16

(Please keep in mind that I will pace this novel at my own pace. My last one I ended up rushing forward because I let the comments control the pace. I am more than willing to take on constructive comments but please do not expect me to fast forward. Oh, one of the comments asked why the mc is dealing with them one by one, you need to keep in mind the side effects of his power, it is also his first time meeting them and being able to influence them. Although this does not apply to all, the ones I mention do.)

"Yes, I can see you Xabi. I know all about you. You are honestly a true hero."

Although the others seem confused I can see Charles is close to remembering.

He is named ForgetMeNot who was stated to be in a state of constant existential superposition: Both real and unreal. "He's literally written out of the story" was what was once said about him.

If you cannot recall him, you cannot perceive him.

ForgetMeNot is incapable of being perceived or remembered by virtually all individuals. When ForgetMeNot is not directly within view of an individual, his presence, existence, and any memories of him completely disappear.

Even telepaths cannot detect him although on the cool side, ForgetMeNot's abilities also interfere with individuals' aim and targeting telemetry of mechanical devices.

The young man only I could see stepped forward and smiled brightly as he grabbed my arm in a kind of handshake hug greeting.

"Let Rouge go, she is suffering so much, I am used to it, I can wait a little more."

I nod and look at Rouge, "Let's go then shall we?"

I smile once upstairs and hold my hand out to Rouge, my palm facing up and my hand open.

Rouge tentatively reaches out, as her hand gets close she looks up at me and I nod. I can feel the warmth and smoothness of her skin, Rouge is smiling nervously, and her eyes are red. Sadly, something so simple as human contact can be denied to someone.

I allow my power to slowly grow and surround her, it only takes a moment and then fades.

I look Rouge in the eyes, "Focus, do not try stretching your senses out. I am going to tell you about your powers, you need to only focus on me, nothing else. Okay?"

Rouge swallows and nods.

"Right now you can feel all the mutant powers around you and copy one to keep, it will only disappear if you swap it for another one. Once you sense a power, you will always be able to swap to it.

That is the first part, the second part is that you can choose four powers around you to use, but they will fade with time you just need to move close to someone to get them back, as you get used to your powers those four should become more.

The third part is that your touch is no longer harmful, but you can use it still drain lifeforce, this can be used to heal you, or extend your life."

"Of course, if your power never worked on someone before, it still won't." I grin at her, "So that was why I did not want you to follow your instinct, if you grabbed Eric or Charle's powers you could have made a mess. You need to take your time and learn to use the powers around you, accept them slowly.

Rouge is smiling brightly, I suppose listing the part she really wanted to know last was kind of evil. 

Before I can invite her downstairs she has rushed down, I can hear her giggling with Jubilee.

I see her touch Jubilee's hands and hair when I get down and shake my head chuckling.

"Well, sir? Oh, Moira, are you here for an upgrade as well?"

Heads spin towards her as she raises her hand to her forehead and curses.

"Oh, let me sort this and we can carry on."

Xabi seems to be the least upgraded, but that would depend on your view.

Now he could control which parts of his power were in effect, or none at all. He could also do the same for anyone else. He can now 'erase' himself or anyone else, or just some aspects for example he could be undetectable, but his teammates would at least remember he is on a mission with them now.

When we get back downstairs many people are surprised to see Xabi, unfortunately, he will have to introduce himself to everyone, but at least now they will remember him if he allows it.

I sit down and smile, letting out a sigh. "Well, was that everyone you mentioned?"

Having seen the changes I do not need the empathic powers to know the rest are heavily in favor or at least inclined to the process by they do tell me that those I helped regard me with goodwill.

Beast glances at Charles, his greatest wish has always been to 'look normal' although personally I always thought he looked cool as both his beast form and later his panther.

I glance down at my phone and send a message to Lilly, although I would love to be able to destroy a company in a few seconds, this is normally not possible, so I have asked her to start work on a particular company.

Charles sighs, it seems after a mental chat with Beast they made a decision, Eric on the other hand is smirking, you would think this was all about him.

Charles looks up at me, "Joel, you have an ability that can change the way mutants live, it can be a tremendous help, but also a ..."

"Stop, you are really going to give me that speech? My power is my own, I will use it how I see fit, and I would appreciate you not trying to morally blackmail me."

My phone lets me know that Lilly has started work on the company and that our guests are still being kept quiet as when they woke nothing had changed.

"So, Felicia, how about I help you out?"

Felicia nods her head a bit like a chicken eating off the ground.

I chuckle and head up the stairs, I sit on the sofa and tell her to sit.

"Okay, so apart from your ability, there is something else I wanted to talk to you about. I am going to isolate the room, in that corner I will make what you might call a cell, to hold someone. They will not be able to see us, but we can see them."

Felicia nods, she is starting to fidget and seems to realize what this might be connected to.

"After I evolve your ability I will let you deal with the rest, so please feel at ease. 

I am not sure if you have heard yet, but there was an article about a classmate of yours named Ryan, who died in a car accident." (Check the Author's comment if you do not know her background and what this about.)

Felica just about snarls at his name, but then looks at me in disbelief like the life has been sucked right out of her.

"That was a lie, his parents used some connections to have that story posted, he was living happily in one of their villas. I saw was, because for the past few minutes he has been stuck in limbo, pure darkness." 

I grin as the room isolates, and in the corner is a young man, he seems to be aimlessly walking and shouting even though he is not actually moving.

Felicia seems about to pounce off the sofa towards the guy when I hold her arm gently, "Not yet, let's sort you out first."

As soon as the light fades, for a moment it seems nothing has changed.

"You should find you can now choose who your bad luck power affects, and it should be more powerful.

In addition, you have the ability to shift," as I speak the girl's body ripples (like Raven's) for a moment, although her clothes remained the same, she now seems to have become a human/feline hybrid, in all the best ways. (Think Tigra but with black fur and white strips, white hair naturally.) 

"Apart from the natural all-around massive boost to your abilities you need to be aware you possess Empathy, so the ability to sense, enhance, and control the emotions of others to a degree, even affording you the power to restore and sense people's repressed memories with training. This ability has the added advantage of granting a slight resistance to telepathic attacks. Trained enough you might even be able to sense danger before it strikes, or intuited someone's location. This also grants you rudimentary communication with animals, especially cats or cat-like creatures."

"All that aside, "I say as I see her fangs bared and silver inch-long claws sliding out the tips of her slender fingers, "how about I release him now."