Uncanny X-Men

Something felt wrong. Kitty opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom, unsure of what was off, but positive that something was. She dared not move her body, only moving her eyes. Off to the side, she saw her bookcase. Down her nose, her desk. Staring up again, she looked at the star-shaped stickers she’d placed as a kid, remembering how she’d placed them randomly, and her mother had made constellations. Ursa Major and the Little Dipper.

She felt a tugging sensation on her back, and the stars started to look further away. A strange icy feeling crept through her body. Looking around, she no longer saw the desk or her bookcase, but springs and foam. The stars were gone now, and moving past were materials, those, she realized, of her house. The wood of her bed frame, then of the floorboards. She entered the ground floor and saw her hands, a ghostly transparency having engulfed them. As she left the top floor, she saw her parents, her mother cooking pancakes in the kitchen, and her father tapping away on his laptop at the bench.

“Mum! Dad! Help!”

She felt that her screams would not be heard, but she was wrong. As soon as they were called, they looked towards her, and Kitty could see the fear in their eyes. Her father was closer, and he leaped towards her, his hand out to catch hers as she felt her legs sinking into the ground. She hoped that his hand would be able to catch her, and her eyes closed again.

“It’s ok, baby, it’s ok. We’ve got you.”

She opened her eyes again. Her father was holding her hand, no longer transparent. She looked down and saw that her entire lower half was stuck in the floor.

-----

“Bobby, what force does each arrow represent?”

Bobby Drake looked up at his name. He had not been concentrating. Looking up at the blackboard, he saw a rough sketch of a car, with 4 arrows attached to it, in each direction.

“Um,” he searched his brain for the answer. “There’s the driving force, and opposing it is drag–”

“A frictional force, yes.” Polaris stared at him. “And the other 2?”

He racked his brain more, but could only think of one of them. “The one going down is gravity. I can’t remember the other.”

“You’ll have to study the terms again, Bobby. That’s the normal force.”

Her voice began to trail off again, leaving Bobby’s mind as soon as she started addressing the rest of the class again.

Nora leaned over to him. “You haven’t been concentrating.”

“It’s physics, I don’t need to concentrate.”

“Yes, you do, physics isn’t one of the easy subjects.”

“I mean, surely not. It’s how stuff moves. I see stuff move all the time.”

“You’d think that you’d have at least done well with thermodynamics.”

“Shut up, ok, I get it, the English student is better at physics than the science guy. Ha ha.”

“It is funny, isn’t it?” Nora mimicked laughter, “But seriously, man, at least listen to Polaris.”

“I mean, you could make me.” He told her, only half-joking, “Then I wouldn’t have to put in the effort.”

“No, I won’t just control you!” She opened her book again, “Besides, I haven’t thought of any good stories recently.”

“Oh, the English student failed to write?”

She let out a chuckle, “Shut up.”

The bell rang for the end of class, and he left before Polaris could hold him back. Nora stayed back, she wanted to ask a question. The school was still pretty small. One of the positives was that there weren’t that many teachers, so there were fewer classes. And because of how close they were to the city, Bobby was able to go home on Fridays.

While packing his bags, Kurt came up to him. “Hey, Arlee, Adrian, and I are going to a party, you wanna come?”

“The cool mutants invited the guy with laser pointers for eyes?”

“Ha ha. But seriously, are you coming?”

“Nah man, mum’s making homemade pizzas tonight, I can’t miss that.”

“Too bad. In that case, see you Sunday.”

“Yeah, see you then.”

Kurt left, and soon after Bobby followed. He caught a Greyhound back into the city, getting off a few blocks from his home. The sun was beginning to set. Then he heard a strange sound. A few blocks back, a cat shrieked, followed by words, “Let’s check it out.”

Bobby turned around and saw a police car. He was surprised he hadn’t seen it before, he must not have been paying attention. He started walking towards it. He knew that where he lived, the cops had a good chance of being bad.

He heard them speaking again, more agitated this time. “Don, I think it was just a cat.”

“The report said to thoroughly check any animal-related incidents.”

“And since when do any of us follow orders to a tee?”

“Since we were told by pretty much everybody to crack down on the superhuman shit.”

“Those weren’t the fucking orders Don. We still let Tombstone sell his drugs. We still let Rose control his section. I’m pretty sure even the Kingpin has some superpowers or something.”

“You know what I mean. And this one was a mutant, they all hate mutants.”

“Well, you’re right about that.”

Bobby turned into the alley and saw the two officers. Their backs were to him, and they were kicking aside trash bags, creating a horrible stench that they either didn’t smell or didn’t acknowledge. Bobby guessed the second.

“It’s getting dark, Malloy, turn on your flashlight.”

The officer did as his partner wished. Bobby then saw, just out of the light’s view, a pair of yellow eyes. The body was far too large to be a cat’s, but the figure was on all fours, perched on a tiny ledge jutting out from the building. The eyes locked onto Bobby and signalled a single emotion. Fear.

He looked away, apparently at the worst possible time. On the ground, at the corner turning into the opposite street, was the body of a black cat, its blood pooling around it. At the same time, the cops pointed the flashlight at the figure.

“The fuck!” Officer Malloy immediately pointed his weapon at it.

“It’s her, we got her!” Officer Don’s voice was excited.

The figure began to hiss, just as a cat would. In the light, Bobby saw that it had a torn, plain black t-shirt, a dark green hoodie, and torn jeans. Bobby wanted to help, but didn’t know what to do. If he just walked in, he’d probably be hurt too.
Officer Don continued, “Shut up, girl, you’re lucky we don’t shoot you freaks on sight.”

“What if she attacks us?” Officer Malloy was quite scared.

“Then shoot her. You’ll have a reason.”

The enormous cat jumped off the ledge, over the cops, and landed between Bobby and them. They pivoted around. Together they said, “Freeze, mutant. Or we will shoot.” Don began speaking into a radio, calling for backup.

Bobby, able to see them through a small gap under the cat’s arm, saw Malloy’s hands, already beginning to squeeze the gun. He wanted to believe it was just fear, but he couldn’t be sure. He pushed in front of the cat and flicked his wrist, a small beam of frost floating through the air towards the gun, freezing its mechanisms, and sticking it to Malloy’s hands.

He decided the best course of action was to just talk. “Sorry officers, just saw your finger getting dangerously close to the trigger, thought I’d prevent you from killing someone. That could go on your permanent record, you know.”

Don continued to point his. “Get out of the way, kid. She mauled a student yesterday morning.”

“I don’t know why, but I don’t feel particularly inclined to listen to the guy who called mutants freaks less than a minute ago.”

Malloy chose the perfect time to speak up again, “Don, he attacked, you can shoot him.”

Before Don could shoot, Bobby shot more ice at his gun, sticking it to the nearby wall. “Come on!” He said to the girl, and he pulled her by the paw out of the alleyway and into the street. They ran towards his house. Only a few blocks away. The girl began to transform as they ran, her cat-like features disappearing. Now she was a normal teenage girl, about the same age as Bobby, her clothes torn and covered in dirt. The only remnant of her transformation was the black fur slowly shedding as her hair regrew.

They had only a single street left to cross when the hope of safety was crushed. A police car stopped in front of them, and another pulled up alongside them. Out stepped more cops, more guns pointed at them.

“You are both under arrest for evading arrest and assaulting an officer.”

Both of them stopped dead in their tracks, and they were taken back to the station.

“Come on, man, can’t you let me call my mum at least?”

The officer guarding their cell looked at him, his face portraying some, though very little, sorrow. “No can do, kiddo, chief said no.”

“Let me guess, because mutants are freaks, right?”

His face said yes. “Shut up, kid, just don’t be annoying.”

Bobby kicked the bars and walked back over to the bench. He sat down and held his head in his hands.

The girl he’d helped sat on the ground opposite him. In a soft voice, she said, “Thanks for helping.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you away.” He saw her hand scratching at her arm. “How recently did you find out?”

“Yesterday. That officer wasn’t lying, I did maul someone.”

“I know many people hurt someone when they get their powers. One of my friends shoved someone while playing basketball. The girl went to the hospital with a broken arm from slamming into the wall.”

“How about you?” She looked down at his hands. “When did you learn to make ice?”

“I was working up the courage to ask a guy out. Nerves got to me, and I turned his drink into a block of ice.”

The girl let out a small, stifled laugh. “Did you ask him out?”

“Hell no, I ran away!”

She hung her head. “At least your one’s funny.”

“Not to me!” A short silence followed. “So I haven’t asked yet. What’s your name?”

“I’m Tatiana. You?”

“Bobby. Nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

The doors of the station burst open. Polaris entered, followed by Havok.

“Officer, you have one of my students locked up.”

The officer was flustered, stumbling over his words. “M-miss, it is highly irregular for a teacher to come for a student.”

“I am aware. Where is he?” She looked over his shoulder and pushed past, trying to see the rest of the precinct.

“You cannot see him, you aren’t a parent! How did you learn he was here?”

Havok answered, “We come from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, we have telepaths living on campus.”

“You can’t invade minds like that, it’s an invasion of privacy!”

Polaris whipped around again. “And you can’t stop him from calling his parents, but you did so now we’re here. Bobby!”

“I’m here, Polaris,” Bobby called. “There’s another mutant too, has nowhere to go.”

Tatiana looked at him, “I never said that.”

“Tatiana, I met you in an alleyway with dirty, torn clothes, covered in fur, there is no way you have somewhere to go.”

Polaris came up to them and saw that they were, for the most part, fine. “Officer, we will be taking these children. If it would make things easier, Xavier would be willing to compensate this precinct, though he would prefer not to.” The lock on the door undid itself, and it swung open, letting them out.

“You mutants can’t just do that.” The officer seemed less and less menacing with each word.

Polaris directed them out the door. As they left, Havok gave the officer a card. “If you ever imprison another scared mutant kid, don’t hesitate to call.”

Polaris was pissed.

“Bobby, we told you not to use your powers in public, much less against the police!”

“I couldn’t just let them shoot her!”

He was surprised at her silence. After about a minute, she spoke again, quieter this time. “Bobby, it’s not fair, but incidents like this are why mutants have to hide away. If we stop antagonizing them, they’ll stop antagonizing us.”

“You don’t know that.” Bobby looked out the car window. At some point while they were at the station, it had truly become night. “Isn’t this whole school about training us to be heroes? How do you expect us to do that without using our powers a bit?”

Havok stepped in. “If you become good with your powers, yes, you could become X-Men. But it’s more important that you learn how to control them so that you don’t hurt anyone. And whether what you did was right or not, your actions have hurt someone.”

Bobby shut up. He wanted to say more, but it felt futile. Tatiana sat in silence for the whole ride, while Polaris vented to Havok as he drove. They arrived at the mansion, and Havok brought Tatiana to the Professor. Polaris stopped Bobby in the foyer.

“Use the phone in the kitchen, call your mum. Then straight to bed.”

Bobby simply nodded. Polaris walked upstairs, and Bobby entered the kitchen. He picked up the phone and dialled his mum’s number.

“Hey, mum.”

“Bobby!” It was nice to hear his mum’s voice, even if there was fear in it. “Where were you!? You said you’d be here by 6:30!”

“Don’t worry, mum, I just wasn’t able to make it. Trouble with the buses.”

“Oh, it was mutant business again, wasn’t it?”

“No, mum, really. Just a bad day. I’ll come over next weekend, I promise.”

“All right. You better be here, I’m doing chilli next week.”

“Sounds delicious. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then, Bobby. Love ya.”

“Love you too, mum.”
“Bye.”

“Bye.”

He put down the phone and leaned against the pantry.

“You shouldn’t lie to your mum, Bobby.”

Nora stood at the door to the kitchen.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t want her to worry. She worries enough about me and stuff unrelated to mutants.”

Nora opened the fridge and pulled out two square objects, throwing one into her mouth. “Then don’t make her worry. Brownie?” She held out a brownie for Bobby.

“No thanks, I need sleep.”

“What about the new girl, the one who showed up with you?”

“Guess you’ll find out tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Oh, too tired to stay up with me?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, come on, the Professor asked me to, I could use company.”

Nora called for him to come back down, but Bobby ignored her. He traipsed up the stairs to his room, briefly looking over to see if Kurt was back, knowing he wouldn’t be. He rolled over in his bed and fell asleep.

-----

A week after her powers initially manifested, she was very glad that only her parents knew. Sure, it meant she had to be dug out of the ground with a crowbar and shovel, but that was a lot better than the rest of the world.

Her father had done research with her as to what this meant. While they had heard of mutants, especially so with recent action being taken against them, it was only when they took the step to research it that they realized how dangerous the world could be now.

She hadn’t returned to school since, much to the chagrin of her teachers, who’d written notes about how her absence would lead her to fail her classes. She didn’t care much, but she was surprised at how little her parents seemed to. At least, she was surprised until Friday afternoon.

That morning, her mother had said she needed to pick up some ingredients for dinner. Kitty should have known she was lying, they had plenty of stuff in the fridge. When she returned, a second car followed, and from it stepped a tall, dark-skinned woman wearing a black leather suit with yellow lines running down it. Over the suit, she had a cape wrapped around her shoulders and flowing down behind her. She walked to the back of the car and opened it, pulling out a wheelchair, followed by a bald man, whom she placed inside it.

Kitty, having been watching from her bedroom, rushed downstairs to open the door, but her father reached the door first.

“...please come in, I’m sure she’ll be– well, here she is now.”

The bald man wheeled himself over to Kitty, past her father, and shook her hand. “You must be Kate, how wonderful to meet you.”

Kitty’s mother came from behind. “Mr. Xavier, let us move to the living room. Would you like tea or coffee?”

“No, thank you, Mrs. Pryde.” He began to wheel himself to the left. “A nice conversation need not be sullied by my tea specifications.”

They all entered the living room and sat down. Kitty and her parents on the couch, Xavier in his wheelchair, and his friend on the sofa.

“Hello Kate, my name is Charles Xavier. This is Ororo Munroe.” He gestured towards the tall woman.

Kitty’s dad turned to her. “Last night, after you’d gone to bed, we discovered an ad for a school run by Professor Xavier here.”

Kitty looked up at him. “Wait, so the reason you didn’t care about me skipping school was because I was moving schools?”

“Miss Pryde,” Xavier said, “our school specialises in helping young mutants.”

She spun around to look at Xavier. “You can make me normal?”

“We are not normal, child.” Ororo said it plainly, although there was an air of elegance to her speech that Kitty couldn’t trace, “And we shouldn’t try to be.”

“We?” Kitty looked towards Ororo. “You’re a mutant too?”

Xavier answered. “Ororo is one of the strongest mutants I have met. And I have met many mutants.”

Kitty’s dad turned her towards him again. “Kitty, we think that things may be easier at a school where there are other mutants.”

Her mum joined. “And where the teachers know what it is like.”

“Can I still come home sometimes?” Kitty asked.

“It will be more difficult for you, being so far from the school.” Xavier said, “But whenever our teleporter is available, I’m sure we can arrange something.”

“You have a teleporting machine?”

“No, child.” Ororo said, “A teleporting man.”

Kitty’s dad continued. “You don’t have to go. But this will be good. You’ll still finish school, you’ll learn more about your powers. And when you finish, you’ll be able to do more for the world than we could.”

“Or if you don’t want to,” her mum interjected, “You’d know how to control your powers.”

The room fell silent for a moment. Kitty’s thoughts felt loud. She mulled the decision over. She didn’t want to be away from her parents for too long, but this school did seem like a good way to learn about being a mutant. Away from the dangers that the rest of the world posed. 

“I’ll go.”

Kitty’s goodbye to her parents was rushed. She didn’t try to rush it, but she was excited to meet more mutants, more kids like her. She chucked her suitcase in the back and got in the car, in the passenger seat beside Ororo.

“So Kate Pryde, have you chosen a mutant name?”

“A mutant name?” Kitty was a bit perplexed. “Like a nickname?”

Xavier spoke from the back seat. “What she means is a name for in mutant circles. Many mutants find that separating from their human name makes them feel more like themselves.”

“Do you have one, Ororo?”
“I use Storm.”

“Cool. But no, I haven’t thought of anything like that.” She thought for a moment. “I do tend to go by Kitty, though, not Kate.”

“Kitty it is,” Xavier said. Right afterwards, he closed his eyes and held his hand to his temple. A bright orange circle appeared ahead of the car, and Storm drove through it. Kitty closed her eyes to avoid the light. When she opened them again, she saw a bustling city, with pedestrians and bumper-to-bumper traffic that they’d teleported perfectly into. The sounds of car horns and snippets of strangers' conversations filled the car as Storm wound down the window. She waved over towards a man on the sidewalk. He had a thick head of white hair that extended down into a beard, and the suit he was wearing looked too big for him. He waved back at Storm, then turned back. Only after they’d begun to move forward did Kitty realize that the building he’d walked towards was the UN Headquarters.

“Wow, that’s some teleporter you must have, Deerfield to New York. That was him, right?”

“That was Gateway,” Storm told her. “He has strict rules about how he uses his powers, which is why traveling back to see your parents may only be an occasional thing.”

“He too is a very impressive mutant,” Xavier remarked. “He claims to have seen other universes and other times through his portals. He may well be the only person alive to truly know what the world was like two thousand years ago.” He looked over to the right. “Oh, Ororo, just stop over here.”

Storm and Xavier got out of the car. Kitty was going to follow, but Storm stopped her. “Apologies, Kitty, but we don’t bring students along to meet with new students. You’ll have to wait until he comes to the car.” They walked through the revolving door into the apartment building.

The wait was probably only 15 minutes, max. But it felt longer. A wait always feels longer when you’re in a new place. And New York was even worse for that. New York feels familiar. You see it everywhere, in the news, in movies, in newspapers and magazines. Not to mention how every other day, there was a headline of some hero fighting some villain. But those stories never truly make you familiar with New York. It’s an illusion. And so, the long wait persists. Those 15 minutes felt like at least 30. Finally, the revolving door spun again, and Storm, Xavier, and a boy, around her age, maybe a bit older, walked out. The boy was wearing a trench coat around his body, blocking from view all but his head and ankles. His suitcase was bigger than Kitty’s, at least double its size.

Xavier came around to the passenger side. “Kitty, would you mind sitting in the back with Warren?”

“Of course.” She hopped out of the front. Storm placed Xavier in the passenger seat, then threw the wheelchair into the middle. The new kid, Warren, and Kitty sat with the wheelchair between them. “Hi, I’m Kitty.” She held out her hand.

“Warren.” He shook it, after snaking his arm through the trench coat.

Storm began driving, and Kitty struck up a conversation. “So, Warren, what’s with the coat?”

After a moment of silence from Warren, Xavier answered. “Warren’s father would prefer that the world not see that his son is a mutant.”

“And I don’t want that either.” Warren sounded quite defensive.

“So your power is visible?” Kitty asked.

It was mumbled, but Kitty heard “Yeah.”

Xavier said, “We will not force him to show you, though we hope he’ll become comfortable enough at the school.”

The rest of the drive was pretty quiet. And slow, with the afternoon traffic of New York City and long drive once outside city limits. It was 8 o’clock by the time they pulled up to the gates of Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

Xavier stopped the new students. “Kitty, Warren, tomorrow morning, there will be an assembly, where you will get to properly introduce yourselves to everybody. But, for now, go to sleep. There is a young girl, Nora Kuang, waiting just inside the door, who will direct you to your rooms.”

Neither Warren nor Kitty argued. They followed Nora upstairs. Warren was given a room at the end of the corridor on the right, with someone named Adrian. He walked in and closed the door almost immediately. Kitty was then directed to the other end of the corridor, to the far left of the stairs. Nora congratulated her.

“You should feel lucky. Nobody’s been in this room yet.”

Kitty opened it, thanking Nora before entering and closing it. She climbed onto the closest bed and almost immediately fell asleep.

Kitty awoke at about 6 the next morning. She was still very tired. As she properly awoke, taking in all that was around her, she began to hear a low, nasally snore coming from the other side of the room. A bit startled, she sat up and looked across, seeing a girl with unkempt black hair sitting all over her pillow and face. One of her legs was hanging off the bed.

Trying to ignore her new roommate’s growls, she got out of bed, got dressed, and walked out of the room. She quietly closed it and turned around, finding herself face to face with Nora.

“Oh, you’re already awake, great!” Nora pulled Kitty back to the stairs. “I’m gonna give you a tour before you meet a ton of the students.”

Nora dragged her down the stairs, skipping steps on the way down, and then they turned, arriving in a large kitchen.

Warren sat at the bench, wearing an oversized, long-sleeve shirt, along with his jeans. Around his neck was a plaid scarf, despite the warm sun streaming through the windows.

“Hey, Nora,” Kitty said, “You said that my room had nobody in it.”

“Oh yeah, another new girl showed up last night too. I didn’t think she was staying, but apparently she is.” She opened the fridge and poured orange juice for each of them. “Now come on, the tour starts now.”

Nora showed them around the whole school. The bedrooms all sat together on the top floor, alongside multiple bathrooms. The classrooms sat at the mansion’s back, on the first floor. At the front were living areas. The kitchen where the tour had started, a large living room, Professor Xavier’s office, and a dining room. While in the living room, Nora cast her vote for the Sunday night movie, The Iron Giant.

About an hour later, the rest of the house began to fill with noise. Showers ran, breakfast was made, and at 7:30, Kitty heard Xavier’s voice. She looked around for a moment, but couldn’t see him. “Good morning, everyone. We have 3 new students joining us today, so please join us on the basketball court for an assembly at 8.”

Kitty realized that the whole school had gone silent, save for the sounds of running water and boiling kettles. None of the students had talked during Xavier’s address. Nora noticed her look of confusion. “You didn’t know the Professor was a telepath?”

“He’s a mutant, too?” Kitty was in disbelief. “He didn’t mention that.”

“He wouldn’t have. And he doesn’t talk through people’s minds unless it's an address like that, or they’ve given him permission.” She looked down at her watch. “We’d better get you down to the court, you’ll be in front of everyone.”

Warren’s face felt like a mirror to her own, nerves invading her entire body, but their silent protests remained unheard by their kidnapper. Nora pushed them back outside, and they met with the teachers.

Kitty already knew Storm. Today her outfit had some white incorporated, a silky white top with a strip of gold along the top. She also wore black pants and a loose black jacket. Next to her was a man in far less elegant attire, sandy cargo pants, and a green shirt. On his chest sat a large plate of metal, and he had a long scar running down the side of his face. He was talking to another woman, in a green and black leather suit, with a green jacket. Her hair was the most striking of them, also matching the green colour-scheme. And green lipstick to complete the look.

Finally, there was a blue creature, covered in fur and wearing a lab coat with grey spandex pants. He was the most hunched-over of the teachers, with a natural arch of his back, and his chest was revealed, showing that the fur covered his entire body.

Nora introduced them. “These are Storm, Havok, Polaris, and Beast.”

“Please, Nora, Beast is purely for my other job. Dr. McCoy.”

“Sorry, Dr. McCoy. So yeah, these are the teachers.”

“Lovely to meet new students.” Polaris extended her hand, which Kitty shook. “Kitty and Warren, yes?”

“Yeah.” They said together.

“Nora, where’s the third student?” Havok inquired.

“Oh, she wasn’t awake yet.”

“Won’t you go and get her?” Polaris asked.
“No need, my dear,” Xavier wheeled himself out to see them. Next to him walked Kitty’s roommate, her hair slightly less messy and now wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and tracksuit pants. “This is Tatiana Caban.”

Tatiana looked more uncomfortable than Kitty felt. She shook Storm’s hand, but it was incredibly shaky. Then, from behind them, another boy appeared. “Oh. Hey everyone.”

He walked up to Tatiana. He whispered something to her, and she nodded, beginning to look more comfortable.

Polaris looked at him. “Bobby. Are Kurt and the others back yet?”

“Not yet, Miss,” he said. “They'll probably be in the city all day.”

She made a disappointed face. “Well, I suppose they'll meet their new classmates on Monday.”

The rest of the school began to trickle onto the court, and Storm and Havok started to direct them. Bobby and Nora joined everyone else, while Beast directed Warren, Kitty, and Tatiana towards a few seats set up along the side of the court.

The assembly was not too unfamiliar to Kitty. Most of the students were sitting on the court instead of in the stands, though that was due to a lack of stands. At one point, the new students were asked to stand, and each of them was congratulated by the audience. Kitty didn't quite understand why. She chalked it up to some sort of school ritual. Once the assembly was over, most of the students immediately went about the rest of their day. Once people stopped staring, Nora and Bobby reappeared and dragged them along to “a day of fun”.

-----

William Stryker sat behind the curtains, looking over his speech notes again. This was a private address to the mayor, his office, and the police. It made him uncomfortable, but sacrifices needed to be made in this war. Aligning himself with sinners was a small price to pay to rid this world of Satan’s spawn. He folded his notes again and placed them in his pocket. There was a teleprompter. He just liked words written on paper.

He burst out onto the stage to applause. About 200 people sat in the audience, with a few more on the stage with him. Mayor Cherryh, his wife, and his advisors. Stryker looked at him and began his pitch.

“New York’s finest!” He boasted. “The brave men and women keeping our streets safe from the criminals that stalk the nights.” He looked around at these faces, all of these officers. “But new dangers are emerging. Many of you may believe otherwise, but in my view, this new threat, this mutant threat, is a challenge. Soldiers sent by the devil to see if we are worthy of the kingdom of Heaven.”

Many of the faces were sighing. To them, he was a religious nut. To them, God was but a fairytale. “But even the most skeptical of you must admit, the mutants are dangerous. If one attacks you, there is little you can do. Just yesterday, a teenage boy incapacitated two fine officers by freezing their hands. Then afterwards, more officers had their minds, their private thoughts, invaded by a mutant. As children of God, but even more so as human beings, we must be prepared to face this threat.”

Stryker signalled to an officer just off stage, who’d just been fitted. The officer walked on, and Stryker saw their faces light up. “I have not only come here with prayers and well-wishes. I come with a solution. A good friend of mine is an engineer who has designed this exoskeleton. He calls it the Sentinel armor.” Stryker began to showcase each aspect of the suit. “The boots allow for limited flight capabilities, the arms have repulsor blasts, much like the Iron Man’s, but with a substance that alters their effect, targeting individual mutant abilities. And this visor will detect mutants, notifying the user of their powers, and using online databases, give information on that individual. It will also add that person to a database of mutants, which the engineer currently holds but which we would be happy to hand over to the police.”

The audience sat in stunned silence. An air of admiration permeated the room. Finally, the mayor stood up, walked over, and began speaking. “Reverend Stryker. Such a revolutionary idea. How many are available? I would like to begin tests in this great city.”

Stryker was giddy, though he didn’t let it show. “We have many ready now, and more on the way. We can give 2 to each precinct.”

“I believe we have a deal, reverend.” The mayor shook his hand. “Come back to my office with me, and we can discuss pricing.”

Stryker gave the armored officer a pat on the back and a handshake. He stood in pictures with other officers on his way to the door, and hopped into a car with the mayor.

-----

Warren always hid in the corner when getting dressed. Adrian was cool, but he still wasn’t quite ready. He’d been talking with Dr. McCoy and Storm, and they were both very understanding, but they were also both adamant that letting them unfurl would be best for his mental and physical health. He just needed to work up the nerve.

Adrian was still snoring, his back to the room. Warren tucked his appendages in and applied his bandages, wrapping around his chest and wings. The feathers poked his back, scratching them, and he couldn’t hope to hide the tips. He’d grown to like hoodies, so he put one of those on, over a large t-shirt. And for the bottom, jeans. He could tuck the bottom of them into the pants, and the hoodie would cover them.

He walked down to get breakfast. Today was bacon and eggs, made by Dr. McCoy and Kurt Pastorius.

Dr. McCoy smiled. “Good morning, Mr. Worthington! How many eggs would you like?”

“2 please.” Warren looked over at Kurt. “Since when did you help out?”

Kurt walked over, abandoning the eggs he was frying. “Since we discovered that my eyes are more efficient than the stove.”

Dr. McCoy placed his hand on Kurt's shoulder, directing him back to the eggs. “Mr. Pastorius, efficiency is not always superior. We just happen to have more students than a standard home kitchen can provide for, so we must be fast where possible.”

“Alright, alright. But I better get paid for this, you're waking me way early.”

A few minutes later, 2 eggs, each on a piece of toast, and a few rashers of bacon to the side were placed in front of Warren. Saying thanks to his chefs, he dug in. The movements of his arms caused his back to get scratched further, but he could almost ignore it. The food was fantastic. Almost as good as the butler had done. He was done in 10 minutes, just as a few other students entered the room. Warren said thanks again and excused himself, heading outside to bask in the sun before classes started.

He’d been told that the sun would give him strength, heal the damage that years of disuse and bandages had done. But outside was in the open. He still wasn’t ready to risk being seen by any of the early risers.

The day’s classes were uninteresting. 2 weeks in, he’d hoped they’d have learned something interesting, but it was all just normal school stuff. That was, until that afternoon. He was called to Dr. McCoy’s office before his afternoon class and was greeted by both Dr. McCoy and Storm.

Dr. McCoy started. “Mr. Worthington. Today, for your mutant training class, your classmates will be demonstrating their mutations. We hope that you will also unveil yours.

Warren was immediately defensive. “Wait, I’m not ready yet! I can’t just show them!”

Storm spoke before Dr. McCoy could. “Warren. I understand that it may be scary, but your classmates are mutants too. Some of them have physical mutations, like yours. You are in no danger with them.”

“It’s not about danger!” He retorted. “It’s about comfort. Most people haven’t seen them. The only reason you have is because dad made me show you.”

Storm looked him in the eyes. “Comfort comes from exposure. Let your classmates see them. It’s a small class, most of them are your friends. It’s only them.”

Warren contemplated this. His class was mostly friends. And some of them, like Arlee, had physical changes too. It caused a pain in his chest, but he said, “Ok.”

Dr. McCoy looked ecstatic. He leapt from his chair and swung a bookcase around, revealing a red and white suit, with holes in the back for his wings.

-----

Mutant training had finally gotten interesting. Storm had instructed each of them to show off their powers as best they could, and Kitty was enamored by her classmates.

Arlee started things off by juggling boulders. Bobby created a slide out of ice, sliding down it and watching as others did as well. Then Kurt destroyed it, slowly melting it into a puddle with a pair of blue lasers from his eyes. Nora and Adrian were interesting, Nora using her powers of hypnosis to try and control Adrian, who tried to resist her with his mental endurance. Nora won through a particularly morbid tale of a young boy accidentally killing his parents.

Then it was the new kids’ turns. Kitty wondered where Warren was, he’d missed the previous showcases.

Tatiana went first, though there wasn’t much to show. She concentrated, closing her eyes, clenching her fists. Kitty had been told of Tatiana’s cat-like appearance, but Tatiana seemed unable to coax it out of herself, as hard as she tried. Storm put her hand on her shoulder, and Tatiana sat back down.

Then came Kitty. She asked Bobby if he could throw snowballs at her, which he agreed to. In his hands, he formed large balls of tightly packed snow, then pelted them at her. Right before each hit, she passed her body through them. She even tried to limit the phasing to only the area being hit, though she was fairly certain she failed at that. For a full minute, Bobby kept pelting snowballs before Kitty began to feel a wave of exhaustion, and one hit her in the face.

Bobby ran over. “Sorry, Kitty.”

She looked up at him, smiling, wiping away the snow. “Don’t be sorry, Bobby, I asked you to throw them.” She sat back down with the rest of the class.

“Very good, everyone,” Storm said. “We have one more demonstration. Warren has agreed that today he will show you all his abilities. Just understand, he is still hesitant, try not to make him uncomfortable.”

From behind Storm walked Warren. He was no longer in his oversized clothes, but in a tight red suit, with a white T shape on the front. There was something on his back that, as he walked closer, Kitty could see was a pair of angelic wings. He smiled down at the group, wider than she had seen from him before, flapped once, and flew.

-----

Piotr stood across the road from church. He watched his sister playing in the road with the baker’s daughter, carefree, happily skipping along. His parents were in church. Having gotten scornful looks from the other adults, he had considered rejoining, but Illyana refused, and she needed to be supervised.

The baker stood behind the counter, kneading some dough. Occasionally, he looked out the window, making sure that Piotr was watching his daughter. Piotr was also looking around, making sure that nobody could see his hand.

He looked down and concentrated, watching as a sheet of silver metal glazed over his palm, spreading until it engulfed his entire hand. Then it continued up his arm. He tried to stop it, to reverse the effect so that only his hand was metal, but it continued to move, getting faster. When he felt the cool sensation reach his neck, he gave up, clenching his fist and returning his skin to flesh.

He looked back over to Illyana. She and her friend were playing some game where they were dragons, escaping from a dark lord. She’d told Piotr that she’d had dreams of this, that her games were based on those dreams.

Illyana was currently holding her arms out to the side, chasing her friend around a motorcycle parked at the side of the road. She made a movement with her mouth, a mimed fireball, and her friend, arms also outstretched, spun like a windmill to dodge it. They were laughing, having fun. Piotr chuckled to himself. The church would have been boring for them.

He heard the sound before the girls. The revving of an engine in the middle distance. He’d heard it earlier too, further away then, not of any note, but now it was closer, and wasn’t slowing down. He looked around for it, and at the end of the road, saw a muscle car turn the corner and start barrelling down, towards Illyana and her friend.

Piotr shouted for Illyana to get off the road, but Illyana was not the kind of person to move quickly. She had to know why. She looked around. And her friend followed Illyana’s lead, also looking for the danger. He made a decision and ran towards them, jumping over the motorcycle and letting the metal encase him.

It was the first time he’d purposefully transformed. The metal engulfed his body, giving a sense of stiffness, but not inhibiting his flexibility. As soon as his body had fully turned, the car leapt over a small hill in the road, and Piotr saw the driver’s face. In the driver’s seat was a young man, smiling, a cigarette in his mouth, and his eyes on the woman next to him. About the same age, she was counting money. The man looked Piotr in the eye, then they made contact.

Piotr used his body as best he could to direct the car away from the girls. It hit his chest and leapt to his left. It’s front crumpled on impact, and the car door hit a light pole. Then it continued spinning, running through the bakery window.

Piotr turned around to see the girls. Illyana had a look of awe, but the baker’s daughter was terrified. He was stunned for a few seconds, looking over briefly to see that the thieves were unconscious. At least, he hoped so. The baker ran out and hugged his daughter before realizing that Piotr was a mutant, rushing her back inside their partially destroyed bakery.

Then his name. “Piotr!”

His parents rushed out from behind the other churchgoers. Everyone else was standing in shocked silence at Piotr’s gleaming skin. They pulled Piotr away as his skin returned to normal, and his father picked up Illyana. They rushed to their car and drove off, not waiting for the inevitable vitriol that would be thrown by the people of god.

One of the churchgoers saw Piotr Rasputin’s great feat. Truly brilliant! He would be a great asset. The man, as he watched the Rasputins speeding away, pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Hello, this is Agent Rodstvow. Yes, I have found another mutant… yes, he is young, fit. Perfect for us… Piotr Rasputin… yes, that is perfect. I also suggest apprehending his sister. She is young, but she may be a mutant as well… Well, yes, I’m happy to oblige if my help is needed. I trust I will see you once he is in custody. Goodbye.”

In a military base, somewhere in the Siberian snow, Dr. Medvedev closed her phone and turned around to address her bodyguard. She traced her finger down his chest and held his arms, examining them. “Are you ready for another assignment, Arkady?”

The man smiled, a long grin spreading across his face. “Always, doctor.”

She looked him in the eyes. “He’s a farm boy with tough skin. We want him and his sister. Kill the parents.”

His grin widened further. “With pleasure.”