Location: New York City
Date: January 2nd, 1989
Mark POV:
Mark stood motionless, the cold wind tugging at his clothes.
The X-Men had joined him on the roof. They had not surrounded him completely, but they had positioned themselves well enough. Angel and Iceman on his left and right flanks, while Scott, Jean, and Beast stood ahead of him. They kept a respectful distance, but their tension was obvious.
Jean spoke first, her voice gentle and earnest, "We are here to help you."
He tilted his head slightly, "Help me with what?"
She seemed briefly surprised by the blunt question, but continued, "People with unusual abilities… they're often rejected by society. They feel alone. The Professor wants to help people like that."
Mark stayed quiet for a moment as he thought about how to approach this. Accidentally letting slip something he should not know could destroy the possibility of a relationship with X-Men before it ever had the chance to form.
"Why did this Xavier try to probe my mind specifically?"
Scott answered this time, "Professor Xavier discovered something unusual about you."
"So?"
"He wants to understand what you are." Scott said.
Mark's eyes narrowed behind the mask. He did not like that phrasing at all.
"What I am," he repeated, a sharper edge creeping into his voice. "And why would he care what I am?"
The group shifted uncomfortably. Jean looked like she wanted to say something reassuring, but Scott spoke again, clearly trying to take control of the conversation.
"He believes mutants are the next step in human evolution. If you're something similar, or different in a new way, it could be important."
Mark let the silence stretch.
'Xavier.' He had not really thought about it before, but now that he was actually in the world of Marvel, Mark did not want to be in the same room as Charles Xavier, the world's most powerful telepath. Someone with the power to erase memories, create false memories, control the actions of others, and probably other things too.
Xavier may fight on the side of the heroes, but trust had to be earned, and he had done many questionable things in the comics. It was simply not worth risking his mind and autonomy to see what kind of person Xavier was in this world.
Not until he had better mental defenses anyway.
Then Mark asked the question he knew would land heavily, "Does this Professor of yours probe every person's mind he decides is 'unusual', without their permission?"
Before they could answer, he continued, his voice calm but pointed, "Tell me something. How would you know? If he had altered something, removed something, changed something you believed... how would you know?"
He could feel their shock at the suggestion. Jean's eyes widened, a flicker of genuine unease crossing her face. Scott's posture stiffened. Bobby glanced nervously at his teammates.
Scott took a step forward, his voice firm and edged with anger. "That's ridiculous. The Professor would never do something like that. He's given everything to help mutants, to help us."
Jean looked visibly unsettled, though she tried to hide it. "He's not like that," she said, but her voice was quieter than before. "I've known him for years. He believes in trust."
But Mark did not respond. But he did note how they defended Xavier while avoiding the actual subject.
'Trust huh?' The Force allowed him to feel what Cerebro actually did. The attempted violation of his mind reminded him of the Purple Man. He was really starting to dislike mind control and telepathy powers.
Instead of continuing the conversation, he just turned and started to walk away.
"Wait," Scott called sharply, "We can't just let you go. We still do not know anything about you. We're not leaving empty-handed." and as he spoke, Iceman and Angel moved to block Mark's path.
Mark stopped, inwardly sighed, and turned to look over his shoulder at Scott, "Then you are going to have a problem." he said, and started walking again.
"Cyclops wait-" said Jean behind him as everything started happening at once.
Iceman thrust his hands forward, rapidly forming an ice wall to block Mark's path. At the same moment, Scott stepped forward and fired a warning optic blast.
Letting the Force guide him, Mark reacted instantly. He shattered the forming ice bonds with a sharp push before the wall could solidify, then twisted sharply in the air as Scott's optic blast streaked past his chest. The red beam itself carried no heat, but a wave of raw concussive force washed over him as it punched through the air.
The X-Men all started to move then and Mark had to stay defensive. But their inexperience started to show right away as their movements interfered with each other.
Beast moved in first, blocking Scott's line of fire, and tried to grapple him. At the same time Jean tried to grab him with her telekinesis. Mark would have been done right then but her power slid off him harmlessly, finding no purchase.
The reason Jedi fought with lightsabers in the first place was the defensive barrier all Force users trained to maintain, it stopped most direct uses of the Force against one another. And apparently it worked against psychic abilities, but Mark did not have time to feel relieved.
He twisted away from Beast's reach as ice came raining down around him.
As he moved through it, a bitter thought crossed his mind at the situation, he did not want to fight other heroes. But a second thought quickly followed. This was an opportunity to measure himself against others and get an idea of how strong he was.
'Alright then, lets have a friendly spar.' he thought as a reason to smile at the situation was slowly growing behind his mask.
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A.N. - Hello all and hope you enjoyed the chapter.
It was unfortunately a short one. I prefer writing chapters that are 2,000+ words, but this one is only half that.
I am changing my schedule around at the moment and hopefully all future chapters will be full length from now on.
Thank you for reading.