" Alright, that's enough for today class. You all have your homework, make sure it is done the next time I see or else I'll make you do extra runs in the danger room." Professor Summers spoke. He looked over the class and watched in amusement as they all groaned in displeasure.
" Oh dude, that sucks. Professor summers is such a drag." Julian complained. Julian Keller or Hellion, as is his codename, is a loud and obnoxious jerk to most of the other students. His superior attitude stems from his parental background. Julian comes from a rich family and due to that believes himself above all of his classmates, even his friends. His mutant ability gives him a powerful telekinetic field. " Hey Brian, can you do my homework for me?" Julian asked.
" No, do your own homework man. I didn't even understand the lesson myself." Brian Cruz, aka Tag, is an African American teen, with dreads. He isn't so much a jerk as Julian is but still, he holds himself and his friends to higher degree than others. His mutant ability is a Psionic touch he calls pariah effect, this is where he gets his codename tag. When Brian touches, or tags, someone with his hand or any part of his body it makes that person emit a psionic signal, making them a target to run away from or to run towards. He can choose any number of people for this strange game of tag. " Besides, shouldn't you be asking Cess? I mean she's technically the smart one." Brian told the boy.
" No way, Brian. You guys get me in trouble enough as it is. No way am I doing your homework for you." Cessily replied. Cessily Kincaid, aka Mercury. Her power is just as her codename, her entire body was transformed into metal, allowing her to shape and mold her body into weapons like swords, hammers, ETC. She can also turn her body fluid like and move around like a small puddle of metal. Unlike her teammates, Cessily is kind and compassionate. Making her well-liked among her classmates. She is however just as prideful as the others, just not as boastful about it.
" Aw, come on Cess. Can't you make an exception this time? There's gonna be a rerun of the royal rumble on Raw tonight. And I really want to watch it." Santo asked the woman. Santo Vaccaro, aka rockslide, is the big guy of the group. His ability has turned his entire body into a giant rock like creature, who can detach and fire his limbs off like projectiles. He's a bit of a goofball and a yes-boy for Julian. Though he has his own pride, he's more likely to do whatever Julian asks. Though he'll bully you, he'll also protect you from any real threat.
" I don't know what you guys are talking about. The homework's not that hard." Ian spoke.
" What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you cripple. Say it again." Julian replied. He and his friends laughed at Ian, but he was quickly shut up by Cessily, who elbowed him in the gut.
" Shut it, Julian. Are you ever gonna grow up?" Cessily asked.
" Ow, what the hell, Cess?" Julain complained.
Cessily rolled her eyes and turned towards Ian and smiled.
" Sorry, about him, Ian. You know Julian can be a bit of a jerk." Cessily spoke. She was apologetic enough that Ian was fine with her, but Julian was still on his bad side. He didn't care for him much.
" Don't worry about it, Cess. I know Julian's always been a pain in the arse. He can't help it." Ian replied.
" What was that crutches?" Julian asked.
" Julian, what did I ever do to ya? All I said was the homework we got wasn't that bad. Do ye really need ta act like a jerk because of it?" Ian asked the boy.
" Yeah, I do crutches. This school is supposed to be a place for mutants, not wannabe mutants like yourself. I mean, do you even really have a mutant power? You don't go in the danger room, you don't train. Hell, you can't even walk without nearly killing yourself. So, what good are you?" Julian asked.
Ian frowned and lowered his head in embarrassment. He had always wondered the same, but he liked Xavier's. It was the only place that would accept him.
" Julian!" Cessily chided the boy for his aggressive taunts.
" What Cess? I know you're thinking the same thing. Heh, his own parents don't even want him. If it wasn't for the fact Cerebro found him, I'd doubt he was a mutant too." Julian explained.
" But damn, Julian. Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far?" Brian asked the boy.
" Yeah man, that was ruthless." Even Santo believed Julian might have gone overboard this time. Something that doesn't usually happen within the group.
" It's fine." Ian finally spoke up. He began carefully trying to lift himself up and out of his chair.
" Here, let me help you." Cessily spoke. She got up and offered to help Ian up, but he simply shook his head no.
" It's fine, Cessily. Thank you, but I've got it. I'm used to it now, so it's no problem for me. Besides, I need to get to Mr. McCoy's lab. It's time for my weekly check-up." Ian told the woman. Once he was up and able, he moved towards the opened door and walked out of it.
Cessily turned towards Julian and glared at him with her pupilless eyes.
Julian stared back seeing nothing but white glaring at him.
" What?" Julian asked.
" Jerk!" Cessily shouted at Julian and then stormed out of the classroom leaving the boy behind dumbfounded.
Ian, wobbled down the halls of the Xavier institute, taking his time to ensure he got to Mr. McCoy's lab safely and without any problems.
" Damn, Julian. He's just being a jerk; I know he can't help but be the stereotypical jackass. But did he need to go that far?" Ian asked himself. Ian began thinking about what Julian said about his parents.
When a team of mutant hunting men showed up looking for him, his parents turned their back on him and refused to even look at him. Had it not been for the timely arrival of the X-Men Ian knew he probably wouldn't be here today.
" What a life, ey boyo? Can barely walk without breaking ye neck. And even ye powers suck. What a life? What did I do to deserve this?" Ian asked. He looked to the ceiling hoping to receive an answer, but one never came. " Guess, it was too much to ask for an answer." Ian mumbled. He reached out with one of his hands and called for one of the elevators to take him down into the sub-level, since he couldn't take the stairs.
Once down, he hobbled on over to Hank's lab/Medical Bay.
" Hello! MR. McCoy!" Ian called out for the man who suddenly leapt down from the ceiling with a book in his hands
" Ahhh! Hello dear boy. How are you doing today?" Hank asked.
" I'd be doing better if I could be normal." Ian replied.
Hank placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed.
" Dear boy, you are perfectly fine the way you are. You have nothing to be ashamed of." Hank told Ian. He was a compassionate teacher and could understand what the boy was going through. Being so different to everyone else made Hank feel lonely at times, so even if he didn't know what he was experiencing, he did understand.
" I know." Ian replied. He tried to keep his optimism about his situation and not allow it to get to him, but there were times when he would feel like less of a person because of his situation. " Come on, teach. Let's get this over with."
Hank nodded and helped the boy over to the operating table. Once he was set down, Hank began scanning his body for any signs of breaks or fractures that might have occurred during the previous week. He also administered vitamins and other medicines that would help Ian's bones heal and be stronger.
Once they were finished Hank helped Ian up off the table.
" Well, Ian, once again a clean bill of health. Excellent!" Hank exclaimed.
Ian nodded.
" Mr. McCoy? Is there any way I could possibly just use one of these? I mean it gets hard to do anything when I have to use both of my hands to carry myself around." Ian asked.
" I'm afraid not. You're so small, weight wise, that your upper body just can't hold yourself up with only one arm. IF you were a little stronger then maybe you could, But right now it's just too dangerous." Hank explained.
" I see. Sorry for asking." Ian replied. He started hobbling his way out of Hank's office, even more depressed than he was before he came somehow.
Hank sighed and rubbed his face, he felt bad for the boy he did. But this was the only thing he could do for him at the moment. He didn't know how his powers worked and he didn't want to experiment with them either. Cerebro wasn't very clear on what he adapts to exactly.
At first Hank had asked Darwin, another mutant with adaptation abilities, to come in and see if maybe he could be of assistance. But nothing they did worked, so it was back to square one.
For Ian, this meant that he would have to continue missing out on the danger room exercises that everyone else got to participate in.
Ian thought about what he would do now with his free time, his appointment with Hank ended sooner than he expected, and he was now free for the rest of the day.
" Maybe I should try exercising. I mean, Mr. McCoy said if I was stronger then maybe I'd be able to lose one of these." Ian spoke as he looked down at his two support canes. " It couldn't hurt to try, right?" Ian asked himself.
The door to the elevator sprung open and Ian stumbled out of it and was immediately greeted by one of the most positive students in perhaps the entire mansion, Megan Gwynn, aka Pixie.
" Hey Ian!" Megan shouted. She happily beat her wings and floated down in front of the boy. Her mutant ability gave her the power to produce a pixie dust like projectile that forced her enemies to see their worst nightmares. Surprisingly however, her mutation isn't what gives her, her pixie like appearance, suggesting she maybe a real pixie after all.
" Hey, Megan." Ian replied. He enjoyed the young girl's company. She was like a breath of fresh air in a place that made him seem like an outcast.
" What are you doing? Are you not going to the assembly?" Megan asked.
Ian looked at her a little confused, he hadn't heard about an assembly today. Maybe he just hadn't been notified yet.
" No. I didn't know there was one going on right now." Ian replied.
" What? You didn't get Miss Frost's telepathic message? She broadcast it to the entire school. It's about the training squads. You know the groups of student's teachers picked to train personally." Megan explained.
" Ah, no I didn't get that message. I guess I wasn't invited. Since I wouldn't be able to participate anyway. You know?" Ian gazed down at his crutches and Megan's happy smile drifted away. Her previously frantic wings slowly lost their joy.
" Oh... I'm sorry, I forgot." Megan spoke.
" Hey, it's alright. At least you don't make jokes about it. Honestly, I think you're the only person in the school who seems genuinely excited to speak to me. So, thank you for that." The last thing Ian wanted was to make Megan feel bad about him. She was too good a person to him for him to be the one to hurt her. " Look, I got something I need to take care of. Why don't you go and enjoy the assembly. I hope you get picked for one of the teams. Megan the X-man has a nice ring to it." Ian told the girl.
He began making his way past her and Megan just watched sadly as he vanished beyond the halls of the institute.
Ian felt a sad lump in his throat as he thought about being forced to miss something like this. The idea of being a hero was something he wanted since he was a kid. Growing up he had seen heroes like Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and even Iron Man. And now, he's forced to watch as others get the chance to live his dreams while he's forced to sit and watch on the sidelines as the world passes him by. Well Ian had made up his mind.
" I'm not gonna just sit around doing nothing anymore. I have to try, even just a little." Ian spoke. He began hobbling his way to the gymnasium. One of the few places in the school he was usually forbidden from stepping foot in.
Once there Ian looked around and marveled at the countless different objects in the room. Even with a full-on track field in the center of it, there was still room for a full-sized weight room, a dojo, and other facilities that one wouldn't expect to fit in one building.
" You know, I sometimes forget how big this school is." Ian spoke. With his mind blown, Ian made his way over to the weight section of the gym. There he began looking over the different machines and weights that he believed he could use without hurting himself.
" This should be fine right?" Ian asked himself. He picked up one twenty-five-pound dumbbell and placed it down next to a bench. He then carefully sat down on the bench and picked up the dumbbell. " I've seen this done before. I just need to curl it right?" Ian tried lifting the heavy dumbbell. He had managed to get it off the rack, but now that he had it and was trying to use it, he felt how heavy it really was. That or how weak he really was. Either way, Ian struggled to lift the object, but didn't give up until he had brought it up to his face.
He then slowly lowered the dumbbell, finding it hard to breath as he struggled, but he still pushed to bring it back up and he did.
" No more. I'm done being weak." Ian declared. He started slowly but surely repeating his curls. Until miraculously, he reached thirty. He was soaked with sweat; never had he exercised a day in his life and for him thirty curls were a feat in and of itself. He felt his arm was heavy, like lead, and he wanted to cry from the burning sweat getting in his eyes. But nevertheless, he switched the dumbbell over and did the same thing with his other arm until he reached thirty with that arm as well. When he finally completed that set, a feeling of accomplishment and of excitement raced through Ian's heart.
" Hahaha! I did it! I actually did it! I can't believe I was able to lift weights. I... I can do this. Even if I can't help my legs. I might just be able to get stronger after all." Ian laughed while crying to himself as he celebrated doing something he was told he couldn't physically handle at the moment. " Oh, I should probably get out of here." Ian mumbled. He got to his feet as best he could and tried moving the weight back in place. He struggled. While he was able to pull it off the rack by just grabbing and pulling on it. Putting it back was a different task. As he had to carry the dumbbell back to the rack without dropping it or falling. A single moments misstep and he could break many bones.
Luckily for Ian, but unbeknownst to him, he was being watched from the Dojo, by the short and scruffy self-defense teacher. Wolverine.
Logan watched as the boy stammered to re-rack the weight, taking a drag from his cigar.
" How bout that. The runt actually did it." Logan watched as the boy hobbled out of the gym, grinning while he did so. " But yer not supposed to be usin the weights alone." Logan mumbled.
Later that night after taking a shower, Ian sat in his room thinking about the success he had today, even if it was only a small step it was a good enough one to make him feel happy despite the rest of the day's problems.
He was just getting ready for bed when he heard a knock on his door.
Ian got up and hobbled over to the door and pressed the button on the wall that would open the door for him and when he did, he saw that no one was there. He looked around in confusion to try and find someone, but all he saw was an empty hallway.
" That's strange. Guess, it was one of Julian's pranks." Ian muttered. He looked down and his eyes widened. There was the twenty-five-pound weight sitting right there in front of his door with a note on it. " How did this get here?" Ian asked himself. " Did someone see me? Or is this some kind of insult?" He wondered. Either way he was curious. He used one of his canes to slide the weight into the room, despite the scrapping sound and when he was confident, he quickly leaned down and picked it up and hobbled over to the bed. He quickly unwrapped the note and began reading it.
" Hey runt, saw ya using this earlier. Next time make sure one of the teachers is with ya or else I'm gonna break yer legs for ya. LOGAN." Ian felt a very sinister chill run up his spine as he thought about Logan's threat. " Oh crap, the worst person saw me. But... I guess he's letting me keep the weight. This is great, I don't have to go sneaking around any time." Ian cheered.
HE placed the weight on the ground underneath his bed, in a place that would keep it out of the way, but still allow him access when he wanted it.
" Ha, this is a new start. I can feel it." Ian spoke. He laid down carefully and went to sleep. Ending his first day of a new life in joy.