Fanfiction: X-Misfits: Training (X-Men: First Class/Misfits)
I swear I'm going to get to the how-they-ended-up-in-the-1960s part at some point. Some point.
Title: X-Misfits: Training
Fandom: X-Men: First Class/Misfits
Rating: R (violence, swearing)
Wordcount: 1,000
Summary: Scenes from the training of the ASBO Five, not that ASBOs exist at this point in time. Sequel to X-Misfits: Recruitment.
Nathan wakes in a pool of his own blood and quite possibly piss. When he raises his head, he sees that Magnet Man or whatever his name is is still there, leaning against the wall, flicking the bloodied knife from hand to hand without ever actually touching it.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” Nathan demands.
“Do you always take that long to wake up?” Captain Magnitude asks.
“I don’t know how long I was dead for, do I?” Nathan asks, dragging himself to his feet. “I was dead.”
“Observation it is, then,” Magnetface says, and a twitch of his fingers sends the knife shooting into Nathan’s gut.
“You cunt,” Nathan manages to choke out before he keels over again.
-
“I think my mutation should give me the mental fortitude to resist yours,” Charles says, “but just in case: the door of that box will only open from the inside. Even if I try controlling you, you’ll have to step away from me to open it, so we’ll break contact. Your mutation stops working the moment contact ends, doesn’t it?”
Alisha nods. Charles can see her breath condensing against the clear plastic of the box wall.
“You will be completely safe,” Charles assures her. “Are you sure you’re prepared to do this?”
“Yeah,” she says, her voice dampened slightly by the barrier between them. “If there’s a chance we can find out how to, like, switch it on and off or something, I want to do the tests. I mean, you’d think it would be fun, but after a while...”
Charles nods. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Alisha breathes out slowly. “Right,” she says, and then she reaches out through the slot in the box wall and takes hold of Charles’ wrist.
Charles’ mind goes completely blank, and there’s a high-pitched ringing in his ears, and then he finds himself desperately struggling out of his trousers. He freezes.
When he looks up, Alisha is leaning against the inside wall of the box, her eyebrows raised.
“How’s that mental fortitude working for you?” she asks.
Charles finds he can’t meet her eyes. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
“You wanted to come down my throat and call me Raven,” she says. “If you’re curious.”
She could be lying, and God he hopes she is, but the idea of going into her mind and hearing what he actually said is so mortifying he can’t bring himself to check.
-
“He said you can change yourself to look like anyone.”
“You mean Charles?”
“Yes,” Simon says. “He said it’s your mutation.”
That’s not exactly what Raven would call her mutation. It’s only part of her mutation, at least. But right now she doesn’t feel strong enough to show Simon her natural form and see him recoil. Instead, she takes Simon’s shape. “I can,” she says in his voice.
Simon’s eyes widen very slightly. “Can you,” he says, and then, “do you - if someone asked you to, uh,” and then he turns around and leaves.
Raven reverts to her preferred form and watches him go, confused.
-
Charles scrubs his hands over his face. “I don’t know how we can test his ability if he can’t activate it at will.”
“But we know what does activate it,” Erik says. “Intense regret. Mortal danger.”
“Not consistently. He told me that he couldn’t turn back time the first time Nathan died.”
Erik shrugs. “I can imagine his death would be a difficult thing to regret.”
Charles gives a small, not-quite-appalled laugh. “Erik, you can’t say things like that about our students.” He flicks his mind across Erik’s and frowns. “And you can’t continue to push them off satellite dishes, either. Regardless of testing, we are not putting Curtis in mortal danger.”
-
Kelly is the first one he approaches after the cure goes wrong. Maybe he’d been imagining it, but he felt there had been a sort of rapport between them when he had been trying to teach her how to use Cerebro; she had stopped swearing at him eventually, at least. And he can’t talk to Raven now, not after what he said to her.
Besides, Kelly can hear his thoughts, so maybe it’ll be easier to convince her he’s still Hank than it might be with some of the others.
Don’t panic, okay? he tries to kind of think in her direction as he approaches. It’s me.
“Hank?” Kelly asks, turning around.
“Uh,” Hank says, painfully aware of how strange and clumsy it feels to speak with his new mouth, “hi.”
There is a long silence. Kelly, unsurprisingly, stares.
“Sorry,” Hank says, because he doesn’t really know what else he can say.
“You’re Hank?”
“The cure I was developing,” Hank says, awkwardly. “It didn’t-”
“For fuck’s sake!” Kelly snaps.
Hank falls silent, taken aback.
“Just once,” she growls, “can a guy I like just not turn into a monkey?”
-
“Seriously,” Nathan says, massaging his abused skull, “do you have to keep doing that?”
“You need training,” the Mighty Magnet says. “Every second you spend dead is a second wasted. If you practise enough, you may learn to revive yourself more quickly.”
“And what if that’s not possible? How do we work that out?”
Magnetizor shrugs. The knife is weaving slowly between his hands. Nathan hopes it cuts his fingers off. “We continue until I get bored.”
“You know, you can just tell me if this is some weird wank-fantasy thing for you. Nobody’s judging. This is the twenty-first century, after all. And I do look like this.”
The knife thunks into his ribs, and as he gasps for breath he hears Mr Magnetificent mutter, “Next lesson: century numbering.”
Sequel: X-Misfits: Confrontation
Title: X-Misfits: Training
Fandom: X-Men: First Class/Misfits
Rating: R (violence, swearing)
Wordcount: 1,000
Summary: Scenes from the training of the ASBO Five, not that ASBOs exist at this point in time. Sequel to X-Misfits: Recruitment.
Nathan wakes in a pool of his own blood and quite possibly piss. When he raises his head, he sees that Magnet Man or whatever his name is is still there, leaning against the wall, flicking the bloodied knife from hand to hand without ever actually touching it.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” Nathan demands.
“Do you always take that long to wake up?” Captain Magnitude asks.
“I don’t know how long I was dead for, do I?” Nathan asks, dragging himself to his feet. “I was dead.”
“Observation it is, then,” Magnetface says, and a twitch of his fingers sends the knife shooting into Nathan’s gut.
“You cunt,” Nathan manages to choke out before he keels over again.
-
“I think my mutation should give me the mental fortitude to resist yours,” Charles says, “but just in case: the door of that box will only open from the inside. Even if I try controlling you, you’ll have to step away from me to open it, so we’ll break contact. Your mutation stops working the moment contact ends, doesn’t it?”
Alisha nods. Charles can see her breath condensing against the clear plastic of the box wall.
“You will be completely safe,” Charles assures her. “Are you sure you’re prepared to do this?”
“Yeah,” she says, her voice dampened slightly by the barrier between them. “If there’s a chance we can find out how to, like, switch it on and off or something, I want to do the tests. I mean, you’d think it would be fun, but after a while...”
Charles nods. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Alisha breathes out slowly. “Right,” she says, and then she reaches out through the slot in the box wall and takes hold of Charles’ wrist.
Charles’ mind goes completely blank, and there’s a high-pitched ringing in his ears, and then he finds himself desperately struggling out of his trousers. He freezes.
When he looks up, Alisha is leaning against the inside wall of the box, her eyebrows raised.
“How’s that mental fortitude working for you?” she asks.
Charles finds he can’t meet her eyes. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
“You wanted to come down my throat and call me Raven,” she says. “If you’re curious.”
She could be lying, and God he hopes she is, but the idea of going into her mind and hearing what he actually said is so mortifying he can’t bring himself to check.
-
“He said you can change yourself to look like anyone.”
“You mean Charles?”
“Yes,” Simon says. “He said it’s your mutation.”
That’s not exactly what Raven would call her mutation. It’s only part of her mutation, at least. But right now she doesn’t feel strong enough to show Simon her natural form and see him recoil. Instead, she takes Simon’s shape. “I can,” she says in his voice.
Simon’s eyes widen very slightly. “Can you,” he says, and then, “do you - if someone asked you to, uh,” and then he turns around and leaves.
Raven reverts to her preferred form and watches him go, confused.
-
Charles scrubs his hands over his face. “I don’t know how we can test his ability if he can’t activate it at will.”
“But we know what does activate it,” Erik says. “Intense regret. Mortal danger.”
“Not consistently. He told me that he couldn’t turn back time the first time Nathan died.”
Erik shrugs. “I can imagine his death would be a difficult thing to regret.”
Charles gives a small, not-quite-appalled laugh. “Erik, you can’t say things like that about our students.” He flicks his mind across Erik’s and frowns. “And you can’t continue to push them off satellite dishes, either. Regardless of testing, we are not putting Curtis in mortal danger.”
-
Kelly is the first one he approaches after the cure goes wrong. Maybe he’d been imagining it, but he felt there had been a sort of rapport between them when he had been trying to teach her how to use Cerebro; she had stopped swearing at him eventually, at least. And he can’t talk to Raven now, not after what he said to her.
Besides, Kelly can hear his thoughts, so maybe it’ll be easier to convince her he’s still Hank than it might be with some of the others.
Don’t panic, okay? he tries to kind of think in her direction as he approaches. It’s me.
“Hank?” Kelly asks, turning around.
“Uh,” Hank says, painfully aware of how strange and clumsy it feels to speak with his new mouth, “hi.”
There is a long silence. Kelly, unsurprisingly, stares.
“Sorry,” Hank says, because he doesn’t really know what else he can say.
“You’re Hank?”
“The cure I was developing,” Hank says, awkwardly. “It didn’t-”
“For fuck’s sake!” Kelly snaps.
Hank falls silent, taken aback.
“Just once,” she growls, “can a guy I like just not turn into a monkey?”
-
“Seriously,” Nathan says, massaging his abused skull, “do you have to keep doing that?”
“You need training,” the Mighty Magnet says. “Every second you spend dead is a second wasted. If you practise enough, you may learn to revive yourself more quickly.”
“And what if that’s not possible? How do we work that out?”
Magnetizor shrugs. The knife is weaving slowly between his hands. Nathan hopes it cuts his fingers off. “We continue until I get bored.”
“You know, you can just tell me if this is some weird wank-fantasy thing for you. Nobody’s judging. This is the twenty-first century, after all. And I do look like this.”
The knife thunks into his ribs, and as he gasps for breath he hears Mr Magnetificent mutter, “Next lesson: century numbering.”
Sequel: X-Misfits: Confrontation