Capítulo 16: Downtime
Xavier began to roll his wheelchair towards Nick Fury while the other members of the X-Men watched from the Blackbird. Before he got too far, I called out to him. "Professor, I'd read these guys. They were dragging Laura off in a crate and had the trigger scent from you know when."
Xavier looked suitably alarmed, and when Logan heard what I said he was quick to get off the Blackbird and pick up two guys in each hand before dragging them over to Xavier. "We can talk inside," Fury said as the three of them left.
Jean, Laura, and I made our way into the Blackbird under the watchful eye of the SHIELD agents surrounding us and were greeted by the rest of the group.
"You look like shit man," Bobby commented.
I chuckled lightly as I sat down in one of the chairs and leaned back to get comfortable. "I fell out of an Asteroid, blew up some missiles, hit the ground at terminal velocity, and then got captured by government agents. What's your excuse?"
"Touche."
Kitty then chose that moment to chime in, with all the subtly of a battering ram. "So how long have you been able to absorb powers?"
I'd known I couldn't keep a lid on it forever, and now that they'd all seen me use Quicksilver's power after touching him it wasn't hard for them to figure out it wasn't exactly a new thing.
"A while."
"And you did you copy all of our powers too?" Evan asked, clearly not happy with the idea.
I shrugged as I responded. "I never actually got around to absorbing yours. I did copy some of you guys, though, but if I absorb too much without a gap in between I kind of fly off the handle."
I looked around to gauge reactions, finding the Ororo looked the least happy with the idea of me copying her powers, which I guess made sense. Her powers were what got her venerated as a goddess, and she had issues with handling her emotions because they were so deeply rooted within her.
Kitty, Kurt, and Bobby didn't seem to care at all, while Scott, whose hair had gone back to normal and was once again wearing his glasses, looked irritated. Rogue's reaction was interesting, as she just stared and me intensely for some reason. I'd guess it had to do with the fact it seemed like I just had her power but better since I could actually touch people.
Jean's reaction was the most interesting to me, though, she looked completely nonplussed. She must have seen me looking at her in confusion because her next statement cleared her reaction up while adding a few other questions.
"I already knew."
That one threw me through a bit of a loop. "How the hell did you already know?"
"Back in the other universe, when we all got knocked out I was still connected to Laura psychically. When I woke back up, I got her memories of everything that happened while we were knocked out. I figured it wasn't my business and you'd mention it when you wanted to."
'Ah, so she witnessed my freakout. I guess letting her into my head earned a lot of brownie points if she never even mentioned it.'
"Were you ever planning to tell us, or were you just going to keep absorbing our powers?" Scott asked in a cutting tone.
He was the last person who should be giving me flack right now. "First of all, didn't you just get back from betraying us?" He had the decency to look abashed as I continued. "And in my defense, I didn't trust anyone at first. I spent most of my life homeless and it was an entirely new situation, I didn't want to tell you guys everything, and by the time I did trust you the secret had gone on long enough I didn't know how to bring it up."
Bobby took his time to say something that definitely drew my attention. "Anyway, Casper being able to copy powers isn't the biggest issue we've got right now."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Dude, Magneto blew the whistle. Secrets out. The world knows about us."
That quickly shocked me out of my dreariness as I quickly got an explanation. The rest of the X-Men had managed to beat him back and escape the Asteroid, which ended up blowing up, but Magneto's plan had never been limited to just the Asteroid. He had wanted to get all the mutants to a safe location before announcing to the world the truth of their existence, and even if he lost he still decided to go through with it.
What made it worse was that he'd directly announced that Xavier's school was a school for mutants, so their identities were blown as well.
"Well, shit."
The group was definitely worried about how they were going to continue their lives now that their secret was out, but I sat quietly in thought as I considered my options. At some point, Laura sat down next to me as well while I thought.
'I've got a few options now. It isn't necessarily a bad thing for me that mutants are revealed, but it means that now we've got a spotlight on us. I've been getting antsy just staying at the Institute, so I think the first thing I need to do is move out properly. I need time to figure out what exactly it is I want to do with my life now.'
I knew when we got back I would begin the process of moving out, but I still wasn't sure what my ultimate goal of this new life was. I wanted to be stronger, but power was a means to an end. Just living to be more powerful wasn't much of a life, so I needed some other goal. I wouldn't mind being a superhero, but I knew I would never be able to be a superhero like Spider-Man, who would sacrifice their social life and relationships all in the pursuit of saving people. I was just too selfish to ever make that work, but I wouldn't mind stopping threats if I saw them.
The more I thought about my past, though, the more I realized that the thing I really enjoyed doing was traveling. I spent my time traveling from city to city, without a home to my name, and even if the circumstances had sucked, I got used to moving around often. Spending all this time in the same place had really stymied me, but I wasn't interested in traveling around the world anymore. Instead, space seemed to be the most interesting calling.
Putting those thoughts on the back burner, I settled in and listened to the discussion going on around me while chiming in occasionally. Eventually, Logan and Xavier returned and both had worried looks on their face as they boarded the plane.
Xavier drew everyone's attention and began speaking. "Things are going to be different. Now that the world knows about us, you are going to have to be careful. The public won't know how to handle our existence, and you're going to be faced with opposition. You all must stick together and support one another in this trying time."
"I guess this is a bad time to announce I'm moving out, huh?"
That drew some outcry from everyone, but surprisingly it was Xavier who looked the most understanding. "That's fine, but know that you're still one of us, even if you no longer live at the Institute. My original point still stands for us to support each other."
Logan got in the cockpit and started up the plane, and we left the Helicarrier. Looking out the window, I could see Fury staring us down as we left. Cheekily, I phased my hand through the wall and waved to him, causing his forehead to wrinkle in irritation.
"So what'd you get from those guys Professor?" I asked as we flew.
It wasn't Charles who answered, but Logan instead. "Seems the Facility wasn't as finished as we thought it was, and SHIELD has an infestation problem."
"Yes, which means Laura needs to be very careful in the coming time that they do not make another attempt."
Being reminded didn't seem to be good for her, as she clearly looked upset remembering how they'd set her off against me. I reached over, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly as I said "Don't worry, we'll handle it together."
That got her to smile and relax slightly, as Laura, Jean, and I were finally able to relax after everything that had happened.
----
Two weeks had passed since we got back, and it had been a veritable shit show. The public hadn't responded well to mutants, and we couldn't go back to Bayville now that we'd been outed, so Ororo had taken over the majority of instruction while everyone stayed primarily in the Institute.
I'd thought the team would be more upset about the revelation that I had copied their powers without them knowing, but it had gone over decently well, other than Ororo and Scott. Funny enough, Kurt had even let me absorb his power, since he wanted to see if I turned blue. I didn't, but now I could teleport and Kurt definitely bumped up a few notches in my chill dude rating. Evan had been much less willing to let me copy his power, and I didn't really need it since I was pretty sure I could do what he did using [Intra] anyway, so I didn't bother. Kitty had also let me absorb hers, but it did seem a little redundant at the moment since I could already phase.
The heat had begun to die down slightly, as Xavier had made a public statement in regards to mutants. He'd discussed their origin and what they represented, talking about the X-Gene as an evolutionary part of humanity. That may have been the wrong choice as people began to worry that mutants would replace them, and the world at large was left in a state of disarray.
The actual heat on the students had started to die down as people focused more on Xavier as the leader of the mutant community. We were actually able to leave the Institute without being hounded, but people would still make comments as we walked.
For me, these two weeks were spent getting everything in order to move fully into the house I'd bought previously. Most of my stuff was stored in a storage cube, so it wasn't hard to move everything, and unsurprisingly, Laura had decided to go with me.
That had gotten me a stern talking to from Logan, which essentially boiled down to taking care of her and keeping an eye out for HYDRA.
Other than that, I had spent some time at the Baxter Building, where Reed had finally completed his device to go to the Negative Zone. The day I was moving out coincided with the day that the Fantastic Four were planning to explore it, and when I asked I had given a resounding no to going with them.
I liked to explore new places, but I knew the Negative Zone was going to be anything but peaceful, and I'd rather not get the attention of Annihilus at the moment when I already had Cyttorak on my back.
Scott, on the other hand, had basically become a social recluse since we got back. Most of the team had forgiven him for what happened on the asteroid, but Jean and Laura weren't exactly happy with him at the moment and Xavier was rather disappointed in him as well.
He'd resorted to staying in his room most of them time and rarely came out. We hadn't had training due to everything going on at the moment, so nobody really saw Scott at all over the course of those two weeks.
I couldn't help but grin as I pulled into the driveway of the Institute in my new car. It was a dark green Dodge Challenger, much like Kevin's car from the show. I'd always liked that car, and I finally got around to buying it, which meant now I could devote a bunch of time to modifying it like Kevin had.
Most of my projects were pretty much done, but one that I was going to be spending my time on was the Green Lantern Power Battery since I was just about out of energy and needed a way to replace it.
Outside the gate, there was a group of protestors with different signs hating on mutants. I ignored them, driving right by as the gate opened automatically for me before closing behind me.
Coming to a stop, I got out of my car and made my way inside to look for Laura. Instead, I was surprised to find all of the X-Men in the living room, with balloons everywhere.
"What's this?" I asked as I walked in.
Bobby came over to me, slinging an arm around my shoulder. "You didn't think we weren't gonna throw a going away party, did you?"
"I live like 20 minutes from here."
"Doesn't matter, you're moving out and that's cause for a party."
Chuckling, I made my way over to the rest of the group. "Well thank you, I'm going to miss this place."
Looking around, I realized that Laura was missing, as was Kitty. "Where are the other two?"
"Right here," I heard from behind me and turned around to find the two of them. Kitty was grinning, wearing a nice party dress with her hair done up in a ponytail, but my attention was on Laura.
Laura tended to wear clothes that were comfortable and easy to move, usually just wearing a shirt and jeans. Instead, she was wearing a black jacket over a white tank top that stopped at her midsection, showing her abs. She was also wearing a pair of black pants and boots, which overall gave her a biker/emo aesthetic that fit her nicely.
"Do you like it? Kitty helped me pick it out," Laura said, somewhat unsurely.
Walking forward, I put an arm around her and steered her towards the party as I said "You look great, it fits you perfectly."
As we moved, I glanced back at Kitty and gave her a thumbs up, which she responded to with a wink.
The party was nice, and it made me all the more certain that it didn't matter if I moved out, I'd still be friends with the X-Men, other than Scott, who was noticeably absent from the party.
Eventually, people began to break off into side conversations, and I ended up pulling Laura aside for a talk in my old room. It looked rather barren on my side, all of my stuff having already been removed.
"What is it?" Laura asked.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay with leaving with me. I know Logan is worried about you now that we know HYDRA could make another attempt."
Laura stood, looking up at me. "I feel safest around you, if they're going to make another attempt I'd rather be with you than anywhere else."
I grinned, leaning down closer to her, and made eye contact. "Careful, that almost sounds like a proposal."
I'd just been kidding, which meant I was rather surprised when Laura reached up and kissed me, wrapping her arms around my head and pulling me close. I was only shocked for a moment before my arms came down around her waist and I got into the kiss.\
When we separated, Laura shuffled slightly awkwardly. "I'm not good at any of this, but I like you, and Logan says I should go for what I want."
"Well, I'm clearly not opposed if that's what you want. I figured that was the case for a while, but I wanted you to be sure."
"I'm sure, so you don't have to baby me," she said as she leaned up and kissed me again.
When we separated, I grinned and wrapped my arm around her. "Well, I'm definitely going to enjoy having you living with me."
Laura nodded her head before she reached into her pocket and pulled out a roll of condoms so long it reached the ground. "I made sure to stock up."
That left me coughing, surprised that this unaware girl had a stack of condoms prepared. "Right, well, it's good to be prepared, but I think we need to get back to the party."
She looked disappointed, and it felt like I'd kicked a puppy, but I was pretty sure Logan could hear us right now and the last thing I wanted was to take his daughter's virginity within earshot of him.
"Come on, we've got plenty of time together from now on, let's enjoy our time with everyone."
The two of us made our way back to the group, and Kitty shared a look with Laura, who nodded at her, causing Kitty to grin and give the girl a thumbs-up, before winking at me.
'Who knew Kitty was the best wingman,' I chuckled to myself as I enjoyed my last day at the Institute.
----
Author's Note:
I think the thing that made writing this story so hard was that I spent half my time scouring the MCU wiki for timeline information to try to stick to it, which killed my motivation. I've decided to say screw all of that, and just build my own Marvel Universe with its own timeline. This will no longer be conforming to MCU timeline, and I'm going to draw from different versions of the Marvel universe as I continue this story, so I don't just follow the rails of the movies.
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