Chapter 28: X-Men
Chapter 28: X-Men
Chapter 28: X-Men
X-Mansion. AKA, Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
A certain red-haired beauty was in the middle of teaching a group of mutant kids when a commotion seemed to occur in their courtyard.
She noticed this commotion due to her students all looking out the window while pointing outside.
“Woah! What’s that!?”
“So many people!?”
“Are we under attack!?”
“Is that also a mutant ability?”
The students in her class clamored as they ignored her lessons and leaned over to the window to look at what was happening outside.
“What’s happening?”
The red-haired teacher frowned and also looked outside.
One of her students asked.
“Teacher Grey, are we expecting visitors?”
The reason why the student asked that…was naturally because Benjamin had just opened a portal directly into the school’s courtyard and led a group of mutants through it.
Seeing Benjamin, Jean Grey frowned as she tried to recall this familiar face.
Only after a while did she finally remember about the famous Captain Freed in the news a few days ago.
He was none other than Benjamin Freed! The Captain of the newly established Enhanced Police Division!
It was also where they just sent Robert Drake to join a few days ago!
What is he doing here?
“Class dismissed. All of you remain in the classroom until further notice.”
Jean spoke and immediately jumped out of the window.
Using her powers to levitate and land softly on the ground, she then began to walk towards Benjamin.
“Captain Freed. To what do we owe this…”
She looked at the portal behind them for a moment and continued.
“... surprising visit?”
She wanted to say he was ‘uninvited’ but felt that it would be too rude considering they sent Robert in his care a few days ago.
“Ah, sorry for the unannounced visit. I won’t be here long. I just recently freed some mutants from a HYDRA base and they wanted to join this school. I’m just here to drop them off.”
Jean blinked in surprise as she turned to look at the group of people behind him.
She could see from the marks on their necks and wrists that these people had been bound for a long time and most like experimented on based on their pale complexions.
She sighed at the cruelty of HYDRA and nodded.
“Understood. On behalf of the X-Men, thank you for rescuing them.”
“No problem…”
“Ah, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. My name’s Jean Grey.”
Jean extended her hand toward Benjamin who in turn shook her hand while introducing himself as well.
“Benjamin Freed. Though I suppose you already knew that.”
“Hehe, you’re very popular even here, Captain Freed.”
Jean chuckled.
Benjamin sighed as he was still not used to the popularity but shrugged it off.
“Just Ben is fine, Miss Grey.”
“Then just call me Jean as well. Also, would it be alright to get your number?”
“Huh?”
“You know. So you can call next time you want to drop off someone and not just…what is that, teleport? Teleport in directly unannounced.”
Jean looked at the portal in wonder and was still confused about how it was formed.
Benjamin chuckled and explained it simply.
“It’s a portal. Magic portal.”
“...Magic?”
“Yep. Magic.”
“...”
Jean was a bit speechless.
Mutant powers and all, at least Jean knows these things can still be explained by science but magic? Is that real?
While the two exchanged numbers, several more figures appeared to greet Benjamin.
Benjamin looked at them and saw the familiar bald man in a wheelchair leading them. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this must be Charles Xavier. Professor X himself.
[Charles Francis Xavier - Professor X. Affiliated with the X-Men]
Behind him pushing his wheelchair was a dark-skinned woman with long white hair. She had well-rounded curves and wore a V-neck shirt which made Benjamin look a few more seconds unconsciously.
[Ororo Munroe - Storm. Affiliated with the X-Men]
Beside them is a man wearing a pair of red sunglasses. He seemed to have this scowl on his eyebrows when he saw Jean close to Benjamain.
[Scott Summers - Cyclops. Affiliated with the X-Men]
Standing behind them was a huge man whose body seemed to be made entirely out of some metal alloy.
[Piotr Rasputin - Colossus. Affiliated with the X-Men]
There was also a blue furry beast wearing glasses beside him who, despite his appearance, looked strangely gentle.
[Henry McCoy - Beast. Affiliated with the X-Men]
A bit further away hanging on a nearby tree was another blue fellow who even had a tail.
[Kurt Wagner - Nightcrawler. Affiliated with the X-Men]
Leaning on a nearby wall was a woman with short brown hair and white locks who looked quite goth. She wore a short black tank top and a see-through green long-sleeve over it. She also wore gloves on her hands and dark green stockings under her black skirt.
One look and you can tell she’s afraid of anyone touching her skin.
[Anna Marie - Rogue. Affiliated with the X-Men]
Hmm, this one’s a bit dangerous. System, what happens if she touches me? Will she get you too?
[Host, it’s impossible for the System to be stolen by anyone. However, she will still be able to acquire all of host’s abilities and memories. But with host’s current abilities, acquiring them may prove to be too strenuous for the current her, and she wouldn’t be able to control them. Memories that include the System will also not be acquired.]
Benjamin nodded in his mind and asked.
Any way to prevent her from using her powers on me?
[There are currently two ways available for the host. One, as long as the host is covered by the Untainted Symbiote, her powers would not work. It would work if it was a Symbiote with an ego like Venom but the Untainted Symbiote is more like a living armor and her powers would not work on it.]
[Another way is for host to buy the Power Absorption ability in the System Store. Since both sides have the same ability, it will cancel each other out.]
Ohh, how much is this thing then? Won’t this be super useful in the future? I won’t need to buy more powers and just get them myself.
[Host can buy it for only 10,000,000!]
…Alright never mind.
Benjamin sighed and shook his head.
Since this ability was too expensive at the moment, he could only opt to choose the first option so he covered himself with the symbiote and made it so thin that it was transparent. Almost like a second skin.
[Congratulations to host for wearing a body-sized condom!]
…Fuck you System!
[Host, it’s just a joke. Even if host unloads, it’s too thin and would still be useless. So host can rest assured and pull Rogue into the host’s harem and make a lot of babies!]
…
Ignoring the System who was clearly making fun of him, Benjamin looked back at Rogue.
Hiding from behind her while occasionally peeking was a young woman with long black hair. Unlike the other women present, her chest was a bit modest but she still looked good.
[Katherine “Kitty” Pryde - Shadowcat. Affiliated with the X-Men]
Finally, last but not least, Benjamin spotted a grumpy figure glaring at him from under a tree’s shadow a few meters away.
When Benjamin saw him, he was momentarily dumbfounded.
After all…his looks were too similar to the actor Hugh Jackman in his previous life!
Damn! Don’t tell me Deadpool really does look like Ryan Reynolds before he mutated!?
While Benjamin was shocked, it strangely feels…right?
There was something in his appearance that made him more familiar to Benjamin ever since crossing over to this world.
Despite being glared at, Benjamin was more than happy to see a ‘familiar’ face so he didn’t mind it.
[Logan / James Howlett - Wolverine. Affiliated with the X-Men]
After seeing the whole roster of X-Men, Benjamin chuckled.
“I feel honored to be greeted by the whole X-Men. Professor Xavier, I presume?”
Benjamin turned to the baldy in wheels.
“Captain Freed. It’s our pleasure. However, I do hope you will inform us in advance next time you visit.”
“Ah, my bad. I thought I’d appear outside the school but I guess I portal-ed a few ways off.”
Benjamin scratched his head.
It was indeed a bit embarrassing as he miscalculated a bit.
“With that said, as a token of apology, how about I cure those legs of yours?”
“!!!”
Not only Charles but the others were also surprised to hear such a thing.
Unconsciously, Charles used his powers to read Benjamin’s mind to confirm if he was telling the truth but…
“Argh!!!”
He was suddenly hit with a massive headache!
When Charles yelled in pain, the X-Men around Benjamin instantly sprang into action, thinking that Benjamin just attacked Charles.
Benjamin sighed and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk tsk. You know, just because you have the ability to read people’s minds, doesn’t mean you should use them like that whenever you want. Mental attacks or the like won’t work on me. Anyone who tries to read my mind or attempts a mental connection with me…well, that happens.”
Charles raised his hand to calm down the X-Men while using his other hand to hold his head that was still in pain.
“Stand down…he’s right…I apologize for trying to read your mind just now.”
Benjamin narrowed his eyes.
“I’ll forgive you just this once but next time won’t be so pretty. At worst, you’ll be braindead if you try to pull something like that again.”
“...I’ll keep that in mind.”
Charles shivered as he knew that this could indeed happen.
The backlash he felt just now…made him dread the unknown power within Benjamin.
This power…was unlike anything that he had felt! It was as if it was the work of a much higher being!
Benjamin then pulled out a Medium Recovery Pill since, according to the System, a small won’t be enough to heal Charles' legs since the injury is too heavy and he was a mutant.
He tossed the pill to Charles but it was caught by Logan who had somehow appeared already by his side.
Logan sniffed the pill a few times before tossing it to Charles.
Benjamin rolled his eyes.
“It’s not poison. If I wanted to harm him, none of you would’ve been able to do anything.”
“Hmph!”
Logan snorted and glared at Benjamin a few more times before turning around to return to his earlier position.
Charles looked at the pill in his hand and took a deep breath before taking it in his mouth!
It only took a few seconds for the pill to take effect.
In no time at all, Charles immediately felt an itch on his leg…a feeling he had lost a long long time ago!
“I…can feel my legs…!”
Charles gripped his armrest tighter than he had ever been in his life as he prepared himself for the next moment.
Slowly, he put some force on his feet and began to lift himself up.
Storm held his arm to support him from beside him as they all waited for him to finally stand up.
Charles’ feet touched the ground and…he stumbled!
But this was expected since it’s been a long long time for him since he had stood up.
Time passed as they patiently waited for Charles to regain the feeling and finally…he stood up!
Granted he still can’t walk properly without stumbling but for the moment…he really stood up!
“Professor…”
Jean’s eyes teared up a little seeing Charles finally get off his wheelchair.
Charles, while being held by Storm, slowly walked in front of Benjamin.
“Captain Freed…thank you…truly…”
“It’s fine. If you want to repay me, then help these mutants I just rescued.”
“I will. This, I promise you.”
“Also…”
Benjamin leaned forward a bit and whispered in a voice that only Charles would hear.
“You better not put anything in their heads as you did with Jean.”
“!!!”
Charles’ eyes widened as he was surprised that Benjamin knew about this.
Naturally, Benjamin knew this thanks to the System scanning Jean earlier.
[Jean Grey - Phoenix. Affiliated with the X-Men. 80% of her abilities are currently sealed.]
Benjamin knew that the reason for the seal was because of Charles attempting to contain Jean’s unimaginable power. The Phoenix Force.
Benjamin pulled back and spoke in his normal tone.
“A piece of advice. You best tell her the truth soon before it all falls apart.”
“...I understand.”
“???”
Jean was confused about what they were talking about but didn’t dwell on it too much since it had nothing to do with her.
“Well then. I should get going.”
“Are you heading back already?”
Jean asked.
“Yeah. Still a few more HYDRA bases I need to clean up.”
“Then…can I tag along? In case you meet more mutants imprisoned by them.”
“Hm?”
Benjamin turned to look at Jean with a raised eyebrow and then to Charles.
Charles smiled and simply nodded.
“It’s fine. She can leave if you agree. In fact, how about I get a few more to join you?”
Charles turned to the rest of the X-Men who understood what he meant and some of them stepped forward excitedly.
“Ooh! Me! Me! I want to come with you as well!”
Nightcrawler teleported and appeared in front of them with a raised hand.
“Since Jean’s going, I’ll go too.”
Scott frowned under his sunglasses as he glared at Benjamin.
He didn’t like how Jean seems to be too close to this guy…
“I’ll go too. Seems fun.”
Rogue shrugged and stepped forward as well.
“I want to come too!”
“Kitty, no. You still have classes.”
“But Teacher Grey-”
“No buts! Now go back to the classroom!”
“Boooo…”
Kitty pouted but still went back as she was told.
With that, Benjamin will be bringing along Jean, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Cyclops.
Benjamin thought for a moment before shrugging.
Oh well. At least I can relax a bit with these guys coming along.
“Suit up then. We’ll leave soon.”
The four then went back to gear up while Benjamin chatted with the others while waiting.