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| Taking Control; Open | |
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| Topic Started: May 29 2010, 08:18 PM (713 Views) | |
| Formic | May 29 2010, 08:18 PM Post #1 |
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Time of day: Afternoon Place in the time-line: May 29 4:30 PM Ray was in his dormitory finally slipping into his training uniform. It looked like a normal uniform but it had been specially designed to transform along with Ray. He had been at the institute for all of two weeks and now he finally felt it was time to actually practice with his abilities. For two years he had known about his powers but he hated to use them. He would often prefer to pretend they didn't exist. Now though things were different, he was at an institute for people like him, he felt that it was finally time that he took control over his powers. The costume was mostly composed of what looked like black leather, there was a golden V running across his chest as well as golden gloves and boots. The costume was specifically designed to shift with him, it was helpful in preventing him from shrinking right out of, or bursting right through his clothing. After he was done putting on the uniform he walked out of the dorms and out of the institute. He was making his way to the outdoor training and rec center. He figured in the event of growing he would have to make sure he had adequate room to do so. He took in a deep breath of the fresh air. The air and sun beating down on him felt good. Though Ray often felt at home in dusty libraries he had to say that the outside wasn't to bad either. As he stumbled into the middle of the grassy clearing he wasn't really sure where to start. He had rarely ever used his abilities purposely so that now it just seemed strange. He pulled at the fabric of his uniform as he thought about how to go about this. He knew that his abilities often times reacted his flight or fight response, panic made him small and anger made him large. It didn't really help him now considering he was rather ambivalent to the whole situation. All the same he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on working his abilities. Ray tried to concentrate on the last time he had truly been mad. It was when his brother had sent him a postcard from home. His brother had told him about all the rumors that had been spreading about his old school. Some people had even hit right on by calling him a mutant. What had made Ray angry though was hearing that his old friends had taken part in these talks, bashing him along with the rest of them. Ray felt a slight anger bubbling within him and soon he could feel the familiar rushing sensation. It was a little bit like stretching and rising up really fast. When he opened his eyes he was standing at a cool eighteen feet high. The sudden size shift made him a little nauseous at first but then he was amazed by the change. He had actually managed to do something right. Ray looked at the mansion in the distance and thought that maybe staying at this school would actually do him some good. |
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| Havok | Jun 5 2010, 10:16 AM Post #2 |
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"Well, holy shit, that's a hell of a power," said a voice from somewhere around calf level. Alex Summers looked up at the young giant and called up, "You might want to size yourself down to the level of the trees though. The school tries not to scare the neighbors." He climbed up the bleachers alongside the side of the training area, and took a seat, propping one foot up on the bench in front of him and he remembered how it was when he first arrived here. How angry he had been, how resentful of this place, of this life his brother had made for himself here. Alex's life had been shambles then. A newborn mutant, unable to control his powers, unable to control his shame at having been so badly used by the Brotherhood. He hated himself, he hated his life, and like a pouting teenager he'd been unreasonable and sulky... much like the man who now resided in his brother's body. Alex understood now it was because he had no hope, and this man from another world who looked liked Scott but called himself Ruby was in the same boat. No hope. That was probably the best thing about this school. Not the training, not the education. It was the hope that life could someday be normal again. Alex had been visiting the school, working with Jean and the others, trying to figure out a way to correlate what they knew in a way that would help them formulate some sort of plan to reverse this. He was about to head out when he saw the lone kid, a new kid, on the training field. Of course, he hadn't expected the kid to suddenly become Paul Bunyan, but evolution worked in mysterious ways. "Hey, come on down and talk to me for a few minutes," Alex said, calling up at the boy. "I wanna see how you kids are dealing with all this." If Scott couldn't be around to check on the kids, Alex would do it for him. It was the least he could do. |
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| Formic | Jun 7 2010, 07:48 PM Post #3 |
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Ray was enjoying the fruits of his labors, standing tall and looking out at the mansion. It was the first time he had exhibited any form of control over his abilities and he was ecstatic about it. He believed he could turn this curse into the gift others seemed to think it was. He was brought from his thoughts by someone standing by his calves. Ray knelt down to better hear the person as they told him it would probably be best if he shrunk down a little. With some embarrassment Ray realized the mistake he had made by being too open with his abilities, he was gaining control but now it looked like he would have to work on discretion. "Er, sorry," Ray muttered sheepishly. His muttering voice actually coming out much louder than he had anticipated. It seemed a giant size voice was something else he would have to take into account. Ray tried to concentrate on his ability once again, maybe he could fine tune his ability to only drop a foot or two. He concentrated intently, his body felt as if it was ablaze and every bone and tendon stretched and contracted. Ray did his best to shrink just a little but when he opened his eyes he realized that he hadn't changed an inch. He let out several long pants before kneeling down on the ground. This failed attempt only reminded him what little control he truly had over his abilities. It only reminded him why he hated them so much in the first place. He had been torn from his normal life, he had gone from hating mutants to being one. As much as he wanted it to be he doubted things would ever truly be simple here at the institute. The man asked Ray to come down to talk. Ray tried once again to shrink, this time instead of fine tuning his ability he tried to simply return to base height. He concentrated and felt the heat fill his body again, he felt as if he was falling from a great height. He was pleased to see that he actually changed this time. "Er, you want to see how I'm dealing?" Ray asked. Ray had only been at the institute for a short time, he was still having a hard time adjusting to this whole new situation. It wasn't so long ago that he was running with a gang in New York, now he was attending a school for mutants. "I guess I'm d-doing okay," Ray stammered slightly. He couldn't bring himself to complain, if not for the school there would be nowhere else for him to go. "Who d-did you say you were again," he asked, not recognizing this particular professor if he even was one. |
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| Havok | Jun 8 2010, 08:11 PM Post #4 |
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The kid took a couple tries to get his size back to normal, but that was nothing to be worried about, because that's why he was here, to learn. This was a school, after all, and so many mutants had tried to hide their powers, or were scared to experiment with them, that when they came here, a lot of them just didn't know what they were supposed to do. It was hard though to be a new born mutant and arrive at a place where many of the students had developed a control already or had it come naturally. The kid asked his name and Alex slapped his forehead, "I'm sorry, where's my manners? I'm Alex Summers, my brother Scott's the head honcho around here... he's sort of on a mental sabbatical at the moment," Like his mind was lost somewhere in another dimension in the body of the Criminal who was currently occupying Cyke's , but Alex wasn't entirely certain how much the students knew about things, "But yeah, I run a group out of Mutant Town called X-Factor. We're sort of a public peacekeeping group sponsored by Shield to promote human-mutant relationship, blah blah. It's a living, I guess." Alex shrugged, "I was just coming to check everything out at the school. Visit my brother, see if there's anything Jeannie needs, you know that sort of thing. Sometimes the school gets a little isolatory, which makes sense considering the state of the world at the moment, so sometimes a visit from the outside world is needed." He offered his hand, and said, "You have a pretty nifty power, my friend, we could definitely use a guy like you once you're in control and confident with it." He chuckled, "Might be a little early for recruitment, but I can't help it. I love stealing Big Brother's promising students." |
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| Formic | Jun 9 2010, 11:29 PM Post #5 |
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Ray knew it would take time to get accustomed to all this. It was the first time he had ever truly been away from home but his mother among other people thought it would be best if he stayed to learn here. He had figured that the first step to getting comfortable would be getting to know his own abilities. Here in the yard, trying to control his growth and shrinking, Ray found that it was harder than he had thought. The thing was with so many different mutations he wans't quite sure if there was another mutant like him. He would have loved nothing more than to have a mentor who understood what he was going through. For him it seemed as if the scale of the world was always changing, once again something he would have to get used to. Ray didn't recognize this man who appeared int he middle of his practice session. After asking he introduced himself as Alex Summers, brother to the head honcho around the institute Scott Summers. Ray's interest was peaked at this, just knowing his relation Ray felt he ought to pay this man some respect. He seemed friendly enough. "N-nice to meet you Mr. Summers," Ray piped up. "I'm Ray... er Ray Miller. Some people call me Formic though, because of my other ability to um shrink...." he trailed off as he realized he was rambling. Alex told him about his job with X-Factor, not something which Ray was particularly familiar with. He was interested in the idea of human-mutant relations, where he was from there was little tolerance. Here was a man who worked to create relations where he and his old friends had torn apart. "That's awesome," Ray admitted. He paused for a moment before asking, "What's mutant town like?" He had heard about it before but no one could really explain it to him. He imagined it to be like Chinatown with more fireballs. When Alex explained why he was visiting the school Ray nodded his head in understanding. He could see how the school could be isolatory, it was practically a whole new world unto itself. "It really is kind of enclosed here," Ray mused. "It's not something I'm very used to. I've always grown up in the big cities, where all the action is. Here it's so... different." Ray found that he was being more talkative than normal, his curiosity about Alex and his job seemed to surpass his own initial shyness. Ray was actually surprised when Alex complimented his powers. He had never really thought of them more than a curse. it was odd to have someone actually calling them nifty. When Alex said they could use a guy like him when he was better trained Ray actually smiled at the idea. X-Factor did seem like an interesting profession, it would be a great way to atone for his own past. "What do you guys do to er... help relations?" |
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| Havok | Jun 10 2010, 01:12 AM Post #6 |
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"Formic?" Alex frowned, "Like Formic Acid? Nice. My code name is Havok, so hell, you already got one up on me, but please, call me Alex. Scott is Mister Summers, and I am definitely no Scott. Nice to meet you, Ray." He looked around the quiet campus and nodded, "Yeah, it's very enclosed, but you have to understand why. A lot of us are hated, many misused. The purpose of the school isn't to train you kids to be soldiers, it's to help us all become controlled in our powers enough to exist in the world that hates and fears us, but also to keep us safe. You know how many kids in there could be in serious danger if their power was corrupted? Hell, I was a grown man when my powers manifested and I was used to do some pretty bad things..." His voice trailed off and then he said, "Sometimes not even training helps if someone misuses you. This is a hard world, and this school, it's just one of the best things for people like us." He didn't get into his experiences being first a violent member of the Brotherhood, and then later being forcibly turned into the Horseman of War for Apocalypse, and when the kid changed the subject, Alex was damn relieved. The young man asked him about Mutant Town, and Alex shrugged, "You should come out and see it. Really, it's like any other quote end quote ethnic part of the city." He made quotation marks in the air with his black gloved hands, "It's a little run down, and a little noisy, but we do the best we can to make it safe for people to walk down the street with purple polka dotted skin or with their heads on fire, as much as we can. We rotate patrols to make sure mutant haters don't come in and terrorize the children, have our own medical center to deal with unique physiologies, even a boarding house where recently displaced mutants can stay until they are back on their feet since so many of us lose everything the minute we evolve." Alex shrugged, "We're not the only group out there attempting to make a difference, there's X-Corp for example, but we're sort of the public face." "What do you guys do to er... help relations?" "Well, like I said we maintain Mutant Town peace, but we also assist Shield with superhuman threat, or represent our race in public forum. Last year we participated in a relief mission to war torn Eastern Europe and believe it or not, rescued the Latverian Emperor Von Doom from technology gone wrong. Don't ask, that was one hell of a crazy mission." He waved a hand impatiently, "Sorry, I just realized I'm lecturing. Sorry, Scotty's rubbed off on me I think. I'm sorry he's not up to snuff at the moment, something... weird is happening at the moment, and honestly, I don't know what's going to happen if we can't fix things. You kids might have to grow up a little faster than you all expected." |
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| Formic | Jun 10 2010, 11:31 PM Post #7 |
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When Alex commented on Ray's codename the student chuckled quietly. "Yah, like formic acid I suppose," he told him. "It's latin for, of or relating to ants. It's kind of a nod at my shrinking ability," Ray explained sheepishly. He had tried to think of something clever for his code name, all he could think of was insects. Rather than taking on some name bug name followed by the -man or -boy suffix he opted for a latin word. He had thought it was clever. Alex told him that his codename was Havok, and told him to call him Alex. "Alright...Alex," Ray responded with a small grin. "Cool code name," he told him. He wondered what the man's powers were but he didn't press him for any answers, he still wans't sure if that was proper mutant etiquette. Alex explained the reasoning for the school being enclosed, Ray nodded his head in understanding. He had seen anti-mutant riots, he had seen just how strongly people felt about mutants. He could only imagine what would happen if those same people ever found out about the school. "I... I wasn't sure about here before," Ray admitted. "It seemed more like a mutant prison to me... a place to keep me away from others." Having not understood the institute before Ray had just assumed it was a way of getting him away from society. "Now, I think I understand. I r-really do want to learn how to control my powers. I just don't really know what I want to do with them yet..." Ray listened intently as Alex explained mutant town, it really did sound like an interesting place to visit. It was mutants protecting mutants, it was probably a pretty colorful place. "I don't know, maybe we can have a field trip there or something," Ray said with a shrug. He thought that perhaps a visit to Mutant Town could help him understand this whole mutant sub-culture. Until now he had never really thought about how mutants go about their business, especially those with exceptionally noticeable powers. After Ray asked Alex about what they did to help relations the man began to explain it all to him. All this about assisting SHIELD, representing the mutants, and assisting war torn countries sounded so interesting. It was the type of thing Ray would love to read about in books though he doubted he himself would ever be skilled or bold enough to take on such undertakings himself. "Wow that's incredible," Ray said with awe. "That really sounds like an awesome job, visiting new places, and really doing things to help people." Alex waved his hand and apologized for lecturing, Ray didn't really mind the man seemed to have a lot of interesting things to say. "Nah, it was interesting," Ray told him. Alex then apologized for the state of his brother, Ray had heard things but really wasn't quite sure about the whole situation. It was when Alex said that, they may have to grow up faster than expected, that Ray got a little worried. "Is it something serious?" he asked. "The rest of the X-Men can handle whatever it is right?" |
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| Havok | Jun 12 2010, 08:00 AM Post #8 |
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Could the X-Men handle this? Huh, that was the question right? They'd handled the bigotry of the majority of the world. They'd handled their own internal betrayals and violences, their leaders turned into dictators, the school into a military camp. They'd handled the near end of the world, an end that Alex himself had (albeit through coercion and physical manipulation) helped to bring about. But this was not just the world. It was two worlds... it was the dimensions those worlds were in. It was the very fabric of reality itself, warped, stretched, unraveled and rewoven into shapes that should not be, that should never have been. And, why? Well, wasn't that the question? One man missing from the world, one missed connection, a butterfly fluttering its wings in Africa causing a monsoon around the world. The X-Men were soldiers and they were saviors, teachers, diplomats, adventurers, representatives and dreamers... but was any of that what was needed to find a way to stop these two universes from colliding? They didn't know why it was happening, why only certain people had been taken... how could they possibly stop what was so random? "Of course they can," Alex said, putting on his most confident voice, and believing it, with the complete faith of a man who lived in hope. He wasn't the man his brother was, he was horribly flawed, he was desperately searching for a way to make life make sense, to make things better... and this is how he knew how to do it. By getting up every time he fell, and to keep moving forward. There was no problem that could not be solved if you had the determination. The X-Men had the determination, and therefore, they could handle this. Alex's smile was white toothed, and genuine, "Don't worry. I can guarantee that this isn't anywhere near the end." He clapped the kid lightly on the shoulder with an hand that was slightly warm, Alex's temperature always elevated because of his powers, "And, if I'm wrong, well, we'll never know it, right?" He nodded back to the school, "You want to head on back? I think I can talk to Jeannie for you if you like, get you some extra time in the Danger Room to help you develop those powers without having small byplanes buzz you in case you decide to climb the Empire State Building." |
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| Formic | Jun 13 2010, 10:50 PM Post #9 |
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Ray didn't know much about this mutant world. What he did know was that there was the good mutants, there were the bad, and then there was everyone else. Among the good there was X-Men, he didn't know much but he recognized the X-Men as arbiters of mutant justice and equality. When Alex began to speak of troubles the first thing that Ray thought was to turn to the X-Men. He believed that if they couldn't handle it there really wasn't any hope. How could students, especially students like himself, do anything to help anybody. He was working his hardest not to hurt anybody accidentally , how he could he possibly help? When Ray asked whether the X-Men could stop whatever threat Alex worried about, the man responded with a confident "of course they can." That confidence was enough to put Ray at ease. Just the thought that the X-Men could stand as protection against the evils of the world was enough. He was done worrying about whether he would ever be safe, the confidence that Alex gave off was enough to make Ray truly believe that the mansion was the best place for him. "That's a relief," Ray told him with a small smile. "I don't think I could really help in any capacity if I was ever needed. Better to leave all that to the pros, right?" With a warm clap on the shoulder Alex told him that it was nowhere near the end. Ray smiled, feeling and hoping that the man was right. They had survived one near end to the world, who was to say they wouldn't keep on fighting. His next words did send a chill down Ray;s spine. It wasn't a comfortable thought thinking that the world could end any moment and he would be none the wiser. Alex then offered to speak to Jean to get Ray some extra time int eh danger room. The teen broke out into a grin, forgetting all this worry of ending worlds. He hadn't been in the danger room before but from what he heard it was an incredible place to train. "That would be incredible," Ray said eagerly. If he was going to start using his powers he might as well train like the X-Men do. |
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2:22 PM Jul 11