Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 22:44:31 -0400 From: Dash Jarrod Subject: Force of One 12 Disclaimer: The characters of the X-men belong to Marvel comics. I do not know the sexual preferences of any of the characters herein except for those I made up. This story is complete fiction; any resemblance to real life is sheer coincidence. I do not know any celebrity that may be included in this story may or may not be gay. I also do not personally know any of the celebrities. If you are under 18, please don't read any further. I thank my friends Dustin and Alex for allowing me to make them into characters. Also thanks to all of you who have written me about my story. I have enjoyed writing it; I just hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much. The next day, instead of my normal training session, I was sent to the danger-room to test if I had any control over my weather control and magnetism. I also had to see if I could start things on fire with my pyrokinesis. It should be an interesting afternoon to say the least. To say that I wasn't looking forward to the session would be a lie, but I was still a bit apprehensive. The danger-room was set up with a lot of steel bars of varying diameters all over the place. I figure it will change when I either bend every bar, or it turns out that I can't. Before the training began, I telepathically asked the professor if he thought it would be wise to block my telekinesis for the time being. I asked this because I can bend and crush all of the bars telekinetically with no problem what so ever. He replied that it wouldn't be a bad idea, but of course that it would only be temporary while seeing if I can manipulate the magnetic field. With that, I floated up to and into the control room. As soon as I set myself down, the professor wheeled himself over to me and started to block my telekinesis. I could tell that he was having some trouble doing it. Finally he stopped trying and asked me to stop putting up a fight. I couldn't exactly comply with his request because I didn't know I was putting up a fight. I don't think it's a very common thing for Professor X. to have problems getting into someone's mind and doing what he needs to do. This is sort of disconcerting because I didn't know I was powerful enough to give the professor trouble. I don't think there are many people, if any, that can give the professor trouble. I got so worried that I had to ask the professor what it means since he doesn't seem able to block my power. He said that I have probably just grown to be that good and that my psychic barriers were that strong that he couldn't get through. Now, this surprised me because I know how strong his barriers are and how powerful of a mind he is. I guess this means that I have progressed farther than I thought I had and I haven't even learned how to do everything with my power that is possible. Once I heard what the professor said, I went into my own mind and took down the barriers. The barriers were thicker than I remembered making them by a long shot. I guess this can be a good thing but it can also be bad thing. It seems that I can still hear people who talk to me with their telepathy but it also seems that even the most powerful telepath I know can't enter my mind. The only way that I think this is good is that I won't have any problems with psychic attacks while in battle. When I had my barriers down, Professor X. had no problems blocking my telekinesis. Once he was done, I had to walk down to the danger-room. This isn't necessarily a problem because it isn't that far of a walk but I would ordinarily just float back down the way I got up there. As soon as I entered the room again, I received a telepathic message from the professor. It said, "Matthew, I want you to concentrate on bending the bars that we have set up throughout the room. You are to start with the smallest in diameter and move up till you are at the thickest. If you can bend them then move on to the next but if you can't then we will change the setup. Begin whenever you are ready." Since I didn't want to use any power other than my control over magnetism, I didn't even bother to close my eyes. All I did was concentrate on trying to bend the bars. When I thought I had an idea of how to do it, I went up to the first bar and put my hand in the air and aimed it at the bar. At first nothing happened but after getting a reassuring message from Jean, I kept trying. I don't know why, but when I stuck my hand up again, I could see waves come out from it and attack the bar. When I did this, I just sort of moved my hand in an arc pointing down towards the ground and the bar bent with my hand movement. I went up to all of the bars and did the same thing to each. I didn't even have a problem with the thickest bar, which was probably as thick as a person. It should be interesting to see what would happen if I put both of my hands up. With figuring out if I could actually do it or not, it took me nearly half an hour to bend all of the bars. The next thing the room changed into was this old cottage looking thing. The reason it did this was because I think they wanted me to try and set it on fire with my pyrokinesis. This should prove to be interesting. I say this because I don't have my telekinetic abilities to keep me out of the reach of the flames. I wonder if I am immune to the flames because I can start them or not. If I am not, then I guess I will be testing out my healing factor now. I really like using my pyrokinesis because I don't think I will ever run out of energy to use. I was told that I am able to hold over what energy I don't use and it gets added to every time I am out in the sun or in a heated place. The first thing I did when I started to try was to get my hands to glow like they would if I was charging something up. Except this time, I concentrated on making my hands become covered in flame. When I did this and looked down at my hands, I saw they there were covered in small flames, none more than an inch high. As I saw this, I started to bend over to touch the wooden floorboards that I was standing on. It was kind of weird to watch what happened next. When I touched the floor, the flame that was covering my hands sort of looked fluid-like and flowed out from my hand to cover the floor. Once the floor caught on fire, it spread to the rest of the structure. I did notice though that the flames were not hurting me one bit. I could feel them at my feet but it did not worry me at all. As soon as I had completely set the cottage on fire, I tried to use my weather control to produce rain. It took a little while before I had anything happen. While trying to make it happen, I just suddenly thought of a huge rain cloud that was big enough to put out all of the fire. When I thought of it, it just started to appear. And as soon as it was fully formed, it started to pour. Within ten minutes the fire was completely put out. This show of power impressed everyone who was watching. They were surprised with how easily I accessed all of the power that was at my command. I even got two telepathic messages telling me how well I did and that they were majorly impressed with me. One was from Jean the other was from the professor. It seems that I have complete use of all of my powers now. Now all I have to do is finish learning how to do all of the things that are possible for me telepathically. It should prove interesting to learn how to erase memories and knock someone out. Actually, I don't think I can erase memories. I think I will actually just block them from being accessed. Now that my training session was over for the day, I was allowed to go to dinner. I couldn't wait to tell Bobby what I did during my session. I was so excited about what I was able to do now. Plus after dinner, Bobby and I get to go back to our room. Our room, that sounds so nice. But before I left the danger room, I had the professor unblock my telekinesis so that I could once again use it. During dinner though, I got a message saying, "Tomorrow your team will be allowed to go to town and do whatever you want to do for the afternoon. The only thing I request is that you be back here in time for dinner so that we know you are safe. Contact me once you and your friends have finished finalizing your plans." "No problem professor, I will talk to you later then." With that, I telepathically contacted the other three members of the team and told them of what was to happen tomorrow and that we should meet up to discuss what we are going to do. Once I was done with that, I walked with Bobby to our room, and then asked if he would want to meet there. He said that it wouldn't be a bad place to meet because then only two people have to move. Once I got confirmation from him that we could meet in our room, I told Jake and Aaron. In half an hour we were all seated on the two beds thoroughly discussing what we could possibly do in town the next day. Since I had no idea what the options were in town, I didn't really have any ideas to add to the think pot. In the end it was decided that we were going to spend most of the day at the mall and possibly go to a movie. I think it would be funny if we went to see X2, but we will just have to see what we decide if we go to a movie. "Professor, we decided that we are going to spend the afternoon at the mall. We may also go to a movie but that isn't for sure yet. Question for you, should I wear my mini cerebro out tomorrow?" "Thanks for letting me know what you guys are doing. It wouldn't be a bad idea to wear it. Since it looks like a headband, nobody would realize what it was." "Could I put a visor over top of the device or should I leave it as is?" "That doesn't make a difference. It will work either way. But if you want us to put it in your visor for you, let me know. It won't be a problem to do it." "If you don't mind putting it in my visor, I would appreciate it. I don't wear headbands. If I wear anything on my head, its usually a visor." "It's no problem to put it in your visor. Does your visor have some sort of design in the middle of it?" "Yes it does. It has a representation of the mascot of my old college. Why?" "It will be easier to conceal the device if it is hidden behind some sort of design." "Oh, I see. Well, when should I give you my visor? When we get back tomorrow evening?" "That's fine. I will talk to you later then Matt, you should get some sleep." "Thanks. I will talk to you later." With that, I lay down on my bed and went to sleep right away. It had been a long day. I used all of my powers quite a bit. Another reason I went to sleep so quickly was the fact that the sooner I went to sleep the sooner my classes would come and go and then I would be at the mall. Doing something other than schoolwork and training really sounded good. That night, I had a very disturbing dream. I dreamt that before we were able to head home, somebody attacked us. I really couldn't make out who was doing the attacking. All I know is that the attack seemed to come out of nowhere. When I woke up the next morning, I was sweating. The dream really made me worried about going out this afternoon. The first thing I did when I was awake enough to do so was contact the professor about my dream. After I related my dream to him, he didn't seem unduly worried about it. He said that it was probably just my worries about actually doing something outside of the school visualizing themselves in my mind. But just to be safe, if anything does happen, he told me to contact him. Boy, do I wish nothing will happen but who knows if it will or not. Classes that morning got my mind off of the dream. I was certainly glad that I was actually able to concentrate on something else. By the end of the morning I was completely oblivious to the fact that I even had a dream. During lunch, we all got ready for the trip down to the city. As the team leader, I was allowed to take out one of the school vehicles. Now the vehicle I chose was not a bus but more of an SUV type vehicle. It took us a little while to get to town but we didn't care because we were away from the school and allowed to do whatever we want for the afternoon. Of course, we still did what I told Professor Xavier we were going to do. The first thing we did was to go see a movie. We didn't decide what to see until we saw what was actually playing at the theater. It turns out that we saw what I thought would be funny. Don't get me wrong; it was a really great movie. I just think its funny to see how Hollywood does a movie about mutants. During the movie, I couldn't help but talk to Aaron, Jake, and Bobby through telepathy. I wanted to know whether they thought some of the actors were actually mutants. They all told me they would rather discuss it after the movie was over, which was fine with me. It turns out that they thought that some of the actors were probably mutants, but they didn't know for sure. The only person who would know for sure would be the professor. Since Bobby was the only one who was actually made into a character for the movie and comic books, we ended talking about what we thought about the character in the movie. We all thought that the real thing was much better than the on-screen character. Plus, I personally thought that my Bobby was much better looking. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the mall and doing some shopping. By the end of the afternoon we all had at least on bag of stuff that we bought. As we were starting to load all of our purchases into the car, I sensed something coming upon us. I didn't know what it was; all I know is that it was big. When I concentrated more, I could tell that there were four of these things, whatever they are, approaching us at very fast. As soon as I felt it approaching, I told the rest of the team to be prepared for a fight. Before those things got to us, I quickly filled my team in on what I felt. As I was filling in the team, I was also in contact with the professor. Professor X. said, "You and your team should try your best to destroy what I think is sentinels. If you run into too much trouble while dealing with them, contact me again and I will send out some of the other team members to help you guys out. But, I have a feeling that you guys will be able to handle what is coming. This will be your first official mission, so to speak, as a team. Good luck." When I received that, I told the team, "Ok guys, we are supposed to deal with this on our own. It's basically our first mission. We will only get back up if we are having too much trouble taking these sentinels out." With that stated, I got a round of nods from each of the other members. Right before the sentinels landed, Bobby coated himself in ice. While he did this, the rest of us got ready for the fight. I surrounded myself with a protective bubble, so to speak. The bubble shield should keep out all of the laser blasts from the hands of the sentinels. I didn't put the others in the bubble because then their powers wouldn't work. I can still use my telekinesis, telepathy, and control over the weather and magnetism from in it. It should be interesting to see what happens when I use both hands with my control over magnetism, considering I could bend a steel bar that was as thick as a human when only using one hand. Since the sentinels are hollow, or at least I think they are hollow, I wonder if I will be able to tear them open. I guess I will just have to wait and see. When the first set of sentinels landed by us, they started by stating their usual speech. But, since we didn't stop moving for one second, they decided to open fire on us. One of the first people to get hit was Aaron. I wasn't unduly worried when he went down because of his specific mutation. They next fired upon me because I wasn't moving. They thought I would make an easy target, but were far off in that assumption. When they hit my shield the beam just bounced off and went into the air. When that certain sentinel was trying to fire again, I started to use my control over magnetism to my advantage. I stuck both my hands in the air and aimed them at the sentinel that was right in front of me. When I saw the waves come out of my hands again and attack the metal that was the skin of the sentinel, I pulled my hands back and apart. When I was done with this action, my hands were on either side of my head and facing me. Also, the chest of the sentinel was torn wide open. When it realized this, it flew off to home base to get repairs. When I surveyed the area surrounding me, the other sentinel that was part of the first wave was being torn apart by the other three. As it was just about to get finished off, the other two came in to play as well. Of course, they concentrated on the rest of my team and not me. Seeing this, I went and joined them in the fight. When we were working as a group again, it didn't take us long to finish off the remaining sentinels. As it turned out, we did it exactly like we did in the danger room. It was kind of weird that it worked out that way but I will not complain about it. During the drive back to the school, we were all thinking to ourselves. I am sure that we were all thinking about what happened in the parking lot of the mall. That was the weirdest thing to have those sentinels attack us like that in the middle of the public and in the middle of the day. You would think the people who send them out would have better care for those who aren't mutants but they don't care who dies as long as at least one mutant dies with them. Once back at the mansion, I was immediately called down to Professor Xavier's office. As soon as I entered the room and sat down, I was asked to give as detailed an explanation of what went down that afternoon as I could. Since I figured that he didn't want to hear about the movie or the shopping, I started with our trip out to the SUV. With all the detail I put in, it took more than an hour to give the full explanation. When I was done giving an account of what happened that afternoon, I met the rest of my team down at the dining room for a late dinner. I honestly don't have a clue what the professor was going to do about what happened that afternoon. I didn't even get a 'good job' out of him. He was in one of his serious moods where it's hard to get anything out of him that he doesn't want to give up. I would have at least liked to have heard an 'I'm glad you guys are all right', but I guess that wasn't going to happen. Little did my team or I know that he was in fact getting a congratulations party together for us. As we were eating, the party was being prepared and everything was getting set up in Bobby's and I room. All of us got a drink to bring back to our room so we could just spend a while talking about what happened and what we thought of it. When we were outside of our room, I could sense that there was a bunch of people inside so I was prepared to throw a shield around all of us. As it turned out, I didn't need to worry about it. I should have known that they would be people from school and teachers at that because everyone else was allowed to do what they want right after dinner until bed. That doesn't mean that there couldn't be some students in there, but it was unlikely. Anyways, when I opened the door, the staff throwing a party once again surprised me. This time though, it was for my team doing well on its first mission. Still, it was a very nice surprise. The staff and us spent the next hour swapping stories about our first missions. They were all learning experiences for us and after that most of them were better equipped to fight as a team. I know it was certainly a learning experience for me but I am not quite sure about the rest of the team. The reason I am not sure is because they have had longer to learn the extent of their powers where I just learned that I could use some of mine the day before. It doesn't matter really, just as long as we survived without any injuries. After the party was over, my team and I headed to bed. We were really tired because of the extent that we used our powers that afternoon. Since I wanted something comforting that night, I asked Bobby if he wouldn't mind sleeping in my bed with me. I think he was thinking the same thing I was because he didn't hesitate. Actually, when we were lying in bed almost falling asleep, he said, "I am glad you asked because I wanted something comforting after the afternoon we had today." "That's actually why I asked if you wanted to sleep with me tonight. Its sort of funny how we were thinking the same thing. I am definitely not complaining though." With that we fell right asleep in each others arms. Well, that is it for another chapter. I am sorry this one took so long again, but because of lack of feedback I had no incentive to write. I would appreciate some feedback from you this time, so please send me some emails. The more emails I get, the sooner the next chapter will be written and posted. My email address is djminf@hotmail.com. Also, my screen name for AIM is spdyeagl. If you want to give me feedback that way, I am all for that. Thanks.