Take Me To Texas
Leroy Clark was, for all intents and purposes, living his best life. He was sixteen, although he’d be turning seventeen in a few months. He was, according to anybody who knew their shit, a football prodigy. He played running back, and he was damn good at it. He led the country in total yards for high school running backs, and his team was in a really good position right now, they were going to the state championship game, and Leroy felt pretty confident that they could win.
In fact, colleges were already clamouring for his services. He’d had a few interviews, although he was only in eleventh grade, and thus had two more years of school to complete. Like, damn near every decent school in Texas wanted him. Of course there was Texas, then Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, and that was all just to name a few.
As if football wasn’t good enough, he was doing great in his personal life as well. A lot of his buddies were other guys on the football team. Devin, Tony, Horacio, Jason and Jordan were his main crew. Those guys, they were his brothers, at least that was how he felt. It was one of those bonds where you’d do anything for someone, and you knew it was the same the other way around. His girlfriend, Amanda, was incredible in just about any and every way. Like, seriously, he couldn’t think of a single flaw about her.
All that to say, he wasn’t like other kids his age, a lot of whom hated going to school. He loved it, every second of it. He was a pretty smart kid too, not the typical football jock. He wasn’t a genius or anything, but he studied hard, he could hold his own, and that was what really mattered.
“Leroy! You best be going, boy! You gotta haul your brother off ta school.” Leroy’s mother called from the kitchen as he walked downstairs. He let out a quiet sigh, not wanting his mother to hear him. He wasn’t complaining. He didn’t mind taking his brother to class, it was just a bit annoying, since he had to leave home earlier in the morning. He’d made a deal with his parents that if they helped him pay for gas when he needed it, he’d drive his brother to his school, and take his sister to school with him. His mother drove his two youngest siblings.
“Alrighty then, Ravyn, Kai, let’s hit the road, y’all!” He shouted, clapping his hands together. He walked into the living room, where Ravyn was laid out on one of the couches, scrolling on her phone. At the other end of that couch, Kai was seated, eating cheerios out of a bowl with a spoon. No milk. His father, Darrell, was sitting in his usual recliner, and nodded to Leroy when he walked in. He was in fairly good shape for his age, with a bushy black beard, although there was no hair on the top of his head.
“Lee. How’d ya sleep, kid?”
“Alright, you?”
“Not bad.” He said, turning his attention back to the TV, where he was watching morning news. It was showing something about that Canadian kid who’d been abducted, apparently by the X-Men, Jared Karshoder. His face had been all over the news this past week.
“I hope they can find this darn kid.” His father said with a sigh, reclining further back in his chair. Leroy nodded at that. Although he didn’t really know the full story, he knew kids being abducted was a bad thing. That Jared kid was the same age as he was. Definitely made you think.
“Alright, Ravyn, Kai, you guys ready?” Leroy asked, to which Kai responded by wordlessly getting up and running to the kitchen to deposit his bowl in the sink. Ravyn also moved wordlessly, not looking away from her phone as she got up and walked towards the door. Kai dashed past Leroy, also headed for the door, and with a sigh, Leroy walked over as well, making sure everything was packed into his school bag, before heading out with his siblings in tow.
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Leroy and Ravyn sat silently in the car after dropping Kai off. It wasn’t like the two of them disliked each other, in fact, they got along quite well. It was just that, at the moment, Ravyn was glued to her phone, and trying to talk to her in that state usually led to anger, or just being flat out ignored. Leroy figured he could live without that for now. So, he was silent as he drove himself and Ravyn to their school. He didn’t have a parking spot at the school, so he had to park off at some side street, but he dropped Ravyn off before doing so. It was hot as the devil’s anus outside, and Leroy felt like his T-shirt was going to melt to the point it’d physically fuse with his body. Due to this brutal heat, the walk to the school was absolutely brutal, but he did make it, and when he did, the reward was worth it.
Air conditioning. Sweet, sweet relief. He could’ve collapsed onto the floor right then and there. Unfortunately, he had to go to calculus.
Whatever. He’d survive.
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Leroy made it through class, and was rewarded by getting to go out with his buddies after school. Ravyn was going over to a friend’s house for the night, and Leroy’s mother was picking Kai up from school. It was a Friday, which meant he got to have fun. Leroy was lucky to have a seven seater, so he was able to haul all his friends around. Devin was riding shotgun, while Jordan and Tony were in the middle two seats, and Horacio and Jason were in the back.
“The back sucks.” Jason observed, in his typical deep, gravelly voice.
“The window’s are the smallest in the whole car.” Horacio agreed, staring out the window next to his seat.
“Doesn’t stop you from starin’ outta it for the whole damn ride.” Tony pointed out, prompting everyone else to chuckle.
Suddenly, police sirens could be heard behind them.
“Huh, accident ahead?” Jordan questioned, prompting Leroy to shake his head.
“Nah, guy’s on my tail, for whatever reason… Devin, the license and registration are in the glove compartment.” He said, as he pulled over to the side of the road.
“You ran a red light not too far back.” Devin pointed out, as he opened the glove compartment and searched for the things I’d mentioned.
“At least ten lights and two turns ago.” Leroy argued, putting the car in park, rolling the window and the passenger window down, and placing his hands on the steering wheel. He knew the procedure for dealing with police officers. His parents had taught him young.
“I’ll record it. Just to be safe…” Tony said, pulling his phone out and pointing the camera at me. In the mirror, I could see two officers stepping out of their cruiser, one approaching the window, and one stationing himself at the other side of the car. Both of them were white, and wore shades as well as what were essentially just shorter cowboy hats. The one who approached Leroy’s side of the vehicle was shorter.
“Good evenin’, y’all got any idea why we’ve pulled you over here today?”
“No sir I do not.” Leroy said calmly, looking up at the officer and making eye contact.
“Uppity already.” The officer to the right muttered, shaking his head.
“License and registration, please.” The first officer said, and Devin handed both of those things over immediately. The officer looked them over, before shaking his head with a sigh.
“Alright. We’re going to have to conduct a search of this vehicle.”
“On what grounds?” Devin questioned from the passenger seat.
“Y’all are six young men driving around at night, blasting thug music. We’ve had plenty o’ gang activity ‘round here lately. Stands to reason that y’all could be involved with that.” The first officer explained, to which Leroy shook his head.
“I do not consent to this search.” He said calmly, looking at the cop.
“Keep in mind that you’re on camera, officers.” Tony said, still recording everything. The second officer scoffed, shaking his head.
“We don’t give a damn what you consent to, or if we’re on camera. We’ve got a right to search this here vehicle.” He growled, seemingly becoming frustrated very quickly.
“Right, well, I’m not gonna stop you, but I don’t consent to this search.” Leroy said, making it very clear for the video that Tony was recording.
“Everybody step out of the vehicle. Slowly.” The first cop said, prompting Jordan to shake his head.
“For what reason?”
“Y’all tryna argue?” The second cop grumbled, leaning closer to the car.
“No sir. We just want to know the reason for you stopping us.” Devin said. Devin was white, but he was quite experienced with these sorts of experiences, considering how much time he’d spent with Leroy and his family over the last two years or so. In fact, half of Leroy’s crew were white. Tony, Devin and Jordan. Leroy had drilled the proper ways to act in this sort of situation into their brains before they’d ever got in a car with him, just to be safe. Neither Jason or Horacio were white, so they were more aware of those sorts of things.
“I don’t need any more damn reason. Now step outta the car or it’s gonna be trouble.” The second cop said. Leroy grunted, glancing at the first cop.
“I’m opening the door.” He said, before slowly moving to unlock the car door, then open it. Devin followed his example, doing the same, while Tony and Jordan opened their doors, stepping out, followed by Horacio and Jason.
“All y’all step to the front.” The first officer ordered, and everyone did as he asked, while the first officer entered the car to check it over. The second officer just stared at them, keeping watch. None of them said a word. The more angry seeming officer was watching them. They didn’t want to get in trouble for saying something he didn’t like. After a few long, painful minutes, the first officer stepped out of the car.
“Alright, we’re gonna have to take y’all in.”
“For what?” Jordan questioned, as the second officer moved to handcuff Jason, who didn’t resist.
“We have reason to believe that you’re hispanic buddy here is an illegal.” The first officer said, gesturing to Horacio, who just frowned. It wasn’t even accurate, he and his family were in the States legally.
“They ain’t.” Leroy grumbled, as the second officer reached him.
“You needa shut the hell up, kid.” The second officer said, before shoving Leroy down onto the hood of the car.
“What the hell?” Devin protested, although he didn’t move from where he was standing.
“I’m recording all of this! The media is gonna eat you alive!” Tony shouted, almost laughing while Leroy’s face was shoved into the hood of the car.
“You think I give a damn?” The second cop shouted, pulling my face up off the hood of the car. I saw him glance at his partner, the first cop, who subtly turned his bodycam. Turning it off, probably. The second cop did the same, before shoving Leroy into the ground and pressing his knee against the small of his back.
“You wanna keep it up, smart guy?”
“Didn’t even do anythin’...” I muttered, while the first cop moved around and cuffed all my friends. Jason and Horacio were shoved to the ground next to Leroy, while the others were across from him. Notably, Leroy wasn’t cuffed, although there was the weight of an entire human being pressed into his back. All he could say at that moment was that he needed a way out of the situation. The moment the pressure on his back lessened, he felt something in his hand. He couldn’t see it, and he didn’t know where it had come from, but he could feel it. It was cold and metallic. Hard. If he had to guess…
Suddenly, two alarms started beeping, coming from both of the cops.
“Mutie. One of ‘em. Powers flaring up.” The first cop muttered, walking around the group. Leroy heard the click of the body cams turning back on.
“Now which one of ya is a mutie?” The second cop questioned, walking around the group, before he ended up on Leroy.
“Gun!” He shouted, looking down at Leroy. He could feel the cold metal in his hand. He had no clue where it’d come from. He didn’t own a gun, had never so much as shot one before.
“Lee?” Jason questioned, his voice barely above a whisper. Leroy was about to reply, when he was yanked up to his feet by both cops. The gun fell to the ground, and the cops stared at it. The first one knelt down to grab it, and the second one continued staring at him.
“Well, we gotcha, ain’t we. We were right all along.” He said smugly. Leroy just shook his head.
“I dunno… I don’t own a gun. I don’t got a permit or nothin’, I swear.” Leroy told them, but they didn’t seem to care.
“You’re probably the mutie. Must’ve created it somehow. No idea.” The second cop said, before shoving Leroy away. The second cop slowly reached for his gun, and Leroy knew he had to do something. Before he could even move to do anything though, a second gun appeared in his right hand. Completely out of nowhere. Leroy gripped it though, not allowing it to fall to the floor. He pointed it at the cop, slowly backing up towards his car before he got in. They had footage. They knew he was a mutant, and even worse, he’d apparently been creating guns out of thin air.
Leroy didn’t hate mutants or anything, but he had never had the urge to be one. If he was going to be one, though, he’d wanted to have a cool power, like Storm or Nightcrawler had.
Making guns? Was the X-Gene racist, or something?
He had to leave, so he drove away, not letting the cops shoot at or stop him. He had to go home. His friends, his girlfriend, they all hated mutants. They’d probably hate him now, too. His parents didn’t particularly feel strongly about mutants either way, but they loved him, and they’d do what they could to help him, he knew that at the very least.
The drive home felt much slower than it actually was. The moment he got home, both of his parents came running outside.
“Boy, what the hell is goin’ on!” His father shouted, as Leroy rushed out of the car and towards the door.
“I don’t know! I don’t know!” He cried back, his composure quickly faltering now that he was home. This was a situation unlike any he’d ever been in before.
“Why in God’s name are you on the TV?” His mother questioned, following him as he ran inside.
“I don’t know! I don’t know what’s happening to me! I don’t own a gun. I ain’t never used a gun. They said I was a mutant, but that don’t make no damn sense. I’ve taken all the tests.” Leroy protested as he sat down on one of the couches. Kai stared at him, while his two youngest siblings, Elijah and Amber, seemed disinterested, sitting in the kitchen eating something.
“You’re damn right that don’t make sense! You ain’t a mutant, we’d have known by now!” His father shouted, before sitting down on the recliner again. There was a knock on the door, and his father sighed, getting up to answer it. Leroy followed, and when he looked outside, he thought his eyes might pop out of his skull. There were men, had to be at least thirty, gathered outside, some wielding riot shields, some pointing guns at the house. They didn’t look like police though, they wore green armour with grey padding. As if all that wasn’t bad enough though, there were also strange, purple and grey creatures that looked almost like dogs, five of them spread out across the group. Then, standing at the rear of the group, two sentinels. Leroy knew what those were. One of their eyes glowed red for a second, and it spoke.
“SCANNED. MUTANT X-GENE CONFIRMED. REGISTERED MUTANT. LEROY NEHEMIAH CLARK. SURRENDER, MUTANT.”
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I woke up to somebody prodding my cheek. I turned to the side, only to see Seo-yun kneeling next to my bed, a look of curiosity on her face.
“Oh, you’re awake now.” She murmured, not looking embarrassed or concerned in the slightest.
“Yeah. Wanna explain what you’re doing in my room?” I asked her. She just shrugged, standing up to her full height. She had on blue jogging pants and a plain black T shirt. I had no idea where she’d got them from. Maybe Idie or somebody.
“We went out shopping this morning. Idie and Illyana took me. They also bought me a cellular phone. A very intriguing little device. They told me you had one as well?” She asked me, clearly hearing my thoughts. Her eyes were still gleaming with curiosity.
“Uh, yeah, I do.”
“They told me I should get your phone number. They say it will allow me to contact you over long distances, whenever I wish.” She explained eagerly. I nodded, grunting and shifting in bed. It was a bit awkward for me. The only thing I was wearing was boxers, so she could see the top of my chest, which was exposed.
“Okay, yeah, I’ll give you my number. Just get out of my room for a second and let me get ready.” I replied, prompting her to nod and leave. I sighed, getting out of bed and then getting dressed in long black pants and a black hoodie, with a white t-shirt under it. I brushed my teeth, doing the typical morning routine bullshit. When I left my room, she was standing right next to the door, and she turned to me with a sigh.
“To answer the question of why I was in your room, I’m bored, and everyone around right now is boring. The team went out to deal with some aliens or something like that. That man, Ben, and the Jennifer woman went out to town for something. The only people remaining are Xorn, who didn’t wish to speak to me, Glob, who was preparing food, and Max, who started a lecture about something. I left immediately.” She explained to me, as the two of us made our way through the facility, towards the kitchen, which was empty at the moment. I took a glance at the clock and saw that it was ten o’clock at night.
“How long did I sleep?” I questioned, turning to Seo-yun, baffled. She shrugged, grabbing a banana and peeling it.
“Nearly a day. We got home last night, and you’ve been asleep since whenever you went to sleep, at least as far as I can tell. Everyone said to let you sleep. Sorry for waking you.” She said, taking a bite from the banana.
‘Can’t believe you slept for so long. You barely even used your power.’ Geulimja grumbled, making his presence known.
‘How come you didn’t wake me up when she snuck into my room?’ I questioned, rifling through the cabinets in an attempt to find something half decent to eat.
‘She wasn’t gonna hurt you. Figured I should just let you sleep.’ He replied casually. Seo-yun nodded from where she stood.
“It’s true. I have no intention of harming you anytime soon.” She assured me with a smile and a nod.
“Well, that’s reassuring, I guess…” I replied, finding a bag of chips and ripping it open. I didn’t really know how to cook, and even then, there weren’t a whole lot of ingredients for things just laying around the kitchen. Glob used most of them when he was making meals.
“Oh, what are those?” Seo-yun asked, pointing at my bag of chips.
“Uh, chips. You guys didn’t have those where you were from?” I asked her, prompting her to shake her head.
“No! There’s so many things here we didn’t have in my world. It’s fascinating.” She said, walking over and sticking her hand into the bag I was holding. She pulled a few chips out and stuck them in her mouth.
“These are good!” She said with a smile, prompting me to nod.
“Yeah. Uhh, so everyone’s gone right? Has anyone shown you the TV yet?” I asked her, and she shook her head.
“No. I’ve never heard of that.” She replied, so I walked her over to the pseudo living room we had set up. The only person in there was Max, and he was watching the news.
“Max.” I said with a nod.
“Ah, awake are we? Come look at this, the both of you.” He said, prompting Seo-yun to frown. I could infer that something about Max bothered her. Probably that he’d tried to lecture her on something the moment she’d arrived. Either way, the both of us approached the TV.
“What does this device do?” Seo-yun questioned, turning to look at me.
“It lets us watch visual media, like tv shows or movies… I’ll show you more of that stuff later. Right now, what’s playing is the news. It’s a broadcast, often live, that talks about current events. Right now it looks like it’s broadcasting some kind of standoff.” I explained to her, settling in to look at the television screen. A news reporter was standing in front of a barricade, and behind it, there were a bunch of the people who we’d fought at Graymalkin, dressed up in the green and grey armour. There were also a few of the robo dogs we’d encountered there, and even two sentinels.
“What’s happening, Max?” I asked, glancing at him as he sat in his floating chair.
“As far as I can tell, they’ve found a newly awakened mutant. They seem to be trying to capture and imprison him.” Max explained, his tone level as he stared at the television screen.
“Shit. You said the team was out on some job right?” I asked, prompting him to nod.
“Yes. It’s a shame, but I doubt anyone will be able to go help him. Well, aside from you two, I suppose.” He mused, turning to look at me. I just frowned at him.
“I could go, but as far as I know, I can only teleport myself. Not another person.” I told him, glancing at Seo-yun, who was staring at the TV in awe. Max grunted, turning back to the TV.
“It’s worth a try, no? Whoever that mutant is, they could use our help, and unfortunately I am not of much use at the moment.” He acknowledged with a sigh. I frowned, thinking of Geulimja.
‘Any chance we could teleport Seo-yun with us?’
‘Well, it’s not out of the question. It could work. Might as well give it a shot.’ The demon grumbled back. I turned to Seo-yun, whose eyes were still glued to the TV.
“Seo-yun, let’s go. We’re gonna go help that mutant, whoever they are.” I explained, and she moved quickly, getting up and standing next to me.
“That TV is fascinating.” She murmured.
“Yes. Okay, this teleportation thing might be a bit weird. You might not be able to feel anything for a second. Just don’t panic. Trust me, alright?”
“Very well.”
I placed a hand on her shoulder and slowly descended into the ground. It was just as strange as the times I’d done it before, but I was successful, pulling us both downwards, then dragging us up out of the street we’d seen on the TV. I hoisted Seo-yun out first, then followed, with the portal shutting behind me.
“What are we facing, Jared?” She asked me, looking at the sentinels, which due to their massive size, were even visible from where we stood.
“Two massive robots that are designed exclusively to kill mutants like us, at least a few robot dogs with the same function, and at least twenty men armed with guns trying to kill us.” I explained to her. She nodded slowly, a confused look appearing on her face.
“Okay. I know what most of those things are. I’ve never heard of a dog before.”
“You guys don’t have dogs?”
“Not as far as I know-”
“MUTANTS DETECTED. JARED KARSHODER, BETA LEVEL THREAT. UNKNOWN THREAT, SCANNING DATABASE.”
“That robot just interrupted me.”
“Yes, it did.”
“How rude.” Seo-yun snapped, launching herself up into the air simply by pushing off the ground. I had to imagine she used some of her wind abilities to push herself up higher, but she ended up flying all the way up to the sentinel that had spoken and kicked its head clean off.
‘Holy shit!’ Geulimja shouted in my ear. I couldn’t disagree with that sentiment…
The sentinel head landed on the ground next to it, causing the armed forces standing there to scatter. Seo-yun, meanwhile, just dropped down next to me, a smirk on her face.
“Impressed?”
“Very much so… and very grateful you didn’t kick me that hard.” I replied, earning me a laugh from her
“Well, you weren’t nearly as threatening as that robot is.” She replied, a teasing smirk on her face as she walked back towards the barrier, which seperated us from our enemies.
‘She kinda got you there.’
‘Shut up, Geulimja.’ I grumbled, although there was no real heat behind it.
“Hands up, muties!” One of the guards shouted. I actually recognized him a little, I was pretty sure I’d seen him at Graymalkin, although only in passing. He was slightly on the larger side, with a bushy red and grey beard. His hair was the same colour as his beard, although he looked to be in the process of balding. I stepped over the barrier after Seo-yun, who was simply standing her ground, staring at all the enemies before her.
“Well, they’ve amassed quite a force. Are any of these people of any particular note?” She asked, turning to look at me.
“Those big robots are usually a bigger issue for people, but considering you just kicked one’s head off with ease… the robo dogs are dangerous, and really fast. As for those soldiers, just don’t let them shoot you. Should be fine.” I explained to her. She nodded slowly, before blasting forwards with impressive speed.
‘Well, don’t let her outdo you too much, kid!’ Geulimja shouted, shooting two tendrils of shadow outwards and using them to pull me forwards.
‘Didn’t know I could do that!’
‘You can do plenty! Just gotta be creative.’ Geulimja informed me, as I reached out with one of the shadow tendrils and grabbed one of the armed men, yanking him forward and hitting him with a close range shadow blast. I moved into the cover of the remaining sentinels shadow, then fired blasts out from it, taking down a few of the guards. The tendrils were interesting, because they were sort of like a more complex version of the spikes. Instead of just tossing them out, I could use them to maneuver, or to pull things around. Geulimja was right in the sense that I just had to be creative. However, there was also the issue of the fact that I didn’t entirely know how to use the abilities he provided me. I used the tendrils to push myself forward, flinging myself at the red bearded guard, who seemed to be in some sort of position of power over the others, this was confirmed by the fact that the second I jumped onto him and pinned him down, knocking him out quickly, all the guards circled me, turning their guns to me. I was using my feet, and four tendrils I’d produced to hold him and all his limbs to the ground.
“Captain!” One guard shouted, sounding nervous.
“Get off of him, freak!” One woman added, looking more than ready to shoot.
“Hold your fire, ma’am. If you don’t want your boss to get a spike through his throat, you won’t shoot me.” I said, turning to look at her. She forced a grin onto her face.
“You don’t have the balls kid.” She insisted. Well, she wasn’t entirely wrong.
“I’ve got a demon living in my body that has no problem with killing any of you. The only reason he isn’t is because I’m asking him politely.” I told her, which wasn’t entirely true. If Geulimja really wanted to kill these people, he probably could. I just doubted that he wanted that.
While I drew the attention of all the guards, I could see Seo-yun running around and killing all the robo-dog-sentinel things. At the same time, the remaining sentinel was staring down at me, one arm extended. However, it wasn’t firing. Probably because killing me would mean killing the human captain I had pinned down.
“Okay, I think that we can make a deal here. You let my partner and I go in that house and talk to the mutant in there, and after I do that, I’ll let your buddy here go. Sound good?” I asked, speaking directly to the female guard, since she had spoken to me before. She looked at her fellow officers, and after receiving a few nods, she nodded at me. I stepped off the guard, although I kept him restrained.
The circle of guards parted to let me through, and as I walked to the house, Seo-yun trotted up next to me, a trail of destroyed robo-dogs in her wake. I kept the guard floating with the restraints, and knocked on the door to the house they were surrounding.
“Hello? My name is Jared, I’m with the X-Men. We have reason to believe one of you is a mutant. Can we come in and talk to you? We’ve neutralized the threat to your family.” I said, as loudly as I could. Making a good first impression was important. Not to mention, I was representing the X-Men out here. I couldn’t make them look like shit. Very slowly, the door opened. A bald, bearded, dark skinned man was on the other side. He gave me a confused look for a second, before shaking it away.
“X-Men, huh? Y’all here to take my boy?” The man asked, not actually letting us in. While I spoke to the man, Seo-yun watched my back, looking out at the crowd of guards, who were all aiming their guns at us.
“That’s not exactly the wording I’d use, and we won’t take your son with us without his consent. However, these people know your son is a mutant, and they’ll keep coming here trying to take him as long as he’s here. If he comes with us, we can protect him from people like that. These people won’t attack us, because they fear retaliation.” I explained to the man, whose expression seemed to soften a little as I spoke. He let out a long sigh, before nodding backwards to the inside of his house.
“Alright. Y’all can come in. What’s this joker doing?” He asked, gesturing with his hands to the captain I was carrying.
“He’s a bargaining chip. He can’t hurt you, don’t worry.” I said, as he led me into his house. Seo-yun followed, shutting the door behind herself. We walked into the house, and inside the living room were five other people. One was a woman, who looked to be about the same age as the man who’d let us in. In a corner was a boy, probably about our age, who looked very stressed. Likely the mutant, if I had to guess. There were three other kids, but they all seemed either scared, or entirely unaware of what was going on.
“Who are these people, Darrell?” The woman asked, immediately looking suspicious.
“They tellin’ me they’re with the X-Men.” The man, Darrell, explained. At that, the kid in the corner looked up at us, before his face contorted into one of confusion.
“Ain’t ya that kid that’s missin’? Jared Karshoder?” The kid asked me, to which I smiled slightly.
“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m missing, but yeah that’s me. I’m with the X-Men. You can come with us too, if you want. It’ll be safer for you there. Safer for your family too, these people won’t come back if you aren’t here. They can’t attack humans, it ruins their whole image and everything.” I explained, now appealing directly to him. Really, all I needed was him. If he wanted to come, I’d just take him and be done with it.
“You’re gonna take my boy?” The woman asked, clearly in distress. I put my hands up as if surrendering.
“Not if he doesn’t want to come with us ma’am. I just believe it’d be the safest option for him, and for all of you.” I explained. I needed to be diplomatic. Everything I was saying was true, but I couldn’t be too aggressive. This was a big change for anyone. I couldn’t afford to scare them off. The kid stood up, walking across the room to stand in front of me.
“Why in the world should I trust ya?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. It was a good question, and one I didn’t have a very good answer to.
“What reason would we have to lie to you?” Seo-yun asked from where she stood next to me, crossing her arms over her chest impatiently.
“Y’all could very well be with those folks out there, tryin’ to sweet talk us into comin’ with you without having to throw a punch.” He replied, to which Seo-yun rolled her eyes.
“Oh please. The only reason they don’t have you yet is because we came here to save you. If they wanted to take you, they would’ve just come in here and done it. Believe me, they could’ve.” She replied, but the kid didn’t seem convinced.
“Listen, uh, what’s your name, dude?” I asked. The guy looked at me as though he was unimpressed for a second, before replying.
“Leroy.”
“Alright, Leroy, great, listen to me for a second. We can take you to our base right now, without any hassle. We’ll throw this dude out for them to take, then I’ll teleport us back. They’ll leave, because there’s no mutants here for them to arrest. Or you can stay here, and we can get rid of all of those guys, but they’re just gonna come back even harder in a week, so-” Before I could finish my point, a yellow portal opened in the middle of the living room, and Illyana, Kwannon and Scott stepped out.
“Huh.” Illyana mused, looking around.
“What in God’s name is…” Leroy’s mother began before Scott turned to look at her.
“Hello…”
“Esther.” Kwannon supplied.
“Esther, and Darrell, right? Mr. and Mrs. Clark? Your son is a mutant, correct?” He asked, looking at Leroy, who looked to be in total shock.
“Yes. We didn’t know until just now.” Darrell replied. Scott nodded at that, looking sympathetic.
“Well, he’s about that age where the powers tend to manifest. Listen, if you want, we can take him with us, look after him, and we’ll do our absolute best to keep him safe, what I’ll tell you for sure is that he’s much safer with us than he is with you, and that’s not a personal attack, but-”
“We know, that kid just laid it all out for us.” Esther explained, nodding to me. All three of the X-Men turned to look at me with mild surprise on their faces, before turning back to the parents.
“Is that so?” Scott asked.
“Yeah, and if you folks are really the X-Men, then I reckon I oughta go with ya.” Leroy said, from where he stood in front of me.
“Leroy!” His mother shouted, but he just shook his head.
“Jared here’s right, I’m safer with them, and y’all are safer without me. Just hadda be sure they were actually the real deal.” He explained. Darrell and Esther looked conflicted, but Darrell eventually nodded.
“If that’s what you gotta do, kid.” He said, while Esther looked like she was on the verge of tears. Leroy ran around saying goodbye to everyone, while Scott, Illyana and Kwannon turned their attention to us.
“Interesting play call, Jared.” Scott observed, walking over to the window and looking at the wreckage outside.
“Which one of you freaks took the head off of a sentinel?” Illyana asked jokingly, prompting Seo-yun to gleefully raise her hand.
“Well, I didn’t really do much, except for snagging this guy and making a deal. We gotta hand him back over.” I explained to them, Scott nodding along.
“You negotiated what, exactly?”
“I said I’d let this guy go if they let me in to talk to the mutant in here. I also sort of implied that Geulimja wanted to kill this dude. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the demon…”
“Well, everything worked out alright. Throw him out there, looks like Leroy’s about ready to leave.” Kwannon explained, so I did as she asked. I walked out to the front, and used the tendrils to toss the man outside, before rushing back in.
“Well done, Jared.” Kwannon said once I came back in. I just nodded at her praise. I appreciated it, but didn’t want to say too much.
“I think there’s a public perception that I’m a missing child.” I explained to the X-Men. Scott nodded at that, as Illyana opened a portal.
“Yes. It’s fine, your uncle didn’t seem to know who we were.”
“Well sure, but the sentinel outside identified me, so…”
“That’s less than ideal.” Kwannon murmured, as we all stepped through Illyana’s portal, into the facility. Leroy looked around at all the gathered mutants, all of whom were in the same room for whatever reason.
“Okay people. We’ve got an emergency.” Scott explained, as he walked to the centre of the room. Seo-yun and I went to sit in a space that was unoccupied, and I waved for Leroy to follow, which he did.
“Charles Xavier has escaped Graymalkin.” Scott explained with a grim expression. Everyone around the room looked uncomfortable to some extent, aside from Seo-yun and Leroy, both of whom just looked confused.
“What’s the game plan here, Scott?” Illyana asked, looking like she was ready to go. Scott just sighed in response.
“We take him.”