Mister Popular

Kicking the unfortunate empty can that happened to be in his way, Esau scowled heavily as he walked down the streets. Hands shoved in his pockets, fingers curling into fists as he practically shook from barely suppressed rage. The conversation with Charles Xavier and Logan had certainly ignited a burning inferno within him, blood boiling furiously as he made his way through the winding streets.

"Watch it, asshole." A random guy said, knocking Esau with his shoulder as he and his friends walked past. They were laughing and joking and the sound infuriated Esau even further, hands slowly coming out from his pockets.

He turned in that moment, looking upon the group of teens, no older than himself as they made their way into the nearby park. They all wore football jackets, one throwing an American football in the air and catching it as it came down. Ahead of them, there was another group of teenagers, a few girls amongst them.

But Esau at this point was beyond the point of caring about witnesses.

In full view of everyone in the park, he walked up to them, speed increasing to a sprint as he tackled one player to the ground. The lead figure, the one who shoulder checked him, burst through the group just to do it, each voicing their confusion.

There, he grabbed the head of the guy, brought it back and then smashed it directly into the ground, nose crunching, blood splattering onto the ground as the guy cried out in pain. Around him, Esau didn't even register the shocked or horrified words uttered by those surrounding him, only bringing the head back up and then smashing it back down into the ground a second time.

But as he was about to do it a third time, a punch struck him in the face. "Get the fuck off him!" One of the guys said, yet Esau didn't stop, didn't tear his gaze away from the guy he had hold of. In fact, he smashed the head down into the ground a third time, even as a second punch struck him across the face.

It was only when someone kicked him that Esau was dislodged from his position, rolling across the ground and getting to his feet. Bruises formed on his cheeks as he looked back at the ground of football players, each of them surrounding the guy on the floor, the one Esau had completely brutalised with repeated head smashes, the one now unconscious as they panicked over him, someone already on the phone.

Yet as the group turned to him, Esau just walked forwards.

One guy had the bright idea of throwing a punch, Esau didn't even bother to dodge. It struck him across the face, Esau stumbling slightly, but as soon as he caught his footing, rose up and took a few more steps forwards. Only to once again be struck across the face, but yet again, Esau didn't dodge.

He took the blow, caught his footing and then came right back at them again.

"What the fuck is wrong with this guy?" The guy throwing the punches asked, panicked and a little scared as Esau just stared at the unconscious guy on the floor.

"What the fuck are you doing?! Just knock him out!"

The guy rounded on his friends. "What do you think I'm doing?! He's just not going-"

Turning his back on Esau was the wrong move to make as he made a move, grabbing the guy by his wrist. His knuckles were bruised and cracked from where he had hit Esau across the face, the guy turned to look upon Esau's bruised face with a healthy measure of horror before a haymaker smashed into his face.

It was a powerful strike, the natural athleticism Esau had aided by the proper technique he had learned from copying other fighters meant that the twist of his hips, angle of his strike, the follow-through and even just the way in which he clenched his fists made it truly devastating blow.

The footballer player didn't stand a chance.

He collapsed instantly, almost like a puppet whose strings were cut and Esau just walked over, gripped the guy by his jacket, brought him up and drove his free hand down in another haymaker blow. A sickening crunch sounded and Esau just held him there, bringing his other hand back.

From the previous encounters, the rest of the guys knew simply hitting Esau wouldn't do anything. So one had the bright idea of stopping Esau by simply grabbing hold of his free hand. It was an attempt to halt the punch and it did its job, just for a moment.

At that point, Esau just let go of the guy in his hands and then struck the guy holding his arm back. All the while the rest tried to wrap their heads around what was happening, completely shocked and terrified by the single-mindedness that Esau expressed in his beatdown of those that stopped him.

It was that fear that left them rooted to the spot, unwilling and unable to even muster the thought of helping their friends, let alone actually doing something to help.

-X- Line Break -X-

"You're lucky, Esau." The police officer muttered, sitting across from Esau. "You seem to know some pretty important people for them to be able to pull strings like this. You'd be going straight back to juvie after a stunt like this."

Esau said nothing, not that the police officer expected much else.

This wasn't Esau's first visit here and in fact, it was pretty well-known about the kid's violent tendencies. Though it wasn't like Esau's parents much cared about their kid's behaviour either, or anything Esau did for that matter.

"Am I free to go?" Esau asked.

The police officer waved him away. "Yeah, you can go." Usually, this would be followed by a strict warning or something of the sort, they had done so in the past with Esau, not just other kids in similar situations. But Esau still ended up in that seat all the same and at this point, it was just a matter of waiting till he could be trailed as an adult.

Rising to his feet, Esau shoved his bruised hands into his pockets, ignoring the dull ache in his cheeks as he walked out of the police station. He paused momentarily though when he watched a mother and father burst in, they were angry, rightfully so considering he was responsible for sending one of their kids to a hospital, they even glared at the police officers, shouted at them and everything.

Esau just stood in the doorway watching it all, eventually turning and leaving when the parents caught him looking. Before they could do or say anything to him, Esau just turned and walked away, reaching to pull his hood up over his head to hide his face.

The care they had for their child was evident. 'Must be nice.'

Hands shoved back in his pockets, Esau pushed open the door to the police station with his shoulder, stepping out into the outdoors, the sound of cars and the busy streets assaulting his senses once more.

He took a moment, just to take it all in before beginning to walk down the stairs. 'I wonder who got me out of that though.' Esau wondered, knowing full well that considering his track record, just one foot out of line would put him in juvie for a long while, let alone the brutal assault of seven teenagers that had put them in the hospital needing extensive care to treat them.

It was also, from what he had been told, looking like they wouldn't be able to return to football again, especially not the first one. 'Is it them?" He questioned, thinking back to Charles Xavier and Logan. 'I hope not.' He thought with a heavy frown, not wanting to owe Logan anything.

"Esau Jacobson." Pausing, Esau turned to try and find the owner of the voice, turning to find a beautiful woman with short black hair and dressing a formal, pencil skirt and blouse. "Hello, my name is Raven Darkholme, would you be willing to spare a moment of your time?"

"Why?" He asked dubiously.

"Well, I thought you would like a chance to thank me, considering I am responsible for getting you out of your predicament." That only made Esau more suspicious, eyes narrowing. "But I would also like to extend to you an offer."