Part 18

Ichibe arrived at a peculiar scene. It was a suburban area. And a distance away, he could see a Blackbird just standing there on the road. And no one was saying anything or even got out of their houses.

Ichibe was standing in the air and overlooking the situation.

There was a young woman that was standing a distance away from the seven people that were in yellow and black fancy dresses. Well, the bald one was not.

And he was in a wheelchair. But hey, he was bald just like Ichibei. Yes, he had decided to go bald. He could grow it back whenever he wished, but it was just so much easier.

He was getting off-topic.

"You shouldn't have come here."

"Why is that? We have come to take you home Jean."

"I don't have a home, you made sure of that!"

"Your father couldn't handle you and we took you in."

"You told me my father was dead. And you used me for my powers."

The yellow guys had advanced further. It seems the bald one, Charles Francis Xavier, was the leader. And they, like sheep, advanced when he did.

"No that's just not true. That's not what happened."

There was a moment of silence. No one said anything. Then Xavier continued.

"Jean we can help you. I can help you. But you have to listen to me…"

"No!", Jean shot back instantly.

"You're right."

The X-men were startled. Then they looked up and saw Ichibe standing there.

He had his arms crossed and was looking down at them. He let himself fall to the ground and looked at Jean. He didn't even look at the others.

"Who are you?", Xavier asked.

Ichibe didn't answer him and only looked at Jean. She looked at him as well. Seemingly evaluating him and judging whether he was a threat.

He was a threat, but not to her. He was a monk and not a ruthless killer.

Xavier was getting nervous and the other X-men were as well. Something people didn't like was silence. A moment of doing nothing was the best way to evaluate someone's character for Ichibe.

"Who are you?", Jean said.

Now Ichibe answered.

"I am the Monk that calls the name. But everyone calls me Monk. Nice to meet you, Jean Elaine Grey."

Now Xavier and the X-men were nervous. This man was dangerous. How did he know her full name? How did he know her name at all?

Xavier thought that he must be after Jean, so he can either manipulate her or use her differently. But he was wrong.

"How do you know my name?", Jean asked him. She was on edge as well. It seems the Phoenix was doing quite a number on her.

"I am the Monk that calls the name. I know the name of everything and everyone. That is who I am."

"And what do you want? Do you want to use me too? Do you want to manipulate me?"

"On the contrary my dear. I am not interested in you in the slightest. I just hope that you make a decision on your own. And like you said before, you shouldn't listen to this man or anybody for that fact.

There is only one question you should ask. And you should ask yourself that question."

Jean was suspicious of him. But she was desperate for answers too, so she asked.

"What question?"

"Don't listen to him, Jean. He is here to use you or manipulate you. Try and read his mind. He must have ulterior motives."

Jean looked at Ichibe and tried to read his mind. And she was surprised when it didn't work. She had a painful look on her face. It seemed the Phoenix was working its way out of the mental cage.

"Why are you hiding your thoughts? What are you hiding?", Jean had raised her voice. It seems that was a novelty for her. And she was scared.

Ichibe knew the name of this emotion that she was feeling. It was fear. And she was overflowing with fear.

"Young lady, it is not normal to try and read other people's thoughts. That is a breach of their privacy. But if you would feel more secure if you can read my thoughts then I am perfectly willing to let you in.

But you should think about this. There are minds that might be too hard for you to read."

Ichibe opened his defences and let Jean in. He felt another person trying to get in. He didn't let him of course.

"Not you Mr Xavier. That is only for the young lady to see. I didn't give you permission.", Ichibe said with a cheeky smile.

Xavier had heard enough and gave the order.

"X-men, attack. Don't let him manipulate Jean."

After that the X-men attacked. One member in particular, Scott Summers, was eager to attack and hurt Ichibe. He didn't trust Jean and wanted to hurt him.

Multiple attacks came towards him. Laser beams, electricity bolts and a very fast fist punched him in the face.

This knocked Jean out of his mind and Ichibe backwards through multiple houses and far into the forest.

Jean's anxiety got the better of her and she tried to fly away. The male blue guy, Kurt Wagner or Nightcrawler, teleported her into a house. He was trying to stop her from flying away.

This ironically led to the exact same fight that would have happened, if Ichibe hadn't been there.

Mystique, Raven Darkhölme, tried to reason with Jean.

"Listen to me. Focus on my voice… We are going to get through this together…"

She continued talking like this for a moment until the pressure in Jean's head got too much and she screamed.

"Stop!!"

With that, she blasted Raven with a psychic wave. This led to her flying back and getting impaled by a fence.

Jean and everyone were shocked about this. Beast or Henry Philip McCoy, was freed from the mental freeze, from Xavier. He ran towards her right away.

Jean got scared and flew away after she realized what she had done.

The events really did go as they should have. But our MC didn't know that. For him, this was a failure. These 'X-men' were annoying and stopped him from helping this young girl.

So, they would have to make a choice. Either they would stay out of his way, or they would have to be neutralized. That meant that he would just knock them out or punch them.

His brother in bald was giving him a hard time and he did not appreciate it.