77 Another Invitation

On a dark alley side, a group of teenagers was hiding, waiting for a certain someone to pass this road. They brought baseball bats, metal poles, and broken pipes with them. There was also one of them that currently recording from far away.

"I don't know, man. I think this is a bad idea." muttered one of the teenagers.

A boy with a bandaged wrist reprimanded him, "Shut up, Billy. I don't want any complaints from you too. Where's Donny?"

"Oh, he ran away when the moment when that kid held your hand." answered one of them.

"Fucking cowards, if he comes to me tomorrow, you better give him some lesson." said the wrist boy. "Listen, all we need to do was to bait him in using his power on us. Once we recorded it, I'll send it to my uncle. He worked in capturing bastards like that kid. We can also sue his family for raising such a monster."

"Yo dude, are you sure he's strong? He didn't look like one though. Ain't you just fell over accidentally?" asked one of them.

"Can't you see my wrist, the doctor said I need months to recover it! So you all do a good job, or I'll kick you from my football team." said the wrist boy.

A moment later, one of them noticed a boy coming their way. He called over the wrist boy to check it.

"He's here, let's go."

They walked out of the alley, blocking Edward's way. Edward who was still feeling down after meeting The Ancient One felt even more annoyed.

"Good evening, you dirty monster. Going home?" greeted the wrist boy. Edward didn't remember these teenagers who were blocking his way. Until the wrist boy showed the bandaged wrist to him. Now that he remembered, he got even more pissed.

"Do you think you could get away just like that after breaking my wrist? I will make sure you'll pay dearly for it." said the wrist boy.

Edward didn't have any time to cater to their needs, so he just calmly said, "Move, or I won't just stop on your wrist tonight."

With a cue, the wrist boy led his group to laugh at Edward's words. He then said, "Just try, but let me warn you, if you did resist, you'll lose everything you had. You said that you won't stop just on taking my wrist? Well, guess what, I won't stop just on you. That blonde girl from before? I'll make sure she tastes how it feels to be dirty just like you."

They laughed together once again. Surprisingly, Edward didn't respond to the teenager's taunting. He just closed his eyes and listen to his surrounding.

After finding what he wanted, he then said, "Ah... so that's your plan? I admit I would have fallen for it if it was me from two months ago."

Smoke covered his body in an instant as he vanished from their sight. All of them panicked just from this trickery. They flailed the so-called weapon on their hands left and right, thinking it would somehow hit him.

However, Edward was moving far away from them, toward the cameraman who was hiding in the distance, behind a garbage bin. The man who was holding the camera suddenly fell unconscious as Edward hit his nape with the back of his hand. He crushed the camera with both of his hands into pieces and tossed it away into the bin.

Dark Smoke appeared once again in front of the teenagers, as Edward slowly walked from within.

"What did you do!?" asked the wrist boy. He was a bit scared because Edward suddenly vanished, but he already saw it on TV that they had weird powers, and invisibility would be one of them. Edward appeared again at the same spot as before. With his big brain, he assumed that Edward couldn't move when he was in an invisible state.

Believing his own conjecture, he laughed before saying, "Do you think you can fool us? Thinking that we would run away after you turn invisible so that you can escape after your it ran out?"

The others also realized it, and laugh with him as well. 'What an idiot.' thought Edward.

He didn't give them any time as he dashed past them, delivering blows after blows to their stomach. The first person who got punched instantly bent over, clutching his stomach before passing out with white bubbles covering his mouth. The others didn't fare well either, as the punches hit different spots for different person. One even got his leg bent in a weird line.

Just under 3 seconds, every single one of them was left incapacitated on the ground. They didn't have any time to use the weapon in their hands, not any time to process what was happening. Edward was just too fast for them to handle.

Now, the only one left was the wrist boy, who was sweating all over his body. He yelled, "That's it, you're finished now. Prepare yourself, tonight will be the last time you'll ever breathe fresh air."

He was confident that his plan succeeded. He got Edward recorded. All he needs to do was to send the recording of what was happening tonight to his uncle, and he will handle it for him. However, even if he did succeed, what's next?

"Do you really believe, that you will be safe just because you recorded me?" asked Edward.

"Of course, I already got my hands on the evi... Wait, how did you know we recorded you?" muttered the wrist boy.

"And why should I answer it?"

Crack!

Edward moved to his side, crushing the boy's wrist on the other side. Now both of them were crushed. The boy kneeled while clutching his now broken wrist. With both wrists broken, he couldn't even hold one of them properly.

"I told you earlier, didn't I? That tonight, I won't stop at just your wrist," whispered Edward.

"Please, stop. I.. I won't do it ever again. I... I'm sorry." begged the boy, with snot and tears covering his face.

"Did you know, a military doctor could break every single bone you had while naming it?" asked Edward. The wrist boy felt even more scared of Edward's threatening tone. He then continued, "But, I'm no doctor, so I can't tell which bones that would make you hospitalized for weeks, or which bones that will make you paralyzed. Now, which one I'll start with?"

======

10 minutes later, Edward arrived at the front door of his mother's old apartment. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door and opened it.

"I'm home..." he said while taking off the shoes.

However, as he walked inside, he got surprised once again. Chris and Claire were standing in the middle of the room, and Sherry was peeking from the kitchen.

As always, Claire approached him and asked, "Where have you been going to? I was worried about you."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Claire, but can I ask you why these people are here?" replied Edward.

In the living room, there were not only Chris and Claire but also two guests were waiting for him. One sat in his wheelchair, while the other one stood behind him.

"Good evening, Edward," greeted the bald man in the wheelchair. "Thank you for everything that you did in Paris."

"You're welcome," replied Edward. "I believed you're not coming this far away just to thank me."

"Ah, an affable character. I love it already." commented the bald man. "My name's Charles Xavier. I run a school for special children like you, and I came all the way here to invite you to be our student."

"What if I reject your offer?" asked Edward.

"I'm afraid, you can't do that, Edward. Not when you're endangering the lives of others. By the way, did you win the fight? All I heard were just a bunch of screaming and cry for help." said Charles. His telepathy was so strong that he could casually know about everything around him. Especially, any conflicts involving a mutant.

Chris and Claire instantly knew what he meant. Ever since Edward got out of Raccoon City, he always put himself in a trouble. And fighting just happened to be one of them. It might have something to do with his age since he was not old enough to comprehend his painful experience.

However, even if he tried to understand Edward's current condition, Chris was angry at his thoughtless action. He then yelled, "Edward! How many times do I have to tell you? Do not use your power against normal people!"

Hearing Chris's word, Edward chuckled, "So you assumed that I'm the one that's not normal? Do you even know why I did that?"

"No matter what it is, endangering their life when you could just walk away is not the right thing to do!" argued, Chris.

"Chris, enough. He must have a reason," said Claire, trying to stop Chris and Edward from arguing anymore. But Edward suddenly snapped. All of his pent-up feeling, containing the grief and sorrow from the past, including the worry and confusion for the future exploded in a single moment.

"This is why I hate you so much!" yelled Edward.

Sherry who was watching gasped at the word that Edward said. Claire was also startled by it. However, it couldn't be compared with what Chris was feeling right now.

"You coward! You don't even have any courage to fucking face your problem. Walk away? Then what about next time? And after that?" said Edward.

"Then do you think what you're doing now is bravery? Justice? They're weak, Edward. They couldn't even raise a finger against you. Just because you're right and they're wrong, it didn't give you the right to bully them!"

"Bully? They're the ones that come for me. Do you know what they did to Sherry? If I was any weaker than them, do you think they will stop? Can you imagine what would happen then!?"

Jean, who was standing behind Charles, wanted to stop them. However, Charles raised his hand, stopping her from saying anything. This is not their problem to solve. Besides, he was a bit curious about Edward. And he was also interested in why he couldn't read his mind as he did with others.

Madness could be seen inside Edward's eyes. He was clearly not being himself at this moment. He kept on berating Chris, "Back then, and now, you're still the same, a selfish bastard! Stop trying to take my parent's role! You never had any chance to replace them, to begin with!"

Pak!

Suddenly, a hand flew and slapped Edward's cheek, silencing him. The sound resounded across the room and anyone could imagine how hard it was. As if poured with a cold bucket, Edward finally realized what he just did. Chris was standing while using the wall to hold himself. Guilt and sadness could be seen on his face. The guilt caused by his failure to save everyone back then, in the city. The sadness caused by him being denied by his own nephew.

Edward then turned his head, toward the one that slapped him. It was Claire, and she was crying.

"Could you... just stop...?" asked Claire.

Now that his head was finally clear he wanted to apologize. But he couldn't say or do anything. He was too ashamed of himself. It was then that his eyes moved to one corner of the room. Toward the empty spot, he occasionally stares at. No one saw anything, but Edward did, all the time. He saw him. He saw Michael, smiling, even when half of his body was covered by blood, mocking him.

Edward couldn't bear it and turned his back, vanishing into dark smokes.

"It seems today is not the right day," said Charles, before telling Jean that they're leaving. He then said, "We'll be back tomorrow, I hope that by then, you have your answer."

As the darkness of the night swallowed all of the light on the city, sending the people under the sky to dreamland, Edward came back home. He went through the window of his room, which Sherry purposely did not lock. Of course, by the time Edward arrived, she was sleeping.

Under the doorway, Edward could see that the light in the living room was still on. He shut his eyes off and saw that Chris was sleeping on the sofa.

"Mmhhm...mm..."

It was then that he heard Sherry groaning. She was having a nightmare. In the past two months, Sherry and Edward were sleeping in the same room. She kept having a nightmare every single night. It was because of this reason that Edward couldn't leave for long even if he wants to. The primary cause of her nightmare was because of the Genma Cells. Although the G strain was suppressed, nothing could stop the Genma Cells to awaken.

Edward moved toward her. Letting the Oni Gauntlet touch come in contact with her. The white eyeball with the black iris glowed warmly to soothe her mind and suppress the Genma Cells. A moment later, Sherry's pale face returned to the usual rosy pink. And slowly, Edward also drifted asleep beside her.

======

On the next day, Charles came again with Jean, as he promised yesterday. Edward already packed all of his luggage, including Sherry's. Both of them will be going to the X Mansion and lived there from now on.

Edward still didn't talk with Claire and Chris, but they didn't stop the two from leaving either. They knew that it was for the best. But still, they were pained by the idea of leaving their nephew and niece to a stranger's hand. And after what happened last night, it felt even worse.

After all of their luggage was stored in the car. It was time for goodbye. Edward went inside without saying anything. But Claire and Chris still told him to take care of himself, and that they will visit him once in a while. Sherry was a bit reluctant about leaving and wanted to say something, but she held it in and hugged Claire.

"Don't worry about Edward. I'll take care of him." whispered, Sherry.

"Thank you, Sherry," replied Claire.

Sherry also hugged Chris, although it was much shorter. It was clear that she favored Claire, more than him.

And then, the car finally went on its way. Sherry opened the car's window and keep waving at them, even after she couldn't see them anymore. She then faced Edward, and said, "You're too harsh on yourself, did you know that?"

However, Edward didn't say anything. Getting no response from him, Sherry pouted and turned her head away, sulking.

Of course, Edward didn't mean to ignore her, he was just too busy closing his eyes to look at his Aunt and Uncle for the last time.

10 hours later, the small group finally arrived in front of a Mansion. Just outside the entrance gate, there was a big stone wall carved with "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" on it.

Edward couldn't believe he would be staying here from now on. Just like in the movie, the X-Mansion was basically a castle turned into a school. They also had a dorm which they will be given for their use. Usually, both Edward and Sherry would've been separated into their own dorm, but her current t condition wouldn't allow her to do so. And so, it was decided that they will be sleeping in the same room, of course on their own bed.

They met with Storm, who gave them a simple tour around the mansion. The next term would start in Spring, so they will have to wait.

And then, two years passed just like that.