Tales of a Young Mutant

Chapter 19: Patrol

I landed at Eric's house and rang the doorbell, tears still coming from my face. if I didn't get in soon, the neighborhood would have a flood.

The door opened and Eric was standing there in a t-shirt and shorts. "Joshua, what's wrong?" he asked upon noticing my tears. He invited me in and we sat on the couch. "I know you are upset about Logan being gone. That's understandable. It's hard when the person you care about is nowhere to be found."

"It's not just that anymore, Eric. There's more."

"What is it? I'm here if you want to talk."

"It's. . .my dad."

"Your dad? Did you find your dad?"

"Yeah. His name is Bishop and he's a mutant."

"That's good you found your father finally."

"It would be if he hadn't disowned me."

"Disowned you? What do you mean?"

"I told him. . .that I'm gay and he disowned me."

"Oh no." whispered Eric. He leaned in and took me into a hug. "I'm so sorry that happened."

"He showed up earlier today. Mom and he were talking. She told him that they made me. He wanted to see me, which is why Marie came and got me. I shared with him all of me, who I was and stuff, and he. . .disowned me." I broke down into tears. Eric stretched his molecules to try to give me some comfort and love. It worked and I calmed down a little.

"You've had a lot on your mind, haven't you?" Eric asked.

"Yeah." I said, wiping away a tear.

"I have an idea. Did you bring your X-men suit?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Do you have it with you?"

"It's on underneath my regular clothes. We never know when we will need to wear them with the Friends of Humanity after us."

"Let's suit up and go on patrol. That will help you get rid of some of this stress and tension."

"Okay." I replied.

I went to the main bathroom and removed my outer clothing. I admired myself in the mirror, then went to get Eric. I knocked on the door.

"Come in." Eric said. I opened the door and I Eric noticed my costume. "Looks good. We almost match." he said.

"Yeah." I answered.

He pulled on his mask and we went downstairs. "Did I ever tell you Robin and Nightwing?" he asked.

"I think so , in one of your letters." I replied.

"They are pretty cool. Robin is about your age. We may come across them tonight."

"Cool."

"Ready?"

"Definitely."

"Come one." Over the wall we went. We went from rooftop to rooftop, towards downtown. "So, how are things at the school?" he asked. "You mentioned in your letter about you and Logan. Hard to believe. He seems so macho, so. . .heterosexual."

"He can be a bit rough around the edges, but I think it's just a defense because he's been hurt so much in the past." Even excluding the operation, which was the one thing that hurt him the most. I thought to myself.

"Understandable. I almost did that in Los Angeles after I lost Justin. From there, things kinda spiraled downwards. I was raped, treated like an object, and gays were being bashed left and right. I couldn't take anymore and decided to do something about it. I turned and lashed out at anyone who disagreed with me or threatened me in any way"

"That's not a good way to live. " I said.

"You're right, it's not. With support from friends, I was bale to let go of the pain and deal with life." I felt something wrong. There was the sound of breaking glass, and we immediately became alert. "That's your X-men name again?" he asked.

"Psyche."

"That's what I thought it was. Let's go to work, Psyche." He pulled out a grappling gun and shot a cord, then grabbed me and swung us down to the street. we ran down the street toward the sound of the broken glass. We arrived at a magic shop, the front window busted.

"Burglars?" I asked.

"Possibly. But don't count on it."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you in a minute."

Batman swiftly climbed up onto the ledge of the broken window. From nowhere, something tacked him and they fell.

"Batman!" I exclaimed in concern for my friend.

Batman kicked the "something" in question off of him. It rolled over to me, stopping face up.

"Vampire!" I shouted to no one in particular. I instinctively revealed my psychic claws and decapitated the vampire. I was beginning to think that I was made for this type of thing, like some type of Slayer or something. I walked over to Batman and helped him up.

"Thanks. He said."

"No problem. I wonder what he was here for." I replied.

"Looks like we have more to ask."

I looked back to the window, where several more vampires climbed out. Then a man in purple robes floated out of the window and hovered in mid-air.

"Ah costumed freaks." he said.

"Look who's talking, Merlin." I said in a cocky tone.

"Merlin?"

"Yeah, from King Arthur's day?" I said, faking surprise that the sorcerer didn't know one of the most famous sorcerer names of all time.

"I'll show you Merlin, boy!"

The wizard's hand glowed and then he threw a fireball at us. We jumped away from each other and the ball hit the street.

"Missed me!" I yelled. He threw another one, and I ducked it. Whew! I thought.

"No matter." the wizard said. He then turned to his vampire minions. "Kill them!"

The vampires surrounded us. Slowly the wizard hovered into the air, up to the roof of the magic shop.

"We've got to find out what he stole," Eric said, pulling out too wooden stakes.

"How do you propose we do that?" I asked.

"Fight off some of these first. Then I'll go after him."

"Sounds like a plan." I said before powering my psi--claws.

Two vamps attacked Eric. He flipped over them and staked them from behind.

Two more ran at me. I hurriedly decapitated one, and the other swung at me. I kicked him in the stomach after dodging, and I beheaded him in his hunched-over position. This all seemed so natural to me. Maybe I inherited Logan's instincts. Maybe some of them flowed into me when--no, no time to think about that now, focus on the fight!

I looked towards Batman, who was about to be drained by a vampire. I flipped over to him, then beheaded the vampire. I helped Batman up. Why does this feel so--natural? I thought to myself.

"Thanks again." he said.

"That's what I'm here for." I replied.

"You think you can handle the rest?" he asked me. I looked to see four more vampires.

"Yeah. Where are you going?"

"After the wizard." Eric floated up to the rooftop, and I turned my attention back to the vampires. They charged at me. I leapt over them, then when one came back at me I sliced its head off. The other three showed a look of recognition.

"The chosen one!" One of them cried out.

"We can take him out. Our Lord and Master will be pleased."

The three ran at me, triple teaming me. It was pretty hard, blocking all of their hits. My T. K. shield barely held. Eventually I had enough of it had I levitated and kicked two of the vampires. One flew into the air at me. I used my control over the elements to throw him with the wind into a wall of the magic shop. The other two pulled out heavy chains. "Now you're gonna get it!" they remarked.

"Nope. You are." I said. I caused a lightning bolt to hit the chains, which caused the vampires to be electrocuted. The electricity caused the vampires to be electrocuted. It also sparked, and they caught on fire. The exploded into dust without any direct contact.

I had forgotten about the last vampire, who grabbed me from behind. I used my telekinesis to push me hard backwards into a wall, stunning the vampire, since he was behind me, and causing him to let go. I stepped away, then swiftly swiped and beheaded it.

I flew into the sky and landed when I found Batman. The wizard was nowhere to be found.

"Where's the wizard?"

"Got away."

"What next?"

"We investigate. Try to figure out what he stole from the magic shop." We went back to the magic shop and went in. The place was a mess in one area. We looked through the stuff on the floor.

"This is crazy . How are we supposed to know what is missing?" I asked.

"You're right. I don't have much knowledge in the way of magic. If I could get a hold of a watcher or the local slayer, I---"

Sirens were heard in the distance.

"We'd better get out of here. . .police are coming." stated Batman. We jumped out the window and climbed to the roof. Once we were over hte edge the police pulled up.

"How will we find out what the wizard took?" I asked.

"Police report in the newspapers. I may be able to come down here tomorrow and ask him. Let's get going."

We returned to Eric's house and changed. As we walked downstairs, Lance came in. Lance looked at us, concerned, with his brow crinkled.

"We just got back from patrol." Eric said. "How was your evening?"

"Rather interesting. The band `Ocean Whispers' has some kind of super powers." replied Lance.

"What?" Eric asked.

"Yeah. We were attacked by vampires."

"Oh my goodness. Was anyone hurt?"

"No. Well yeah, the vampires."

"I wonder why they attacked you. I mean besides the fact you're gorgeous and they were probably jealous." said Eric.

"Maybe they just wanted to feed." I said, interrupting the flirting.

"Maybe. There were an awful lot of them, though." Lance said.

"Hmm."

"What?" i asked Eric.

"I didn't tell you guys this but. . .I've been running into vampires lately who have been telling me of a growing evil. It doesn't sound very good. I wonder if Batgirl had contacted the Watchers' council yet."

I wondered if this growing evil had anything to do with me. I wanted to ask Eric to contact the Watchers and ask them if they knew what a Chosen One is, but I didn't want to worry him more than he was about me. Maybe there were two different evils, and that the one Eric kept tracking had to do with me. After all, the sorcerer did go to the magic shop.

But that doesn't explain the fact that the vampires attacked when they realized you were the Chosen One, whatever that means. Does that mean that I'm one of the Demon's Most Wanted or one of the highest bounties? I thought to myself. I began to also question why I had so many powers. Even from heredity, I shouldn't have so many powers. But I resorted to keeping those questions to myself. I decided to ask Eric about the growing evil he spoke of before I assumed it was about me.

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