Chapter 32

The Fastest Man Alive

Chapter 32

Unknown

 

[Xavier’s School of Gifted Youngsters]

Charles sat on one of his school’s many balconies as he watched over the exercise drills being led by Logan. On some days It still surprised him, waking up to find his school filled with youths.

The only thing that brought him down today was the new presence he felt driving onto his property. Charles felt the mind of a young female, accompanied by a familiar mind. The mental shield’s reminded Charles of someone, but he couldn’t place the face.

With a few taps on the side of his chair, Charles brought up the front camera at the gate before the person he felt buzzed in. What he found was a lady and her daughter sitting in the car as they waited for the gate. The daughter had a weird hairstyle of white highlights on brown hair, but her features carried the same air of nobility as her mother.

BUZZ BUZZ

With the gate buzzed in to open Charles couldn’t wait to find out why this person felt so familiar, but he would have to temper his excitement with the teenager that might be attending his school. With Logan busy watching over the students, Charles sent out a telepathic call to Dr. Kenny who was currently in the labs with Hank discussing their various findings pertaining to the X-gene.

When Charles reached the front foyer; he found Laura waiting on the railing behind Dr. Kenny as her mother fussed over her choice of clothing. Laura was currently wearing leather pants with plenty of buckles to match her dark blue shirt and black lip gloss.

The good Dr. Kenny was in her normal lab coat that she always wore with the small ketchup stain on the left lapel. Charles chuckled to himself as he watched the mother-daughter pair.

“Good morning,” Charles stated as he greeted the mother-daughter pair as he rolled his chair up towards the door. Laura turned around to nod towards him, and that reminded Charles of Logan and his mannerisms.

“Morning Charles, are we getting another student?” Dr. Kenny asked as she opened the door for them to receive the approaching vehicle.

“I believe so, but there is something about the older female that I believe I’m familiar with, but I can’t place the face,” Charles replied to Dr. Kenny as they watched the pair step out of the vehicle.

“Ahh, Charles your up early,”

“I’m sorry but do I know you?” Replied Charles as he tried to place the face without breaching her privacy by reading her mind.

“Oh, I guess It has been a while since I last showed my true face without the blue.”

“Raven, what are you doing here?” Charles asked calmly while using his mind to reach out for Eric or Sabertooth and any of the other backups Raven liked to use.

“I’m here to admit my daughter to your school, why else would I come here, Charles,” Raven replied with her nose upturned towards Charles.

“That’s fine, but what about your situation with Eric.” Charles couldn’t help but ask.

“Don’t worry about him or my situation, can she learn here or not?” Raven asked as she began to tap her foot.

“Yes, yes, everyone is welcomed,” Charles replied as he turned towards the young lady. “May I get your name young lady, do you mind sharing what your abilities are?”

“The names Rouge and I absorb power,” Anna replied to the Professor.

“That’s a unique name and ability.” Replied Charles while he looked towards Raven for more information from the young lady.

“Thanks, Charles, I will be in contact with you after I get back to the company,” Raven replied as she turned to leave out the door.

“You’re actually working?” Charles asked incredulously.

“I’m more than working Charles I’m making a change. Rouge, sweetheart I’ll pick you up at five,” Raven replied as she got back into her car and abruptly left, driving down the paveway.

Charles turned a quizzical eye towards Rouge and the rest, but all he received was a shrug from the young lady.

“She does that often. So tell me more about yourself, old man. All my ma’ told me was that this was a school for kids with powers like myself.” Rouge replied as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Well, where do we begin,” Replied Charles with a smile at the young Rouge.

Peter was in his lab, having the time of his life. Not only was he creating groundbreaking technology, but he was also science jamming with two of the greatest minds known to man. Dr. Otto was a man known for his pioneering research in mechanical engineering but had a passion for thermonuclear physics.

Then there was the other Mr. Richards also known to push beyond the boundary of what’s known in physics, and they were both here in his lab. Last but not least was Johnny Storm, another mechanical engineering genius but closer to his age.

Other than the marvel of working with such people Peter found himself trying hard to talk Johnny out of adding a flame thrower into the designs on the hovercar.

“Come on; Peter look at it: flamethrower!” Johnny exclaimed as he brought up a quick design of a high yield, low power consumption, spark and a flame emitter that he just created for the front bumper of the vehicle.

“Johnny this isn’t a car for you, this is a car for, well I’m not sure who Ben wants me to design this car for,” Peter replied as he scratched his head.

“I believe we should just make something and then go from there. For instance, I built these exoskeletal arms of mine to help control the electromagnetic pulses that the solar reactor creates but the designs double as advanced prosthetics.” Dr. Otto stated as he used one of his six arms to summon a blank holo-sheet.

“Those are fascinating, but I’m more interested in this power source that you’re currently using. Tell me, Peter; you said you created a new method along the lines of quantum physics to isolate this particle that you have housed in a stasis field. I believe I have a few methods to better stabilize it.” Reed spoke as he began to take apart the reactor housing.

“I can ask Ben about who the car is for later for now let’s just create something spectacular,” Peter replied to Dr. Otto while erasing the flame thrower from the designs for the third time, but this time the designs did give Peter a spark of an idea about moving forward with the propulsion system. A Tachyon particle generator would work great as the main propulsion and with a thruster system in the atmosphere as well as outer space but would also allow for clean usage in the atmosphere and provide an energy source for weapons fire; Peter thought to himself as his ideas came together in his mind.

“Hey Pete I’m trying to call big Ben, but I can’t reach him.” Stated Johnny from one of the work stations.

Without looking up, Peter replied, “That’s because he is in one of the danger rooms, Johnny.”

“What’s a danger room?” Johnny asked as he pushed aside all the work he was doing to honed in on the danger aspect of the conversation.

Unfortunately for Johnny, Peter was far too busy in his designs of the hover car’s thruster system to give him a complete answer. “It’s one of the super training rooms Ben created.”

Peter failed to notice the excitement that gleamed across Johnny’s eyes as he heard about a room meant for training in their powers. When Peter looked up, it was only because of the flash of heat he felt before someone invaded his personal space.

The person that had done such a thing was none other than Johnny Storm. “Peter, pal buddy ole greatest friend of mine,” Johnny stated as he threw an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Lead me to the promised land.”

“I don’t think you can go down there,” Peter stated as he brought up a video feed of the room Ben Grim was in. The room was one of the strength rooms showing a large orange rocky person going at it against a few drones designed by Ben and Alfred. Luke was in the control room, and Ben looked angry as he was going about destroying the drones.

Johnny’s face paled as he watched Ben roar while taking out the drones in his anger. Gulp, “Do you think we can book some time down there?” Johnny asked before Peter turned back around to what he was working on.

“Yeah sure thing: but, think about this Johnny-HOVER CAR,” Peter replied as he showed Johnny the designs he was currently working on.

“Okay yeah, you’re right I can play with robots later; wait if you route the airflow this way you can use it to double as cooling also,” Johnny stated as he began to assist Peter with the thruster designs.

Jean watched stunned as she felt the wave of emotions Natasha was giving off as Gwen gave her the details of the first round of scans. Even though Natasha wasn’t showing anything on her face, Jean could feel the shock and exuberation flowing off of her older sister figure in waves.

As much as Jean wanted to: she kept herself from reading Natasha’s mind for the answer. It’s not that Jean didn’t want to, but she didn’t like to read the minds of people other than her lovers. She would have her talk with Ororo later and then connect with her: but for now, she decided to wait since she was presently enjoying the thoughts Ben was currently projecting.

Jean wanted to go explore the island, but Gwen was busy with Natasha. When she looked over to Felicia’s location, Jean almost went to join the platinum blonde relaxing in the sun. But, she had another idea of what to do with her time.

Placing those thoughts aside, Jean began to levitate in a sitting position where she was. With a thought, Jean brought out a cloth that she was currently working on. With some concentration, Jean pulled the cloth apart weave by weave as she slowly unraveled it.

As she slowly worked on it, Jean’s forehead slowly began to seep with sweat as her focus heightened to the max. This was a training that Natasha and Ben came up with to strengthen her fine mental controls over multiple structures.

Each strand in the weave had its own tensile strength while also placed in an intricate design. This was a test of mental dexterity, and Jean was enjoying the challenge. Jean focused her mind with one hand unraveling the weave into her other hand.

Jean’s other hand though was slowly putting the cloth together back into a scarf. With minor twitches of her fingers, Jean set to her task of training while she enjoyed the sun of the island. Jean flowed back and forth in her location, making it halfway through the cloth before she felt a presence approach her.

When Jean looked up from the location where she was currently floating, she found lady Gaia standing nearby watching her as Jean’s hands moved with her practice. What she did notice though was that there were patches of flowers behind Gaia. It was as if each step the mother goddess took flowers bloomed in her wake.

That was interesting Jean thought to herself as she floated back down to the ground to show proper manners to the mother goddess. “Mother Gaia.” Jean acknowledged with a slight bow.

“That isn’t needed, child, tell me what is this that you are doing with the fabric?” Gaia asked.

“This is practice for control of strength and dexterity of the mind Lady Gaia,” Jean replied, showing Gaia what she was working on. “Each strand needs its own amount of pressure while also in a complex knot. This is for me to also think through while removing the strands.”

“And what of your Phoenix flames do you practice with those also?” Gaia asked the young redhead before her.

That brought Jean to a pause because even though she had a few flare-ups with that fire ability of hers, Jean wasn’t sure about how to bring it back out but what she did know was that she was missing a clue. Ben had told her it was rubbing a few air molecules together, but Jean felt there was much more to her type of flame.

“Would you have some advice about how I might be able to use it Lady Gaia? Jean asked hopefully to have more control over her powers and abilities.

“Normally the rules forbid one such as I to interfere with another’s chosen but since you will be sitting on the same pantheon as my own chosen. I believe a piece of small advice wouldn’t be against the rules. Look inside child and connect with that which you were born to.” Gaia stated with a smile towards Jean as her eyes twinkled

That was a puzzle for Jean because her abilities didn’t show until not too long ago. With a wave of her hand, Jean placed the things she was working on aside. Connect to that which I was born to; Jean thought to herself as she settled down into a meditative position.

Jean remembered a statement that Ben told her a while back while he walked her through mental defenses. The mind is the most powerful thing we could ever have in our lives, and the mindscape allows one to access their inner being. Being a telepath had always given Jean a step up in such a thing. But after setting up her mental defenses as Ben asked, Jean hadn’t explored her mindscape much after sorting and placing her memories within a mental library.

With a slow breath out, Jean delved into her mindscape past her barriers and into the warm and inviting library representation of her mind. Nothing was missing or changed to Jean’s sense, and everything was as it had been since she was last here. Jean’s mindscape was an extensive recreation of the manhattan library from top to bottom, but the most significant difference was the size of the books and also flying books going around.

Jean smiled at the flying books representing her memories while walking down the aisle towards the center of her mind. Within the center was a large, circling globe Some of it was filled in the center representing the places she visited, but some of it was blank and Jean made a mental note to fill it in more. Jean smiled at the small note, floating away before turning back towards her search.

Jean wanted the location of that flame, and Gaia stated that she was born to its connection. So Jean searched out for the feeling, and right below her, a red line glowed in her path. With a smile on her face, Jean followed the red-lined path.

As Jean walked along the path, she found that it leads further down into the depths of her mind than she thought it would. Along the side of her mental aisles were her memories of her childhood. Jean’s early birthdays and her kindergarten years were all along the sides as she walked, but Jean ignored them as she followed the red line.

Jean walked and kept on walking along the aisle as she made her way past memories that she thought long lost to her. Then, as Jean walked past the last aisle that contained her earliest memories of learning to walk, Jean found a glow lighting up from the back.

“Child you have finally come to claim your birthright.” A voice from beyond the glow stated to Jean as she walked towards the voice.

“And might I ask who you are and why have you taken up space within me?” Jean replied to the voice.

“My child, my name is the Phoenix, and you have been chosen to take up my mantle.” The Phoenix stated as Jean walked closer towards the voice. When Jean finally approached the voice, she found a bright flame red egg sitting on top of a pedestal.

“What is your mantle?” Jean asked as she watched the egg with trepidation.

“I am a gardener of the cosmos little one. I trim the branches of dead or dying civilizations and planets, then breathe new life into planets to begin a new cycle of life.” The Phoenix stated.

“There are aliens out in space?” Jean instantly asked as the thoughts of adventure sparked within her.

“Yes, but that is neither here nor there. The question is, do you accept my power?” Asked the Phoenix.

“Okay, the last question would this take me away from my loved ones?” Jean asked with her hand hovering over the egg.

“Once you have reached maturity with my powers; yes, there are duties that would need to be performed. I will not force you to do these things unless you have forsaken your duties once I come calling.” The Phoenix stated towards Jean, “Ooh and you should hurry your advances with your mate; Gaia has stolen an advancement for her own chosen.”

“What do you mean?” Jean asked skeptically with her hand still floating above the egg.

“Accept my power and go take a look.” The Phoenix replied with mirth in its voice.

With that said, Jean placed her hand over the egg. Before she knew it power, unlike anything Jean knew flooded within her. On the outside, Gwen and Natasha watched as Jean was covered within a cocoon of red feathers.

[Elsewhere]

I was flying low along the ocean with Ororo as Maya flew around us in a spiral of flames. I watched as Maya flew below Ororo to try and catch one of the leaping fish while I flew in low wrapping an arm around Ororo’s waist as we watched.

This felt oddly comforting like we were already a family watching over our little one as she got up to mischief. With Ororo in my arms, we floated for a moment while we watched Maya play with the fishes.

We stayed like that for a moment before I turned Ororo around in my arms to face me. Ororo had a challenging quirk playing at her lips before I wiped it away by bringing her in for a kiss. My world exploded with colors when our lips touched.

Ororo tasted like sugar, spice, and everything nice: the heady mixture of her essence within the taste of my weather goddess kiss was intoxicating. One of my hands slipped from Ororo’s waist to take a nice firm hold of her perfect peach of a cheek, while the other hand went to support the leg that came up on my side.

Our tongues dueled as we indulged the pleasure of the kiss we shared. Before I knew it one of Ororos hands wrapped around my back pulling me closer to her. That was when the light show began between us, from my chest golden lightning appeared to mix with the white and blue light that shone out of Ororo.

I felt another connection of longing and being, but this wasn’t the rush of emotions that I normally received from Jean when she connects to me mentally. I followed the connection that I felt forming within me.

The connection felt like a cool spring breeze on an early morning like the clean smell after a rainy day and the warmth that comes from the sun. Instinctually I felt I knew who this connection would lead me to, but I had to follow it to be sure that I wasn’t mistaken.

I delved deeper, and when I felt like I had arrived, I found an African beauty looking right back at me with a smile on her face. Before me was a nude Ororo in all of her glory; when she looked me up and down, I came to realize that I was also all-natural.

Before I could say anything or do anything, Ororo was already in front of me. Ororo stood watching me as her chocolate nipples slowly hardened against my chest. There was no need for words between us as Ororo picked one of her legs up, and I placed my hand around her waist for support.

Our eyes held a steady gaze, but I could feel the heat coming off of Ororo’s core, tempting me to sink right in. Yet, I held back as we slowly ground together in this spiritual union. As we stood there within the space we were in, I felt the tease of her lips as her slick folds slid along my shaft, then with one rapid thrust I plunged to the hilt as my head poked its way into her womb.

Ororo’s eyes went white, and they shone with an otherworldly light as I felt my own power flowed forth from me to meet her own. I felt a sense of completion before we were both ejected from the space, and we were back to the outside world.

“What was that?” Asked Ororo as she leaned into my chest while we floated mid-air. “I feel connected to you now and not just through Maya.”

“I believe we have a certain mother goddess to talk to,” I replied back as I checked my internal chronometer stunned that only a few seconds passed us by.

“Come little one,” Ororo called out towards Maya with a flourish of her hand. When Ororo flourished her hand for Maya to come over towards us from playing with the fish, I noticed a ring on her finger.

When I noticed that I looked at my own hand to find the same thing on my ring finger: on my hand was an extremely detailed ring that was ethereal; I could see it, but I couldn’t feel it, and it wasn’t on my skin as a tattoo. On the ring were glyphs that reminded me of the ones I looked at within Alfred’s programming. The thing that set these apart was that these glyphs rotated around my finger, and when I focused on it, I felt Ororo more clearly within me.

“Ororo your hand let me see it,” I stated as I brought her hand to my face to take a look and I found the same thing. On Ororo’s finger was the same intricate golden ring with the same glyphs that rotated on my own. I held up my hand to show Ororo that I had the same thing.

“Does this ring represent what I believe it does?” Ororo asked me as she looked at the ring on her finger.

“I believe that it might stand for far more than you might imagine,” I replied to Ororo as I went into detail about what happened when I focused on my ring. Ororo raised her perfectly arched eyebrow at me as she went over what I told her and tested the features of the ring herself.

“I do not believe that mother Gaia would do this without reason. Let us go and ask her.” Ororo stated as she picked up Maya and flew back towards the island. Turning around mid-air, I flew back towards the island using my gravity control right behind Ororo.

We flew back over the forest, lakes, and everything in between us until we arrived back at the clearing where Gaia was standing. When we got back, everyone was standing around a large red egg. Jean was nowhere in sight, and I was beginning to get more than a little pissed off.

:Calm yourself, and we shall get answers: Came Ororo telepathically. That new ability of Ororo could only have come from the ring, and it made me wonder what else they could do. Placing those thoughts aside, I touched down on the ground beside Ororo while greeting my mother and Rosie.

Taking Maya out of Ororo’s arms, I gave her to my mother and asked her to take care of Maya for a moment while I walked back to confront the earth goddess. I was getting a weird mix of emotions from Ororo since she was already over there talking to Gaia.

“Lady Gaia you have interfered twice today and I would like answers,” I said as I walked up beside Ororo protectively. I wasn’t even aware that I did such a thing subconsciously, but Gaia noticed and smiled towards us.

“I have only helped my chosen along her path,” Gaia replied calmly to us.

“What path is that Lady Gaia?” Ororo asked Gaia with a slight bow of her head.

“You will one day walk the path of a goddess child. I have only secured your seat at his table.” Gaia replied as she smiled pointing towards me.

“Lady Gaia I would like a straight answer please,” I stated towards Gaia.

“Do you know what a ley line is child?” Gaia asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“No,” Answered Ororo

“Ley lines are lines of power that run across the earth that can be used for magic or other rituals,” I told Ororo before Gaia could say whatever she had prepared.

“Yes, well this island is a node,” Gaia replied with a smile.