Changing Tides Part 4

- The X Mansion -

After meeting in the halls of the X mansion, as it was called, Jean led the group to the Professor's office, where they parted ways, leaving only the Professor and Peter to talk.

Jean promptly waved Peter goodbye before dragging a brooding Scott Summers away by the arm. It turns out that Mister Laser Eyes, as Kat called him, was several glares short of redefining the word jealousy, especially when his glare could literally melt its intended target.

Sheesh, that guy could drive someone's crazy jealous ex out of business. It's not like I knew they were a thing...actually are they a couple? sure as hell didn't seem like it. More like, close friends if anything.

Peter followed quietly behind the professor taking in his corridor as they walked towards Professor Xavier's Office. Cypher was quick to do a sweep of the entire room, his vision momentarily lighting a soft neon blue as he did a quick scan of the surrounding area before his eyes fell on the Professor. Oh right...gotta watch your thoughts Pete, he did say he was a telepath right?

" So, you are like Jean huh, you read minds too?" Peter asked the Professor. "Your not reading my mind right now are you?"

"Yes. Although Ms. Grey's abilities are far more diverse in their application than my own." Professor Xavier's voice was calm and deep. " There's no need to be alarmed, your thoughts are safe, I make sure to ask for consent when it comes to matters of the mind."

"Cool." Peter looked around the room as Cypher continued his scan, there was something odd about the walls, some type of reinforced high-density metal lay hidden behind the wooden floorboards and plaster walls with fiber-optic wiring and electric currents flowing through complex circuits inside the walls of the room that were almost on par with Stark tower. Interesting. Peter noted.

There's something here. Peter could feel it in the air, electro-magnetic and radio wave fluctuations, strange energy signatures and so much more. Cypher was humming with cautious curiosity before but now his technopathic machine counterpart/alter-ego was positively buzzing shifting from simple visual scans to breaking down the entire X-men mansion one electronic component at a time- Cypher was even piggybacking off of the nearest satellite in orbit directly above the school to scan the mansion; oddly enough the satellite's internal designator implied it was US military property.

Okay…and...who are you? Peter paused a step deciding to focus his attention on the satellite for a brief moment and like a flipping of a switch Cypher's Persona overlapped with Peter both becoming one being, Cypher was more than happy to oblige as a stream of information entered his mind, 'Tracing COSPAR ID: CSA-1999-011A. Launch Year: 1999, Launch Number: 0011, Object Catalogue: A1-Angel Series, Location: high earth orbit. Altitude: 10324 km. Longitude: 120.5'W. Latitude: 23.1'N. Inclination: 51.6' RAAN: 250.3', True Anomaly: 90.0'. ' Isolating signal-tracing origin. Origin Location- Washington D.C. Accessing-FAILSAFE BYPASS…Designated oversight…Commission On Superhuman Affairs—Department K…Error-manual override - Origin signal lost- manual self destruct sequence halted...commencing retrace...Error-Origin Signal Inactive-All traces dead... Secondary Self-destruct Failsafe triggered- CSA-1999-011A Data wiped. Commencing system wide reset, all routines and subroutines erased, reprogramming...repositioning....recalibrating....CSA-1999-0011A now designated Babylon-1999-001A, Reset complete.'

Peter blinked and he disconnected from Cypher, 27.32 seconds went by. His physical body moved without much trouble, it followed taking slow steps behind the professor, unconsciously moving with any conscious effort needed besides a simple mental order from Peter thanks to his Fools mask.

He let out a slow breath as the accidental implications of his actions sunk in. 

'Holy shite... Did I just bag myself a military class satellite? by accident? I think I did? what the hell Cypher?' A mental ping was all Peter got from his machine persona as is it went to work reprogramming the million dollar hunk of advanced space junk. Peter had grossly underestimated his I-Boy ability, It slipped his mind that his range was indeed planetary, and that he had complete telepathic control over all forms of technology he came in telepathic contact with although that wasn't what was confusing the teen at the moment as the little data he was able to extrapolate form the traced signal set in. 

What the hell was the Commission on Superhuman Affairs (CSA)? Department K? The government knew about this place, they had eyes on a school of mutant kids?…of course, they did…Things just couldn't be as simple first day at super school huh… Having a psychic sensor for anything tech-related had its perks, the only downside was that it had its perks. Whoever the hell CSA has just abandoned their satellite in orbit thanks to Cypher's tracing thus granting him a free freaking orbital eye in the sky, pun intended and all. Whoever they were, they most definitely owned a bank -Or that's where all our taxpayer dollars end up- and they didn't want to be found out by any means necessary, they went dark-dark, Cypher only got past the first 27 failsafe's before they manually cut their signal off.

Whoever they were, they knew they lost a satellite which means they were aware of his presence but not his identity. God he needed Babylon to be real and he needed it fast but on the other hand owning a private satellite wasn't bad, it wasn't bad at all. 

Whatever. Too late now. Sucks to be them anyway. Hehehe. Peter stifled a laugh and stepped back into pace with the professor as Cypher used his newly acquired satellite to scan the school seeing no need to track down a dead signal.

I could use this, why not? Time to plant the seeds of deception. With a thought, the satellite digital and radio signature was altered to point the victims of his unintentional hack to the non-existent organization Babylon.

A mischievous smile bloomed on Peter's face as he caught up with the professor.

"Did you enjoy the tour, Peter?" Professor Xavier's voice captured Peter's attention; his electric wheelchair hummed as he moved behind his desk motioning for Peter to take a sit.

" It's a big school, when Jean said it was a school for mutants I didn't picture something so…" Peter searched for the word, his mind wandering through various sequences of blueprints of the X mansion. 

"Normal." The professor mused.

"Yeah. Mhmm. That is exactly the word I was looking for." Peter nodded. Well, well, well, what do we have here? Secret hero base? X-cave? Here's Cypher... There was a digital black hole below the school, an entire secret banker, no, several bunkers sealed off and separate from the schools' systems. Cypher was sneakily working his way through its intricately interconnected network.

" Well, it is school.", Professor Xavier chuckled lightly before his demeanor turned serious. " Can I be blunt with you, Peter?"

"Sure." Peter sat up straighter wondering where this sudden change in tone was going. Peter swiftly pushed Cypher to the back of his mind like minimizing an open tab and focused on the professor.

" There is a certain class of mutants, who, even among mutants possess incredibly powerful and potent abilities. You see, each mutant can be classified by their own unique power level which is used to determine the strength of their abilities. From weakest to strongest there's, Epsilon, Delta, Gama, Beta, and Alpha, the strongest among them we call Omega-level Mutants. I am one of them along with Jean and a few others. You, also possess the potential to become an Omega Class mutant although to what extent I am unsure." The professor explained.

"Is that how you were able to find me, because of my power level?" Peter asked curiously. Could they track him anywhere or could he hide behind the fool's mask? And how did Mutant power levels even work? He wasn't even aware of such a thing.

" In a manner of speaking. When you activated your abilities for what I assume was the first time I felt it from here which is quite impressive." The professor answered. "At that moment your power levels were fluctuating between Gemma, Beta, and Alpha so it was quite easy to pinpoint your location, Powerful mutants stand out like beacons to other mutants who can sense them. When your abilities stabilized your levels decreased to Delta making it difficult for me to locate you and I lost you hence why I had to send my students to find you."

Peter nodded listening intently to the professor's insightful explanation. Cypher pinged in his psyche with a fascinating discovery, Peter schooled his facial features through his Fool's Mask.

"It was important that we found you first. Your abilities are…unique, rare among mutants, your power level alone made you stand out and we were afraid that certain groups may consider you a significant threat to their existence."

"You're talking about the Mutant Brotherhood aren't you" Peter inquired. His thoughts wandered towards Wanda and her brother and their brief meeting at the Stark Expo.

"Among others. " Professor Xavier confirmed, he let out a breath. " The Mutant Brotherhood is a radical supremist group, they operate under the misguided notion that we mutants are the superior species, they believe that humans and mutants cannot and should not coexist, that only mutants, only the strong should inherit the earth. They were not the first to follow this doctrine as there have been others before them, their beliefs often put them at odds with humans, their battles fought in the shadows of history hidden behind one conflict or another."

Well, this is becoming a very interesting and insightful conversation. Cypher's findings were filled away for Peter to look through later.

"Unfortunately, your unique mutation leaves you in the center of this conflict. It's imperative that you understand the danger you pose to these groups and the danger they pose to you…"

Professor Xavier paused to let his words sink in. "Peter, they will stop at nothing to either capture, use, or kill you."

 " If you're trying to scare me into joining your school it's not gonna work." Peter interrupted. " I can take care of myself. I don't need your protection."

" Oh, I'm well aware of that fact, the Battle of New York is proof enough." The professor shook his head lightly.

His words caught Peter off guard, slightly surprising the teen. Since Jean and Kat knew about it, it never occurred to him that others might have found out about it too which was actually pretty stupid of him. He had to be more careful from now on, if the X-man knew about it then who else might have figured it out too?

"You… saw that?" Peter asked tilting his head slightly to the left, he wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed at how easily he was found out or be proud that a member of the X-man took him for his word. Thankfully, the professor chose to leave his question unanswered, simply tapping the side of his head lightly like that should answer his question.

"That being said, no man is an Island Peter, we all need help sometimes." The professor said. " I'm not trying to scare you. I'm only trying to reassure you of our intentions. You are aware of the X-man?"

"Your little mutant superhero club." Peter raised an eyebrow at the question. Shit- was I caught… sigh… ok, that was close. A mental ping from Cypher told him that his mechanical counterpart couldn't get through, whoever designed the banker was freakishly good at their Job. It was a closed system, nearly impossible to access from the outside, there was a unique metal alloy that coated the outer surface of the bunker sealing it completely even from his ability. It didn't help that there was something else probing down there in that bunker that was probing him too. Something virtual but not fully sentient - almost like an incomplete consciousness. An AI maybe? Did everyone have secret AI's just sitting around in their backyard? and what the fuck was a Danger-Room?

Fool's mask squashed his urge to let out a frustrating sigh. Too many things to think about, lets just focus on one for now. 

"Yes, my little 'superhero' club'. "The edges of Professor Xavier's lips twitched lightly at Peter's answer as he spoke." The X-man exists to protect and save mutants everywhere including those within our school. To that end, the school exists to provide a safe haven for the mutants we save, a place for them to nurture their abilities and grow without fear of refection or harm, it is for mutants with nowhere to go, mutants who are scared, lonely, confused, lost, and who have no idea what to do about the changes they go through... I don't want you to simply join my school, Peter. I want you to join the X-man, I want you to be one of us, to use your abilities to save mutants."

OK…Boy that escalated quickly. Peter was somewhat shocked at the professor's request. He knew they wanted him in their school but to join the X-man, he honestly did not see that coming. The X-man were a widely known mutant team, they even had an Agreement with the UN that allowed them to deal with mutant threats under specific conditions, probably where most of the students in the school came from. At least that's what he knew. Wait…Actually, this is perfect. I could use this. If I make the team that's a free ticked to the secret banker under the school.

A sudden thought dawned on him as curiosity bared its fangs. It was rash, crazy even but if I play my cards right, it could work.

Taking his silence as contemplation Professor went on speaking. " As it stands you are the first mutant we've discovered in recorded history to possess the power to nullify and suppress mutant abilities. We want to learn more about you and maybe in the process help you discover more about yourself and your abilities. I don't doubt that you can protect yourself which is why I'm asking you to help us protect those who can't-"

 "I'm in." Peter interrupted with a smile prompting the professor to blink curiously. " I'm in but I have a few conditions though… Well…Less of a condition and more of a favor, or deal? Yeah, let's go with a deal. I wanna cut a deal with you."

Professor Xavier observed him curiously, probably tempted to use his abilities to read his thoughts or not peter wasn't sure. He interlocked his fingers with his elbows on his desk leaning forward as he spoke. "What did you have in mind?"

Peter had the sudden urge to scratch the back of his head, but fool's mask nipped it from the bud. Taking a deep breath Peter decided to move forward with his thoughts. "This is gonna sound presumptuous, maybe even a little bit crazy and ridiculous but I'm smart, like crazy smart and I don't intend to go to this school to learn how to use my abilities, I know perfectly well how to use them and how they work- seriously, there's nothing you can discover that I won't already know. That being said, I will join the X-men as a member, I'll provide help when you need me too and I'll be a student at your school but in writing only. I just need to figure some things out first- give me some time. Is that OK?"

When Peter finished he found a rather amused Professor Xavier blinking owlishly at him. Professor Xavier's lips parted but no words came out. After a few seconds, he finally spoke. " I suppose it is. Please, take all the time you need. I'm sure we can work something out. Headmistress Darkholme can help you with the necessary paperwork to finalize your transfer to our school after her lectures."

"The sounds great." Peter stood up and extended his hand towards Professor Xavier. " So, What happens now?"

"Now we get you settled in, and if we have enough time, we can get you power testing." The professor shook Peter's hand with a warm smile. "Our Professor Logan would be more than happy to test you himself."

"Power testing?" Peter asked curiously.

....

Somewhere in Washington D.C an old man answered a call regarding lost military assets and received classified files containing a digital cypher left behind by the culprit who hijacked said military asset. After days of complex decryption they would find a hidden message that spelt out a single word. 

BABYLON. 

-Chapter End-