(no subject)

[jen_rock]

Tales from Krakoa, Part 3

Joshua took a deep breath as he exited the car, his suitcase clutched firmly in his sweating hand. Ahead of him, visible across the open space was the gate to Krakoa. People milled around near it but most of them seemed to be tourists taking pictures rather than someone who actually planned on using the gate like him.

“Are you sure about this, Josh?” Aunt Linda had driven him here. He had faked being sick to get out of church and then waited until his family left to text her that the coast was clear. His mother’s sister was the family outcast and his mom would have been outraged at the thought that one of her children was talking to her. Josh was the only one still in contact with her after all these years. She’d sent him pictures of her wedding with her and her new wife beaming at the camera, looking so happy.

“I don’t have a choice. They can’t accept me and I can’t keep living in fear that I’ll be found out. Thanks for everything. I’ll try and keep in touch.” He’d left a note in his room explaining why he’d left. He had no idea how they would react but hopefully it would keep them from calling the cops and reporting him as a runaway.



“I know what that’s like. Good luck, kiddo.” She smiled at him sadly as he waved goodbye and then marched towards the gate. People stopped and stared as they realized where he was headed so determinedly. He didn’t know anyone here in Atlanta but still there was that tiny whisper of fear that one of them would attack him, screaming that he was an abomination.

No one moved to stop him and he passed through the gate into a whole new world. The air smelled tropical and his head hurt as an entire new language was downloaded into it. Krakoan sounded to him like something between gargling and hissing but at least he could communicate with his fellow mutants now no matter where they were from.

He was directed towards a visitor’s center and followed the path to a building that looked like it had been grown rather than built. Maybe it had, anything was possible.  Everywhere he looked, he saw mutants walking around or flying overhead. Many of them could have passed for any ordinary human like him but there were also so many who looked proudly different.

He tried not to gawk as a girl with skin like opaque glass walked past him. The light glinted on her, making rainbows dance over her face. A young man with bat-like wings swooped past him so low that the breeze from his passing ruffled Josh’s hair. Everyone looked so happy and meanwhile all he felt inside was miserable. He’d left his whole family, his whole life, to come here and be surrounded by strangers and part of him wondered if it was the right decision.

Inside the center, he was paired up with a guidance counselor to help him find housing and assimilate into Krakoan society. The young woman helping him was named Brittney. She had short, blonde hair streaked with pink and a cheery smile. She handed him a form to fill out and then told him they’d go over the results to decide where to send him.

The form was pretty standard: name, birthplace, age, height, weight, eye and hair color. But there were also questions about his preferred pronouns, his dietary needs, and his sexual orientation that would have made his father rage and his mother curl her lips in disgust. Brittney had told him some of the questions were optional and he didn’t have to answer them if he didn’t want to but he tried to be as truthful as possible.

It was the last question that stumped him. “What mutant ability do you possess?” There was a list of common powers like telepathy or energy blasts but of course none of them fit. The last option was “other” with a box next to it where he could write a description but he wasn’t even sure how to describe his powers. Finally he wrote “I can produce little glowing lights that act like drones. I can send them miles away and see and hear through them.”

He’d never written it down before and Aunt Linda was the only person who had ever seen his abilities displayed. She had been impressed with the little glowing lights emerging from his hands like fireflies but he didn’t know if she really understood what he could do with them. At one point, he’d considered applying to the government when he turned eighteen since he felt like he could be a really useful spy. But there was too much worry about government agencies exploiting him and maybe even enslaving him so he’d discarded that thought.

When he handed the form back to Brittney, she read through it without much concern until she got to the end. She looked at him rather wide-eyed.

“I’ve never heard of a power like that before. That’s really cool.”

“Thanks.” He wondered what her powers were but he wasn’t sure if it was polite to ask. He’d never considered the protocol of mutant introductions before. There was also the whole idea of names versus codenames. Presumably, if he ever met, say Cyclops, he would call him by his codename rather than address him as Scott or Mr. Summers. This could get confusing.

“Okay, we have two options for housing. There’s the Newcomers building which is basically a hostel where you’d be sharing a room with other young men. There’s also the hotel where you could have a room to yourself but it’s a little farther from the main part of the island. They’re both free like everything else so which would you prefer?”

He’d grown up in a big family where he’d always had to share a room with one of his brothers but he didn’t know if he’d be lonely by himself. Still, it would be a new experience on top of all of the other new experiences he was going to be having so he picked the hotel. Brittney secured him a room, told him how to get there, and wished him good luck. Thanking her, he headed towards his new home.

It was going to take a long time for him to shake the prejudices his parents had installed in him. Despite being a mutant himself, some subconscious part of his brain kept flinching every time an unusual looking mutant passed him. One young woman coming the opposite way along his path was completely covered in a black burqa with only her eyes showing and he really hoped she wasn’t a telepath because all his father’s rants about Muslims flashed through his head and made him wince.

There were also a lot of people in various states of undress, some of them making out very publically and he found himself averting his eyes in embarrassment. His gaze skittered over two shirtless, young men kissing each other passionately and he tried to take a deep breath and just look straight ahead. He knew that most of what his family believed was nonsense but he’d been raised on a steady diet of evangelical beliefs and it was hard to see beyond that.

For the last three years, he’d forced himself not to react every time someone said with utter confidence that mutants were all soulless, hell bound monsters. Even before that he’d begun questioning what he’d been taught but having his powers manifest had cemented everything for him. He was a mutant and he knew he wasn’t a monster. He believed in God, he didn’t believe in the insular church his parents attended or its sneering minister.

It had been torture to sit there for two hours every Sunday and hear sermons that just seemed to be a litany of hatred for just about every group out there. Mutants, gays, atheists, Muslims, liberals, feminists, and really anyone who didn’t fit into their tiny, narrow little definition of a “proper” person were lambasted as sinners who were all contributing to the spiritual downfall of America.

So many times, he’d wanted to stand up and scream at them that God loved everyone and why couldn’t they focus on the positive ever? If they were all such good Christians, why did they look down their noses at anyone who was poor or struggling? The money collected by the church never seemed to go to help anyone but the preacher who drove an extremely expensive car and lived in a huge mansion.

This place was the farthest from anything he’d ever experienced but in some ways that was freeing. He could do whatever he wanted here. He could wear whatever he wanted, read whatever he wanted, grow his hair out the way he’d always wanted and had never dared to do before. Every aspect of his life had been controlled from the movies and TV shows he was allowed to watch to the music he was allowed to hear. It had all seemed perfectly normal at the time but now with distance, he can see how stifled he had been.

He made it to the hotel and was given a key by a purple-skinned, hairless mutant who acted as the desk clerk. The room he was in was small but it had a view of the ocean and there was a welcome basket waiting for him with fresh fruit and an official note from the desk of Charles Xavier. It was obviously a form letter but still kind of a thrill to read. He opened the windows and fell asleep to the sound of the waves.

The next couple of days passed in a sort of uncoupled confusion. He wandered around the island and used his lights to spy out new routes to take. Everything he wanted was provided for him from meals to supplies. There was a sort of store where he put in an order for new clothes and some groceries so he could feed himself when he was feeling uncertain about going out and everything was delivered to him within hours. In addition, every mutant on Krakoa received a weekly stipend but since most things on the island were free, he was going to just save that for now.

He’d been told that he could go through the gates to anywhere in the world and part of him ached to see all these famous places he’d never dreamed he could visit-London, Egypt, Australia and even the moon. He would visit those places someday but right now he was still assimilating to his new surroundings. A sent e-mail assured Aunt Linda that he was fine and she didn’t have to worry about him.

While most people seemed friendly, he hadn’t made any friends. He’d always been quiet but back home, he at least had some people he could count as friends. He was starting to feel like a ghost, like he was just drifting through everyone else’s lives, unnoticed and unwanted. He had no idea what to do about it. The occasional attempt at talking to someone seemed to always trail off uncomfortably.

On his third day on the island, he went for a walk along the beach where there were a lot of others roaming around or sunbathing. There was an area for sports and he heard a commotion coming from that direction so he drifted over to see what was going on.

There was a crowd around one of the large platforms and they seemed to be cheering for something. He couldn’t see what was going on until he sent up one of his lights and realized what everyone was watching. Two mutants were fighting with swords, parrying back and forth, in a pattern that seemed more of a dance than anything else.

One of the mutants was a large furry man who looked like a lion that had learned to walk upright. The other was the very recognizable Nightcrawler. Josh had seen a few mutants who looked familiar as he’d walked around but he hadn’t met any of the big ones before now. Everyone knew who Nightcrawler was. Besides his distinctive appearance, he’d been an X-Men for a long time and had been shown on news footage of their battles, laughing and joking as he teleported around the fights.

Both combatants had two swords, one in each hand, and they seemed equally talented with either. Stories of swashbuckling pirates and dashing heroes from childhood stories passed through his mind as he watched the show. Nightcrawler made some kind of feint that caused his opponent to drop one of his swords and Nightcrawler picked it up with his prehensile tail. Everyone cheered as the other mutant bowed in concession and the match ended.

The crowd broke apart and drifted away as they looked for new spectacles to catch their interest. Josh began walking away aimlessly too. There was a beep on his phone indicating a text message and he frowned as he read it. “Joshua Clarendon, please report to the Quiet Council, ASAP.”

Everyone knew who the Quiet Council was. That information had been given to him in the telepathic information dump along with the language. But what could they possibly want with him? Had he done something wrong? Maybe using his drones to map his route counted as spying even though he’d been careful to avoid looking at people. Dread curdled in his stomach as he headed towards the Council building.

Entering the building, he found the central room pretty easily. He was relieved to see the full Council wasn’t present. Instead there were three members present-Charles Xavier, Magneto, and Jean Gray. They were three of the most powerful people on the planet and a part of him was afraid but he needed to find out what this was about before panicking any further.

“Hello Joshua, it’s nice to meet you in person. We’re just waiting for one more before…” There was a puff of sulfurous smoke and then Nightcrawler appeared and took his seat with a little bow. “Ah, there we are. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here but it’s nothing you’ve done.”

Xavier’s voice was warm and soothing and Josh relaxed a little as he realized he hadn’t done anything wrong. Jean smiled at him sympathetically.

“We’re here because your parents have filed a lawsuit demanding your return. They claim you were kidnapped and forced to come here against your will.” Terror flooded through him at that and all his anxiety came rushing back.

“That’s a lie! I chose to come here myself. Please don’t send me back there.”

“We know they’re lying. We do investigate everyone who comes here and we know you entered the Gate of your own volition. You’re a Krakoan citizen and we have no intention of sending you back. But can you tell us why you’re so afraid of your parents?”

He shuddered as he tried to compose himself. Being here still felt wrong but going back was far more terrifying. The truth would suffice but he wondered how far his parents would go in their fury over their mutant son.

“I left because I was afraid they would kill me. My parents are hard-core evangelicals. They hate everyone outside of their narrow little world and the church they belong to is more like a cult than a real religion. We had a family gathering a few weeks ago and my dad was talking to my uncle about some mutant-related story in the news. My uncle said, ‘The only good mutie is a dead mutie!’ My dad laughed and agreed with him. That’s when I knew I had to leave. Before they found out the truth and I wound up dead.”

Magneto looked furious at his words, Jean smiled at him sympathetically and Nightcrawler looked sad. Josh couldn’t see much of Xavier’s expression behind the round helmet but he seemed calm. They all looked ready to stand by him and it made him feel better.

“I see. That’s far too common, I’m afraid. But as I said, you’re a Krakoan citizen now and we would never send you anywhere against your will. Our lawyers can handle your parent’s lawsuit. Would you be willing to record testimony against them if it comes down to that?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Wonderful. There is one more thing we’d like to talk to you about. We think your abilities might be very useful and we wonder if you’d be willing to take on missions that would help mutants.”

“What kinds of missions?” He was startled at the offer but then again, he’d already thought about becoming a spy.

“Nothing dangerous, I assure you. Sage is the head of our intelligence unit and she says the bio-drones you create are undetectable by most forms of technology. Do you know if there’s a limit to your range?” Josh merely shook his head. “Well, that’s fine. We can experiment a bit. Are you interested?”

“Yes, I want to help.” Josh felt a surge of hope. Maybe this was how he could find a purpose here.

“I thought you would. I’ll make some arrangements and Sage will contact you later. We’ll keep you appraised of any progress on the legal front. It was nice to meet you, Joshua.”

“Thanks, it was nice meeting all of you too.” He nodded awkwardly and then made his escape. The panic was still there at the edge of his mind but he was pretty sure his parents were no match for the legal power of an entire mutant nation. He knew they wouldn’t send him back and he was safe here.

Now he felt like he really had something to look forward to. Josh had always been curious about the limits of his powers but he was too afraid to experiment much. Now he found himself wondering if he sent one of his drones through a Gate to the other side of the world, could he still see and hear through it? What about the moon? Just how far could he go?

He wanted to help his fellow mutants and maybe being Josh Clarendon, super-spy, was the path he needed to finally feel like he belonged here. Trying to think of possible code names, he headed back towards the hotel with a much clearer mind. He could do this. Everything was going to be all right.

A/N: Josh is, of course, a representative of every kid who was kicked out of their family for being different. I may write more with him later but I have plenty of other ideas to play with.

The “lion-man” dueling with Nightcrawler is Kylun, a former member of Excalibur. I love bringing in obscure characters.