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NEW ARRIVALS Part Two of Three - "Tortured Souls" By Vincent Valentine
Disclaimer:
One Week Later...
Dear Mr. Schofield
Our sources in Britain have alerted me to your condition. After careful review of the details they have supplied me with, it is my pleasure to invite you to join us at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, here in Massachussets.
We feel that it would benefit both yourself and us if you were to join, so please consider the matter. If you do decide to join us, you merely have to telephone the number above and inform us, and we will be happy to see you over.
This is a sincere invitation, and we feel that you have nothing to loose, but everything to gain by flying over.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Charles Xavier.
Professor X finished typing the letter, put some headed paper into the printer, and pressed print. As the letter printed, the phone next to his PC began to ring. He picked it up.
"Professor Xavier here," he said.
"Aah, hello Charles, it's me, Emma Frost," the voice of the headmistress of the Massachussets Academy made it's way down the telephone line.
"Oh, hello Emma. I trust you are well," Professor X asked.
"Yes, I am. I have just recieved the information you faxed about these two cases from Britain," She paused as she began to leaf through the papers Professor X had sent her. "A Mr. John Jones, and a Mr. Steve Schofield,"
"And have you reached a decision on whether you would like them to enrol or not?"
"I have, and I think it would be great if they did. I think it might also benefit Chamber, sorry, Jonothon Starsmore, to have other English people to speak to," Ms. Frost admitted. "Tell me, how long will it be until they arrive?"
"I have the letters for them here, as I was awaiting your decision. I estimate it will be less than a week before we hear from them,"
"Thank you Charles, that's all I wanted to know!"
"Goodbye then Emma,"
"Goodbye,"
Several days later...
Steve lay on his bed, snoring gently. The huge wings he'd grown weren't visible, as a few days ago he'd figured out that he could hide them by drawing them back into his body, and the holes in his back were easily covered up by a tee-shirt or a jumper.
The red tones in his hair had slightly faded, and his hair was returning to it's natural colour, which was black. He'd also managed to clean his living room, washing the blood off the walls, and replacing the carpet, he'd needed a new one anyway, so that didn't matter. Turning into a mutant had ruined his life, however. He'd only spoken to Jobie for the past week or so, and he was now wondering how Kat would react when she found out.
The sharp ringing of the telephone next to his bed roused Steve from a dreamworld, and he looked at his bedside clock. It read : 1:13 pm. Steve was too tired to answer the telephone, so he let his answerphone get it instead. The machine clicked.
"Steve, it's me, Jobie. Get your lazy ass outta bed NOW! Pick up the goddamn phone, Steve,"
"Don't panic man, I'm here!" Steve picked up the reciever, and spoke into it.
"Thank God!" Jobie breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Have you got one of these letters?"
"What letters?" Steve asked.
"Go check your mail, Steve! You on your cordless phone?"
"Yes, hang on," Steve got out of bed, walked downstairs, and picked up a small pile of envelopes. "British Gas, American Express, Norweb, Sky Digital, Bloody Bills!" Steve threw away the envelopes as he read them off. "Ah, this one?" he asked.
"What does it say?"
"Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Massachussets,"
"Yeah, that's the one! Read it!" Jobie said.
"Okay, hold on," Steve sliced open the envelope, took out the peice of paper, and began to read it. After finishing, he spoke again. "Fucking hell,"
"I know," Jobie replied. "Wonder what it's about,"
"Have you phoned them?"
"Yeah, I have,"
"What did they say?"
"They said call back in a few hours, as it's five in the morning over there!"
"Oh,"
"You gonna go then?"
"Maybe," Steve admitted. "Give me time to think about it,"
"Okay. Have you spoken to Kat yet?" Jobie asked.
"No,"
"Jesus Steve, why not?"
"I'm scared of how she might react," Steve admitted.
"Steve you fucking coward," Jobie yelled down the phone. "Talk to her!"
"Way to build my confidence man," Steve replied.
"Look, if she really loves you, then she won't care if you're a mutant,"
"It's not the fact that I'm a mutant, it's the fact that I can't ever take of my shirt in public again," Steve thought about this for a moment, then amended it. "Or open my mouth!"
"Look, how about if I talk to her?" Jobie offered. "Will that help?"
"You'd do that?"
"Sure, but you'd have to do something for me," Steve knew that was coming. It wasn't that Jobie was selfish, it's just that he made Ebenezer Scrooge look like Santa Claus, and that's the Scrooge before the three ghosts! He sighed.
"Okay. What do you want me to do?"
"Explain what's happened to me to Lisa," Jobie gave up. "I'm too scared to talk to her,"
"You bloody Hypocrite!" Steve cursed down the phoneline. "I'll tell her, cos it'll be easier for me to explain about you!"
Several hours later...
"Hello? Steve? Are you in?" Lisa peered through the letterbox.
"Hold on Lisa," Steve ran out of the living room, and opened the door. Lisa, Jobie's girlfriend for several years now, breezed past him, her blonde hair (Almost as long as Steve's hair, but not quite) flowing in the breeze.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked, as he led her into the living room. She sat down on a sofa, and Steve sat next to her.
"Yes, it's about Jobie," Steve began.
"Oh, great, I've not got the money for bail this time. Steve, could you lend me some money?"
"No, no no, Lisa, it's not that. Listen. Oh, you might want this," Steve handed her a Budweiser. "Right, I'll get straight to the point. Lisa, watch my mouth as I do this," He took her Budweiser, and bit the cap off it.
"Oh my god..." she gasped. Steve spat the cap out.
"Did you see it?"
"Your teeth. What's happened to them?" Lisa asked nervously.
"Lisa, I'm gonna put this bluntly. Jobie and I are mutants," Steve paused, unsure of how Lisa was going to react.
"You're what?" she asked.
"We're mutants," he repeated. "We both found out the hard way. These are my powers," he pointed to his teeth, and took off his shirt. "Watch," Slowly, Steve's wings unfolded.
"SHIT!!!" Lisa screamed. "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!"
"Lisa, calm down," Steve retracted his wings, and put his shirt back on. "Jobie isn't like that! He can turn himself invisible, and make these little green flashes with his hands, and that's about it!"
"Why...why...why didn't he tell me about this?" Lisa gasped. Steve put his arm around her.
"Because he was scared of how you'd react. He thought that you wouldn't like him any more,"
"It wouldn't matter to me," Lisa said. "as long as he didn't have massive holes in his back, and huge vampire teeth,"
"Thanks Lisa," Steve took his arm away, and slinked to the sofa he always lay on.
"Oh, Steve, I didn't mean that!" She ran over to him, and ran her fingers through his hair.
"You'd better go, Lisa,"
"Oh, so now you're being all moody with me?"
"No, it's just that I've told you everything that you need to know,"
"Are you sure?"
"No, there's one last thing. We've both been invited to America, to a place in Massachussets. I think he wants to go," Steve explained.
"What about you?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah, I've been invited too,"
"Yeah I know that, you pillock!" Lisa said. "Do you want to go?"
"Yes, I do..." Steve replied.
Later...
"Hello? Is that Professor Charles HECKS-AVE-EEOR?" Jobie struggled with the phoenetical pronuncation of Professor X's surname.
"You mean Xavier? Yes it is," Prof. X replied.
"Oh, sorry. Professor Xavier, this is John Jones, you sent me a letter a few days ago?" Jobie said.
"Ah, a pleasure to speak with you Mr Jones," Prof. X said. "How may I help you?"
"Well, it's about your offer to enrol in your college in Massachussets," Jobie explained. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and I've reached a decision,"
"Good," Prof. X said, unsure of what was coming next, but confident about it anyway. "And what is your decision?"
"Can I just ask you something first?"
"Of course,"
"Professor, can my girlfriend come with me?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, but only you and Mr. Schofield may come to the college," Prof. X revealed. "I'm going to tell you now that we're not an actual college, we are infact a school which teaches mutants of around your age how to cope with their powers. Don't worry about your relationship going sour, though, you will still get several trips home per year to visit any family and friends you may have,"
"Oh," Jobie went silent for a moment. "By the way, you can call me Jobie,"
"Thank you. and you may call me Charles," Prof X paused, "or Charlie,"
"Right. Well, Charlie, as long as I get to see my girlfriend a coupl'a times, and I get to speak to her, then okay, I'm in!" Jobie said.
"Oh, excellent!" Charlie replied happily. "And what about your friend Mr. Schofield,"
"You can call him Steve," Jobie said.
"No, I mean is he coming too?" Charles asked.
"I don't know! I guess you'll have to wait for him to phone you," Jobie replied.
"Well, when I get a call off him, I shall call you back and give you all the neccesary information you need, but for now, it's great to know that you'll be joining us!"
"Well, what can I say but thank you for giving me this opportunity, Professor, and I shall see you soon,"
"Indeed you shall, but goodbye for now, Jobie,"
"Goodbye, Professor Xavier," Jobie put the phone down. "YES!" He jumped up and punched the air. "I'M GOING TO AMERICA!!!"
Later Still... (God, it must be about half ten in Britain now!)
Steve looked at the letter in his hand. This was the second most important decision he'd had to make in his seventeen-year long lifetime (The most important's probably best left in the bedroom, cos that's where it happened! - Vincent). He picked up the phone, and dialled.
"Hello, professor Charles Xavier speaking,"
"Professor, this is Steve Schofield here,"
"Ah, hello Steve," Charles greeted. "It's so nice to finally get to speak to you,"
"Thank you. Anyway, I just have one question to ask you, and then I shall let you get back to whatever you were doing, okay?"
"Fire away Steve,"
"What time does my flight leave?"
The next day...
Jobie and Steve sat in their first-class seats, as the plane flew across the mid-atlantic "Red Eye". Jobie looked around.
"God, the Professor's really kind to pay for us, isn't he?" he said.
"Yeah," Steve mumbled. "Now all we've got to do is get some sleep, 'cos it's eight hours of Jet-Lag if we don't," Steve let the chair recline, rolled over onto his side, and curled up into a ball.
"Steve?"
"Hmm?"
"You got any new powers?"
"Yeah," Steve turned around, and made sure nobody was looking. "I can shoot stuff from my fingertips,"
"Really?" Jobie's eyes widened.
"Yeah, I just point and POW!" Steve explained. "I'd show you now, but we're about Fifty-thousand feet in the air, and we'd get found out. You got any new powers?"
"Yes. You know those green sparks I made?" Steve nodded. "Well, it's really energy expelling out of my body, and I can poison stuff with it!"
"Really? Cool!"
"I'm not kidding, but I don't really know how much I can poison somebody yet! I've gotta find out how to control my powers,"
"Well, that's why we're on our way to America,"
"Steve, you ever wondered what America's like?"
"Not really. I presume it's like Britain, but bigger and with different currency," Steve's experience of different cultures tended to reach as far as London. Oh, and Greece, as he'd been there once!
"And better computer games, and comics, and..."
"Okay, Jobie, I get the point!"
In Massachussets. Specifically, the office of Emma Frost...
You wanted to see me, Ms. Frost? Jonothon opened the door and peered around. Emma Frost looked up from her paperwork.
"Oh, yes. Come in Jono. Sit down," She instructed. Chamber, like all good mutants should, did what he was told. "Do you know what I've invited you here for?" she asked.
Whatever it was I didn't do it! Jono protested. It was Angelo! He made me do it!
"No Jonothon, I didn't mean that! But I'll come back to whatever you did later," she mused. "No, the reason I've invited you here is because we are going to meet two new students in a few hours. They are flying in from Britain, and seeing as though you are British, we thought you might like to help them get settled in,"
Oh, right, Chamber thought for a moment. Who are they?
"Here, these are their files," Emma handed over two pieces of paper. One contained information about Jobie, the other Steve. Chamber studied them for a moment.
No Photographs?
"Unfortunately not, no. We're unable to obtain any pictures of them," Emma explained. "But we know that John is Eighteen years old, and Steve is Seventeen,"
Why does it say 'Jobie' underneath his name? Jono asked.
"According to Professor X, that's what he prefers to be called. It's what everybody calls him, so that's how we will address him when he arrives," Emma thought for a moment. "Well, unless he doesn't like us calling him Jobie!"
"Steve man, you missed it! It was great!" Jobie told a rather exhausted Steve as they stepped off the small bus that took them from the plane to the airport. Steve sleepily rubbed his eyes, trying to recover from his seven-hour sleep.
"What did I miss?" he mumbled.
"Oh, it was great! They gave us free beer, and peanuts and crisps and stuff! There was even a TV to watch, and these things on the arms of the chair that you plugged headphones into so you could hear! It was great, man!" Jobie began waving his arms about, and accidentally smacked a man who was walking past.
"OWW!" The man staggered back.
"Oh, sorry man, are you okay?" Jobie asked.
"Yeah, I'm Aa..aa...ATCHOO!" the man sneezed. "Oh, geez I think I'm gonna be sick!" and he ran off towards the toilets.
"Shit! I think I just poisoned him!" Jobie whispered to Steve.
"Damn Jobie, you've gotta be more careful!" Steve hissed back. They picked up their luggage, and headed for the arrivals lounge, to wait for Generation X to arrive.
"Dude, this is boring!" Jobie moaned, after about five minutes of waiting.
"So? Not our fault that the plane was early!" Steve replied. "Go play in the arcade or something!" he turned his attention back to the book he was reading. Jobie stood up, and headed for the arcade.
"Steve! I've run out of American coins! Have you got any spare?" Jobie yelled from across the arrivals lounge. Steve's head sank, and he let out a sigh of desperation. His fingers began to tingle, as he seriously considered shooting Jobie up the ass.
"Here," Steve rummaged through his pockets, and came up with about nine dollars, in coinage. He handed it over. "Go knock yourself out!" Jobie took the money and ran off. "before I do," Steve added under his breath. He read peacefully for five minutes, until the person sitting behind him tapped him on the shoulder.
"PSST! Hey, dude, check this out," he whispered in a thick Texan accent.
"What?" Steve turned around.
"Look," The guy pointed to the end of the corridor, where a group of people were approaching. They were dressed entirely in black, and were all armed.
"You think it's security?" Steve whispered.
"Dude, that ain't security! That's the Mafia!" the Texan guy whispered back. At that moment, Jobie ran back.
"Steve, I ran out of money playing...holy cow! What's going on?" he gasped.
"The Mafia's here!" Steve hissed. "Now sit down!" Jobie sat down patiently next to him.
"What are they doing here?"
"The hell should I know?"
"Alright, listen up!" One of the Mafia goons raised his gun and fired. "One of our men has been found dead in the toilets! We know that he's been poisoned, and we know that a mutant poisoned him, because we've checked his body, and he's turned green!" Jobie tried to look inconspicous. "Now, we're gonna find the mutant responsible for killing him, and we're gonna kill them! If none of youse own up to bein' a mutant, then we're gonna execute one of yer every ten minutes until we find the mutant!"
"Oh, way to go Jobie, you had to poison the Mafia guy, didn't you?" Steve glared at Jobie.
"Dude, I could poison all of these guys now if I wanted, but..." Jobie paused.
"But what?"
"But I'd have to touch them to do it!"
"Why don't you just admit it?"
"Because they'll kill me!"
"So? If you don't admit it, then they're gonna kill everybody else!"
"Can't we take them out?"
"Jobie, we're outnumbered," Steve glanced at the gangsters, and took a quick count. "By about thirty to two!"
"So? I could turn invisible, and sneak up on them and poison them, and you could shoot them with your fingers!" Jobie explained.
"Hmm," Steve thought for a moment. "No. It's still too risky! I reckon at this rate we have a 54% chance of success," his mind calculated the odds.
"So? That's above half!" Jobie protested.
"Barely!" Steve retorted. "No. We need help,"
Don't worry about it! We'll take care of it!
"Huh?" Steve said.
"What?" Jobie looked at him.
"Did you say something?"
"Say what?"
"Something like 'Don't worry, we'll take care of it' or something?"
"No," There was a loud explosion at the far end of the hall. Flames licked at the wall, and several figures stepped over the smouldering remains of the door. Several people screamed, the Mafia mobsters turned around, and several of the hostages made a break.
"Now EMMA!" A thick Irish accent shouted over the din. A few of the mobsters began to shoot at the hostages who'd tried to escape, and three turned their attention to the newcomers.
"NO!" Steve screamed as a bullet impacted into the Texan man's forehead, and it shattered, spraying Steve with blood. He raised his fingers, and fired a blast of Psionic energy at one of the gangsters. He screamed, and fell back, the tuxedo on his chest burning.
"Woah! Is that your other power?" Jobie asked. Steve nodded.
"Mutants!" screamed one of the mobsters. four of them spun round to face Steve, and fired their guns.
"What the?" Jobie looked up. Everybody had frozen, except he, Steve, and the group at the far end. He glanced at Steve, who was staring rigidly at the bullets frozen in mid-air, about two centimetres away from his face.
"Shit..." Steve breathed.
"Get...outta the...way!" Emma Frost shouted, her hands on her head, and a look of pure concentraition on her face. Little beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. "I can't...keep them frozen...for much longer..." Steve jumped to the side, and Emma let go. The bullets zipped past Steve, and impacted on the far wall.
"Look out!" There was a ripping noise somewhere behind Jobie. He spun round, just in time to see a metallic Paige Guthrie tackle a mobster who was flying towards him. He ducked out of the way, and faded out of view, his clothes dumped in a pile.
"Oh, bloody hell!" Steve cursed.
What is it? A ghostly British voice asked him. Steve spun round, and caught sight of Chamber blasting a mobster away, with rapid bursts of Psionic energy.
"Uhh, umm, oh, That pile of clothes means that my mate Jobie is running around here bollock-naked, hitting Mafia people," Steve put it bluntly.
That'll put a dampener on yer day, Jono replied. You must be the new guy. What's yer name mate?
"Schofield, Steve Schofield, you are?"
Jonothon Starsmore. They call me Chamber, fer obvious reasons. Strange, Chamber blasted another mobster.
"What is?" Steve tackled Chamber, and they both ended up on the ground. Bullets flew overhead.
You're British, right?
"So are you," Steve flicked his fingers, and blasted another mobster. He picked himself up.
But yer accent isn't as pronounced as mine. Why?
"I suppose it's because I'm part Italian, on my Father's side," Steve explained.
"I don't want tae interrupt yer conversation Lads, but we'd better be going," Sean Cassidy appeared over Steve and Jono.
"We can't. If we go they'll chase us!" Steve pointed to the Mafia, and accidentally blasted one. "Whoops! Sorry!"
"If you keep blasting like that you'll hit one of us," Monet St. Croix whispered in his ear as she flew past, gracefully dodging the bullets.
Jubes! Get all the hostages outta here! Chamber yelled. Jubilee spun round.
"Don't order me about Jono!" She yelled.
"Do it!" Banshee yelled. Emma, help me out here!
I'll help get the hostages out! Emma replied telepathically. A mobster raised his gun, and felt something grip his hand. Jobie twisted it, and broke the man's wrist. He screamed, and Jobie thrust his knee into the mobster's gut. The mobster bent double, and Jobie clasped his hands together, and brought them down hard on the mobster's head, knocking him out.
"ARGH! SHIT! GodDAMN that hurt!" Jobie yelled in pain, rubbing his hands. He felt something running through his mind.
Don't worry about that! Just keep fighting! A voice in his head whispered. He took it's advice, and flying-kicked a mobster, following with a palm-strike to the nose, sending the mobster flying backwards.
"Ah think that's all of them," Paige yelled, and stopped pounding the mobster's head into the ground. Generation X picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and looked around at the carnage.
"Okay Jobie, you can put yer clothes back on now!" Steve yelled. Jobie's clothes floated about in mid-air, before assembling themselves on Jobie's body. Soon after, Jobie faded into view.
"Wow! Cool power!" said Jubilee, who had herded everybody outside, and closed the door behind them.
"Thanks," Jobie smoothed out the creases in his clothes, and picked up his hand luggage.
"We dinnae have much luck when we pick up new students from the airport, do we Emma?" Banshee said.
"What, has this happened before?" Steve turned to the Irishman.
Sorta, Chamber interrupted. When I first arrived we were attacked by Emplate, another mutant, and Monet's Brother.
"Sound's like me and my brother," Steve joked.
"Is your brother a mutant?" Emma Frost asked.
"No. At least, I don't think so!" Steve replied. "I bloody hope not!"
"You must be Steve. I'm Sean Cassidy. Welcome tae Generation X," Sean held out his hand. Steve shook it, and stared at Sean.
"You're not American, are ya?"
"Heh heh, no. I'm Irish! Well spotted lad. And you must be John,"
"Jobie, please," Jobie shook Banshee's hand.
"Anyway, we'd better take care of business. I think a good old fashioned Mind Wipe oughtta see us outta this spot!" Emma said, and opened the doors.
To be continued! (Or did you guess that?)
NB: I told yer! Generation X are now in business. The third part's coming up, so don't panic. Thanks to Everybody who's helped me, and to Kat, cos I love her!
19-Feb-2001
