I gasped for air as I shot up from the hard ground I was lying on. My long black hair was tied back behind my head and my bloodshot grey eyes looked around wildly. Seeing my surroundings, I realized I was in an alleyway.

'Where am I?'

A sudden headache hit me as memories rushed into my head. I remember living a life as Casper Castillo on the streets for 6 years, as my father and mother were both killed when I was 10. I scavenged to find what I could when I discovered my powers. I could absorb energy and matter to empower myself. After I discovered what I could do, I began using my powers to make money. I started off just sending surges through arcade machines to get it to shoot quarters out, but eventually, I moved up to ATMs. I hadn't been caught yet, but I'd had some close calls. It wasn't until I encountered someone else with powers that I discovered another facet of them.

It was while I was camping out under a bridge two years ago to get away from the rain. A guy walked under the bridge as well and walked toward me.

He had asked me for all my money, but I refused. He had his hand in his pocket, so I assumed he had a knife or gun, but when he pulled it out he was barehanded. He then took a step forward and rushed at me, grabbing onto my neck and pushing me against the wall.

His grip was suffocating. I tried to pull his hands off of me, but his grip was way stronger than any human's should be. Panicking, I had started to absorb him. All of a sudden, I gained a new awareness of my body. I could feel where everything was, and it felt like with a thought I could control it.

I tried to focus, and my mind cleared. I wasn't panicking anymore, so I had the presence of mind to discharge some energy from my body, shocking the guy. While he was disoriented, I grabbed his head and slammed it down with enough force to kill him.

That was the first time I had killed anyone, and the first time I absorbed someone else's power.

Shaking my head, I stood up, trying to make sense of these new memories.

'How did I end up in someone else's body with powers just like Kevin's from Ben 10?' I thought in confusion. I tried to think about what the last thing I could remember was when I got a flash of memory of someone running at me with a knife and sudden pain.

'I died?' I started to hyperventilate, falling back to the ground as that realization set in. I tried to get myself to calm down, and suddenly I wasn't panicking anymore.

'Right, the power I absorbed. I can control my body, eliminating emotions.' I thought with detachment. With my emotions still restrained, I sat and processed what had happened to me.

'I died, but now I'm alive again in someone else's body and I have powers. Am I in the same time I was in before?'

Looking through my memories as Casper, I found one memory stands out too. I clearly remembered a tall tower, with a brightly lit "S" on it.

'Stark tower? I'm in Marvel!'

With this realization came a whole slew of new worries. There were all kinds of threats in this world, from Galactus to Thanos.

'At least I have a pretty good power.' I thought. Osmosians could absorb DNA, although it wouldn't be as strong as the original power. It was odd, however, that the power I had absorbed from that guy under the bridge seemed pretty strong. I could control my entire body, but it took a lot of practice to use it efficiently. I had two years of practice with this power, and it had developed a lot. The original Casper had found all kinds of ways to use the power. He had reworked his brain, making it process information faster and he gained an eidetic memory. He had also started to manipulate the vitamins and other nutrients in the food he ate to strengthen his body.

'Maybe I'm stronger than the average Osmosian. I couldn't do everything I can do with that power at first, so maybe it grows as I develop it.'

Walking out of the alleyway, I remembered that I was currently in Hempstead, New York. I had wandered here after leaving New York City.

I continued down the street until I heard yelling. Heading towards where it was, I found a mob formed, chasing a teenager with brown hair. His face was half frozen, and every step he took left small patches of ice.

'Bobby Drake. I can use this opportunity, he's an Omega-level mutant. I need to try to absorb his power.'

Running towards him, he looked at me and turned to run down another alley. I sprinted, catching up to him quickly.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I said.

"Yeah right, like you want to help a freak like me," he said.

"One freak helping another," I said and discharged some electricity from my hand.

"Woah, alright," he said and followed me as we ran. The mob continued to chase us, but we ducked through alleyways to avoid them. Eventually, though, we were cornered with a fence in front of us.

"What do we do now?" Bobby asked.

Looking up, I could see places that could be footholds. Stepping back a few feet, I ran forward and jumped, pushing off the wall, forming small cracks in it, and grabbed the top of the fence, pulling myself up.

"Grab on and climb over me" I called down.

Bobby nodded and reached up, grabbing onto my hand. When we made contact, I started to absorb his power. I could feel my body get colder, but I didn't feel any kind of discomfort from it.

He climbed over me and landed on the other side of the fence. Swinging my body over, I dropped down to the ground next to him.

"They shouldn't be able to follow us now," I said.

"What do I do now? Everyone in the town hates me" Bobby said.

"Perhaps I can offer a solution," a voice said, as a man rolled around a corner. He was a bald man, sitting in a wheelchair, with a dark-skinned woman with silver hair and a short man with long sideburns and a biker jacket walking beside him.

'Shit, Xavier. I'm screwed if he reads my mind.' I thought, but surprisingly, I could feel the brush of his telepathy against my mind, but he seemed to pass over and around me. It was like he was trying to find my mind, but couldn't.

'He can't find my mind! Is it because of the circumstances of my appearance here, or because I reworked my brain? Either way, I'm glad he can't read it.'

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Professor Charles Xavier. My associates and I are like you, people with extraordinary powers. We are called mutants, and I seek to offer a safe haven for our kind until the day we can co-exist peacefully with humans.'

"A safe haven?" Bobby asked.

"Yes, a school. Xavier's School for Higher Learning. You could enroll and be with other people your age like you."

"Sign me up, can't exactly go back home," Bobby said.

"Excellent, now how about you? We were aware of Robert's power, but we weren't aware there was another mutant here" Xavier said, turning to me.

'I could just say I'm not a mutant, but it wouldn't really make a difference. He's not going to force me to go with him and it's easier to classify myself as a mutant. The question is whether or not to go with them. On the one hand, I get easy access to a lot of different powers depending on how many students he has at this point. On the other hand, I don't particularly agree with his dream of coexistence. People are always going to want what they don't have. There's a big difference between being born with powers and getting them later on like Spider-Man. One is a much bigger cause for jealousy and paranoia than the other.

In the end, I need to get as strong as possible, so the best choice would be to go with him for the time being and leave when I'm ready.'

"The name's Casper Castillo. I'll go to your school, but I have a couple of questions. Who are the two behind you, and what are your powers?"

"Nice to meet you, Casper. My power is telepathy" Xavier said.

"Woah, so you can read our minds?" Bobby said with a worried face.

"That is my power, but I don't use it unless necessary. I believe the best policy is to let people's minds be their own."

Bobby looked somewhat appeased, although not entirely. I didn't believe Xavier, not with all the stuff he did in the comics, but I was comfortable in the knowledge that, at least at the moment, he couldn't read my mind.

The dark-skinned woman stepped forward and introduced herself.

"I am Ororo Monroe. I will be one of your teachers at the Institute. My power is weather manipulation" She said and held her hand up, forming a small tornado.

Then the shorter man stepped forward.

"Name's Logan. I'm the combat teacher. Power's these" He said gruffly and held up his hand. Three metal claws popped out of his knuckles before sliding back in.

"Alright, so how are we getting there?" I asked.

"We have a plane ready to fly us to the Institute unless there is anything you two need to get?" Xavier said.

"I'd like to grab some stuff from my house, but with all the people chasing me, that'll be the first place they look," Bobby said.

"That is fine, I will ensure that they do not find us," Xavier said.

Bobby led us to his house. Looking around as we walked, I noticed people ignoring us and going about their daily business.

'He erased their memory. Doesn't really matter, them knowing about his power doesn't mean anything in the long run, but it does show he's not as restrained with his power as he says he is. Even if it is for the good of mutant-kind.'

Bobby went into his house and grabbed his stuff, coming out with a duffle bag.

"So where's the plane?" I asked.

Xavier led us out of the town, to an open field. In front of us materialized a jet. A ramp opened up from the bottom, allowing us to enter.

"This is awesome," Bobby said.

"You could learn to fly it one day" Xavier commented.

We all sat down, with Logan going to the front to pilot.

"Hey man, this is pretty cool, isn't it? We never really introduced ourselves, so I'm Robert Drake, but you can call me Bobby. I guess I can make ice" He said, pointing at the half-frozen part of his face before it suddenly faded away.

"It's gone!" He then concentrated and his whole head became ice, before reverting back and forth.

"Ha, this is pretty cool. Sorry, so what's your power?" Bobby asked me.

"Yes, I'm curious as well. Cerebro was unable to locate you at all" Xavier said.

"I can absorb energy and the properties of materials. Like this..." I said and grabbed the metal floor of the plane, absorbing it across my whole body.

"Interesting, so you're mimicking the properties of the material. Is it all the way through, or skin deep?" Xavier asked.

"All the way through. I entirely become the material."

From there the flight passed with Bobby and I talking about our lives. He was surprised to find out I was homeless, but noticing that I didn't really care he didn't bother to offer sympathies and just moved on.

Eventually, we could see a school outside of the window as we flew down, and the basketball court opened up to show a hangar. The plane landed, opening up to allow us to get out. Bobby and I walked down, while Storm wheeled the Professor out. Logan disappeared off somewhere, which meant I missed the opportunity to absorb his power, but I would have plenty of opportunities later.

We were led through the school and shown the various rooms, from the Danger Room underground to the various dorm rooms, and shown which ones would be ours. I was rooming with Bobby, which I wasn't sure how to feel about. It would limit how much I could do in my room if I wanted to hide my ability to absorb powers, but I couldn't exactly just ask him for a private room when everyone else rooms with someone.

Eventually, we ended up in the entrance hall, when the door opened and a group of teens walked in.

"Ah good, Robert, Casper these are the first students of the institute. Go ahead and introduce yourselves." Xavier said.

Bobby took a step forward and introduced himself.

"What's up, I'm Bobby Drake. I can freeze stuff" He said, holding his hand out as frost started to leak out of his hands.

"I'm Casper Castillo. I can absorb stuff" I said.

"Is he like me Professor?" A girl with brown hair and a white streak through her hair asked with an accent.

"Somewhat Rogue. He can absorb materials and energy, but he can turn it on and off.

That annoyed her, as her expression became pinched.

'Well, she already doesn't like me. Guess she's jealous I can control mine while she can't. Get where she's coming from, but being mad at me is stupid.'

The redhead at the front of the group took the lead to introduce herself.

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Jean Grey. I'm a telepath and telekinetic. I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here, we all have."

"I'm sure we will," Bobby said, his voice taking on what I guess he considered sultry.

"You realize she's a telepath," I commented.

"I try not to read people's minds, but my telepathy works differently than the Professor's. I pick up scattered thoughts without trying, but I've gotten a lot better from where I was. I don't get anything from you though." She said to me.

"Hmm, that is strange. Let me see." Xavier said and I could feel his mind try to find me again.

'So he's acting like he didn't already do it. I'd be more annoyed if I wasn't immune, I'm just as likely to abuse telepathy when I get it.'

"Yes, for some reason Casper is immune to telepathy. Fascinating, I wonder if it's a secondary mutation, or something else."

"Alright, well if that's enough mind-reading for you guys, does anyone else want to introduce themself," I said.

From there we were introduced to Scott, Kitty, Kurt, Rogue, and Evan. Everyone was relatively friendly, although Rogue seemed to see me as an annoyance. It didn't really matter to me, if she wanted to be that bent of out shape about her bad luck then that's on her. I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

"Are they joining the Danger Room session today Professor?" Scott asked.

"Yes, but the session will be different today. I want to get a handle on where they are at with their abilities, so I believe a combat test is pertinent."

"Alright, you guys are going to go through a Danger Room obstacle course." Scott said to us.

'Looks like I'll be here for a little while then. Better take this chance to get as strong as possible.'