Chapter 2 - Marvel (2)

[X-Men Stratojet]

"What do we know about the new kid, Charles?" Standing across from him, a burly man wearing the same costume with an 'X' on his belt that the rest of the jet's passengers, showcasing their affiliation with the X-Men.

Lifting his head from the bunch of paper in his hand, the bald man named Charles Xavier looked at the hairy man in front of him before answering the question that aroused the curiosity of the rest of the X-Men members as they also looked his way, awaiting the information.

"His name is Markus Bright, 18 years old. From what Hank could find on him he doesn't have any living relatives. And although he owns multiple properties around the United States and somehow France, he prefers to live a recluse life in Green Mountain. The only other information we have on him is that he has quite a few Ph.D. mainly on scientific subjects such as nuclear engineering." The professor summarized, purposely choosing the most unimportant information.

"That's weird." Scott Summers, a young man with brown hair and a weird pair of red glasses that earned him the nickname 'Cyclops' from his peers analyzed the few pieces of information the professor gave them.

"Hm? What do you mean?" A brown-haired woman with white streaks asked, confused by his opinion on the new mutant.

"Any other person of our age would enjoy their money and would certainly have quite the ego since he also could be considered a genius with his multiples diplomas... Just look at Tony Stark." Scott began to explain to his fellow X-Men, Rogue aka Anna Marie.

"Yeah, he however just stays inside the forest, without doing anything notable if I correctly understood." The last one to finish Scott's explanation was a red-haired woman named Jean Grey.

"Exactly, he must have a good reason, to do so. Anyway, this is not why we are going to him, if his mutation is truly at the Omega level, he must be quite confused and would thus need our help. We must convince him before Magneto arrives, thankfully we should be the nearest ones." Xavier says, tidying up the papers as they would soon arrive.

"Yeah, hopefully, the kiddo won't be too stubborn." Logan said, looking through the window at the vast greenish scenery.

-*-*-*-

[Markus Bright's Cave]

"How peculiar." Markus remarked, the young man floating a few meters from the ground.

"It's almost as if these... powers ignore any kind of logic. While it certainly has some kind of nuclear origins, it does not particularly respect physics laws." He continued, crossing his arms to think further about the essence of his power.

Thanks to the improved brain capabilities his newfound powers gave him, he successfully did plenty of research about his new world in a short amount of time.

"So... I am either an alien or a mutant? It would explain the differences I found in my DNA compared to what I remember of a normal human. Although there are more mysteries that the internet cannot help me with." Markus continued to talk to himself, pondering about the nature of his powers and what lies behind the four walls he spawned in.

"Anyways I— Hm?" Interrupting his train of thought, Markus abruptly turned his head upward, toward the origin of the noise he heard.

Without wasting more time, his vision changed from the one of a basic human to an x-ray one, giving him the capabilities to easily identify multiple people in an aircraft whose altitude was decreasing by the second... in front of his house.

There is no doubt. 'They are here for me. The question is... why?' Markus wondered, observing them unhurriedly exit the jet from which they traveled in.

Slightly shrugging, he figured out that he could ask them directly.

"Either way, I must be a good host and welcome my surprise guests." The young mutant convinced himself, walking toward the elevator while glancing at the live footage of the front of the house, relaying the group of superheroes walking toward the front of the house still unaware of being observed.

-*-*-*-

"That's less... regal than what I would expect from a new rich guy, to be honest." Jean remarked, besides the beautiful setting in the middle of the forest, the two-story tall house was rather plain from the outside.

The only expansive-looking decoration was a small pond on the side where some exotic fishes such as carp were mindlessly swimming around.

"Yes, as mister Summers said earlier, mister Bright does not seem to waste money on appearances."

"On the pictures, he was cute tho-" Rogue tried to say but was interrupted by the sudden attitude change from the muscular man leading them.

Logan crouched down, staying still as if awaiting an attack as his eyes were locked onto the still door.

They all learned that he was probably the most experienced X-Men and with his senses, he could locate threats earlier than them.

Jean frowned, looking at the door just like her fellow mutants however, she was the most surprised as usually, she can pretty accurately notice if there is anyone present, especially when they are quite far from civilization.

Speaking telepathically she asked. "I don't sense anyone there... Do you professor?"

"I don't either. Still, stay alarmed we don't know how he will react to our presence especially if he lives so... recluse from anyone else." The professor replied telepathically into everyone's mind.

Just like his student, he too couldn't find any trace of the young mutant mind but Logan seemed determined to not even blink from where he smelled the threat to be at.

"... He is coming." These were the Wolverine's only words as the noise of the metal blades emerging from his hands broke the silence.

They each assumed their positions, Rogue a little behind as she was only there to incapacitate mutants if their abilities were completely uncontrollable.

They all observed the door slowly open, making way for their possible fellow student to be seen in the flesh, under the sun's rays.

"Are you here to fight me?" They heard him ask, a hint of surprise in his tone despite the unchanged smile on his face.

Standing tall, around 185 centimeters with short black hair perfectly well cut.

'He doesn't look like the hermit I thought he would be...' Scott internally remarked, observing the African American man leisurely walk out with clothes you would expect tourists to wear on vacations on tropical islands.

A blue Hawaiian shirt with black shorts and a pair of sandals. Completely hiding his eyes from the sun's and other people's gazes with black sunglasses, he looked completely out of place with the greenery scenery surrounding them.

They were slightly perplexed by his lack of panic considering he is supposed to have awoken his mutation an hour or so ago but still they relaxed, seeing that he was pretty calm about it.

So either he didn't know that his mutation had awoken even though it rarely does without any external stimulation or he did but simply was neither surprised nor scared by it.

Rapidly relaxing to adopt a more neutral stance, they silently observed him just as he observed them, completely unconcerned about their combined power.

"Please, excuse us for our... warry behavior. It's not everyday that a new mutant is as calm as you are."

Slightly rolling in front of his group, the bald man began the discussion, hoping that they would be fast enough to convince him before Magneto arrives.

"Don't worry, it's already forgotten. So... Why are you here exactly?" Markus asked, approaching the group but still staying at a reasonable distance.

While he was quite confident in his still fresh abilities, he was quite ignorant of theirs.

It was easy to speculate on some of them, such as the short guy with the metallic claws or even the guy with the weird glasses indicating some sort of ocular ability such as a laser.

He wondered 'Which laser is the most powerful?'

While he could alternate between a purely radioactive energy that destroy most organic matter, he could also project from his eyes a concussive force mainly composed of nuclear energy that somehow lost their radioactive characteristics... As if he couldn't have one with the other. Or perhaps he simply wasn't as capable with it as he thought.

Nothing a little bit of training couldn't help though.

"We are the X-Men. I am Charles Xavier, the director of the School for Gifted Youngsters and a telepath just like Marvel Girl here." He motioned to himself then to the red-haired girl standing behind him to which she nodded.

Observing Markus' quick glance at her then back at him Xavier continued this time pointing at the relatively short man standing with his arms crossed almost glaring at the young mutant.

"Here we have Wolverine, don't mind his vigilant attitude I like to say that he has a kind heart." To which the man simply growled not blinking once.

"Then we have Cyclops, the current X-Men captain and one of his comrade Rogue." He gestured at them, earning Markus a nod from Cyclops and a small wave from Rogue.

At which the mutant slightly moved down his glasses to look at them without the dark shade of the glasses. They all took note of his eyes slightly glowing a green toxic hue before returning to their natural blue before disappearing behind the glasses once again.

"Very well. I am Markus Bright but if you are here you probably already knows that right? By the way you still didn't said why you are here." He replied, rapidly analyzing the man's words.

'Charles Xavier said his and Marvel Girl's powers but not the others'... That means that he doesn't judge their power as relevant which can only be explained by their inability to read my thoughts as he wouldn't want to antagonizing me so soon.

I never would have imagined such troublesome abilities existing out there... But again, I can literally summon cancer into anyone in my field of vision. I will have to switch my way of thinking.'

"We are able to detect new mutants, especially strong ones like yourself. X-Men is a force that prioritize in rescuing mutants and bringing them to our school where we will teach you to use your powers and control it."

"In short you are recruiting me?" Markus asked, crossing his arm, showcasing the impressive muscular forearms.

"It may seems like that but I assure you mister Bright, we don't have the slightest intention to force you whatsoever. In fact, we hurriedly came because there is another mutant group that is not as kind as us since they will try anything to get you under their banner." The bald an continued to explain, trying to find the better way to recruit Markus as he wasn't able to read his mind.

Unfortunately everything he says doesn't have the slightest influence at least on the young man's face, not giving him any possibility to read his expression.

"If your group's goal is to help mutants through training and whatever to make them able to live just as any normal person out there... What's theirs?" Markus asked, quite curious about the other mysterious group's intentions.

"I fear that their goal is much less... noble than ours. They want to be superior to humans, being even qualified as terrorists by most states." Xavier replied, choosing carefully his words as to deter the man to think of joining them.

The only reaction he received however was a raised eyebrow as his eyes finally broke contact with their group to look toward the horizon at an unseen object, unperturbed by the bright sun.

A few seconds later, the vehicule was within Wolverine's hearing reach.

"We have company." The beastly man said, metallic blades emerging from between his knuckles.

"Shit. They were really fast this time." Cyclops commented, looking at the aircraft approaching the little glade they were in.

"I would suggest we leave now, mister Bright. Only that way can we escape a direct confrontation toward the Brotherhood." Charles Xavier hurried him, hoping for his arch nemesis to not be there or otherwise, their escape would be more difficult than they thought.

"No." Was the only answer he received, startling the group.

"What?! We came in in hurry only to not have to fight them you know!" Jean exclaimed, looking slightly panicked at the aircraft slowly descending almost paralleled of their own.

"Perhaps, but I want to talk to their boss about something. Besides, I won't just let my house at their mercy, especially if they are prone to violence as you said. I don't want to return to ruins." Markus explained, disregarding their anxious stares.

They still didn't know what his mutation was. And if the brotherhood somehow roped him in and they decided to get rid of them altogether, they were not certain of if they would survive.

The Brotherhood's jet opened, letting their few members exit behind their leader...

Floating a few meters from the ground, a metallic helmet hiding part of his face on his head, the older man declared, looking straight at the only person he knew wasn't part yet of his old friend's group.

"I am Magneto, and I came here for you child."