combat. Calico was right behind her, and Hank and I followed.
“This will be your first taste of actual combat. Are you prepared?” Hank asked me, running on all fours, sort of like a dog.
“Not exactly, but I’ll probably be fine.”
“Kwannon is going to be livid with you. Illyana as well… everyone might, actually.”
“You aren’t?”
“Well, I must admit it’s difficult to be angry at somebody who’s put their life on the line for me. I’m certainly not thrilled with your decision, though.” He chuckled to himself, peeling off into battle.
I hadn’t really considered that Kwannon or anyone else might be angry with me. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to those conversations. For now though, I had to focus on not dying in the middle of a fight. Upon entering the fray, I realized it was total mayhem. There were a few people I was pretty sure I’d seen on television, like Wolverine and two people in costumes who were probably X-Men. There were three others who seemed to be on our side, who looked to be close in age to me, but I didn’t recognize. Then, there were three people in all white costumes, wearing collars, fighting alongside what I could only assume were robot dogs. I had no idea where any of these people had come from, but I was smart enough to know who to punch. One of the robot dogs seemed to notice me, and started moving towards me. Drawing on some of the tips Geulimja had given, I brought forth spikes made of shadow, and flung them at the robot. One missed, but one lodged directly in its head, which seemed to take it out.
I moved through the large space until I found someone who looked like they could use my help. The girl was wearing a bodysuit with white, blue, red and yellow on it in different places. She was Asian, probably south eastern, if I was right, although I’d only taken a brief glance at her face before I’d fired two shadow spikes directly at a robo-wolf that was preparing to pounce on her from behind. She took out the robo-wolf facing her down, then turned to me and smiled.
“Helllllllo! Wherrrrre diddddd you come frommmmm?” The girl asked me, placing her hands behind her back. I took a second to look around, but it seemed like everything was wrapping itself up. Illyana and Cain were bickering, something which I had learned they tended to do rather often.
“Oh I just uh, teleported in here. I’m with the other guys. Haven’t heard of you.”
“Sofia. Mutant name is Jitter. Yours.”
“Jared. I uh, don’t have a mutant name yet. Gotta get on that…”
“How come you weren’t with the others? Did you split off to rescue your friend?”
“Sure, let’s go with that.” I replied, earning a bit of a confused look from her. I had learned that I could cloak my body in shadow, but there wasn’t much to work with, and making a patch of the room dark would immediately tell everybody who knew me that I was here. I might as well just stand there and let them catch on eventually. As I looked around though, I noticed that Kwannon wasn’t with everyone else, and neither was Quentin, which was concerning.
That being said, it seemed like they had other things to worry about than me.
“Maybe it is. Maybe we shouldn’t be fighting each other when we’ve got a world to fight.” Scott said to the woman wearing the green and yellow bodysuit with the small leather jacket, and the brown and white hair. Based on how she was talking with Scott, I had to assume she was the leader of the other group of X-Men.
“Okay, we’ve got our people, and we’ve got Siryn and Wild Child. All that’s left is to crack open that cell door and free Charles-”
“No.” Scott interrupted the woman, his tone very firm. I very quickly got the impression that this was the opposite of what this woman wanted to hear.
“No? What do you mean-”
“I mean no. Under no circumstances will I allow Charles Xavier to be freed.”
“You want to leave one of us here? After seeing what this place is? This is what you call mutant liberation?” The woman questioned, moving forward and pointing her finger against Scott’s chest. Scott grabbed her wrist, moving her finger away from his chest.
“Yes. This is what I call mutant liberation. We are free. Don’t you see? Xavier has always manipulated us. Will always manipulate us. All for the sake of the dream. What has that gotten us? Now? We’re free of Xavier’s dream. Free to follow dreams of our own, because he’s in there, and we’re out here. You let Charles Xavier back out into the world? Then that’s all over. Then we’re all back on his leash.” Scott said, while the woman pulled away from his grip. She sounded angry, but clearly, her message had struck a chord with a few people. I didn’t really know a lot about this Charles Xavier guy, but I didn’t like the idea of being on his leash.
‘Me neither. We can’t let that happen.’ Geulimja growled in my head.
“No. This is wrong.” The woman protested, but Scott wasn’t budging.
“He made me watch. When he murdered the crew of the Agnew. Was that right?”
“I’m not leaving one of our own in prison.” The woman argued.
‘Way to dodge the question.’ Geulimja grumbled, and I couldn’t help but agree with him.
“I’m not sacrificing the freedom of every mutant on this planet.” Scott said, his tone calm, but still firm.
“You get out of my way, or I go through you.” The woman said, clearly preparing for a fight. Scott placed his finger on the side of his visor.
“Then you’ll have to kill me. Or have Logan do it, more likely. There’s no coming back from this, Rogue.”
“I was going to say the same thing.” Rogue grumbled, only for their argument to be interrupted.
“Please. Beautiful people in tight clothes fighting each other. Let me make this simple for you. None of you are leaving Graymalkin.” A bald, elderly looking man on two crutches said, as he approached the group.
“Who the hell are you supposed to be, bub?” Wolverine asked, stepping forward and sliding his claws out of his fists, an action which looked incredibly painful.
“Someone who really knows what it means to follow the dream of another. At any cost. Every cost. Corina Ellis understands what you are. What we are, and I’ll sacrifice everything that I am for that dream.” The man croaked. He looked like he’d keel over any second, and yet, there was an air to him that was rather intimidating. Scott frowned, placing his finger to the side of his visor, while Rogue turned away from Scott to face this old man. Everybody seemed to be readying themselves for a fight.
“This matter is not settled. Magik, take him.” Scott ordered.
“Stop him, Gambit.” Rogue added not a second later, but the man moved first. He cast his crutches aside, starting to float.
“All this worry about Xavier, and you never stopped to think about who could keep the ‘world’s most powerful psychic’ locked down?” The man questioned nefariously, before smirking at everybody.
“White light protocol.” He said, and suddenly, the room was bathed in white light. I could feel a pounding in my head, but it wasn’t that bad. Comparatively, everyone else seemed to be in serious pain.
‘Geulimja?’
‘I was able to limit it, but this man is incredibly powerful, and actively trying to cause you harm.’
‘Everyone else looks like they’re going through hell, do you think we can take this guy out?’
‘You’ll have to give me a second.’ The demon replied, but it seemed like others had different plans.
“S-sorry sor-ry, C-Cyke… need a h-h-hail mary… gotta… gotta get the… the one guy. That’s our one chance…” Cain grumbled, clearly forcing himself through pain to approach a large door in the shape of an X with the words ‘Inmate X’ engraved in its centre. As he reached towards it and started to pull, though, another new voice butted in.
“Thank you, Cain, but the effort is entirely unnecessary. Despite the name, I’m afraid ‘Inmate X’ does not refer to me. No, they chose to bury me underground. As befits a dead man, but here I stand, resurrected. From the ashes, as it were.” Spoke a bald man, this one looking less old and decrepit than the other one, walking around in an orange prison jumpsuit. Two people walked behind him. One was a furry blue man with three fingers, who I was pretty sure I’d also seen on TV before. The other was Kwannon, which answered the question of where she’d been. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice me. What I noticed now, was that I was floating all of the sudden.
It seemed like the new bald guy was on our team, because he and the older bald guy had been staring at each other for a few seconds now.
“Magik, can you get us out of here?” Scott asked, clutching his head.
“I can’t. I can barely form words.” Illyana replied, floating upside down in the air. A few moments later, Cain had come crashing down into Rogue, and she’d walked it off, then plucked Scott out of the air and smacked him. I was sort of just watching all of this in confusion. I didn’t really like floating, but it seemed like the only way to stop floating was to have somebody grab you out of it, and I was trying my best not to be noticed.
“You need further whuppin’, Summers?” Rogue asked, clearly being prepared to do just that.
“I’m good, thanks. Where do we stand at the moment?” Scott asked, putting his hands up as if to surrender. Rogue turned, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
“Well, near as ah can figure, Charles and that Scurvy fella are doin’ the big, scary telepathic thing. He’s still got a hold of our teams.” Rogue replied, looking over her teammates. Scott seemed to be doing the same.
“Speaking of which, bringing kids into a war zone, Rogue? What are you even thinking?” Scott asked, prompting me to try to float away, considering Scott’s argument would fall apart if Rogue noticed me and realized I was with Scott’s team.
“Them ‘kids’ came to get one o’ their own back, and don’t you take a tone with me, sugah. ‘Least we don’t have Magneto on our team. Also, ain’t that one o’ yours?” Rogue asked, pointing directly at me.
‘Damn, you’re gonna be in so much trouble.’ Geulimja mocked, clearly getting a lot of enjoyment out of the situation.
‘Fuck off!’ I grumbled, trying to swim through the air to escape from view. When Scott noticed me, he just sighed.
“Yes, but I didn’t bring him.” He grumbled, while Rogue put her hands on her hips.
“Ah’m never gonna be you, Scott. An’ you’re never gonna be Professor X.” She told him. Scott turned away from her, then replied a second later.
“Good.”
As I floundered through the air, I felt a tug on my leg pull me back down to the ground. I was a bit surprised to realize it wasn’t one of my own teammates.
“Ah, this cannot be comfortable, mein junge.” The person yanking me down was the blue guy, not Hank, the other one who’d walked in with Kwannon and who I assumed was Charles Xavier, based off of the context clues my incredible brain had haphazardly thrown together.
“Can’t say it is.” I replied, dusting my pants off. I was surprised I didn’t feel all that dizzy or lightheaded. Maybe an effect of Geulimja? Or my body had just decided not to embarrass me in front of a bunch of X-Men. The blue man chuckled, patting me on the shoulder.
“I am Nightcrawler. You may call me Kurt, if you prefer.” The blue elf said with a toothy smile. I smiled back at him.
“Jared. I uh, don’t have another name yet.” I explained awkwardly, causing Kurt to laugh.
“Ah, give it some time.” He said with a smile, before disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke. Scott had noticed me, which meant I probably wasn’t getting out of this without getting in some sort of trouble. At least we’d recovered Hank though, and nobody had been killed. Not that I’d really done anything, but hey, a win is a win, take what you can get.
As the different team members interacted, it was evident that the tensions from earlier had mostly calmed down. Everyone seemed to have come to their senses, for the most part.
“My friends, Psylocke and I discovered a hidden truth. We are not meant to be fighting.” Kurt explained to the group. Kwannon stood next to him, nodding.
“It’s the sick one, Scurvy. He’s manipulating our worst emotions, telepathically. Have you not noticed the anger subsiding since he’s been distracted?” Kwannon asked the group, though her question was directed primarily at Scott and Rogue.
“So, do us all jus’ wait here while the brian boys wrassle it out?” Rogue asked Scott and Kwannon.
“Actually, I was just about to-” Scott started to reply, but Kwannon cut him off, pointing her thumb behind everyone.
“May I direct your attention to the commandant?” She asked, pointing back to where a dark skinned woman in all white wielded a rifle, along with seven soldiers in the green and grey armor I’d seen earlier.
“To those of you unaware, I am Warden Corina Ellis. All of you are trespassing.” The woman announced. Rogue gritted her teeth, stepping forward.
“I tol’ you once, lady. Also? I freakin’ hate what you’ve done to the place.” She growled, clearly back to losing her patience.
“Dr. Ellis. I urge you to take a look around and reconsider your position. You have two X-Men teams facing you now, and we’re not as nice as the Avengers.” Scott said calmly, pressing his fingers to the side of his visor, ready to attack if necessary. Around him, the teams stood united as one, ready for a fight if necessary. The warden simply frowned.
“I see.” The warden replied, looking rather unphased. Rogue stepped forward, hands raised.
“Ah ain’t afraid of your rifle, warden, and Cyclops is right. The Avengers come head-on. We can mess you up from inside. You got no idea how head we come on.” Rogue said, finishing her speech off with a grin. The warden was clearly unimpressed though, in fact, she looked downright angry.
“Oh, but I do. My brother died because of trash just like you. Oh, and you have no idea what you’re facing here.” She finished, sneering at the group.
“Warden. There’re too many of us. Too much power. In too concentrated an area. I’m trying to save your lives, maybe.” Scott reasoned, but the warden didn’t seem to care, turning her nose up and frowning as if she’d just smelled something unpleasant.
“Don’t do me any favors, mutie.” She growled, turning to three people who had just joined her. They were the three people from the previous fight who’d been wearing white costumes and collars. She placed her hand on the tallest one, a rather large man with short brown hair.
“Meet our first trustees. Soon, we’ll have dozens. Inmate Blob, I wonder if you would recite the pledge?” She asked, her tone almost sweet, although it was clear, to me at least, that it was utter bullshit.
“‘I was born unworthy and am prone to evil. It was not my doing, but I cannot be saved. I am a mutant and the shame of our race.’” The large man, Blob apparently, recited as he’d been told. The warden smiled at her order being carried out.
“Excellent, and one more thing. We have Sarah Gaunt incarcerated. You brought her to us, Rogue. Imagine if she got loose.” The warden said smugly. Rogue glanced at Wolverine, both of them looking rather panicked at the idea. Suddenly, Kwannon broke from the group, placing her hand on Scott’s shoulder.
“Cyclops. Xavier’s won, he’s won.” Scott nodded, turning from looking at Kwannon to the warden.
“Well, warden. Your big gun seems to be a misfire.” He said, his tone even. The warden, to her credit, was completely unphased.
“Oh, you poor mutant fool. He’s not my big gun. The network of sonic-cannon-equipped satellites I have are my ‘big gun,’ Mr. Summers. A very big gun indeed. I have two locations targeted for demolition as we speak. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Haven, Louisiana and Merle, Alaska.” She responded, the smug grin on her face just growing wider by the second.
‘Can we skewer this psycho?’ Geulimja snarled in my mind. I had half a mind to do just that, I probably could, if I really wanted to. That being said, if I was going to be with the X-Men, I should at least try to listen to their leader, and it didn’t seem like Scott wanted this woman killed at the moment.
‘Not unless the boss gives the order.’
‘How boring.’ Geulimja grumbled, but he seemed to relent.
Meanwhile, I’d clearly missed some conversation while I was in the process of conversing with the little demon in my head, because everyone was in the process of leaving through a large portal Illyana had conjured.
The moment, and I do mean the moment everyone was through the portal, Rogue let her anger be known.
“No, we can’t leave him there!” She protested, as Illyana shut the portal behind the last person. It looked like we’d been spat out on some mountain.
“He’s where he belongs, Rogue. We’ll get the rest out, I promise.” Scott assured her. The promise would’ve been enough for me, but it wasn’t good enough for Rogue, who took a swing hard enough to knock Scott into a nearby rock.
“To hell with your promises! You’re leaving him to rot, and worse!” She shouted, but to Scott’s credit, he recovered quite fast. He got to his feet and unleashed a red optic beam, knocking her off her feet.
“Grow up, Rogue. Don’t you think it’s long past time?” He asked, clearly starting to truly lose his own patience with this whole situation now. Quickly, Hank moved forward to restrain Scott, while a man in purple and a brown coat who I assumed was dating Rogue based on the fact I’d seen them making out, moved forward to restrain her.
“Chere, you goin’ kill dat boy if you keep dis goin’.” Who I assumed to be Rogue’s boyfriend said, in a french sounding accent. That being said, I’d never heard anybody from Quebec talk like that, so somewhere else? Probably Louisiana, I was pretty sure they had a somewhat sizable French community. His accent didn’t sound like it was from France.
“Scott, enough. You made your point. You won.” Hank said while he restrained Scott. Both of them seemed to be ready to put an end to this, with Rogue finally turning away.
“Get us out of here, Remy. I can’t stand the smell.” She complained.
“I do it for you, chere, but it feel like an ending.” Gambit replied, as the other team of X-Men walked away from us, finally putting an end to this whole thing. Hank placed one of his big, furry paw hands on Scott’s shoulder.
“Scott, they beat the blue fur off me, and I still feel like you had no choice.” He assured their leader. Scott frowned, looking unsatisfied.
“There’s always a choice, Hank. It’s just that sometimes, both options stink.” He grumbled, looking around at the team.
“Alright, Illyana, take us home.” He said, seemingly just glossing over the fact I was there. I knew for a fact he’d seen me, so he was definitely just ignoring talking about it, at least for now, which was fine by me.
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It felt good to be home, even if it’d only been my home for just over a week.
After wrapping up our little argument with the other X-Men team, we’d gone to pick up Quentin, then returned to the factory only to find out we were under attack by O*N*E. Thankfully, Scott seemed to have that handled, so we were all able to mostly just relax.
Is what I would’ve said if I hadn’t broken some rule which, I should mention, had never been explicitly stated to me, by teleporting myself to the prison.
“I just don’t understand how you can be so reckless.” Kwannon said, rather angrily. She wasn’t yelling at me, but it was obvious she was mad. I’d made it to my bedroom, which was where she was cornering me. At that moment, I was seated on my bed, while she stood up and lectured me.
“Like I said, Hank was in trouble, I wanted to help.” I explained for what felt like the millionth time. Kwannon seemed frustrated at that explanation.
“What? Did you not believe we’d be able to save him without your help?” She questioned in exasperation.
“Wha- no, of course not! You guys are great at that type of stuff, obviously. At least, I’d assume so, you’re X-Men right, so you can probably save one guy from a prison. I just felt useless, and I wanted to be helpful.” I explained, looking awkwardly down at my feet and twiddling my thumbs. I heard Kwannon sigh, then felt her weight settle next to mine on the bed. She reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder, although I got the feeling that the act was somewhat awkward for her, she still did it, which I appreciated.
“It is… normal to feel that way. To feel powerless, at times. However, we had planned to leave you behind because you are untrained. We knew there would be a fight, and we didn’t want to put you at risk.” She explained to me, while I continued to stare down at my feet.
“Yeah, I get that. I mean, sure, it makes sense and all, but like, I want to be able to help you guys out, y’know? Why don’t you guys train me, didn’t the X-Men used to have a school or something? That’s where Quentin and Idie are from, right?” I asked, not looking up at her. She just sighed, rubbing my shoulder gently.
“From what I’ve heard. I wasn’t around when they were students. I was an X-Man a while ago, but not for long. Then I came back and so much time had passed… Then there was Krakoa and well, that’s a long story for another day. As for training you, that’s something everyone is quite divided on.” She answered, finally prompting me to look up, curious as to what she meant. When I didn’t speak, she continued.
“Well, there are some who don’t believe it necessary for you to be trained. At least not to the extent that you are essentially being groomed to become one of the X-Men. Hank, Illyana and Idie, really, although I believe Glob, Jennifer and Ben feel the same way. Then, there are those who believe you should in fact be trained, just like how many other generations of people your age were trained. Scott, Max, Cain, Quentin, and I believe Xorn.” She told me, explaining an entire situation that I was completely unaware of with a very laidback air.
“What do you think?” I asked her. She frowned, pulling her hand away and interlacing it with her other one, leaning forward and placing the interlaced hands on her knees.
“Truthfully, I’m not completely sure. I understand the argument that you should be kept away from all those things, but then again, I also know, just as well as anyone else, that this world is cruel, especially for mutants. I do believe it’d be best for you to learn, and considering the stunt you pulled earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had some interest in joining the X-Men.” She answered, her tone level as she glanced sideways at me, likely to gauge my response to her last comment. I nodded somewhat enthusiastically.
“Yeah! I mean, not right now, I’m not at that level or anything, but like, wasn’t Illyana on some team with other young mutants? Didn’t Quentin and Idie also kinda do that? Why couldn’t I?” I questioned, causing Kwannon to sigh and lean backwards slightly.
“Well Jared, the problem, you see, is that you’re the only mutant in your age range here at this factory. Even if there were others, though, we couldn’t be sure they’d want to get involved with such things.” She pointed out, to which I nodded.
“Of course, I wouldn’t want to force anyone into something like that, but if there were others…”
“Perhaps, if there were others, you could be part of a squad or team. It’d make the pill easier to swallow for everyone, and Scott would like a team of people, the next generation.” Kwannon nodded, moving back to leaning forwards.
“Yeah! I mean seriously, I hate feeling useless to you guys, or like I’m a burden after you guys were so good and took me in for free.” I said, to which Kwannon quickly shook her head.
“You aren’t useless, or a burden. You’ve only been here a week, Jared, nobody expects you to have it all figured out. Also, even if you never figured it out, you would still not be a burden, because you are one of us now. Anyone who’s ever told you you’re a burden is a fool.” She insisted, patting my shoulder once again. I smiled despite myself, appreciating the kind words. They were probably the nicest things anyone had said to me in a while. Definitely better than the way my uncle or aunt would speak to me when I was stuck with them. It was then that Kwannon perked up a bit, getting off the bed.
“That’s right! I asked him to come today!” She said, sounding excited, although with her, even that was quite calm and reserved.
“Uhh, who is this ‘he’ you’re talking about? Someone new I get to meet?” I
questioned, to which she nodded.
“Yes, actually. Are you good to go out in what you’re wearing?” She asked me. I glanced down at my clothes, before nodding slowly.
“I mean, I’d like to grab a jacket, but sure.” I replied, getting up from the bed while she moved closer to the door. I grabbed my jacket and followed her out of my room, all the way to the main entrance, where an indigenous man with very neatly trimmed facial hair and tied back, dark hair, stood. He wore no shirt, just dark, thick looking black pants. Half of his upper body looked like metal, while the other half was just normal, human skin, although his face was unaffected. As a guy myself, it sort of made me wonder how his body was divided between flesh and metal below the belt, but it wasn’t really my place to ask.
“John, aren’t you cold?” Kwannon asked, making her way over to the man and kissing him for a few seconds before pulling away. The man wrapped his arms, one of which was entirely metallic aside from the hand, around Kwannon and grinned.
“Gah, well sure, I brought a coat, y’know.” He said, before turning and nodding to me.
“This the kid?” He asked, to which Kwannon nodded.
“His name is Jared, but yes, this is the kid.” She replied with a smile. John, as he’d been called, separated from Kwannon and walked over to me, extending his hand, which I shook.
“Nice to meet ya, I’m John Greycrow.” He said, before taking a step back towards Kwannon. It took me a few seconds, but I remembered something Kwannon had said previously.
“Wait, this is John, as in like, meal plan John?” I asked Kwannon, who laughed softly before nodding. John simply looked confused by what I’d said, looking at me, then at Kwannon in confusion.
“Meal plan? What’s the kid talking about?” He asked in total bewilderment, while Kwannon laughed next to him.
“Oh, that was just a little joke Cain and I made, since you’re such a talented chef.” She explained with a smile. John chuckled, placing his hands on his hips.
“Well, I guess that’s true. I dunno if I can really make a meal plan though. What would this kid need anyways?” He asked, looking me over from where he stood. Kwannon just laughed and shook her head.
“We don’t actually need a meal plan, although the boy does need protein. He’s still growing, afterall.” She said to John, who shrugged.
“Well, that’s why I’m here, right? We’re headed into town kid, grab you some grub. Not that the stuff Glob cooks up is bad, but the lady’s right, you could use some protein.” He said with a chuckle.
‘Is that an insult?’ Geulimja questioned telepathically, snarling. I’d thought he was asleep.
‘No, I don’t think so.’ I replied, before nodding to Greycrow.
“Alright, so what’s your plan?” I asked. Greycrow just grinned, clearly about to speak before a loud sound rang out through the factory. It sounded like some kind of explosion, although I couldn’t be sure.
“The hell was that?” Greycrow asked, looking at Kwannon. She frowned, all her previous amusement gone in an instant, before shrugging.
“I have no clue, but I think it’s best that we go take a look.” She replied, taking off in the direction of the sound. Greycrow seemed stunned for a second or two, before taking off after her, and I followed right behind him. The three of us ran down the halls of the factory, Kwannon moving faster than I’d ever seen her go, until we reached the meeting room Scott had used previously when explaining the Graymalkin situation. All of the actual X-Men team members, as well as Max and Xorn, were there, standing around what looked like a green cut through space.
“What in the world is that?” Greycrow asked, prompting everyone to turn and look at the three of us.
“How nice of you to join us, Kwannon.” Quentin joked, earning him a scowl from the woman in question.
“Nice to see you, John.” Scott said amicably.
“Sure, Summers. Now, what the hell is that thing?” He asked again. Illyana sighed, leaning forward on the hilt of her blade.
“I believe that it is some sort of portal or dimensional tear. Jared, stay back there.” She ordered, a command I figured I should probably listen to. Going out to help rescue Hank was one thing, but some sort of portal to another dimension was totally next level stuff.
“Where did it come from?” Kwannon asked, the question seemingly directed at Scott, who sighed.
“I honestly don’t know, it kind of just appeared, and made a lot of noise…”
“Well that’s just great. A portal to another dimension, right inside our base. We’re gonna have to post a guard, and I refuse to take the night shift.” Quentin complained, earning him a slap to the shoulder from Idie.
“Just for that, you’re taking it.” Max said, a smirk appearing on his face the moment Quentin started to protest.
“Can’t we call like, Captain Britain? Doesn’t she handle this kinda dimensional stuff?” Quentin asked, to which Illyana just grunted in disapproval.
“Oh please, I’m right here, we don’t need Braddock.” Illyana pointed out, taking a step closer to the portal and holding up her sword.
“It’s strange, there’s a vibrational frequency coming off of this thing that I’ve never seen before.”
“Well alright, then the X-Men get to be the first ones to check out this new dimension! Tell the Avengers to stuff it!” Cain shouted, slamming his right fist into his left palm.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Cain.” Scott sighed, before turning away from him and back to Illyana.
“Can you shut this thing down?”
“Probably, if you give me a few minutes.” Illyana replied, before freezing completely.
“Something’s wrong…”
“Well sure, there’s a portal to another dimension in our house.” Idie noted, causing Quentin to chuckle.
“No, it’s…” before she could explain it, somebody else did.
‘Boy! Behind you!’ Geulimja practically screamed in my head. Unfortunately, before I could actually turn around and see what he was talking about, I felt something coil around my throat, then my mouth, and my legs. Kwannon turned quickly, as did Quentin, both of them trying to move to my defense, but whatever had grabbed me coiled around my torso, wrapping my arms against my body. Whatever it was was also incredibly strong, strong enough to fully restrain me. Before I knew it, I was being yanked backwards through what I could only assume was another portal.