4 Exploitation

Author's Note

So it seems like nobody could guess how he was going to use his power. I'll give one more hint before the chapter starts, for those of you who like to guess things before they happen: Vulkanus.

Also, I'm trying to decide how I'm going to handle the Phoenix. In the show, Aggregor was able to get 100% of the aliens he absorbed power because he turned them into pure energy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Phoenix an entity made of Cosmic Energy. So theoretically, Kevin could absorb the full powers of the Phoenix. He wouldn't have any kind of control of it, but it would be an insane jump in power, so I've got three options.

1. Have Kevin absorb the entire Phoenix Force from Jean and gain it's power with 0 control and it would basically just be a boost in base stats until he can learn to control all that power.

2. Have Kevin absorb half of the Phoenix force from Jean before he begins to get overloaded from absorbing too much energy at once and stops. This would form a kind of link between him and Jean. He would still have 0 control and it would basically just be a boost in base stats until he can learn to control all that power.

3. Kevin wouldn't absorb the Phoenix, but when he tries to absorb Jean's powers, they start off at a slightly higher level.

Let me know what you guys think, or even suggest a different route I could go with. This seems like it might be too much of a boost in power this soon, but let me know.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Getting ready to test if my idea will work, I place my hands on the wooden desk in front of me and absorb the wood.

My entire body is coated in wood and I begin to try to use a facet of Osmosian power I hadn't used before.

'I remember there was an episode of Alien Force where Vulkanus forced Kevin to absorb Taydenite and produce it for him. Theoretically, that should work the same if I were to absorb something like Adamantium, or Vibrainium, I could potentially have an infinite source of the most powerful materials on the planet.'

Concentrating, I try to produce wood from out of my skin. At first it just makes my fists get bigger, but after several tries I am able to a spike of Wood from my hand which I will to disconnect from my body. It falls off and I look at it with a look of triumph.

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Material Production: The ability to use your body as a source of material. Able to disconnect and infinitely produce any material you have absorbed. Lvl Max]

'Now I just need to figure out a way to get Logan to let me absorb his Adamantium. Hmm, I can just ask to absorb it during combat training and move from there I guess.'

With my theories confirmed, I move on to continuing practice with my Magnetokinesis. Spending the rest of the night working on it by itself, so I could really test the limits of it. Now that my control of the ability had improved, I was able to slowly manipulate a 100 paperclips at once, to form a ball about the size of a basketball. It wasn't super difficult to lift, and I felt like I could lift more, but I didn't have a lot of options for heavier metal to move, so I instead took the time to try to improve my control. To do this, I tried to move as many paperclips individually as possible, starting off with 10 and moving up from their. By the time I was ready to go to sleep, I had succeeded in moving all 100 individually, greatly increasing my control, although I didn't gain a level.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Next Day passed in much of a similar fashion to the previous one. I went to school and sat bored out of my mind.

'I'll take today to copy Xavier's power, so I have something to practice while I'm in class. I can wait to decide what I'll do about Jean.'

Once I got back to the institute, I went up to Professor Xavier's office to go talk to him. Knocking on the door, I heard a muffled "Come in Kevin" and I entered.

"Hey Professor, how did you know it was me outside."

"As Jean most likely already mentioned, you are an anomaly in that you are completely immune to telepathy. Even Cerebro only found you for a brief moment before it was unable to find you anymore, and even then it couldn't tell anything about you besides your name. I can usually sense people's minds around me, and since there was a knock with no mind, it had to be you." The Professor explained.

Nodding my head to what he had said 'That makes sense. Gamer's Mind prevents all mental intrusions. The only reason Cerebro even found me in the first place was probably the moment before my Gamer powers activated.'

"Anyways, Professor I was wondering if it would be possible for you to acquire some materials for me to practice absorbing."

Looking at me for a second, Xavier nodded his head before saying "Yes, it would be prudent for you to have practice absorbing and shaping different kinds of materials. I will order a variety of materials for you to practice with as soon as possible."

Stepping towards his chair, I held out my hand saying "Thanks Professor, I really appreciate you doing this for me."

He shook my hand while saying "No problem my boy. I am happy to help all mutants learn with their gifts."

Once we made contact, I began absorbing his power.

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Telepathy: The ability to read and manipulate minds. Lvl 1/10]

Releasing his hand, I turn around and walk out of the room in search of Logan.

'Xavier's form of telepathy is different from Jean's in that he has to focus to read someone's mind, while her telepathy is like a radar, constantly picking up thoughts. His form will give me a chance to train my mind before I absorb Jean's, so I don't have to deal with constantly reading people's thoughts.'

Making my way down the hall, I found Logan lounging outside in a hammock. Walking up to him, Logan says "What do you want kid." before I even reach him.

Once I make my way all the way to him, I reply "I was wondering if you could help me with something. When you came to protect me from Magneto, he said you were made of metal. Can I try absorbing your metal to test how my power works with different kinds of metal?"

'Asking outright will be more likely to get a positive response from Logan than dancing around it.'

He gets up from the hammock and squints at me for a second, looking at me closely. My face stays neutral as he continues to examine me, before he nods his head and says "Fine kid, you can try to absorb the metal. It's called Adamantium, and it's one of the strongest metals on earth, so if you can actually do it, you're getting thrown into the harder combat tests." He then unsheathed his claws, holding his hand out towards me.

Shrugging at his threat of harder tests, I reach out and touch one of the claws before absorbing the material. As soon as I absorb it, I can feel all of my physical stats increasing by a great amount. It was like the difference between night and day, as I feel like I could do anything.

After the power high goes away, I turn towards Logan, who looks a little surprised I was actually able to absorb the rare metal, before he says "Alright kid, looks like I'm gonna put you through the ringer the day after tomorrow, so be ready for it."

Nodding my head once again, I quickly form a ball of adamantium in my hand before allowing the metal to fade away from my body. Turning around, I say "Well thanks Logan. I'm gonna head back to my room and rest now." Before waving with my other hand and walking off, with the ball of Adamantium I created still nestled in the hand I hadn't waved with.

Quickly returning to my room, I place the Adamantium on my desk, while looking at it closely and thinking of all the possibilities it had.

'There's no reason for me to make a suit out of it, I can just coat my body and it will be much more effective. It's the same with weapons, I can just shape my hands or use my claws. Right now, it's most useful as something I should have on me at all times so I can absorb it if I get into a fight. It increases my attack power by such a vast amount that it would be stupid to not have it with me. I really need to get to work on trying to figure out how to counteract Magneto's power, though, or else I will be hard pressed to put up a fight against him.'

Thinking about how much of a boon the Adamantium was for me, I get excited just thinking of the prospect of absorbing Vibrainium as well, or even combing them together for even greater effects.

'Now that I've got Professor X's telepathy, I can use my school time to practice with it. Combat training can be used for improving my fighting style and material absorption powers, while nighttime can be used to work on the other powers I've absorbed.'

Thinking about my powers, I remembered one power I had absorbed that I hadn't even tried out yet. 'Storm's power is too flashy. I can't use it in my room, and if I use it outside I run the risk of someone seeing or Storm sensing the change in the weather. I'll have to wait till I find a good time to practice it.'

I spent the rest of the night continuing to try to increase the amount of paper clips I could manipulate at one time, the number increasing much slower than it did before. I only managed to increase it from 100 to 135 at once.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't going to be able to get as much training done as I wanted to.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The next day went pretty similarly to the last two. I went to school and sat through classes, but instead of zoning out I spent the time trying to focus on people's minds. I was only able to read one at a time, and I could only get flashes of what they were thinking about, but even with a flash of a cheerleaders mind, I learned she was sleeping with half the football team, so that was interesting.

It was once the school day ended that my normal routine was changed up. When I walked out of the building, I saw Jean standing in front of the building waiting for me. Before I could move towards her, she was already walking towards me. Once she made it to me, she said "Hey Kevin, you've been spending all your time either in your room or training. We've barely even gotten a chance to know you, so how about we do something today."

My first instinct was to refuse so that I could focus in on my training, but right after I had that thought I realized how I was paying too much attention to training.

'I've spent all my time training that I've pretty much neglected anything else. Just because I'm worried about future threats doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy my life.'

With my mind made up, I replied "Sure Jean sounds like fun. Did you have something in mind for what you wanted to do."

She looked a little surprised that I had actually accepted, I guess I had given the impression that I was a complete introvert. However, she recovered quickly and responded "Yeah I thought bowling would be fun. Scott said he would join us, so let's go meet him in the parking lot and he can drive."

A little disappointed that it wouldn't be just me and Jean, I nodded before following her to Scott's car. He was waiting outside of it, and once we walked up he said "So you got him to go huh Jean. Well everybody get in and let's go. Glad your coming with us Kevin."

"Sure it sounds like fun and I've spent too much time in my room anyway."

We got in the car and Scott drove us to the bowling alley. We paid for a game and shoes before beginning to play. As the game continued, Scott and Jean took the chance to try to get to know me.

"So how are you enjoying living at the institute so far?" Jean asked.

"It's cool, a lot better than living on the street that's for sure. I could do without having to go to school all the time, but the combat sessions are fun."

Nodding his head, Scott replied "Yeah those sessions are fun, they're probably my favorite part too, but just wait till you get to learn to fly the jet."

I had actually forgotten that I could learn to fly a jet. That made me think of the Kevin from Ben 10 and his car.

'Hmm, I've definitely got to start learning about engineering and being a mechanic. I want to get a car like Kevin has, at the very least as a homage to him, if not for how cool the car is when it's decked out with alien tech.'

"Yeah sounds like it'll be fun, I'm looking forward to it."

"Alright well enough jet talk, you're up Kevin." Jean interrupted.

We continued to play 2 more games for the day before heading back to the institute. Once we entered the hall, I waved goodnight to Jean and Scott before heading back to my room. I did my daily practice with Magnetokinesis, although I didn't get a level again.

'I guess it takes a lot more to level as I move up.'

Once my practice had finished, I took a shower before going to sleep for the night, unaware of the discussion that had begun with my as the topic.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------POV Change 3rd Person

"What do you think of the boy, Logan?" Xavier asked.

"I don't know Chuck, he seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders. Shocked me when he was able to absorb my claws though."

"Yes, it is good that we managed to get to him and sway him to our side before Magneto did. He is someone who can be very powerful, but he needs the right guidance."

"Whatever you say, I'm just in charge of training them. You deal with all the 'guidance' stuff."

"Yes, well we will just have to wait and see how he develops and decides to use his powers. I am quite curious why he is immune to telepathy though."

"The kids weird, he spends all his time up in his room or training, and we don't even know the limits of his power."

"Well we will just have to ensure he doesn't go down the wrong path, I'm sure with Scott as an example he will live up to our expectations. Hopefully he will come to rely on me and he can help be an example of how mutants can work together with humans."