Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:58:02 -0400 From: Jonathan Subject: The Ultimate X-Men Chapter 4 First off, I know nothing of the sexuality of any person mentioned in this story. And I don't know any of them and never will. Secondly, X-Men and all its characters are created by Stan Lee. Copyright of Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. Third, email if you want.:) xmanpaul@hotmail.com This story is based off The Ultimate X-Men comic strip. The story, however, will be quite different from the comic book. So read on if you want. 'Indicates someone think to themselves' {Indicates communication over a comlink.} Chapter 4 Paul sat up in his bed the next morning and looked at the alarm clock. It said seven am and he grudgingly reached over and turned it off. Paul knew he had to get up and go to the hand -to-hand combat class. He stepped out of the bed and started to stretch. He could believe how sore he was for the sparring with Scott. `That guy can fight.' Paul thought to himself. He did his normal routine. Stretched out all of his muscle in everyway possible. After he was done he headed into the bathroom. In about ten minutes he came out of the bathroom all shiny and new. Showers always made him feel alive, and if didn't have a nice, really hot shower in the morning he was a bitch for most of the day. After getting dressed, he headed out into the wall and shut his door. He wasn't really sure where to go to get, but he knew his stomach was demanding food. Paul thought as loud as he could. she answered almost instantly. Paul asked. She replied. Paul asked her. She answered back. Paul said. Jean answered. Paul answered back. Jean finished. With that Paul headed down the steps and into the kitchen. He heard some talking before he entered, but wasn't sure who it was. "G'morning" Paul said rather cheerfully as he walked into the kitchen. He then realized that Ororo and Hank were the two he heard talking. He smiled at them both. "Good morning." Hank said with a smile. "Mornin'." Ororo said flatly. Paul walked up to the fringe whistling some random song that popped into his head. "Is that that song from Moulin Rouge?" Ororo said looking over at Paul. "Oh no. You not one of those disturbingly cheerful people in the morning, are you?" Paul thought for a second then answered. "Ah, yeah, to both. That is a song from that movie and I am very cheerful in the morning. But hey if you don't like cheerful, then cut off the water and I'll magically transform into a bitch." Paul said pouring himself some orange juice. "Don't mind her, she's just a bit drained from our encounter last night." Hank said pulling out a chair for me to sit in. "No prob, and thx." Paul said sitting down. "Yeah, last night was a bit draining. Between that sparring match and moving that robot thing I was worn out." "You must be hiding some huge muscle to be able to move one of those things." Ororo said laying her down on the table. "No no. I didn't do it physically or alone. I'm a telekinetic and Jean helped set that thing down." Paul said sipping his orange juice. "So we have another mind-mover among us. And one that can fight. I'm fine with that." Ororo said. "So do ya'll prefer you real names or do you go by your code-names all the time?" Paul asked. "Well, I would much rather you call me Hank. But we mostly have code-names for the missions. So call me Hank." "I don't really care either way, but we tend to call each other by our real names when not on missions. You can call me Storm or Ororo." she said. "I guess its just Paul for now. I haven't been given a code-name yet." Paul answered while taking a bite out of his muffin. The three continued to eat in the silence and make small talk as they ate. A few minutes passed and they all finished up. "Hey, are ya'll going to that combat class?" Paul asked as he set his dishes in the sink. "I'm not. I passed the first level efficiency test." Beast said standing from the table. "I am." Ororo said. "Mind if I tag along. I don't really know me way around yet." Paul said to her. "No, I don't mind at all." she turning towards the door. "Just follow me." "Bye Hank, see ya later." Paul said as he followed after Ororo. "This place is pretty big. It seems to big for less than ten people." Paul said walking down the hall. "Well, the plan is the make this into a school for helping mutants learn to use and control their abilities. But right now it's just us." Ororo said pressing a button to bring the elevator. They both stepped on. "So, you must be a pretty powerful telekinetic if you moved a sentinel. Well, from what I understand about telekinesis that is." "I'm not really sure about specifics yet." Paul said leaning against the wall of the elevator. "All I know is that I can move things with my mind and how I can do it. And its kinda weird being somewhere I can use my powers freely." "Yeah, it is nice." with a swish the elevator doors opened and they started walking down the corridor. "Well, here we are." As they approaching the doors they opened automatically and they walk into the room that Scott and Paul had sparred in the night before. Scott, Jean, and Peter were already there. "Welcome to the `Danger Room'." Ororo said sweeping her hand in from one side of the room to the other. "Hey ya'll!" Paul said with a smiling as him and Ororo walked up to the others. "Glad you found your way down here." Jean said with a smirk as she walked beside Ororo. "Good morning Ororo." "You know, I'm still sore for last night." Scott said rubbing his shoulder. "Your not going take this class, are you?" "Well, I think I am." Paul answered. "Hello, I hope you are doing well." Peter said in his Russian-English accent. "I am, you?" Paul said back. "I'm doing well." Peter said with a nod. "So, when do we start?" Paul questioned looking to Scott. "About now." Scott answered. Paul couldn't help but smile at him. He had these kinda dimples lookin' things on his cheeks. They were so cute. And his smile was so bright it could blind you. `I wonder what is his eyes look like?' Then Paul's eyes started to drop a little lower and Paul suddenly caught himself staring and pulled himself out of the dreamland. `Man, I hoped no one noticed that.' Paul thought to himself. Paul heard and he instantly looked to Jean. She had s devilish grin on her face. She said with that smile still one his face. > Paul sent back. She answered looking at Paul. Paul replied. She sent back with a slight look of disgust. "Oh no. Their doing the telepathic talking thing." Scott said. Paul thought back to her. He was getting a little excited now and his mind started running in a bunch of different directions. "I really don't like it when her and the professor do that. I hope they don't make a habit of it." Ororo said. Jean thought back to Paul, but he was too caught up in his thoughts to respond. "Paul? Paaaul? Paul?" Scott said grabbing Paul by both his shoulders and shaking him. "Geez!" Paul yelled with a start. "Man, don't scare a person like that, please." "What were you doing in there?" Scott asked. Paul said to Jean as he looked over to her. She smiled as Scott started to talk again. "Can we getting started, now?" "Paul, the Professor wanted run some tests on you. The normal stuff. Medical mainly. So you won't be participating in this class." Jean said giving Paul a friendly smile. " Not that you really need to take this class." "Oh, ok. Guess I'll see ya'll later then." Paul said with a bit of a country accent and a wave. With that he followed Jean out of the Danger Room and once again down the hall. They entered the Med-bay soon after that and Professor Xavier was already preparing the equipment. "Good morning, Paul. I hope you are feeling well this morning." The Professor said politely. "Yes, sir. How are you?" Paul questioned. "I am well." the Professor said moving his wheel chair to another bank of computer equipment. He began to press some button and flip some switches. "Shall we begin?" he said indicating for Paul to sit on the large bed in the middle of the room. "Sure, but what exactly will you be doing?" Paul asked sitting down on the black hard surface of the bed. "We pretty much know the you are a telekinetic, but I would like to confirm it for sure. Jean will be assisting me and will just simply do a few tests that will identify your x-gene. Jean will then just give you a basic medical work up for our records." Xavier said wheeling over in front of the medical bed. "Ok, I'm ready. Whenever your ready doc." Paul said smiling at Jean as she put on a lab coat over her red t-shirt and jeans. "Please remove your shirt and lie down." Jean said as she pulled a rather large machine over beside the table. "Just lie still and this will be over quickly." After attaching a few sensors to Paul chest, Jean turned on the machine. She started punching buttons and taking notes on a clipboard. She was right, after about a minute and a half the, she was done. "And we're finished. It will only be a few moments before the information is translated. So, how have you liked the school so far, Paul?" Professor X asked Paul. Jean turned and started working with one of the computer banks. "Very, very nice. Quite beautiful. May I put my shirt back on?" Paul answered sitting up. "Yes, of course." he said. "How is she doing?" Paul said looking over to the girl still lying on one of the other medical beds. "She is fine, but she's is still asleep. We managed to identify her as Rebecca Anderson. And tests confirm she is a mutant." he answered Paul's query. "What can she do?." Paul asked. "Her body is inductive to electrical currents. It appears that she could have immense control over most things that deal with electrical fields." He answered. "I understand that you demonstrated a great use of your telekinetic power in last night's engagement." "I guess." Paul said shrugging his shoulders while sliding his blue t-shirt over his upper-torso. "I was just doing what I thought needed to be done. Ah, Jean helped as well." "You do realize that a single sentinel weighs close to 18 tons? No offense to Ms. Grey, but she is only rated a 7 tons. Which means that you were lifting at least 11 tons by yourself." The professor said. "I didn't know that they weighed the much. There is no way I could have lifted that much." Paul said shaking his head in astonishment. "Well, that is why you're here. To learn about your powers and to learn to control and use them." Jean turned from the computer and handed the results to Xavier. "We were right to assume that you are telekinetic, but it seems that you do not have any telepathic abilities at all." "I thought I had only minor telepathic powers. I was able to communicate with you and Jean. And I've always been able to block my brothers telepathy somewhat." Paul said standing from the table. "You do not have any telepathic abilities, but it does seem that you do you the abilities of what is called telempathy." Paul gave both Xavier and Jean a strange look. "However, according to the test, they are only small telempathic powers in their degree, but your telekinetic powers are higher than I've have ever seen." "What is telempathy exactly?" he asked. "It is the abilities to read and manipulate the emotions of others." Jean said. "It is a very, very rare among the mutant community. To my knowledge there is no other recorded telempathy on the earth." the Professor said. "Well, if I'm not a telepath, then how did I talk with you and Jean?" Paul continued with the questions. "Well, I don't know for sure, but I assume that since telempathy is a psionic gift that it gave you the ability to speak with us." he said. "So, am I going to be able to use this ability even though of its low magnitude?" Paul asked the Professor. "Yes, of course. It is fortunate that these powers haven't manifested yet." He said wheeling his chair over to looked at the girl. "They could have caused tremendous strain on you, both emotional and physically." "When my telepathic abilities kicked in I almost went insane. I would have loved to be here when that happened." Jean said pulling herself onto the table that Paul had been lying on. "Well, I think I'm done here." Xavier said turning his chair to face Paul. "Jean will finish your medical workup then you will both be expected in the combat training course at 9:45." "Yes, Professor." Jean said. "Yes, sir." Paul said as the professor said exiting the room. Jean hopped off the table and headed for her clipboard. Her face held a look of disappointment. "Sorry to put a damper on your day." Paul said sitting back down on the table again preparing for the exam. "Oh, sorry. It's not you. It's that combat training class." she said pulling a chair in from across the room with a thought. "I'm just tired of having so many of them. We have them everyday now." "It kinda seems that they would be important for teamwork and such." Paul stated while pulling his legs under him and sitting Indian-style on the table. "I know and it is. Anyway, I just have a couple questions to ask. This won't take long." Jean said starting down her checklist of medical questions. She was wrong, though. Between the medical questions, and her and Paul talked about different things it took a while. They talked about the getting to know you kinda stuff, and an hour and a half later she finally finished her exam. "Goody, just in time for your fav class, Jean." Paul said looking at the clock on the wall that said 9:36. "Yippy skippy." she answered. Paul started to laugh. "What?" "I thought I was the only person who said `yippy skippy'." Paul said as he continued to chuckle a little. "Come on, we're going to be late." She said pulling him by the arm out of the room. "Wait, what about her?" Paul said stopping Jean and pointing to the girl on one of the other tables. "If she wakes up I'll know, but she probably won't. Hank had to give her a sedative so that she could sleep." She said continuing her walk out the door. Paul walked after her and thought about how go friends that Jean and him could become. He hoped that they did. As the two of them were walking down the hall, to the Danger Room, Paul started to sing a song. Paul had this problem with getting a song stuck in his hand and then singing that song repeatedly. "It that a song from Chicago?" Jean asked as they entered the elevator. "Yup, sure is." Paul nodded. "You like musicals?" "Oh, I love them. My favorite is probably Grease." She replied. "Yeah, that was mine until I saw `Chicago' last week." Paul said and then he continued singing `Funny Honey'. In the next few moments they got out of the elevator and Paul followed Jean out of the and down the corridor. "There should be a uniform in there for you to wear." She said pointing at the door that said `Men's Locker Room'. "Scott got your measurement like I asked him to, didn't he?" "Nope, sorry." "He may remember all the big things, but he forgets a lot of the little things. And don't you tell him I said that." She walked right by Paul and into the locker room. "Hey, what if someone in there?" Paul said walking after her. "Psychic, remember. I scanned the room. There's not even anyone on this level except us." She said walking up to the locker that said Scott on it. She opened it up and pulled out a uniform. She held the uniform up beside Paul and looked at him then the uniform. "Yup, looks like a fit to me." She said pushing the uniform into Paul's arms and rushing off out of the room. "Hurry up. I'll meet you outside, in like two minutes." Paul stood there for a second staring. He wasn't sure if he wanted to wear Scott's uniform and he hadn't even asked if it was all right. But he didn't see where he had much of a choice. So he pulled off his clothes and out the uniform on. The uniform fit fine, but the boots didn't fit at all. Bang! Bang! Bang! "Hurry up Paul!" Jean yelled banging on the door. Paul picked up his stuff and the boots she had given him and walked out to meet her. She was standing in a black leather uniform just like the one he was wear. "The boots don't fit. They're a little big." He told her. "Ok." She walked over to a locker that was in the main area and opened it up. "What size?" "9 ½. What should I do with a my stuff?" "Go back in there and put in an empty locker and be quick about it." She said as she dung through the locker. Paul did what she said and when he came back out she was holding another pair of boots. "Here, let's go." Paul caught the boots in mid-air with his powers as they were thrown at him. Bringing the boots to him he quickly put them on. Jean was in a hurry and Paul finally figured out why. They were late. Like really late. Like 15 minutes late and he jogged to catch up with her. In no time they were at the Danger Room and everyone was standing outside waiting on them. Everyone being Scott, Ororo, Hank, and Peter. Bobby was there, but he wasn't in a uniform. "Where you two been. We've been waiting." Scott said looking to Jean. "Well, if someone had gotten Paul's measurements like I asked him to we would been here much sooner." Jean said kind of pointedly. "I had to give him one of yours." "That's fine. Shall we get started?" Scott said approaching the door. "Umm, sorry, but still not really clear on what we're getting ready to do." Paul said a little shyly. "I mean I haven't had any training of any kind with ya'll. I think I'll just mess ya up." Paul said playing with one of the clips on his uniform. "Not a big deal. We're doing a low level training course today. Just do what you can to take out the bots and watch out for your teammates. Plus, the professor told me that you were to participate in this exercise." Scott answered shrugging his shoulders. "So, let's hit it." The large doors to the room opened and we all returned, except for Bobby that is. It seemed harmless enough. Huge metal room, smooth walls. No big deal. The six of them walked to the middle of the room and stopped. "Computer began training program RL1I3." Scott stated. "Acknowledged." came back the toneless voice. "No matter what happens your not gonna get hurt. So don't worry." Hank said to me. "Well, it stings a little." Ororo said to me. "No it doesn't." Hank insisted. "Just a little." Jean looked to me. "Program initiating in 3...2...1." The voice of the computer droned. Out of thin air about 20 some robots appeared. The bots started to shoot almost immediately. Everyone reacted and moved into action. Everyone except Paul. For a split second Paul stood still. Then he felt a stinging feeling in his shoulder and popped back into reality. The robots were very human-like and they were very agile. They made of a green metal and each carried a beam emitter on its wrist. One of the robots was firing at him and barely dodged the other two beams of energy by jumping into the air. He floated in the air for second and took stock. Scott was blasting the things left and right. Peter was ripping them apart with ease and so was Hank. Strom was frying the bots and Jean was blocking the beams off her and everyone else. The robots seemed to keep coming. More and more of the robots kept showing up. Paul figured it was time for him to get involved. First, he picked two of them up and tossed them into the closed wall. Setting himself down on the floor, Paul kept a shield up to block the beams flying towards him. Scott was dodging beams as much as he could, but he was still getting hit. There were so many of the bots and a lot of them were moving towards Scott. Paul knew he could help. Lifting himself into the air once again, he headed to Scott. "Going up!" he yelled to Scott who looked up to him. Paul extended his mind and pulled Scott to him. "You can hit them from here, right?" Scott nodded. Paul put up a Tk shield and started towards the opposite side of the room. Scott had much better access to the bots now and was nailing them easily. "K, I'm settin' us down." Paul had gotten them to the other side of the room and Scott was clear, at least for now, of the robots. Paul relaxed his mind and then reached deep into his thoughts and focused. He sent nine of the bots flying. Making a gripping motion with his right hand and he literally crushed in the robots with his thoughts. He jerked his hand to the right and sent the debris of the crushed bot into another one. Paul had gradually made his way away for Scott and was now closer to Hank, or Beast as he was called. Beast was moving fast and knocking around the bots in the process. Paul got an idea. "Beast, cannon ball!" Paul yelled. Beast got the idea and jumped several feet into the air and curled into somewhat of a ball. With a thought Paul caught him before he hit the ground and threw him at a robot close to them. Beast had it down and right before he hit the bot he uncurled and buried his large feet into its chest. The robot broke into pieces as Beast pushed off its chest, executed a back flip, and landed on the ground. Jean was holding her own against the bots. Throwing them through the air every which way. She definitely could handle herself. Paul started picking up bots again. Tossing them into to each other or into walls. What ever worked the best. Paul looked to Storm. She was letting the electricity flow form her hands and blowing several robots to pieces. She was doing her best to dodge the beams of energy and fight back at the same time. She seemed to be getting a little worn-out. Once he reached Storm's side, Paul pushed out as much power as he could. The closest robots were thrown back. Storm stood beside Paul and started blasting the hell out of them. Now that she didn't need to dodge energy blast, she could concentrate on her powers. "Combat level increasing by two." said the computer's mechanical voice. It seemed like all the robots were coming at Paul and Storm. Paul had the Tk shield up and he had started ripped off the bots' appendages, leaving them in an electronic mess. Storm was still firing the electricity from her hands. Paul finally started to feel some strain on his mind. He was taking apart ten or twelve of the robots at once and holding up the shield. "Combat level increasing by five." The computer said once again. "Behind us!" Storm yelled. Paul hadn't noticed, but the bots were now coming up behind them. None of their energy blasts were getting through, but if not taken care of then they could get to close. The two X-Men were now standing close to the center of the room and had no cover of any kind. "I'm moving us!" Paul yelled back. Both of them picked up off the floor and started moving through the air. Paul figured that a wall would at least keep the bots from coming at their backs. As he was heading for a wall he didn't see the others anymore. "Where's the rest of the team?" he yelled to Storm. "I don't know!" she replied as she was looking around. They came to a wall and Paul sat them down in front of it. They continued doing what they had been doing before. Just taking out robot after robot. Time pasted and nothing changed. More robots kept coming. Storm started to slow down in her blasting the bots. "You all right?" he questioned. "I don't think I can keep this up. We've never gone from this long before." she said. Suddenly, Storm feel to the ground. "Storm!" Paul said dropping to her side. He kept the shield up, but was no long fight back. "What's wrong?" "Nothing just tired. Keep going." she said. "I'll be fine, just give me a minute." Thought as loudly as he could, but he didn't get a reply. Without someone holding them back the robots advanced on Paul and Strom. One reached them. Paul barely noticed in time. He put on his hand and sent the machine flying back. "Where the hell is everybody!" Paul yelled. He knew that they weren't dead. That couldn't happen. This was only a training program. He started ripping off arms and leggings again. `What if something went wrong? What if all of them are not all right?' Paul thought to himself. Paul pleaded desperately. `Something's gone wrong!' thought Paul. `Jean would answer me. They're all died. Something happened. Something happened. Ok, clam down. Focus. You still have to get you out of this.' Paul said to himself to clam down. Then the anger welled up in him. `What did this!?' was all he could think. He was far beyond pissed off. He was tired, his head was hurting, and he really scared for the others. He looked down at Storm, but to his surprise she was gone. "What The Hell!" he yelled. Ok, now this was getting weird. He had no clue what was going on. And the damn robots kept coming, never stopping to give him a rest. "FINE!" Paul yelled. He dropped to one knee and pulled the Tk shield as close to him as he possibly could. He stopped attacking the bots and rested his mind as the robots started towards him. Paul cleared his mind and focused all his energy into one small spot in his mind. Pooling all his energy in that little space. He put as much power in that spot as he could muster. It was like a pressure cooker. The power and energy building and wanting release. As the first line of robots reached him, Paul pulled back his arms and steadied himself. Releasing all of the energy he had stored up like a wave the energy released from Paul and the walls of the room actually shook. He pushed his hands out and the line of robots picked up off the ground flew backwards. Paul slowly walked forward pushing more and more energy into the offensive push. Like a cascading effect the robots flew backwards by the rows. It seemed like there were almost a hundred bots, but that didn't stop Paul. He was tired of this game and he wanted it to end. He kept pushing and kept walking. The robots were being pushed backwards and when Paul had them all in the air he threw them into the wall. Continuing to push. Sounds of wrenching metal could be heard everywhere. He pushed until he had crushed every one of the bots. Finally he had taken care of the bots, he collapsed. It wasn't until now that he realized how badly his head was hurting. It was throbbing and it felt like his heart of in his head. As he was kneeling there, the door of the Danger Room opened and the rest of the team came strolling in. All of them. Storm, Jean, Scott, Peter, Hank, and the Professor. "Oh my god, ya'll are alive." Paul said trying to summon enough strength to stand. It didn't happen. On his way to stand his legs gave way and he started to fall. Fortunately, Scott was fast enough to catch him before he hit the ground. But he tried to shrug the help off. "I'm fine, I got." He insisted, but Scott didn't budge. "That was amazing, Paul." Jean said. "Yes, it certainly was. You are probably the powerful telekinetic mutant in the world Paul." The Professor said. "You just took down about 50 bots by yourself." Hank said. "That was amazing?" Paul said as realization struck him and the anger came back. "That wasn't amazing. That was terrifying. I thought you were all dead. And to be able to do what I just did? That was scary. So, I think I put this together." Paul stated. "Ya'll thought that it would be a good idea to see how far I could go, didn't you? Figured, don't let him know about it. It might be fun. Well, just so you know. I didn't think that was fun at all." Paul said almost shouting. "I thought ya'll were all dead. I thought that I wasn't good enough to save you, that if I had been better you would be alive. I thought it was MY FAULT!" he said emphasizing the last two words. "And now I find out was just played for a fool." Paul stopped and no one else said a thing. The room was silent. The others were stunned by Paul's sudden outburst. The Professor looked to Jean, and turned her to face him. She asked. He replied. The Professor raised an eyebrow. Jean said. Scott was giving her a look, and kept switching between glaring at her and the professor. "I know what it feels like to have someone die because I wasn't good enough to save them. That particular feeling was not something I wanted to relive." Paul took a claming breath. "Ok, I'm really pissed off right now, so I'm gonna go." At least he tried to go. He wanted to walk away, but didn't think he had the strength. Also, Scott was still holding him up. Paul willed himself the strength to move his legs and finally then did. He started to walk towards the door pulling his arm free of Scott's hold in the process. "Paul wait." Scott said as Paul walked away. "This is our fault. Shouldn't we do something to help him?" Scott said to the Professor. "This is a not an issue of being a mutant Scott. It is one of being human. He must deal with it on his own." Xavier answered him. "Professor," Scott protested. "If you haven't noticed we're human too." Scott said rather angrily. He started to walk from the room, but Xavier stopped him. He said to him. "Fine." By this time Paul had exited the room and made it to the elevator. He hit the button for the main floor and collapsed to floor of the elevator. He was now breathing heavily for the exertion of the walk to the elevator. He didn't know how he was going to make it to his bedroom. The elevator door's opened and Paul pushed himself up and out. It took all the strength he had to make it up the stair and into his bedroom. He wanted badly to take a shower, but instead he just fell onto his bed. His eye weren't open for long before he fell to the demands of sleep.