Chapter 17: Marvel Girl
It was a quiet afternoon.
People were still away on holiday and so, the town had grown quieter and less crowded. However, there were still those walking down the streets, entering shops and exiting them with bags filled with their purchases.
Even when quiet, things were still active, just more subdued than usual.
Unzipping his jacket, Esau shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants as he meandered down the streets. 'Where are you? Where? Where? Where?' He wondered to himself, checking the names of the cafes as he passed a small group of teens, slightly younger than himself.
Today was the day.
The one that Mystique had told him about during his training. The day he was supposedly meant to be able to fight against Wolverine. Except that wasn't the case, he once again set up for disappointment as Wolverine was seemingly nowhere to be found. An old enemy of his beating him to the punch.
Esau now had another person he had a grudge against.
Wolverine.
Juggernaut.
Now, that enemy that had beaten him to the punch.
It didn't matter what order it was in, whether he ran into Wolverine first or the newest addition to his list, not of Juggernaut turned up suddenly. Esau would fight any and all with open arms. Just so long as he got a chance to settle old grudges and set the score straight, it didn't matter to him.
But now he had another task to do, the last one he would do till he got his chance against Wolverine.
Jean Grey.
Marvel Girl.
A telekinetic and telepath, a dangerous combo, that much even he could recognise. One that had seemingly been under-utilised by the X-Men and Jean herself. But also a combo that had shown its potential in the engagement against Juggernaut according to what Lance had said.
Personally, Esau had no real problem with Jean, the only reason he was doing this was to see whether he could develop a resistance to both telekinesis and telepathy. His own mutant ability was adaption, perhaps that meant in other ways than just physically.
Who knows, but Esau was curious to find out.
'Here we are.' He muttered, coming to a stop outside a small cafe, not a Starbucks or a big brand like that. It was a small, local cafe, quaint and mostly empty. A stark difference from the other cafes that had been almost full.
Looking through the window, Esau found the woman he was looking for, sitting there in the corner of the room. 'Just as Mystique said she would be.' He thought, opening the door, only to see Jean looking right at him. 'Did you hear me?'
The look he received across the room told him she had and Esau smiled. Pulling out a chair, across from her, he sat down, her computer out open in front of her.
"So," he said slowly.
"So," Jean replied sharply.
"I'm Esau." He greeted.
"I know." Jean rose a brow.
Esau nodded his head. "Cool." He continued to do so, Jean watching on in confusion. "Cool, cool, cool."
"I'm sorry, is there something you wanted?" She asked.
"Well, I mean, to be honest, this is all very awkward for me." The look he received told him that he wasn't the only one feeling awkward. "I mean, you clearly heard my thoughts about Mystique and how she told me you'd be here. Really, I have no problem with you in the slightest and that's why this whole thing is so awkward for me. I was never really one to start a fight unless it was with people who'd already pissed me off before."
Jean had by this point, had tensed up, gaze flickering to her surroundings. "You're here to fight me?"
Esau chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah." His response was drawn out. "But honestly, it's less of a fight I want, and more just of a test. My beef isn't with you in the slightest and clearly, everyone else in the Brotherhood is scared of you. I mean seriously, what the fuck did you do to make Lance scared of you? I get Toad, Blob and Quickie, those guys despite all their pomp are just pussies, I terrified them on my first day with them. Now they can't even look me in the eye, but Lance. All I have to say is, that's impressive."
"I scare them?" Jean asked, her lips twitching up.
"Oh yeah, they're absolutely terrified of you." He concurred, smirking. "Should have seen Lance's face when he saw that I had drawn you as my target. I think it was a mixture of relief and pitying."
Her smile dipped at his words. "Target?"
It took a moment for Esau to recognise what he had said. "Ah, yeah. Should probably let you know that the Brotherhood are fighting against the X-Men right now and technically, I'm meant to be fighting you."
"Meant to be, but not." She pointed out. "Why?"
"Because like I said, my beef isn't with you, it's with Wolverine." He told her, scowling lightly. "I was told by Mystique that this was meant to be my chance to fight against him. Only to find out yesterday that someone else had beaten me to it. Now I'm stuck with you, no offence."
Jean's face became a little twisted, not sure whether she was offended or not. "None…taken?" Even her words were puzzled.
"So, as I said, don't want to fight you, just test some things out and call it finished with that, that alright with you?"
Throughout this whole thing, Jean found herself completely lost, having swung through a range of emotions. This was completely different to her usual interactions with the Brotherhood and she had no idea how to properly respond or deal with it.
It was surreal.
"And what exactly is this test?" Jean asked. "And what do I get out of this exactly?"
"Well, besides not actually fighting me?" Esau hummed in thought, pondering on that question. "Hmm, why don't I let you know who the other Brotherhood members are fighting?"
Jean paused, thinking upon that for a little while before nodding her head. She had seen him fight against Juggernaut, he had done what not even Blob had been able to do, knock him back. With Blob, it had been an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force and in that equation, it had been the immovable object that had been broken.
Only Esau had been able to not only stop Juggernaut but knock him back. That alone was something all of them knew was an incredible feat.
Jean didn't really fancy fighting someone like that. It had taken practically everything she had to hold Juggernaut in place. Lifting him up long enough for Storm and Cyclops to blast him. That alone had put her into a state where she fell in and out of consciousness.
"Alright." Jean agreed. "Tell me whose fight who first."
"Fair enough," Esau said. "Then we go to a quiet ally and test a few things out, yeah?"
Jean nodded her head.
-X- Line Break -X-
Nightcrawler vs Quicksilver.
Shadowcat vs Avalanche.
Rogue vs Toad.
Spyke vs Blob.
Jean knew them all and she knew that neither battle would be easy. Each one would be a hard-fought victory with no clear Victor for either side. Some had advantages over their opponents in certain ways but were also weaker than their opponents in others.
As for her and Cyclops, well Cyclops was fighting an unknown going by the name of Havoc. Not even Esau knew much about him, apparently, someone that the leader of the Brotherhood had personally sent along to help them.
With it brought new information that not only was Mystique not the leader of the Brotherhood but that this was not the only part of it. This was but a single charter of the Brotherhood, much like biker gangs had numerous other charters and areas from which they operated from. Each part, belongs to a much larger whole, a single cog in a wider machine.
She didn't know what worried her most about that.
Though none of it was good when she considered that only Professor X was around. Wolverine had gone missing, apparently having been ambushed by an old enemy of his, according to what Esau had said. That had been a week ago and Storm had gone looking for him after he failed to check-in.
It just so happened that a few days after she left, this happened.
Though, Jean supposed she should count herself lucky that it was Esau who was her opponent and not someone like Quicksilver or Blob. The former was an asshole who had tried on many occasions during school to peak on her and the cheerleaders. As for Blob, when awake in his powers, he had mistakenly believed that her attempts to speak with him were a sign of her being interested in him. After she rejected him, which also pushed Blob to the Brotherhood, he held a grudge.
Esau though at least, seemed to be a guy not interested in her. Not for her body at least, only her powers and he at least just wanted to test something.
"So, how are we doing this then?" Jean wondered.
Esau shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno," he honestly had not expected Jean to agree with this. But he tried anyway, and he guessed it all worked out for the best. "I guess you just hold me in place with telekinesis and I'm gonna try moving."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Alright then." Extending her hands, Jean pushed out her telekinesis, wrapping it around him like a hand or chains. They constricted, gripping him tightly, his body becoming tense, arms locking down by his sides. "Try and move if you can?"
Gritting his teeth, Esau tensed his body tighter, trying to brute force his way free. But the harder he resisted, the tighter her grip became. Yet Esau kept forcing as much power as he could into breaking free, muscles straining.
However, Jean matched him every step of the way. Her own telekinetic powers kept him restrained tightly, seemingly with ease.
Except, that slowly began to change.
Her hand that was extended out, controlling the output of her powers, began to shake and strain. Soon it was joined by her other hand, the strain easing off for a little while before once more, she struggled to hold him in place. Sweat began to form on her brow, she clenched her jaw right and her eyes scrunched up as she concentrated heavily upon the thought of restraining him.
Even as she forced more and more power into holding him into place, Jean continued to struggle. Then she saw it, a few fingers beginning to move, just a light wiggle, but it was enough to show she was losing her grip on him.
No, she wasn't losing her grip.
In fact, it was stronger than ever.
For some reason though, Esau still was able to move his fingers, wrist slowly beginning to circle as more and more of his body began to regain the ability to move. He wasn't purely resisting her anymore, it was like he was becoming immune to her telekinesis.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Carrots123
Carrots123 So here we are, and a little more insight into what Esau is like. He's a brute, but not someone who fights anyone without reason. You need to have done something to piss him off, however small or large, then he'll be more than willing to fight you. Jean is also, as you can tell, not as powerful as she can or will be, but that will change in the future. Hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or suggestions for the story or the harem, please let me know.
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