New Mutants: Volume IV
Title: The New Mutants, Volume IV: Party Time
Author:
kanedax
Rating: PG-13+ for an F-bomb
Spoilers: X3
Pairings: Nothing overt, but Theresa likes Remy. ooooooh!!!
Summary: In their first night of the new semester, Arthur gets cocky, Kitty gets sneezy, and Lucas grows a pair
Notes: This is part four of what I'm hoping will be a continuing series taking place at Xavier Academy following the events of X3. As usual, I do not own any of these characters, the X-Men name, or Ellen Page. But if I could borrow her for a night on the town it would be greatly appreciated.
Previous Chapter (Show & Tell) / Next Chapter (Triangles Revisited)
"Luke!"
A hand shook his shoulder.
"Luke, man..."
Lucas Bishop groaned in his sleep. "Come on, Mom," he mumbled, "it's Saturday."
"What the fuck is he talking about, Remy?"
Since when does Mom say fuck?
"He doesn't want to go with you, either," another voice said. "So just let him sleep."
Bishop jerked awake to see a dark shape at the foot of his bed
"Wazzgonon?"
"Come on, man," the shape whispered. "We're going to a party."
Lucas looked around groggily, trying to get his senses back. The room felt strange to him, and the fact that it was pitch black didn't make things any simpler. As his eyes adjusted, he saw other beds in the room, most of them empty. He saw another body by the door, and the face in front of him started to clear.
"Yeah, man," Arthur said, a smile on his face, "We're meeting up with some of the girls. I was able to smuggle a little drink into the place, it's gonna rock."
"What?" Bishop said, his eyes bugging, "are you nuts? It's your first night here, do you want to get kicked out?"
Arthur shook his head. "Ain't gonna happen. Ain't happened to me yet, and I don't see it happening any time soon."
"Why do you say that?"
Arthur shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess. Come on, man, it'll be fun. Remy ain't coming, but Jonesy's all for it, ain't ya, Jonesy?"
Jones, who was standing by the door, nodded, but Bishop could see a look of apprehension behind his eyes.
"Just go back to sleep, Lucas," the muffled, accented voice of Remy LeBeau said from the bunk next to him. "You had a bad day, don't let that Couyon make it worse."
Bishop thought about that afternoon, and the "show and tell" fiasco in the Danger Room. After Professor Cassidy's speech, each student got to show off their powers, to the best of their ability, while the others watched from the safety of the observation deck.
"You all are going to eventually learn to control your powers," the Professor said as Bobby & Kitty were demonstrating what a fully trained mutant can do, "But in the meantime I don't want you to hide them. That's why I want you to go as full power as you can."
Lucas remembered watching as the large metal-walled room disappeared, replaced by a burned out war zone, and two dangerous-looking robots jumping from the surrounding wreckage. His mouth hung agape as he watched the two X-Men take it in stride, with Bobby encasing himself in armor composed of ice, then blasting one of the robots with a jet of intense cold, freezing it solid, and Kitty running headlong towards the second robot.
It reached its clawed hands out at her, but she ran right through it as if it didn't exist, and came out the other end holding what looked like a circuit board. The robot stopped and collapsed, the environment disappearing before it hit the ground.
"That's why you're going to do it in the Danger Room," Cassidy said. "We won't activate anything that you don't think is necessary, but, at the same time, this room can take a hell of a beating."
As he sat in bed, Lucas remembered Alison going into the room and showing her powers first. She was having problems getting them to start, throwing her arms out, flailing her hands, with nothing happening.
"This is stupid," she said, only to discover a dull red flash emitting from one fingertip.
"See?" Cassidy said to the class, "this is show and tell, but it's also a learning experience. Some of us aren't yet sure what exactly our powers actually do, or how to activate them. So let's experiment."
He pressed a button on a remote control that he held. "Alison?"
"Yeah?" She yelled from down below, a blue ball of light, brighter than the previous, flashed in her palm.
"Don't say anything, and try it again."
Sighing, Alison threw her hands out. Nothing happened.
Cassidy pressed a few buttons, and suddenly music filled the room. Alison's face contorted.
"Oh, God," she moaned. "What is this crap?"
"Crap?" the professor replied, releasing his hand from the button temporarily. "Are The Proclaimers crap?"
The students remained tactfully silent, although Bishop secretly admitted to himself that he didn't think it was that bad.
Cassidy sighed, then pressed the button again. "Try it again, Alison."
Shaking her head, she threw out her hands again. This time the room filled with a dozen glowing colored balls. She looked around, shocked, did it again. More explosions.
"So, you're telling me my powers are activated by nerdy Scottish folk-rock?"
Cassidy smiled. "We'll be running tests on all of you as time goes on," he said, "but right now it appears that your power is connected with sound. Keep going."
She started getting into it, dancing around to the music, and making more and more flashes of energy. As "500 Miles" shifted into Bay City Rollers, Cassidy turned up the music. The colors became so bright that the class was practically squinting from the glare. Finally he turned it off.
"Next?"
Arthur stood up. "Gimme something to swing on."
It went on like that. Arthur did some incredible acrobatics after admitting to the class that his doctors told him the reason he only weighed 80 pounds was because his bones were hollow, allowing him much better agility. Remy borrowed a pencil from Bishop, then proceeded to throw it, glowing purple, across the Danger Room, where it exploded against the far wall.
Jimmy didn't even leave the observation deck. When his time came, he simply sat down next to Alison, told her to throw some more light balls, then started to hum to get her started. Giving him a strange look, and looking to the professor, who only nodded, flicked her finger up to the ceiling.
Nothing happened.
A look of confusion crossed her face, and she flung her hand up. Still nothing. Jimmy smirked, and chuckled under his breath, momentarily breaking his hummed rendition of The Legend of Zelda.
Alison grunted in frustration, but the professor merely raised his hand.
"Jimmy's powers negate any mutant ability within a certain range," he explained. "The Cure, as you all know it, was created using portions of his DNA. Now that it's able to be produced synthetically, Jimmy was free to come join us here and learn to broaden and hone his mutation.
"Lucas, you're next?"
“Aw, don’t be such a pussy, LeBeau,”
“I don’t take risks that have no merit,” Remy said, his head never rising from the pillow. “Getting drunk isn’t worth the risk.
“And if you ever call me a ‘pussy’ again, mon ami, you’ll be taking another tour of the med lab.”
Lucas saw Arthur’s jaw clench, his hand (Does he have four fingers? Lucas noticed) tightening into a fist.
“Arthur,” he said quickly, trying to break the moment, “I appreciate the offer, but I think I just need some sleep.”
Arthur’s head swung to face Lucas. His face relaxed. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, though.”
Arthur shrugged. “All right, man, have it your way. Come on, Jonesy.”
Arthur walked to the door and opened it out into the dim hallway. As he did, Lucas thought he saw a glint in Arthur’s left eye.
Must have been a reflection from the moon, he thought.
You went out the Danger Room because you were afraid to say ‘no’, his mind interjected. You stood out there for five minutes, flailing your arms, scrunching your face, focusing you energy on nothing.
Your entire life you’ve been an outsider. Too white for some people, too nerdy for others. You’ve spent more nights on Everquest than with friends. And now this.
You’re not a mutant.
You don’t belong here, either.
So why not go with them? Be a rebel for once in your life. If you get in trouble, you get kicked out. If you don’t, you’ll probably get kicked out anyway when they find out your mutation is probably an above-average spleen, or something like that.
“Arthur!”
Lucas jumped out of bed, and quietly caught up to the two boys. Arthur turned around and patted him on the shoulder.
“Nice to have you join us, Luke.”
As they tiptoed down the hall, Bishop whispered, “So where are we going?”
Arthur turned, and his left eye flashed again. That’s not a reflection, Lucas thought.
“To a nice, quiet spot. We’re meeting Alison and Jubes.”
As the three tiptoed down the hall, Lucas heard a voice from around the corner.
“…And in national news, the small town of Sage, Nebraska is reeling, and local authorities are still baffled, after…”
Arthur held his arm out, stopping the other two at the intersection. He turned to Jones.
“Isn’t everyone supposed to be in bed by now?”
Jones shrugged. “Usually, but you never can tell around here.”
“Should we go back?” Lucas asked.
“…In what appears to be an extremely powerful gas explosion. So far, four are confirmed dead, with the Blanding’s adopted son still unaccounted for.”
Bishop looked around the corner, and saw a familiar blue glow emanating from a room down the hall. Closer to them, in what he remembered to be the kitchen, another light was on.
“Come on, we should head back to bed…” he said nervously.
“And let the girls get in trouble by themselves?” Arthur smirked. “Please. Come on.”
“Coming up in sports…”
As the three quietly crossed the hallway, the dim blue light turned off, silencing the television. Arthur grabbed the Lucas and Jones by the collar and pulled them back.
“Shit,” he mumbled as the group heard footsteps approaching them from the room. He turned to the other two. “All right, we’re gonna have to go back.”
His eye flashed again.
Does he even know he’s doing that? Lucas had time to think before he heard the approaching footsteps sneeze.
“Gesundheit.”
“Oh, hey, Bobby,” the girl’s voice replied, and her voice became muffled as they heard her footsteps walking into the kitchen. Arthur looked at them in shock.
“Never mind. Come on.”
The three once again crossed the dim hallway and continued without any more interference.
“Where’s the elevator, Jonesy?” Arthur asked.
Jones pointed to the oak archway, then blinked at it. Instantly the archway opened into a small white chamber.
“Somewhere quiet?” Bishop asked, his courage slowly leaving him.
“Isn’t it quiet enough down there for you?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Come on,” Arthur said, stepping into the elevator. “Live a little.”
Bishop and Jones exchanged nervous looks, and then followed. The door slid quietly shut, and Lucas felt the elevator move down.
“Aren’t there, like, security cameras and stuff?”
“Not many,” Jones quietly responded. “Honestly, this place was founded when the world’s two most powerful telepaths were living here. Security cameras weren’t really needed.”
“Ummm, isn’t there still a powerful telepath living here, and acting as headmaster?”
Arthur gave Lucas a look. “Have we been caught yet?”
“No, but…”
“…But it’s our first night in a new place, and we couldn’t sleep. So Jonesy decided to give us a little tour.”
Bishop tapped the pocket of Arthur’s pajama pants. Glass tinked against his knuckle.
“And that?”
Arthur laughed. “Cough medicine.”
The door slid open to reveal a bright metal hallway. The three walked out to find three girls standing to meet them.
“Hello, ladies.”
“We really shouldn’t be here, guys,” the redhead, who Lucas remembered as Theresa, mumbled, her arms crossed around her chest.
“Hey, I know I didn’t ask you to come,” Jubilee said, with a smirk on her face.
“I was hoping that if I did come with you’d call it off,” Theresa replied.
“Nerd patrol, huh?” Alison said, giving Jones and Lucas a gaze that would kill flies.
“Hey, they’re good people,” Arthur said, walking down the hall. “And the more the merrier, right, Theresa? You’re Cassidy’s kid, right?”
Theresa nodded. “Yeah, and I could scream my head off in a second.”
Arthur smiled, stopping at the end of the hallway. “Nah, I’ve been in this situation enough. It’s good to have you here, in case something happens. Makes the authorities more lenient if one of their own is involved.”
“She’s not here to watch us,” Jubilee said, the smirk never leaving her face. “She was just hoping Remy would be here.”
As Theresa blushed and muttered something inaudible, Lucas leaned into Arthur. “I thought you said you’ve never been caught.”
Arthur snorted. “Yeah, well… I…” He broke off and turned to Theresa, “Nah, LeBeau’s a wuss. You can do a lot better, believe me.
“Jonesy, you got this?”
Theresa broke her stammering. “You’ve been here longer than any of us, Jubes. Why risk it?”
Bishop suddenly realized where they were standing. “The Danger Room? Are you insane?”
Arthur smiled, and tapped on the door. “Soundproof, ain’t it?”
Jubilee shrugged at Theresa. “Why not? Get a little danger in our lives, huh?”
“Go ahead and let us in, Jonesy.”
Jones gave the group a last look, then turned to the door. He blinked, and it slid open.
“See?” Arthur said, “easy as…”
A metal tube flipped out from the doorway. Arthur jumped to the side, and the gun rotated in the opposite direction.
Right before Lucas Bishop’s world went red, he saw Arthur Centino’s eye flash.
Previous Chapter (Show & Tell) / Next Chapter (Triangles Revisited)
Author:
kanedax
Rating: PG-13+ for an F-bomb
Spoilers: X3
Pairings: Nothing overt, but Theresa likes Remy. ooooooh!!!
Summary: In their first night of the new semester, Arthur gets cocky, Kitty gets sneezy, and Lucas grows a pair
Notes: This is part four of what I'm hoping will be a continuing series taking place at Xavier Academy following the events of X3. As usual, I do not own any of these characters, the X-Men name, or Ellen Page. But if I could borrow her for a night on the town it would be greatly appreciated.
Previous Chapter (Show & Tell) / Next Chapter (Triangles Revisited)
"Luke!"
A hand shook his shoulder.
"Luke, man..."
Lucas Bishop groaned in his sleep. "Come on, Mom," he mumbled, "it's Saturday."
"What the fuck is he talking about, Remy?"
Since when does Mom say fuck?
"He doesn't want to go with you, either," another voice said. "So just let him sleep."
Bishop jerked awake to see a dark shape at the foot of his bed
"Wazzgonon?"
"Come on, man," the shape whispered. "We're going to a party."
Lucas looked around groggily, trying to get his senses back. The room felt strange to him, and the fact that it was pitch black didn't make things any simpler. As his eyes adjusted, he saw other beds in the room, most of them empty. He saw another body by the door, and the face in front of him started to clear.
"Yeah, man," Arthur said, a smile on his face, "We're meeting up with some of the girls. I was able to smuggle a little drink into the place, it's gonna rock."
"What?" Bishop said, his eyes bugging, "are you nuts? It's your first night here, do you want to get kicked out?"
Arthur shook his head. "Ain't gonna happen. Ain't happened to me yet, and I don't see it happening any time soon."
"Why do you say that?"
Arthur shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess. Come on, man, it'll be fun. Remy ain't coming, but Jonesy's all for it, ain't ya, Jonesy?"
Jones, who was standing by the door, nodded, but Bishop could see a look of apprehension behind his eyes.
"Just go back to sleep, Lucas," the muffled, accented voice of Remy LeBeau said from the bunk next to him. "You had a bad day, don't let that Couyon make it worse."
Bishop thought about that afternoon, and the "show and tell" fiasco in the Danger Room. After Professor Cassidy's speech, each student got to show off their powers, to the best of their ability, while the others watched from the safety of the observation deck.
"You all are going to eventually learn to control your powers," the Professor said as Bobby & Kitty were demonstrating what a fully trained mutant can do, "But in the meantime I don't want you to hide them. That's why I want you to go as full power as you can."
Lucas remembered watching as the large metal-walled room disappeared, replaced by a burned out war zone, and two dangerous-looking robots jumping from the surrounding wreckage. His mouth hung agape as he watched the two X-Men take it in stride, with Bobby encasing himself in armor composed of ice, then blasting one of the robots with a jet of intense cold, freezing it solid, and Kitty running headlong towards the second robot.
It reached its clawed hands out at her, but she ran right through it as if it didn't exist, and came out the other end holding what looked like a circuit board. The robot stopped and collapsed, the environment disappearing before it hit the ground.
"That's why you're going to do it in the Danger Room," Cassidy said. "We won't activate anything that you don't think is necessary, but, at the same time, this room can take a hell of a beating."
As he sat in bed, Lucas remembered Alison going into the room and showing her powers first. She was having problems getting them to start, throwing her arms out, flailing her hands, with nothing happening.
"This is stupid," she said, only to discover a dull red flash emitting from one fingertip.
"See?" Cassidy said to the class, "this is show and tell, but it's also a learning experience. Some of us aren't yet sure what exactly our powers actually do, or how to activate them. So let's experiment."
He pressed a button on a remote control that he held. "Alison?"
"Yeah?" She yelled from down below, a blue ball of light, brighter than the previous, flashed in her palm.
"Don't say anything, and try it again."
Sighing, Alison threw her hands out. Nothing happened.
Cassidy pressed a few buttons, and suddenly music filled the room. Alison's face contorted.
"Oh, God," she moaned. "What is this crap?"
"Crap?" the professor replied, releasing his hand from the button temporarily. "Are The Proclaimers crap?"
The students remained tactfully silent, although Bishop secretly admitted to himself that he didn't think it was that bad.
Cassidy sighed, then pressed the button again. "Try it again, Alison."
Shaking her head, she threw out her hands again. This time the room filled with a dozen glowing colored balls. She looked around, shocked, did it again. More explosions.
"So, you're telling me my powers are activated by nerdy Scottish folk-rock?"
Cassidy smiled. "We'll be running tests on all of you as time goes on," he said, "but right now it appears that your power is connected with sound. Keep going."
She started getting into it, dancing around to the music, and making more and more flashes of energy. As "500 Miles" shifted into Bay City Rollers, Cassidy turned up the music. The colors became so bright that the class was practically squinting from the glare. Finally he turned it off.
"Next?"
Arthur stood up. "Gimme something to swing on."
It went on like that. Arthur did some incredible acrobatics after admitting to the class that his doctors told him the reason he only weighed 80 pounds was because his bones were hollow, allowing him much better agility. Remy borrowed a pencil from Bishop, then proceeded to throw it, glowing purple, across the Danger Room, where it exploded against the far wall.
Jimmy didn't even leave the observation deck. When his time came, he simply sat down next to Alison, told her to throw some more light balls, then started to hum to get her started. Giving him a strange look, and looking to the professor, who only nodded, flicked her finger up to the ceiling.
Nothing happened.
A look of confusion crossed her face, and she flung her hand up. Still nothing. Jimmy smirked, and chuckled under his breath, momentarily breaking his hummed rendition of The Legend of Zelda.
Alison grunted in frustration, but the professor merely raised his hand.
"Jimmy's powers negate any mutant ability within a certain range," he explained. "The Cure, as you all know it, was created using portions of his DNA. Now that it's able to be produced synthetically, Jimmy was free to come join us here and learn to broaden and hone his mutation.
"Lucas, you're next?"
“Aw, don’t be such a pussy, LeBeau,”
“I don’t take risks that have no merit,” Remy said, his head never rising from the pillow. “Getting drunk isn’t worth the risk.
“And if you ever call me a ‘pussy’ again, mon ami, you’ll be taking another tour of the med lab.”
Lucas saw Arthur’s jaw clench, his hand (Does he have four fingers? Lucas noticed) tightening into a fist.
“Arthur,” he said quickly, trying to break the moment, “I appreciate the offer, but I think I just need some sleep.”
Arthur’s head swung to face Lucas. His face relaxed. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, though.”
Arthur shrugged. “All right, man, have it your way. Come on, Jonesy.”
Arthur walked to the door and opened it out into the dim hallway. As he did, Lucas thought he saw a glint in Arthur’s left eye.
Must have been a reflection from the moon, he thought.
You went out the Danger Room because you were afraid to say ‘no’, his mind interjected. You stood out there for five minutes, flailing your arms, scrunching your face, focusing you energy on nothing.
Your entire life you’ve been an outsider. Too white for some people, too nerdy for others. You’ve spent more nights on Everquest than with friends. And now this.
You’re not a mutant.
You don’t belong here, either.
So why not go with them? Be a rebel for once in your life. If you get in trouble, you get kicked out. If you don’t, you’ll probably get kicked out anyway when they find out your mutation is probably an above-average spleen, or something like that.
“Arthur!”
Lucas jumped out of bed, and quietly caught up to the two boys. Arthur turned around and patted him on the shoulder.
“Nice to have you join us, Luke.”
As they tiptoed down the hall, Bishop whispered, “So where are we going?”
Arthur turned, and his left eye flashed again. That’s not a reflection, Lucas thought.
“To a nice, quiet spot. We’re meeting Alison and Jubes.”
As the three tiptoed down the hall, Lucas heard a voice from around the corner.
“…And in national news, the small town of Sage, Nebraska is reeling, and local authorities are still baffled, after…”
Arthur held his arm out, stopping the other two at the intersection. He turned to Jones.
“Isn’t everyone supposed to be in bed by now?”
Jones shrugged. “Usually, but you never can tell around here.”
“Should we go back?” Lucas asked.
“…In what appears to be an extremely powerful gas explosion. So far, four are confirmed dead, with the Blanding’s adopted son still unaccounted for.”
Bishop looked around the corner, and saw a familiar blue glow emanating from a room down the hall. Closer to them, in what he remembered to be the kitchen, another light was on.
“Come on, we should head back to bed…” he said nervously.
“And let the girls get in trouble by themselves?” Arthur smirked. “Please. Come on.”
“Coming up in sports…”
As the three quietly crossed the hallway, the dim blue light turned off, silencing the television. Arthur grabbed the Lucas and Jones by the collar and pulled them back.
“Shit,” he mumbled as the group heard footsteps approaching them from the room. He turned to the other two. “All right, we’re gonna have to go back.”
His eye flashed again.
Does he even know he’s doing that? Lucas had time to think before he heard the approaching footsteps sneeze.
“Gesundheit.”
“Oh, hey, Bobby,” the girl’s voice replied, and her voice became muffled as they heard her footsteps walking into the kitchen. Arthur looked at them in shock.
“Never mind. Come on.”
The three once again crossed the dim hallway and continued without any more interference.
“Where’s the elevator, Jonesy?” Arthur asked.
Jones pointed to the oak archway, then blinked at it. Instantly the archway opened into a small white chamber.
“Somewhere quiet?” Bishop asked, his courage slowly leaving him.
“Isn’t it quiet enough down there for you?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Come on,” Arthur said, stepping into the elevator. “Live a little.”
Bishop and Jones exchanged nervous looks, and then followed. The door slid quietly shut, and Lucas felt the elevator move down.
“Aren’t there, like, security cameras and stuff?”
“Not many,” Jones quietly responded. “Honestly, this place was founded when the world’s two most powerful telepaths were living here. Security cameras weren’t really needed.”
“Ummm, isn’t there still a powerful telepath living here, and acting as headmaster?”
Arthur gave Lucas a look. “Have we been caught yet?”
“No, but…”
“…But it’s our first night in a new place, and we couldn’t sleep. So Jonesy decided to give us a little tour.”
Bishop tapped the pocket of Arthur’s pajama pants. Glass tinked against his knuckle.
“And that?”
Arthur laughed. “Cough medicine.”
The door slid open to reveal a bright metal hallway. The three walked out to find three girls standing to meet them.
“Hello, ladies.”
“We really shouldn’t be here, guys,” the redhead, who Lucas remembered as Theresa, mumbled, her arms crossed around her chest.
“Hey, I know I didn’t ask you to come,” Jubilee said, with a smirk on her face.
“I was hoping that if I did come with you’d call it off,” Theresa replied.
“Nerd patrol, huh?” Alison said, giving Jones and Lucas a gaze that would kill flies.
“Hey, they’re good people,” Arthur said, walking down the hall. “And the more the merrier, right, Theresa? You’re Cassidy’s kid, right?”
Theresa nodded. “Yeah, and I could scream my head off in a second.”
Arthur smiled, stopping at the end of the hallway. “Nah, I’ve been in this situation enough. It’s good to have you here, in case something happens. Makes the authorities more lenient if one of their own is involved.”
“She’s not here to watch us,” Jubilee said, the smirk never leaving her face. “She was just hoping Remy would be here.”
As Theresa blushed and muttered something inaudible, Lucas leaned into Arthur. “I thought you said you’ve never been caught.”
Arthur snorted. “Yeah, well… I…” He broke off and turned to Theresa, “Nah, LeBeau’s a wuss. You can do a lot better, believe me.
“Jonesy, you got this?”
Theresa broke her stammering. “You’ve been here longer than any of us, Jubes. Why risk it?”
Bishop suddenly realized where they were standing. “The Danger Room? Are you insane?”
Arthur smiled, and tapped on the door. “Soundproof, ain’t it?”
Jubilee shrugged at Theresa. “Why not? Get a little danger in our lives, huh?”
“Go ahead and let us in, Jonesy.”
Jones gave the group a last look, then turned to the door. He blinked, and it slid open.
“See?” Arthur said, “easy as…”
A metal tube flipped out from the doorway. Arthur jumped to the side, and the gun rotated in the opposite direction.
Right before Lucas Bishop’s world went red, he saw Arthur Centino’s eye flash.
Previous Chapter (Show & Tell) / Next Chapter (Triangles Revisited)