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Vol. 1 Story 8: Mass Confusion By Wraith and Shockwave
***WARNING*** This story contains mature themes and elements (Profanity, Violence, Drug Use, etc.)
The Matthias Chronicles
"Oww, oww, OWW!!" Jamal Brown was not enjoying the physical examination being performed by Dr. Henry McCoy.
"So Jamal, how are the ribs feeling?"
"Like they're being dragged kicking and screaming through the ninth league of hell!"
"Really? You're already up to the ninth? Most of my patients are still stuck between the 16th and 12th leagues by the time I they regain consciousness," McCoy jokingly replied. "But seriously Jamal, you're recovering far better than I expected. At this rate I expect you to be back on you're feet sometime next month."
"NEXT MONTH!?!" Jamal couldn't believe it. "Geez. How bad did he injure me?"
Dr. McCoy looked down at his chart. "Well Jamal, Legionnaire broke 3 of your ribs and fractured 4 more. On top of that you had several lacerations on your face and, for some reason, you had a purple-ish tint in the whites of your eyes that I have yet to identify."
Jamal sat up in his infirmary bed as best he could with his sides screaming at him and his veins hooked up to stationary I.V. bags. "Well, thanks Dr. McCoy. I appreciate your help."
"Think nothing of it young man. I mean it is my job. Just try not to get beaten within an inch of your life any time soon and you can consider us even. I'm going to leave your meds with Ms. Frost, so if you need anything just call for her. I'll be back in 2 weeks to check on your progress," With that, Dr. McCoy left the infirmary, leaving Jamal alone.
Jamal began to think about what landed him in the position he was in. He wondered why Legionnaire left him for dead, when he could've easily finished him off. He wondered what Legionnaire's master plan was. Something about his supposed father made Jamal uneasy. Well something besides the fact that Legionnaire had beaten Jamal into a bloody pulp. It seemed that Legionnaire had too many secrets, and Jamal knew he had saved his best ones for last. What else did Legionnaire know? All these thoughts were like a splinter in the back of his mind driving him insane, until the medicines kicked in, and Jamal slipped into a deep sleep.
**********************************
Jubilee and Jing were in an empty parking lot at 4:15 a.m. on a Saturday morning and the two were reviewing some basics of rollerblading. She was teaching him how to gain speed, break, jump, and turn.
"You're getting a whole lot better Jing. I mean, this time last week you couldn't even stand on those things, now you have most of the basics down to a 'T'. You'll be doing 360's over barrels and destroying vertical ramps in no time!"
"Thanks Jubes. I really appreciate all your help. I just wish there were more I could do to repay you. I mean, just teaching you how to beat that game a couple of weeks ago was a small thing," Jing said as he sat down to take off the rollerblades. Suddenly he looked up with an inspired look in his eyes. "Hey Jubes, my parents and I are going away to Mainland China next month for the New Year, why don't you come with us?"
Jubilee was taken aback. "Really? I mean your parents wouldn't mind paying for me?"
Jing held his hands up in protest. "Mind? They're not paying as is! My grandfather is a high ranking government official and every New Year he flies all his children and grandchildren that don’t live in China to Beijing on the government's tab. Trust me its no problem. So are you game or what?"
Jubilee thought for a moment. She knew that no matter how much she loved her adoptive parents, they never were able to give her a sense of her Chinese heritage. It wasn't their fault, it just happened that way. This was a way for her to connect more with the history she felt herself missing as of late. "Well, I'd have to check with my headmasters at school, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Yeah, I'd love to go!"
****************************
Angelo was heading towards the front gate of the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters estate. He was on his way out for a day hanging out in the closest town picking up local "townies" for dinner and, possibly, breakfast. On his way out, he noticed Chris sitting in the middle of the driveway with a sketchbook and marker in his hands and an unlit cigarette behind his ear. Angelo looked over Chris' shoulder for a second to see what the young man was drawing. Angelo soon recognized the familiar style of colors, sharp angles and cryptic hieroglyphic-like writing style.
"Yo man! I didn't know you tagged!" Angelo excitedly exclaimed at the discovery that Chris, like himself, was a graffiti artist.
Chris looked up from his work and saw Angelo standing over him. "Yeah man, I've been tagging since I was, like, 13. Ya know, my power helped me out a lot."
Angelo sat down on the paved road next to Chris. "Huh? How did it help you?"
"It's weird, but as a side effect of my power, my eyes amplify any electrical surges in the dark. So if I was bombing a wall in a pitch-black alley, but somebody had a light on a block-and-a-half away, I could see in the dark," Chris explained.
"Damn, I bet you never got caught did you?"
"Nope, never. Well hardly ever. So Angelo, what was your tag like?" Chris asked as he handed the sketchbook and marker to Angelo. Angelo took both and his hand started flying furiously over the blank page in the book. After about five minutes Angelo showed Chris a drawing of the word "ANGEL" with devil horns coming out of either side of the "G" and a pointed tail at the end of the "L".
"Yeah man I threw that up all over L.A. man. I was pretty famous in my 'hood. What about yours?" Angelo handed the book back to Chris along with the marker. Chris began to send his pen flying over the paper and showed Angelo his piece when he was done. It was "SOUL 56", with the "O" in "SOUL" as a yin-yang symbol.
Angelo commented on the piece and complimented it. The two spent the next 3 hours discussing Hip-Hop culture. From breakdancing, to graffiti, to Djing, to Mcing, they talked and argued about everything. By the end of the conversation there were close to 8 cigarette butts on the ground around them. Angelo and Chris picked up the butts to toss them out. After throwing them out in the nearest trash can, Angelo picked up his backpack and walked towards the front gate again.
"Alright man, its close to 4:30, most of the 'townies' will be getting out of the late matinees soon, so I'm heading for town. Sure you don't want any piece if the action man?"
Chris shook his head. "Nah man, you go 'head. I'm seein' Paige, remember? Besides I wanna finish some more sketches before the sun gets too low. You know these markers are too strong to use indoors around that many people. Thanks anyway though."
Angelo left through the front gate, got into the school van he requisitioned for the weekend and peeled off. Chris turned his attentions back to his art and was absorbed in it. About an hour after Angelo left, just as it was getting dark, Chris felt a presence watching him. He swiftly turned around and saw Legionnaire standing about 2 feet from him. Chris immediately jumped to his feet and got into a fighting stance. Nothing technical, since his only lessons in fighting came from the streets, but effective nonetheless.
"What the hell do you want!"
"Chris, is this anyway to treat your father? I just came to see how you were doing."
Chris glared through Legionnaire with an unsettling intensity. "You mean like you checked up on Jamal?"
Legionnaire cracked a smug smile. "No, not like that. I'm just wondering why you aren't taking advantage of the gift my encounter with Jamal left you with."
"'Gift'," Chris questioned. "What 'gift'?"
"He's immobile is he not? You think I don’t know that he's been avoiding you since the blood tests came back?" Legionnaire continued, "The reason is that you had four other siblings, so you know what a family is like. Jamal is only just now learning."
"In case you forgot, I spent most of my life with a foster family. So don’t talk to me about a family!"
Legionnaire sighed, "Oh, poor, poor Chris! I forgot that you had TWO mothers growing up, Lisa and your foster mother as well; when Jamal grew up with barely one mother. So if you want sympathy, you'll find none from either Jamal or myself."
Chris was stalling Legionnaire so that he could absorb some of the electrical energy from his surroundings. Once he absorbed what he figured was enough, Chris extended his closed fists and fired two of the largest blasts he could muster, and aimed them directly at Legionnaire's chest.
"AAAARGGGH!!! AH! My ribs--" Legionnaire doubled over while his body shook violently.
At hearing Legionnaire howl in pain, Chris smirked.
"My ribs hurt--" By now, Legionnaire was now standing completely erect, and had a grin on his face. "--From laughing at your feeble attempts to harm me!" Legionnaire was not hurt at all!
******************
Paige was waiting on a customer at her new job. She had just started working at the Starbucks two weeks ago, but she already felt at home there. The managers and her co-workers all made her feel comfortable. The only thing that bothered her was the question on her application that asked if she was a mutant or not. She checked "yes" without hesitation, but it was the first time she had ever seen such a question on any application. Later she talked about it with her manager and he explained that the only reason it was on there was to prove that they didn't discriminate against "genetically unique persons".
"Hello welcome to Starbucks. How may I help you?"
The young man flashed a smile at Paige and responded, "Hi beautiful! I'd like a tall lattè, a cinnamon scone, and uh--," he stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Damn, I can't find the last thing I want on the menu."
Paige, being here usual helpful self responded, "Really? What were you looking for sir?"
"Your name and number."
Paige held back a smile and slowly pointed at the nametag on her chest. "This… is my name; as for my number, well it's in the book. As for your order, it'll be $4.75."
The man walked away smiling and left a $3 tip. The next customer startled Paige when she saw him. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a turtleneck pulled up to his nose.
{Hullo luv. How've you been?}
"Jono! Oh my God, what are you doing here? Has it been 2 months already?"
{Aye, it has. When do you get off of this shift?}
Paige looked at her watch and saw that she still had three more hours, but she had an hour break in twenty minutes. "Uh, Jono tell you what, I have a break in twenty minutes. Why don't you go wait at that table over there, and I'll be with you in a little while."
Twenty minutes later, Paige and Jono were seated near the back of the coffee shop catching up with each other.
"Jeez Jono," Paige began, almost stammering over her words as the nervously flew out of her mouth. "So, how've you been?"
If Jono had a mouth he would've cracked a smile, as it was however, a slight sparkle in his eyes would have to do. {Well luv, I've been with Prof. Xavier for the past couple of months, as you know. And he was spending a lot of time just talking out my feelings with me. At first I was not up for that at all, but after a while Xavier got me to open up.}
Paige couldn't believe her ears! Jono never opened up to anyone before; much less Paige herself. "Really? Well what sort of things did you discuss?" Paige could hardly contain her excitement at the concept that Jono was getting in touch with his emotions.
{Well, we mostly talked about my childhood, more specifically when my powers began to advent.}
Paige felt, at once, dejected and ashamed. She had assumed that while he was with Xavier, Jono would've finally admitted to someone how he cared about her; but she felt that she was acting like a selfish brat by figuring that Jono had nothing else to worry about except her. She held back her disappointment, with both the situation and herself, and continued talking to Jono. "Really? What about your powers?"
Jono continued. {Well, Xavier
concluded that I was probably such an unconscionable
bugger because my powers manifested by blowing off half o' my face at an age
when most people are just getting self-conscious anyway. Add to that the fact
that, 'till I came here, I never saw my powers do anything but destroy. The
Prof. says that this *ahem*,} at this Jono reached into his front jacket pocket
and pulled out a small blue notepad, the kind that a reporter would probably
use before the days of laptops. Upon opening the notepad to a previously marked
page, Jono read Xavier’s diagnosis that was copied onto the pad. {'Has
manifested itself in an acute type of self-hatred and a resentment of mutant powers
as well as those who have adjusted well to their mutated condition.'} Jono
stopped to see if he still had Paige's attention. He saw that she was
transfixed and hanging onto every word. He continued, {'Thus causing him to
feel alienated from those who were more comfortable with their mutation.'}
"So you're saying that you resented us?"
{On a sub-conscious level I suppose so. But you were the only reason I stayed.}
Paige was taken aback and didn't know how to respond. She simply leaned
in closer and listened even more intently.
{You see Paige,} Jono continued and held Paige’s hands in his. {As much
as I had this nagging feeling of resentment, I felt that I couldn't leave. You
gave me a reason to stay. I didn't want to be without you.} Jono paused after admitting
the truth to Paige and he let it sink in. The brief pause also gave him the
opportunity to gather his courage to finish his statement. {That's why I had
that love-hate relationship with you. I loved you, but hated that you were so
at ease and well adjusted. I realize now that my selfishness pushed you away
and isolated you.} Jono held Paige's hand tighter and brought both of their
hands up to Paige's face, and brushed her cheek. {I know I don't deserve your
forgiveness any more than you deserved my resentment…but I'm asking; no BEGGING
your forgiveness.}
Paige couldn't give a verbal response, several emotions were overwhelming
her. She gazed at Jono through tears in her eyes and rubbed her face against
his hand. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. But as much as she
missed him and cared for him, she was afraid of being hurt again. She simply
held his hand to her face and didn't let go.
*************************************
Jamal was awake again. The
medication that McCoy had him on only seemed to make the pain worsen whenever
he woke up, so he was reading up on his notes for Genetics class. He figured
the only thing more painful then the injuries his body endured at the hands of
Legionnaire was trying to make sense out of the mumbo jumbo that passed itself
of as “science”. A knock at the door of the infirmary snapped him out of his
studying.
“Hey Jamal, can I come in?” Chris sheepishly peeked inside the room to
see if Jamal was asleep. Upon seeing he was wide awake, Chris made his way into
the room and sat down in a chair next to the bed. “Jamal, I think we need to
talk man.”
Jamal looked up from his text and tried to sit up straight in the bed,
but the I.V. hindered his movement. “What’s up Chris?”
Chris took a deep breath. It was now or never, he knew that if he didn’t
say this now he would never say it. “Jamal, we need to talk about this whole
‘Legionnaire Situation’. I mean whether or not you wanna believe he’s our dad
or not, the fact is we are brothers--”
“HALF-brothers,” Jamal corrected
Chris rather quickly.
“Yes, half-brothers. But the
fact remains that we are kin. We’ve had this information damn near 2 months and
this is the first time we talk about it.”
Jamal was quickly getting annoyed and his patience was wearing thin. “So
what exactly did you want to talk
about Chris? Do you know anything more then I do about the Roget’s Rules of Order for confronting a half-brother you’ve never
known?!”
Now it was Chris’ turn to get upset. “Well I’m sorry, I thought you had that book! I mean you and Monet
really didn’t have any trouble hitting it off did you?”
“You wanna know why Chris? I always felt that I had a sister somewhere in
the world. Someone I had to love and protect from the cold cruel world I know
first-hand. I found my sister in Monet. Truth-be-told, I probably would’ve
taken on the role of little brother to her eventually, even if I wasn’t
really.”
Chris felt a little better. At least now he knew Jamal was just as
confused about what to do as he was. “So what do you suggest we do? Should we
keep going on avoiding each other? I mean I don’t know about you, but this
passive-aggressive shit really cramps my style. I’m more the
aggressive-aggressive type.”
Jamal cracked a sideways grin, “I know what you mean. It must be a genetic thing.”
Both Jamal and Chris smiled.“How bout we just try to start off as friends and see what happens, O.K.?” Jamal looked to see what Chris’ response would be.
Chris extended his hand for a handshake and then thought better of it, “I would shake your hand to let you know when I stand but that marionette string,” Chris said pointing to the I.V. tube inserted in Jamal’s vein, “is freakin me out.”
