9 Meeting

Author's Note

I know this took a while, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with the meeting. Good news is midterms are almost done, so I can start writing more often.

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It wasn't until the next day that Jean woke up. I heard her come down stairs while I was sitting on the couch.

"Kevin, why did I wake up in your bed?" Jean asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Don't give me that look, I didn't do anything to you. You should be thanking me, if it wasn't for me you would've either died or killed everyone."

Jean looked affronted before she grabbed her head, looking confused. "I remember trying to read the Chitauri's mind and a giant flaming bird appearing in front of me. Then I couldn't control my body and you tried to stop me. Hey, you used Kurt's power."

'Of course that's the part she focuses on.'

"Yes, I know, who knew I could get people's powers too. Aside from that, so you remember the Phoenix breaking free from Xavier's restraints."

When I said Xavier's name, Jean's face took on an angry look and I could see small fires in her eyes.

'Well she's definitely got a strong connection to the Phoenix now.'

"Xavier messed with my mind, sealed a part of me away." Jean said.

"Yes and it's all very bad, but you can hash that out with him. I need to go to the institute and pick up Rogue and my stuff. I'll drop you off there." I said.

Jean kept the angry look on her face as she said "Okay let's go."

"Wow, you didn't waste any time after waking up. We'll be getting back to the fact you thought I did something to you while you were unconscious though." I say with narrowed eyes.

Jean looks guilty for a second, but I had already moved on and headed towards my car, getting in the driver's seat while Jean got in the passenger seat.

With a thought, my car appeared a little ways away from my house in an alleyway, and I drove out of it towards the institute.

"How'd you do that so easily? And why'd you do it in the first place?" Jean asked.

"I don't know, maybe I just get impressions on how to use the powers or something. As for why I did it, I'm not letting you know where my house is, the whole point is it's supposed to be secret. Even if you've been there, you'll never be able to find your way back." I said.

Ignoring the pouting look on her face, I continued to drive until we pulled up at the institute. Parking my car and getting out of it, we made our way inside to find everyone eating breakfast.

"I'm just here to get my stuff and we'll leave Rogue." I said to Rogue before turning to go to my room, with Rogue getting up and following me.

"So how was fighting the Invasion?" Rogue asked.

"Didn't do all that much fighting and you'll probably find out why soon." I said.

Rogue had a confused look on her face, but I didn't say anymore and headed into my room. It wasn't until I was actually in my room that I realized I didn't actually have all that much stuff. I picked up the spare materials I had lying around, but otherwise it was just clothes I could leave here.

Rogue and I made our way back to the entrance hall to find Jean yelling at Xavier.

"You violated my mind. You chained a part of me, and didn't tell me it was even there. Did you even know what you were doing, or did you just mess with my mind and hope it went well?"

"Jean, you must understand. That entity was not a part of you, it shouldn't have been there. I was just doing what I thought was best."

"You shouldn't be deciding what's best for me." Jean said.

At this moment Rogue and I walked into the entrance hall.

"Don't mind us, we were just leaving." I said not wanting to get caught up in Jean's rant.

Rogue and I continued making our way to the door when I heard a yell of "Wait, I'm coming with you."

'I fucking knew this would happen, should've just let the Phoenix take over, someone else can deal with this.'

"No, you're not. I only agreed to take Rogue with me because I'm frankly the only person she can touch and I'm not going to just completely deprive her of human contact, plus our powers are similar so I can help her with hers better than anyone here can. You, on the other hand, are perfectly capable of living without me."

Rogue smiled a little when I said that, but Jean just had an angry look on her face. "I don't want to stay here with the Professor. I can be useful, I'm strong and you can even copy my powers."

Everyone looked surprised when she said that.

"Kevin, you can copy powers as well?" Xavier asked.

"See, this just made me not want to bring you with me even more. You would just blurt out anything I tell you like you did right now. Yes, I can copy powers. Yes Rogue, I think I have an idea on how to help you with yours at least somewhat. No, you still can't come with me Jean."

Rogue looked excited at the prospect of getting her powers under control, while Jean looked putout.

"Now we are leaving, you are staying here Jean. Rogue, let's go." I said before turning and walking out the door. I could sense Jean's mind following us after we got a little ways away, but it wouldn't matter.

Rogue put her stuff in my car and we both got in. Not even bothering to drive it anywhere with Jean following us, I just phase-shifted us directly into my garage.

"Woah, so you really can copy powers." Rogue said.

"Yes, and I've got some ideas for your."

We got out of the car and headed inside. I led Rogue to the room that would be hers to put her stuff away.

Once Rogue was settled in, I led her downstairs to a room I had created with the walls being entirely made out of Adamantium. It could hold up to a lot of stress, so we wouldn't have to worry about damaging the house.

"Rogue, what is the longest you've drained someone?" I asked her.

Rogue thought about it for a few seconds and answered "30 seconds maybe, why?"

"So far we know your power drains life force. You get the memories of the person and their powers if they had any. I want to test something out, I'm going to activate a power and I want you to drain me."

Rogue looked hesitant, but remembered that she hadn't drained me on accident yet, so she wasn't completely against the idea.

I activated my Magnetokinesis, moving a paperclip from my pocket and having it float in front of me.

"Try draining me now." I told Rogue.

Rogue nodded and reached out, taking ahold of my hand. Nothing happened, but I had an idea.

"Actually attempt to drain me instead of just letting it happen. Make it a conscious effort."

"Are you sure, what if I drain you the way I do everybody else. What if I can't even touch you anymore." Rogue said with a worried look on her face.

"I'll be fine, if I start to feel you draining me too much, I'll tell you to stop." I replied.

Rogue still didn't look sure, but she wanted to try to learn to use her powers more effectively, so she complied and took on a concentrated look on her face.

For the first time I could feel the drain on my power.

*Ding*

[Skill Debuff: Magnetokinesis has dropped to Lvl1 for 30 seconds.]

I could feel a loss of strength in the skill, but my control was still the same.

"Rogue try to move this paperclip." I say stopping my control and letting it hit the ground.

Rogue concentrated on the paperclip for a few moments before the paperclip shakily rose off the ground.

'So she has my power, but didn't get my knowledge or skill with the ability. She's got the power of half my skill, but none of the control.'

"Alright, try to familiarize yourself with moving the paperclip and we'll see how long the ability lasts for."

Time passed as Rogue continued to move the paper clip, however, she didn't lose the power at all. We experimented with her power interacting with mine over the next day before I had to go to my meeting with the Avengers.

It turned out that Rogue could keep one of my abilities for as long as she wanted, but she would need to practice the control. She got them at the strength I had them at, so if she absorbed my higher level skills, they would be higher than if she absorbed my lower level skills. We didn't know if she could improve the strength of the skill herself yet, but it would warrant testing. She also couldn't keep more than one of my abilities at a time, so if she wanted a different one she would give up the previous ability. I allowed her to try a couple of the abilities I had copied, the ones that were less dangerous for her to use. She found that she liked the Super Strength from Captain America the most, as it was the easiest for her to use, so she kept the super strength as her active power for the moment. We hadn't been able to test how it interacted with her normal draining, but my guess was that she would still be able to drain normally and have those abilities last for a short time, in addition to the permanent one from me.

'She can alter her skillset based on the situation, so that if I have an ability that's needed I won't have to do everything.' I thought as I made my way up the street until I found myself in front of the newly rebuilt Avengers Tower.

'Well they worked fast.'

Pressing the buzzer on the door, I said "Kevin Levin here for my meeting with the Avengers."

There was silence on the other side before they a voice with an English accent said "Accepted."

'Huh, so that's Jarvis. Interesting.'

I made my way to the elevator and pressed the highest floor. Once the elevator made it to the top, the door opened and I walked out to find the Avengers besides Thor seated around a large table, with Nick Fury seated at the head of it.

"I'm here, what do you want to talk about?" I asked as I sat down at the table across from Fury, with the Avengers lined up along the sides of the table.

"I want to talk about you. I know all about Xavier's little home for mutants, so I want to know about you and your powers." Fury said.

"And why should I tell you that. I haven't actually broken any law, just because I have powers doesn't mean I have to tell you anything." I replied.

"True, but I spent a good deal of time researching every member of the Avengers before starting the Avengers Initiative. I think you would make a good prospect, once you're older, but I need something to work with." Fury replied.

'Well that's surprisingly reasonable, but it's not the whole truth. He might eventually want me to join the Avengers, but right now that's not his priority, he's trying to get me excited to join and give him information.'

"That's all well and good, but your more worried about the now then the future. I never said I was even interested in joining, and it still doesn't make me want to tell you what my abilities are. You want to know, be a spy and figure it out."

"Why wouldn't you want to join kid? You don't want to fight the bad guys, be a super hero? I thought that's what kids grew up wanting to do." Stark said with a smirk on his face.

"But are you guys really super heroes, or just another facet of the government. The fact that Fury just said he would need to know about me before 'inviting me' to the Avengers makes it seem like you all are just another private army for the government under the guise of a super hero team."

"We're independent. We just work closely with SHIELD to make sure our actions are within the law." Steve said.

"You can continue to believe that as long as you want to, it doesn't make it true." Was all I replied.

I looked across at Fury, noticing he hadn't said anything to my accusations.

"Fine, you don't want to tell us what your powers are, that's fair. Let's do some give and take then. Your powers are secondary to information on what happened with the Phoenix Thor mentioned. I'm willing to make a trade for that information." Fury said.

I thought about it for a minute.

'Telling him what happened to the Phoenix Force doesn't affect me, as long as I don't say I absorbed it's power. What do I want in return though?'

"Alright Fury, I'm fine with that. You want information on the Phoenix Force, you get me the whereabouts of Ulysses Klaw."

"Why do you want to know where he is?" Fury asked.

"That's not part of the deal. You tell me where he is, I give you the information you want."

"Fine, Ulysses Klaw was last seen in Richards Bay, South Africa. Tell us about the Phoenix."

"Why did you already know his last position?" I asked, confused on how he was already ready with the answer.

"That's not part of the deal? Now tell us about the Phoenix." Fury responded. Even if he wasn't smirking, I could tell if he was a more expressive person he would be.

"Thor already told you everything I know as far as what the Phoenix is. It's a cosmic entity with a lot of power that picks hosts. It's current host is Jean Grey. During the Invasion, she attempted to read the Chitauri's mind, which led her to coming in contact with the Phoenix, before it was contained." I answered.

"How was it contained?" Fury asked.

"That is not pertinent to the Phoenix itself and with that I believe this meeting has come to a close." I reply, standing up and moving towards the door. I almost expect Fury to try to stop me and have me answer more questions, but he doesn't say anything other than "We'll be in contact."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." I say whole entering the elevator.

As I made my way down the streets of New York to my car, I thought about how that meeting went.

'I didn't tell Fury anything directly related to me. Xavier can protect Jean if Fury wants to do anything about the Phoenix and now I know where Klaw is, so I can go get access to some Vibrainium.'

Walking down the streets, I used my technopathy to disable the bugs Fury had managed to somehow get on me over the course of that meeting.

Once I made it to my car, I drove out of the city and phase-shifted back into my garage, to work some more with my powers and compare the effects between mine and Rogue's when she absorbed mine further.