"He's right Scott and besides he did help out albeit weirdly… wait how do you know the smell of fried blue cheese stuffed with shrimp paste?" Kitty said while her attention was brought to an earlier comment.
"I'm Asian…" Paul said.
"I don't get it…" Kitty said.
"Me too…" Kurt also looked confused.
"Stop it! Important thing is we should hurry and clean up the place, the professor is handling the witnesses around us and already contacted the government." Storm said as she too looked at Paul weirdly who scratched his head looking around curiously.
Paul was curious as he felt some sort of itch in his head until his eyes locked to a red haired girl making him realized what was happening.
"Hey stop that, it itches!" Paul said as he scratched the back of his head
"I'm sorry." Jean was flustered as she did not intend to radiate her powers like that.
"Wait, did he do something to you Jean?" Scott asked looking worried at his girlfriend while giving Paul a serious look.
"It's alright, it was just my powers. You know how it is me reading peoples mind unintentionally, it's just that it doesn't work on him." Jean said which made those around look at Paul curiously. It was then a hum was heard as a sleek looking jet appeared on top of them slowly landing on the tennis court nearby.
"That's our ride, would you like a glass of bear mate?" Logan asked as he was still curious at this new friend they made. Their professor said he was still not sure about Paul's alignment but his senses tell him that the man in front of him is friendly.
"Uhmm, no thanks. I need a change of clothes and I have a girl to thank first. Bye." After saying that Paul ran without a care to where the blond girl was sent by bald Hawking leaving the X-men look at themselves skeptically how unbothered this guy that just got his chest pierced.
But they saw him veer off a bit to the unconscious Acolytes of Magneto then sent a small kick to Blob's head who was unconscious from Beast's sedatives then kept running away from their sight leaving them silent at the eccentric actions of the guy.
But they saw him run back again and looked at Lady Death strike then bent down to zip up her suit to cover her cleavage that as showing out then ran out again towards the other side of the Park.
"He's weird." Kitty said.
"I never thought someone else would be weirder than us." Kurt nodded at her statement.
"You should meet an old acquaintance of mine, that guy was more annoying." Logan said as he remembered a certain chatterbox.
[Somewhere far away]
"Achoo!! Oohh, I feel my friend Hughie talking about me… gosh I'm having a boner." Said a guy in red spandex suit while shooting those around him.
"Hey have you seen this guy?" he asked as he raised a small crude drawing of crayons to a guy while bashing him with the pommel of his katana. Then the guy looked to the side and said.
"What? Did I appear too early in the story? Don't worry dear this is an AU so any bullshit will happen here." The guy in red spandex with katanas talked to air which made those around him look at him weirdly but them raised their guns and continued to shoot at him.
"Hey! I'm talking here!!" then a bloodbath continued as he guy in red kept asking them where this "Francis" is.
[Back at Central Park]
"Should we just let him go?" Colossus asked Storm who looked worried when a new variable appeared in New York and it was a possible Omega level too.
"The Professor said to leave the guy alone, it seems that he has not shown no hostile actions yet." Ororo said as cars arrived on the scene and some men in tuxedos came out of the cars. The one in the lead was a middle aged man who looked to be so inconspicuous to the surroundings.
"X-men, Agent Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I've been sent by the director to take the fugitives to a secure correction facility, but before that could I take the statements of your peers at to what happened here?" Coulson smiled as he talked to Storm who looked like to be the most respected one in the group.
"It was the Acolytes of Magneto again, they seem to have come here to assassinate one of their former comrades namely Fabian Cortez for reasons unknown. Our arrival seemed to have thwarted their plans but it seems there was another Mutant in the Acolytes that was on Omega level with them which gave us a bit of trouble." Ororo said as she remembered their professor that this Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division is their government contact which kept them mostly a secret to the masses and the one cleaning up the sites where their fights take place.
"I see, does this new mutant have a name?" Coulson looked at the ones captive and saw how his men were struggling to carry Blob in an Armored Truck. Colossus saw this and he went to help along with Beast.
"He seemed to have called himself Exodus, it took about three of us to hold him down minimizing the damage around. It also seems this Exodus showed some powers related to teleportation and telepathy as our usual tactics seem to not affect them. So the battle was in a Stalemate for a few minutes." Ororo said.
"I see, is that all." Coulson asked but he saw some hesitation within the eyes of the X-men. He knew these people were considered contractors of their department in times were mutants were involved harming the safety of the people. "Do you have something else to speak of?"
"There was this guy, due to the sudden battle which we were not prepared to have as he had planned to subdue them in a very fast manner. There were a civilian male that was hit by Blob who was sent flying by one of Cyclops' beams but this guy turned out to be not normal." Ororo was not sure if she had to explain but she heard the Professor in her mind that to tell them about Paul.
"Not normal in what sense? Is he a mutant like all of you?" Coulson calmly asked as his interest was piqued.
"Might be, we could not tell. But he suddenly attacked Blob in a sneak attack of some kind…." Ororo's face was unsure how to describe the events at all.
"Then?" Coulson saw their hesitation but did not attribute to anything as he thought that maybe the sudden attack made them unable to see the situation.
"Well, Blob was taken out along with Sabertooth…." as Ororo was explaining this to Coulson another person was bury finding out about Paul when they heard his name was mentioned by Ororo.
[S.H.I.E.L.D]
"Look at our records for this Paul Esteban, I want this guy found and access the cameras around Central Park and look for a white Male with Asian features medium length hair. He has a shirt with blood stains on him, it was not ten minutes yet so he must not be far.." a bald black guy with an eye patch was ordering his people to look for this new person who he heard was not part of the X-men. This made him active as he felt that he might have another candidate in his plans.
"Found him sir, he's in the overlook of Central Park turtle pond." a SHIELD staff said as a video feed was put on front where Paul was seen to be waiting for a blond girl to wake up.
"Run scans on this girl and see if she is related to this guy." Nick Fury looked at the screen seriously as he felt this guy is someone he could recruit. He was shocked when Storm said that this guy was pierced in his chest by the mutant Exodus but somehow as still conscious and was able to fight back.
"Sir, we have a match on the girl. Her name is Shanna O'Hara, daughter of African Diamond Miner Gerald O'Hara. She seems to be a Zoologist in Central Park Municipal Zoo, but we still have no match for this guy Paul Esteban. We found a similar name checked in a hotel nearby but other than that he seems to be a ghost or something…" the staff looked at their director who seemed to become serious as his mind was in overdrive.
"Have Agent Coulson follow him and monitor his actions." Nick said as he was thoughtful about Paul, having no records seem to be a red flag for him but this guy did not even try to hide after showing his powers. Either he is so confident or he is just a massive rookie in these kinds of things, but his mind gravitated to the side of caution as always.
"Yes Sir." Said the agent.
[Central Park, Turtle Pond Overlook]
Paul was sitting on the overlook while waiting for the blond girl to wake up. He was able to see a small stall in the park that was giving 'I Love NY' shirts abandoned because people have not yet returned. So he picked a few shirts his size and a bag to place his bloodied shirt then left some money on the stand and a note.
"Ughh… my head." Paul looked to his side and the Blond girl woke up groggily.
"Good morning, weird of you to sleep here." Paul said as he smiled at the girl. He was not sure why but he was just comfortable with the girl, even if he might not be Might Guy, his preferences with active youthful people seemed to have influenced him a little. It was indeed admirable for someone to even find time to save someone even when the situation was dangerous.
"Ughh, you're that guy that was butt slapped by the 400+ pound guy." Shanna looked at the guy besides her and answered snarkily, she was not sure how she got here but she still remembered what happened earlier but what she remembered was slightly different cause all she felt was mutant terrorist were attacking and she as well as Paul ran away but she tripped.
"Haha, you try smelling a sweaty man's crack and let's see if you can speak of such things again. Anyways it was brave of you to pull me out of the water even if the situation was dangerous, my name's Paul by the way." Paul smiled as he reached out for a handshake to the blonde girl.
"Shanna O'Hara, nice to meet you. I work in the Central Park Zoo so I have a soft side in saving things." The girl smiled as she took the handshake, she looked closely at Paul and found he was quite a looker. Not like those models or anything but more modest and mostly highlighted by his fit physique.
"Anyways you were quite tough aren't you? Good thing we were able to leave that place in a hurry or else we might be caught in the crossfire from those terrorist." Shanna stood up and dusted her pants.
Paul raised an eyebrow understanding that her memory might have been altered. He felt a bit of distaste from the actions of the bald man in hot wheels but he always remembered how his dad and his friends talk about this stuff.
They always talked at how protective Charles was to the state of Mutants that he would make sure they would be seen in a better light that those from the Brotherhood under Magneto. Being a telepath might be a bit invasive but sometimes some measures is needed so the public will not panic too much.
He noticed it from the news that there were not much news about mutant attacks in the US but those from outside the country is definitely being shown. This was the tactics of US media even in his world, always show the bad things outside while keep those bad events inside a secret. He did not care much about this as long as he is not bothered by others in this new life of his.
"Right, we were lucky to leave that place in time. It seems from the time you fainted the fight there had stopped, anyways thank you for your help. Would it be possible for me to thank you with dinner someday?" Paul asked as he smiled towards Shanna who was a bit taken aback but she thought for a bit and said.
"So is this a date?" Shanna smiled as she did not mind, she was just a bit free anyways since the Zoo does not have much visitors these days.
"Would you like it to be a date?" Paul smiled to her as she too smiled and nodded.
"Okay, a date it is then. Is tomorrow okay for you?" Shanna said as she did not mind, she was not in any relationship for the moment. And besides she somehow feels comfortable with Paul.
"Anytime, can I have your phone?" Paul placed his hand forward.
"You don't have a phone?" Shanna looked curious.
"I fell in the water remember? My wallet and phone are wet, you can call me later after 12 cause by then I'll have transferred my sim card to another phone." said Paul.
"Oh right, here." Shanna took her phone out and Paul put his number on it then gave it back to Shanna.
"Call okay, I'll just have to get a change of clothes cause my pants is still wet. See you tomorrow Shanna…" Paul said as he pointed at his pants and walked away waving to the beautiful Blond girl.
"See you…" Shanna waved back and watch Paul walk away leaving her standing there smiling as her mind was in many places.
Far from her Paul walked away as he took out his phone that was not working after getting soaking wet. He just walk calmly back to his Hotel and somewhere in the way Agent Coulson was walking besides him.
"Mister Esteban, it's nice to meet you by the way. I'm Agent Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, would you mind if I have a word with you?"