Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:32:39 +1000 From: thothboi@hotmail.com Subject: Weaver X: Chapter 9 Xmen is the trademarked property of Marvel, all Marvel Characters are copyrighted to Marvel, their characters are borrowed, for the purposes of the story. This is a work of Gay fiction, containing adult situations between consenting males. If you are under the legal age in your country, DO NOT CONTINUE, otherwise, I hope you enjoy. Weaver X: Chapter 9. Alex sagged behind a rock, panting. That massive....thing, robot, whatever...it had come out of nowhere. He took a quick breath and peered over the top of the rock, the robot was busy dealing with Storm and Colossus for the moment. Rogue skidded to a halt beside him. She too had to undergo extensive training, well, in her case, retraining. Alex's healing had done more than allow her to contain her draining ability, she could now, with a little difficulty, hold on to another mutant's powers for a day or two. "Here." Alex held out his hand and winced as she lightly tapped his powers. "Let me heal you." He whispered, she had a deep gash on her cheek and was moving stiffly. "You next." She responded, barely shuddering as the weave sank into her. Like few others, it was something she'd become used to. Alex shuddered himself as Rogue used the weave on him in return. "Thanks. How the hell do we beat that thing?" "Beats me." Rogue muttered, looking over the top of the rock, ducking as pieces of debris scythed through the air. "Somehow we gotta crack that thing's shell." Alex grinned maniacally and kissed Rogue on the cheek. "You're a genius." He straightened up and wove a shield around himself. Striding towards the massive robot he watched Colossus fly over his head, Storm was on her own, throwing lightning that seemed to have little effect. Alex seized his ability and channelled flows of Earth, breaking the ground under the immense machine, forcing it to pay attention to its footing. In quick succession, Alex wove air and fire, then air and Earth, creating a scything action aimed at the thing's legs. The weaves cut part- way through the leg, and succeeded in gaining the robot's attention. The robot lifted a hand and unleashed a sizzling laser beam that would have fried Alex, had he not woven a shield, even so, he felt the air around him becoming uncomfortably hot. Weaving the sharpest thing he knew how, Alex wove a gateway in the middle of the robot's arm. The edges of an opening gateway were the sharpest thing in the world, Beast had tested them against diamonds, and the edges had sliced them neatly in two. The gateway rotated open, slicing neatly through the futuristic alloy, severing the thing's arm. "Storm, now! The arm!" Alex felt Rogue weave as she shouted. The volume of that shout told Alex what she'd woven, Rogue's voice was louder than a jet engine next to your head, the result of a simple weave he'd discovered when trying to call out over a large crowd. It wasn't something for use indoors. Storm flew backwards and seeing the unprotected innards of the robot, blasted them with several hundred thousand volts. Alex saw Rogue step up beside him from the corner of his eye and begin to weave. A half-second later he grinned and copied the weave, fire and air woven just so...Rogue glanced over and grinned at him and Alex couldn't help grinning back, they released their weaves together, adding their own continuous blasts of lightning. An eternity of moments later, the massive machine began sparking all over and started to sag, Alex stepped back, letting his weave go, drawing Rogue with him as the massive robot toppled over. Alex drew a ragged breath as the robot, and the battlefield shimmered away, leaving the familiar blues of the danger room. "Well that was just the most fun I've ever had." He drawled sarcastically as Storm landed. "You two did well." She announced, smiling. "You're working well in a group." She continued as she always did after one of these sessions, Alex tuned her out. In the three months since healing Rogue, Alex's life had turned into sleep, eat, bathe, train, repeat...none of the Professor's dire predictions had come to pass. Alex shook his head. "Sorry Storm, do you mind if I go and change now?" He interrupted the team leader. Storm looked at him gently and smiled. "Of course, we can go over the details later. Good work everyone." She walked over to the doors and disappeared into the changing rooms. "What's the matter?" Rogue asked him gently, watching Colossus follow Storm out of the Danger room. "Nothing, I'm just getting itchy feet I think." Alex responded absently, weaving a gateway to his room. Rogue frowned as the gateway opened. "One of these days you're going to do that and get someone you're not expecting to be there." She shook her head. "You want to come down to the mall with me later? I need to get some clothes, funny how the ones you wear here always seem to wear out faster." Alex laughed softly. "Yeah, seems that way." He stepped through the gateway into his room. "I'll catch you later." He smiled at her as he let the gateway close. Dropping the smile as soon as it was gone, Alex walked slowly into his bathroom and showered. It wasn't that he was unhappy precisely, more like lonely. He thought as he washed himself. Rogue had Bobby, Kitti had Colossus, Peter, whatever...and he was...alone. Sighing he reached for his towel and wrapped it around his waist. It wasn't like there weren't gay mutants, or gays who didn't mind mutants, but...Alex sighed and took out his cigarettes, opening his window, he wove a chimney of air, to carry the smoke away. If he was to smoke in his room, that was the compromise that Scott had agreed to. Alex touched a cigarette to his lips and lit it with a flow of fire. Inhaling raggedly he stared vacantly out at the mansion's grounds. No-one wanted to be alone. *** Alex woke and quickly turned off his alarm. Rolling over, he picked up his clothes and wove a small orb of blue-white light, it provided just enough light to see by, and not enough to be noticed coming from under the door. Dressing quickly he snatched the bag of clothes he'd packed earlier that night and swung it onto his shoulder. Days of thinking and another week of planning was all the time it had taken him to arrive at one simple conclusion, as much as he had grown to love the mansion and respect his teachers, it was time to go out into the world, at least for a while. Weaving silence and invisibility shields, he knotted them off and added another, more complicated weave of the fifth element he'd taken to calling life, since it was necessary when dealing with all living things. The last weave was one he'd discovered in the course of his training. It prevented a Telepath from entering his thoughts, or even being able to sense him at all. With a silent apology to the Professor, he set the ward, and slid out of his window on a bridge woven from air. Touching the ground, he ran silently towards the woods, keeping an eye out for Logan, who patrolled the grounds most nights against intruders, and students sneaking out. Entering the woods, he slid further into the darkness under the leafy boughs until at last all sign of the mansion was obscured. Weaving briskly, he opened a gateway to the other side of the world and stepped through, letting it close behind him. Silence and invisibility wards may have been effective against the majority of people at the mansion, Logan, however, could sniff anyone out, if he could find the trail, one that ended abruptly and started again on the other side of the world would have to be out of his league though. Shaking his head as heat hit him like an avalanche, Alex examined sand dunes for any sign of human life. There was none, as he'd expected. He'd travelled to the Simpson Desert in the Australian outback, a location so inimical to human life, that he was almost totally guaranteed no-one would be there to witness his bizarre entrance. Alex quickly stripped off his dark outer layer of clothing, revealing light coloured shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt. He'd lived in Australia long enough to know that light colours reflected heat and although long sleeved clothes were annoying in the least, severe enough sunburn could kill. Stuffing his clothes into his bag, he wandered aimlessly down a sand dune. It didn't really matter where he was going, not here anyway, he was just killing time. Alex wiped his forehead, pushing sweat aside, regretting not bringing a hat, but he'd never worn one, even when living in Australia. Looking around at the base of the nearest sand dune, he channelled flows of air and earth, scooping out a large chunk of the sand, while supporting the rest. At least that was the idea, cursing, Alex ran as the sand dune, always precarious collapsed and roared down towards him. Instinct flared as Alex ran and he wove a complex tapestry of earth, air and fire. The hissing sound of oncoming sand halted, replaced by burning heat and an acrid smell. Surprised, Alex turned to see the area behind him had melted into a solid mass of glass covering the once moving sands. Startled, Alex staggered back, as much from surprise as from the incredible heat. Staring for a moment, he barked a rough laugh, weaving the complex weave once more with purpose, after a few moments he stepped back, regarded his work and smiled. Alex looked down at his wrist, his thoughts interrupted by his watch alarm beeping, it was time. Smiling, Alex wove a gateway, and stepped through the opening into an alleyway, glancing back at the statue of the Professor in glass glinting in the Australian desert, Alex smiled and let the gateway close. AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first flirt with submitting anything I've written, so please be nice and give me lots of feedback! I'd also like to wish all my readers a happy holiday season and hope it brings you nothing but smiles and laughter!