| Welcome to Xmen Revolution. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Gun for Hire; {Warpath} | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Oct 8 2010, 08:12 AM (429 Views) | |
| Rodney McCain | Oct 8 2010, 08:12 AM Post #1 |
![]()
Invisibility, X-Ray Vision
|
Time of day: 3:35 PM Place in the time-line: October 5th, 2010 See, the thing that most people didn't understand about the students is that they are teenagers, for the most part. Rodney wasn't, but he was 10 years old, and that was pretty close, and he was smart and mature for his age, so he probably counted as a teenager anyways. For any matter, teenagers are always going to want to act in a certain way. They're going to want to act out. Which meant that they needed a way to do it here. Not exactly the easiest thing to do. Rodney knew this. There was a profit to be made here. And while he was still young enough to think that babies could be the result of kissing and heavy petting, he knew enough to try to make his money. It was hard to get contraband into the school. It was a decent walk to even a convenience store. Plus, if it was something too bad like grass or something, it'd be picked up right away by the people with enhanced senses. But, there was stuff that wasn't all bad. Just, students couldn't have it. But the adults could. And that there was the key. If it was already in the building, then Rodney could get his hands on it. Which meant that Rodney could make money off it. There wasn't beer in the communal fridge. That much was obvious. It was, after all, a school. But a lot of the guys, well, they had their own fridge, with their own beer. Wolverine had his own beer supply, but Rodney wasn't going to mess with Wolverine. He kind of figured some of the other dude teachers might have their own beer supply, or at least liquor. If he could liberate a 12 pack or a bottle or something, he could seriously be rolling in dough. There was a door open, and Rodney figured it was make-or-break time. He turned invisible and crept towards the door. If he pulled this off, he would be legend. There was a fridge here, which meant he was on his way towards success. He crept forward. |
[align=center] [/align]
| |
![]() |
|
| Warpath | Oct 11 2010, 02:16 AM Post #2 |
|
Unregistered
|
Steam fogged up the mirror in the bathroom as James toweled off his hair after getting out of the shower. He slipped into a pair of gym shorts and squirted a silver dollar dollop of shaving cream into his open palm. Smearing it across the bottom of his face, he followed it up with a razor, whistling softly as he took the stubble off his chin. He was about halfway through his routine when an out of the ordinary sound reached his hypersensitive ears. It wasn't much, just a slight creaking of the door and soft padded footfalls that announced that someone had entered the room. James paused for a second, expecting to hear someone call out to him but was met only with silence. He shrugged. Maybe the person had just popped their head in for a second and continued on their way. Bringing the razor back up to his face to continue shaving, James paused. What was that sound? It was a rasping, labored sound. Almost sounded like someone breathing. James crept to the door swinging it open in a rush. The sound had stopped and James peered into the seemingly empty room. Lips pursed in confusion, he turned to go back into the bathroom when he heard an explosive sound, like someone had just let out a breath they had been holding. Whipping back around, James grasped wildly at the air in front of him without success. The sound of scurrying met his ears and James grabbed once again, albeit lower than the last time. He grasped the collar of the small struggling figure and lifted him up to James' eye level. "Hello, Rodney," He said conversationally as if James had just bumped into the mutant boy in the hallway. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected and covert visit?" |
|
|
| Rodney McCain | Oct 13 2010, 06:05 AM Post #3 |
![]()
Invisibility, X-Ray Vision
|
Bum, bum, ba-da, bum, bum, ba-da, bum, bum, ba-da, bum, bum, ba-da deedillooo…deedillooo…deedillooo…da na. BA-NA-NAAA…BA-NA-NAAA…BA-NA-NAAA…NA NA! Give Rodney a little credit. He wasn't actually humming the Mission Impossible theme song whilst he crept. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure where he knew that song. No way he ever saw the TV show, and it was unlikely he ever saw the movies. It was just something in the public collective consciousness that he picked up via osmosis or something. Anyways, he wasn't humming the tune out loud, but mentally, that was definitely playing in his personal score. CRAP! Mr. Proudstar was actually in the room! He made a grab for above where Rodney was standing. RJ scurried back and pressed his back into the wall, wishing he could sink into it and into the next one. He had figured that the guy was out communing with nature or some shit like that! Crap, crap, crap! Then, Mr. Proudstar grabbed him, by the scruff of his shirt. Figuring the jig was up, Rodney turned visible again, his eyes as wide as saucers. He wriggled, like a worm on a hook. He was lucky that his t-shirt wasn't really that quality made. He felt it tear. His arm's shot up, and he slid out of the shirt. Ok, he was topless, but at least that gave him a fighting chance. He hit the ground running. "Never catch me alive, copper!" Rodney said as he ran out of the door. RJ McCain wasn't going to go down without a fight. |
[align=center] [/align]
| |
![]() |
|
| Warpath | Oct 13 2010, 06:52 AM Post #4 |
|
Unregistered
|
RJ gave up his invisible guise and James observed the fear struck, deer in the headlights look that the young mutant had plastered across his face with mild amusement. He wasn't that intimidating was he? The boy looked like his life was flashing before his eyes. Before James could reassure Rodney that he wasn't in any danger, the fabric of Rodney's shirt started to rip under the weight of his body. Slippery as an eel, the young mutant was out of his shirt and bounding out the door. The urgency of the boy's attempted escape and his parting line made James chuckle. The kid had spunk, one had to give him that. Tossing the shirt aside, James bounded out the door in pursuit of his escaped quarry. The kid may have been fast for his age but James' enhanced speed gave him an unfair advantage. He had caught up to the fleeing mutant in almost no time at all. Deciding to toy with Rodney a little, James flipped around and cantered along beside the boy, running backwards. "So what's the master plan, Rodney?" James asked lightly as he matched his pace. "Because I can do this all day." They reached the end of the hall which dead ended into a staircase. "Whoops," he said in mock alarm. He jumped up and flipped in midair, landing on the staircase banister and sliding down it like a surfer riding a wave. Bobby Drake, eat your heart out. Sure he was showing off a little bit, but what was the point of having powers if you weren't going to be flashy sometimes? He landed on the ground in front of the staircase, throwing a hand out to stop the retreating boy. "Alright Rodney, the jig is up. I'm not mad at you and I'm not going to do anything bad to you. I just want to know what you were doing sneaking around in my room." |
|
|
| Rodney McCain | Oct 15 2010, 10:02 PM Post #5 |
![]()
Invisibility, X-Ray Vision
|
Right, Rodney may have forgotten that Mr. Proudstar was like, Mr. Track star as well. He caught up to Rodney pretty quickly, even running backwards. Then he pulled a cocky move and slid down the stairwell. That kind of rankled Rodney a bit. He could hear how Geoffrey, his older brother would have responded. Don't ever let someone step to you without knocking his ass back down. It was just the way it was. If someone showed you up, it was your responsibility to make that right. Fortunately, Rodney was not an idiot. He knew he probably wasn't going to be able to kick Mr. Proudstar's ass. Maybe someday, especially if Proudstar broke his leg or something when RJ was older. But Rodney wasn't up to that task right now. This wasn't in the cards right now. Besides, this was more like the cops chasing after you, not another guy stepping to you. So really, Rodney should be focusing on staying alive and out of trouble right now. Technically, with Mr. Proudstar so far down the stairs, the smart thing to do would be to run back to Mr. Proudstar's room and sneak out the window, and try to shimmy his way down. Okay, maybe it doesn't sound smart to you, but to Rodney, that sounded a lot better than getting into trouble for boosting some beers from Mr. Proudstar's room. He cast an eye back down the hallway, and decided he didn't like heights enough to try. Sometimes though, you just had to accept that you were beat. RJ didn't like it, but he was going to have to live with it. He threw his hands up in surrender, but stayed at the top of the staircase. He got down on his knees and then put his head to the ground, with his hand on top of his head, like he saw so many of his older brother's friends do back home. "Some of the older kids said they'd give me some cash if I could get them beer, sir," Rodney squeaked. |
[align=center] [/align]
| |
![]() |
|
| Warpath | Oct 17 2010, 07:40 AM Post #6 |
|
Unregistered
|
The wheels were churning in Rodney McCain's brain and if James had some of the kid's X-Ray vision, he fully believed he would have been able to see them. James prepared himself to sprint right back up the stairs as the boy looked back and weighed his options. Luckily RJ surrendered, but unluckily he dropped to his knees like he was about to be arrested. Crap. Sometimes it was easy to forget that some of these kids didn't grow up in the best of environments. James couldn't think of any that had it worse than the boy who was at the top of the stairs. Trudging up the stairs, James thumped the kid on the ear. "Geddup." Plopping down on the top step, he patted the spot next to him. "Sit." James rubbed his half shaven chin and regarded the boy for a second. What the hell was he doing? He wasn't a pep talk giver or a touchy feely guy. If he was smart about it he would send the kid to Jean's office for a little counseling and wipe his hands of the situation. But something told him Rodney had probably been through that time and time again. Besides, he was the one who had scared Rodney out of his mind. He should be the one to fix things. The silence between the two of them was beginning to grow awkward but James wanted to pick his words carefully. Rodney's background was no secret to James. He couldn't identify with it very well. His family had always been his rock. He'd grown up in a desert, not a urban city. James couldn't even begin to fathom what life must have been like for RJ; he only felt a sense of pain and pity for the kid. He'd been caught in a vicious cycle, forgotten as an inner city gang member and shipped off to Xavier's because he was a mutant. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, James tried his hand at talking to the kid. "You can calm down. I'm not turning you in. Let me ask you something though, do you ever get tired of being talked into stealing things for other people, Rodney?" He turned to look at the young mutant. He wasn't conveying disappointment or anger, something he was sure Rodney had thrown his way plenty of times in his short life. His voice was even, face expressionless except for the sharpness of his eyes. "Is that all you want out of your life? I know that you used to do it before you came here." Before he knew it he was off on the same old rant he was sure the kid had gotten all of his life, "You've got a gift, man. Talents that almost no one else has. Stuff like that happens for a reason." He stopped himself, chuckling. "I'm sure you've heard all that before though, right?" James leaned back and continued. "Your a smart kid Rodney. But in a lot of ways your really stupid. Path your on right now, your gonna end up in a jail or on the run for the rest of your life. You're probably too young to get this yet, but life isn't about the stuff you get or how cool people think you are." He thumped his chest. "Its about what is in here. You've got to find the thing that makes everything worth it for you. And there isn't enough stuff in all of the world to make it worth living for." |
|
|
| Rodney McCain | Oct 19 2010, 05:24 AM Post #7 |
![]()
Invisibility, X-Ray Vision
|
First off, now that Rodney could see him up close, and not blurry-running style, he looked pretty ridiculous. Half stubble, half clean shaven, he still had some shaving cream on his face. Rodney couldn't grow facial hair yet, but when he could, he totally was going to have these cool braided beard spikes that one of his brother's friends had. Mr. Proudstar was a bit pushy, telling him to get up and sit. Part of him still wanted to try to make him regret it, but luckily, the larger part of him was treating him as a cop. "Yes sir," he said when Mr. Proudstar told him to sit. That was part of it. Once the cop had you, try not to piss off the cop any more. That was good way to get the Rodney King treatment. (Rodney didn't really know that reference, but it had his name in it, so it was cool by him.) "I want people to like me," Rodney said, quite childishly, "I want people to respect me. If I can get people what they need, then they rely on me. They will respect me if I can get them what they need." "Y'know, everyone I know, they either end up in jail or they end up in a shit job cleaning offices or pumping gas or something. Give me a choice, I'm going with the one where at least they make some money before they have to go to jail," RJ said, "I wanted to be the leader of the X-Men, but that's not going to happen. They're not going to put me in charge. They don't put kids like me in charge of stuff like this." "I mean, Mr. Puck was helping me for a while, but then Mr. Puck left. I'm alone here, man." |
[align=center] [/align]
| |
![]() |
|
| Warpath | Oct 20 2010, 11:13 PM Post #8 |
|
Unregistered
|
If what they had been talking about hadn't been so serious, James would have found Rodney's continued fear of him somewhat funny. "For the last time, kid." He said trying his best to be non-threatening. "Relax. We're just talking here. If I wanted to get you in trouble I could have done it already. I'm not here to punish you. We're just talking." James shook his head. RJ was so young; he still had so much to learn. He'd been here for a while though. It surprised James how little progress the staff at Xavier's had made in helping the young mutant to stop thinking like he was still in a gang. It was the unfortunate evil of doubling as a peacekeeping strike force that saved the world and fought mutant prejudice every day; sometimes their jobs of teaching and guiding the young minds at the school lost priority. "Rodney, I'm gonna share a little secret with you. It may not make a lot of sense to you now but here it is. People aren't going to like or respect you until you learn how to like and respect yourself. You are letting other people decide who you are. To them you are still just the punk kid that was in a gang back where you came from. Good for nothing except to be their scapegoat. Just someone that they can trick and get to do their dirty work." "Everyone you know back home caught in that system you're talking about. Man it sucks for them. I wish I had the answer on how to fix it but a lot smarter people than me have tried and failed to fix that problem. But this isn't about them. This about you. You've been given a second chance. You get to come here to the mansion, learn about your powers, get an education. You get to break the cycle. You've got an opportunity that nobody where you are from has ever had before. And you're just gonna throw that away? You're gonna let people define you? Maybe that's okay with you kid, but if it was me," James whistled loudly as if he couldn't believe it. "I think I'd try to change that." "Yeah you can't lead the X-Men. You're like what? Eleven? Of course you aren't gonna lead the X-Men. But you think Cyclops is gonna be around for forever? You're the next wave. You're time will come, sooner than you think. But are you going to be ready? Rodney you could start training now. You've got an inside track at being better than any mutant that's your age, present and future. How many mutants your age even know they have powers? How many of those live at the X-Mansion where they can learn first hand? Shoot buddy, it wouldn't surprise me to see you running this place in twenty years." "But to do that you would have to buckle down and actually try. Stop being the poor kid from the projects who is nothing better than a thief and start being Rodney McCain, future leader of the X-Men, superhero and all around good guy." James looked down on RJ with seriousness in his eyes. "Yeah Puck was a great guy. But him not being here doesn't mean you should just stop trying. If all its going to take to make you wake up and reach your potential is someone to push you, then you better believe I'm going to make sure that happens." |
|
|
| Rodney McCain | Oct 25 2010, 03:40 AM Post #9 |
![]()
Invisibility, X-Ray Vision
|
Rodney McCain's lips pursed together at Mr. Proudstar's response. The way Rodney saw it, the X-men were a gang, just like his brother's, plus a couple hundred million dollars for war planes and holograph machines. They hung around and then left their home base to go beat people up. That was about the same that Geoffrey and his friends did. They were too low down the totem pole to be caught up in hard drugs or some shit. They were foot soldiers, which meant most of their time was spent looking and acting tough. "I'm not an idiot, Mr. Proudstar, I know they're not going to make me the leader when I'm just a kid," he said, his jaw hanging open that he had to clarify that, "I'm saying, they won't put in charge, ever. They don't put screw ups like me in charge. Nothing I do is gonna be good enough to be the next Cyclops, so what's the point?" This was the point that his eyes started leaking, "I mean, I try and I try, but then I go and screw it up, and I roll all the way down to the bottom of the hill again. I always screw up, even when I don't want to." He wiped his nose with his sleeve, realizing just how much of a wuss he was being. "Really? You'd do that?" Rodney's mood kind of did a flip flop right there, "When do we start?" |
[align=center] [/align]
| |
![]() |
|
| Warpath | Oct 26 2010, 04:03 AM Post #10 |
|
Unregistered
|
Shaking his head, James kneaded his brow with his thumb and forefinger. Man, they had a long way to go. The boy had no self-confidence. He was still stuck in the person he was before coming to the Institute. The X-Men, his teachers and the people who should be his role-models had failed him up to this point. James had been so frustrated with this revelation that he had gone and made a rash promise. Now Rodney was looking up at him with wonder and excitement and James had a brief moment where he wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew. What did he know about helping kids? What could he do that the teachers at the Mansion hadn't already tried? One more glance at Rodney was all it took to steel his resolve. Maybe he wasn't a mind reader or a teacher with some fancy child psychology degree. But if there was one thing he could do, one thing that Rodney deserved, it was just for someone to invest time in him. Maybe the things James would be teaching him wouldn't necessarily be part of the normal curriculum, but he would teach him the same lessons that Johnny had taught him not that long ago. "How bout tonight after dinner?" James asked rising to his feet. "RIght now I'm going to finish shaving. Oh, and Rodney." James paused trying to find the right words to articulate what he wanted to say without sounding too discouraging. "I'm just going to go ahead and warn you. If we do this, don't expect it to be easy. A lot of the time you are going to hate me, resent me for pushing you. But as long as you don't quit on me, I won't quit on you. See you around 7:30ish, okay?" -Exit Warpath- |
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
![]() Our users say it best: "Zetaboards is the best forum service I have ever used." |
|
| « Previous Topic · Xavier Institute Archive · Next Topic » |









2:47 PM Jul 11