disclaimer* I do not own the rights to any of the characters in this story, and make no claims to the artistic visions of the marvel universe. I know nothing of the sexuality of any of the creators, actors, or characters involved in the Marvel universe. Similarly, this story contains graphic descriptions of gay male sex. If you don't like that, they you should probably avert your eyes.
This story takes place in an alternate X-Men universe from the one in which the X3 movie took place. Certain events occurred after X2 which changed the timeline. The specifics of the timeline changes will be made apparent as the story progresses.
Chapter 10 --"Alone"
Deep beneath the ground, in the hidden chambers where the X-Men trained and planned their movements, was a fully equipped medical facility. In the days following the fight between the Brotherhood of Mutants, the X-Men, and the United States Military, this facility was far busier than it had ever been before. Many had been wounded in the battle, and help was difficult to find. The situation was made worse by the fact that the X Mansion's chief doctor, Dr. Jean Gray, lay in a coma in an isolated room.
At first, there had been several injured military officers in this facility, but the Army quickly came to recover its own. Several of the medical personnel who had accompanied the military in their attempt to forcibly register the mutants at the mansion remained behind, their professional ethic demanding that they help those in need.
One of these dedicated and empathetic medical professionals was Dr. Michael Halden. The young medical intern looked around at the overcrowded medical facility, and wondered where he should start this morning. He checked the bandages on a few of the wounded mutant students, and sent them back upstairs, satisfied that their healing was going along well. He pushed his dirty blonde hair out of his bright green eyes, and set upon checking on some of the intensive care patients. He found it despicable that these people could not go to a hospital, simply because they were mutants. Even in normal times, they would not have been treated as well as a `normal' human, but in these tenser times, they would have been treated as the lowest of the low. No, these mutants had to make do with what they had.
Dr. Halden checked up on the vitals of an unconscious mutant with gray leathery skin and a large rhinoceros-style horn on his forehead, and thought about the events which had landed him here. Always, he had been fascinated by mutants. When most of the world, even his parents, talked about mutants, they spoke of them with fear or hate. But Dr. Halden had always secretly wished to be one. He studied science his whole life (much to the dismay of his sports-oriented father), and took particular interest in the science of DNA, the body, and mutants. This inevitably led him into medicine, where he took particular interest in genetics and the science of how mutant powers worked. Dr. Halden was one of the first to jump in line to be a part of Mutant Registration, though he disagreed with the principles of the government action. He wanted to meet mutants, to see them, to learn about them. There were few avenues available to one who wanted to learn about mutants except in terms of dissection, which was not particularly his cup of tea.
Dr. Haldens rounds brought him slowly and dreadfully to where he did not want to be, but always seemed to end up. As he entered one of the more private rooms off of the main medical facility, he first noticed the large, red man who was seated in the chair next to one of the beds, where he always was. The red man, Caleb, looked like a monster at first glance, but Dr. Halden had taken the time to look for more than a first glance. Demon did not look unlike any `normal' human, except in his red skin. In fact, had his skin been of normal color, he would have been quite attractive by any standards. Dr. Halden secretly thought that he was quite attractive anyway. The man was large, 6' tall, and had an extremely dense musculature which lent him to a look that, while not exceedingly bulky, was clearly very, very solid. Demon's normally energetic tail lay simply and sadly still under his chair, coiled around one of the legs. The man's midnight black hair offset his ruby red eyes in a haunting and beautiful way, though they eyes held weariness now. Caleb's left hand was bandaged, having been badly cut, and he had numerous other minor injuries, but he seemed to care little for them. He looked up when Dr. Halden approached, nodding at the young man.
"Good morning Doc" he said, his voice sounding dry and rough.
"Good morning Caleb" Dr. Halden returned, nodding familiarly. The two had gotten comfortable with each other in the past couple of days, since both seemed to be by this particular bed so often. "Where are the others today?"
"Sleeping late to recover, and trying to avoid seeing him" Demon answered. Dr. Halden nodded, understanding. Of course the friends felt responsible. They could have played a larger part in the fight, taken on some of the members of the Brotherhood. But they chose to protect the humans, to usher as many of the volunteer and medical personnel into the mansion safely, and brought along as many of the wounded soldiers as they could. They saved many lives, but could not help but wonder what else they could have done. They felt guilty, because in that bed, their friend slept an endless sleep.
Alex Wental, Hydrogue, lay in the hospital bed, showing no more signs of waking than he had in the days since the fight. His eyes were closed, though the skin around them was red and angry. His brown hair was matted to his forehead with sweat, as he was in the grips of a fever. He had many small cuts, from which he bled clear water. The pin prick on his right deltoid had opened into a much more serious wound, as much of the watery blood had been forced from the wound in Hydrogue's attempts to rid himself of the cure poison. The worst of the wounds by far was the slash across the young man's abdomen. The normally solid and strong muscles had been cut with an exceedingly sharp blade, and still bled through the bandages, though still, the blood was really water. He lay shirtless on the bed, and his normally attractive physique was very pale, showing the extent of his injuries. He lay very still, but occasionally stirred and grumbled. Sometimes he seemed to be happy, other times he seemed to be in the grips of a terrible nightmare.
In his dreams, he saw the journey that was his entire life until the point which had landed him in that bed.
If he had been asked, Alexander Wental would have said that he was a thoroughly unremarkable person, aside from his powers. Of course, he was a very humble man, and could not have been more wrong.
Alex was born to the red haired Sheila Wental, on a very rainy April afternoon. After 5 hours of labor, Alex and his paternal twin brother Aaron were born. Even at birth, the unusual color of Alex's eyes was apparent, and the nurses in the maternity ward fell in love with him, and praised him to his parents.
Both Alex and Aaron were well mannered and well behaved babies, and were loved and welcomed by their family when they came home. They were the youngest of the 5 children of Sheila and Jason Wental. Mr. and Mrs. Wental were good, kind hearted people, and they gave their children everything they could. They were intelligent, and encouraged their children to learn about the world around them.
The eldest Wental child was Eric, the blonde sports nut. While he was an intelligent person, he never fully immersed himself in studies, and became a jock, excelling at all sports, but having a primary love of soccer. He always treated his younger siblings well, but, as the eldest, needed to tease and torment them. In his later years he went to college, and became one of the most beloved high school teachers there ever was.
The next oldest child was Susan, the only girl. She was tall, and had long strawberry blonde hair, like her mother. She had pretty blue eyes, though nowhere near the unique color of her youngest brother. Susan always needed to be a mother to her siblings, even Eric. She was the brain of the family, taking particular interests in politics, and had a passion for debate (much to the detriment of the family dinner conversations). These talents led her to law school, which she attended at the time of Alex's departure from the family.
Soon after Susan, Keith was born, who had a case of middle child syndrome. He always demanded attention, and usually succeeded at getting it. He became one of the most popular kids in his grade, and loved every minute of it. Some who knew Keith felt that he was a bit of an asshole, and others wanted to be him. His close friends knew that he had a sharp mind, and a decent soul.
Alex and Aaron grew up together, and were famously fond of each other in their childhood. The two were inseparable, and neither suffered from a lack of another child to play with. As years went by, they grew apart, but still remained good brothers to each other.
Alex first knew that he was gay at a fairly young age. Well, he knew he liked boys at a very young age; it was not until he got a bit older that the term `gay' meant anything at all to him. He also had a tendency to enjoy time spent alone. He would play in his yard by himself, not because he had nobody to play with, but because his wild imagination was the best playmate of all. As he grew older, Alex began to cherish his alone time for the time it gave him to think and relax. He enjoyed many hours alone in the quiet woods in the park, simply enjoying nature and its serenity.
It was also at a very young age that Alex fell in love with the water. Naturally, he had no comprehension at the time that his innate connection had anything to do with a mutation in his genes. He learned to swim very young, and was more skilled at it than he ever was at walking or anything else on land. His passion for the water forced his parents to have a large pool installed in their yard, much to the delight of the Wental children and all of their friends.
By age 10, Alex was enrolled in a competitive swimming league. It was a small (and expensive) league, and he became incredibly skilled with all the training. Within a few years, despite his young age, he was already developing a solid swimmer's frame. It was during this period of time that Alex first began to consider the possibility that he was a mutant. Like many Class 5 Mutants, Alex's powers manifested at a young age. He seemed to be able to feel the currents of the water, to know how it was moving, even to be able to see it. His understanding of the water and its temperaments grew by leaps and bounds, and this only increased his skills. He had heard his parents talking about mutants, and had seen some things about them on the news, and what he heard planted the seeds of worry and doubt into his mind. With that in mind, he conducted private experiments during his alone times, and soon found that he could cause ripples in the water by waving his arm, and soon could cause the movement merely by thinking about it. It first occurred to Alex that he could easily use these abilities to ensure that he won swim meet after swim meet, but he dismissed the idea. He had worked so hard to become legitimately skilled, why would he taint that by cheating? When he entered high school, he joined the school's swim team, and was a valuable asset to them from the very beginning, despite trying his hardest to never use his powers to ensure a victory.
Growing up as a gay swimmer can be a very difficult thing, and Alex learned. Day after day, he would be in the presence of many young guys in Speedos, all of whom had strong athletic bodies. Day after day he would see these young guys in the locker rooms and showers, in every state of dress and undress. By now, he had developed the good sense to be careful about his homosexual thoughts and actions, especially with young high school aged guys. Meanwhile, his powers were growing, and sometimes water reacted to his emotions in ways he never thought of or planned.
The greatest example of this occurred at age 15. Alex was on his walk home from school, having had a very difficult day. He had not performed well on his history exam (he preferred science and critical thinking classes), and had had to endure a nearly hour long discussion with his teammates about fags' and banging' girls. His frustration was considerable, though he was usually very slow to anger. On his way home, he let out a shout of frustration at the memory of one particular comment from his teammate Billy about how if Alex didn't start fucking girls people would think he was a faggot. In his moment of anger, his powers erupted in a brief but powerful flare, and the pavement he was walking on split open, and up from the ground came a jet of water, knocking Alex from his feet, and then spraying high into the air like a geyser. In his anger, he had burst a water main. Of course, it was deemed an unlucky fluke by everyone, but the truth was known only to Alex, who wisely kept his mouth shut.
Being a gay boy in Utah was not an easy or safe thing to be. Alex began to grow more and more sexually frustrated as his natural hormones increased. He had to put up with more and more `guy talk' in the locker rooms, while simultaneously fighting stronger and stronger urges to tough his well built teammate's bodies. He could not survive solely on masturbation and the occasional jerk off session with his twin brother. And so, Alex found himself traveling into the city, where nobody knew him and nobody cared. At first he would walk around, and eventually he found a street where people like him were welcome. On this one street, in a dark and unsafe neighborhood of the big city, the gays were allowed to be themselves.
As a 16 year old young gay man, even Alex was not entirely safe here. His youth, sculpted swimmers build, and brilliantly blue eyes caught the looks of many, and not all of those looks came from good people. He managed to stay in public view most of the time, which kept him safe from some of the more predator-like men.
At first, Alex had difficulty getting in to some places, such as bars and over 18 clubs. But, as he became more of a familiar face, the doormen let him in. Being a young and very attractive man, Alex was bought many drinks by men both young and old. At first, Alex was a good boy, and thanked the men for his drinks, but never gave them anything. After all, he was a virgin at first. Alex had his first tryst with a young blonde surfer guy his own age. They ducked into a bathroom stall in a club to make out, and this is where Alex sucked his first dick, and where his was sucked for the first time. Alex was captivated by the blonde guy's thin but toned body, and ran his hands up and down his solid stomach. He licked and sucked on his lover's tanned skin like he could not get enough of it. His lover, Brian, was utterly hypnotized by Alex's eyes, their sapphire color twinkling with lust and delight. As he worked his way down Alex's body, Brian could not believe how solidly he was built. The years of swimming had created a body nearly devoid of fat, with muscles that were small but very solid, and the skin stretched tightly over them. As Alex's cock was freed for the first time by another guy, his heart pounded in his chest, and time seemed to stand still as he looked down at the blonde haired blue eyed surfer dude whose mouth stood open and waiting. Time then sped up as Brian dove down on Alex's inexperienced but delicious cock, working it with all of his considerable skills. Alex's first blowjob did not last long, as tends to be the case for most. He cried out a warning, but Brian did not relent, and took the young load right down his throat. As Alex came down from his orgasm, he fell to his knees before his surfer boy, who sat on the closed lid of the toilet. He opened Brian's jeans with desperate speed, needing so badly to get at what was inside. As Brian's jeans hit the floor, time stopped for Alex again. He stared at the beautiful circumcised penis in front of him, with its perfect flared head and sexy male smell. He moved forward, his tongue licking his lips. His tongue extended slightly, and he slowly, lovingly, licked the head of his first cock. The taste of precum exploded in his mouth, and he moaned. He took the head in slowly, and wrapped his lips around the young cock. Time sped up again, and everything became a flurry of licking, sucking, head bobbing, and the moans and praises of Brian above him. Brian put his hands through Alex's brown hair, guiding the young man's head on his dick. Alex jerked his own still-hard cock as he sucked Brian's, and as he got closer to cumming again, he sped up his sucking. Together the young men came, and Alex tasted his first load of cum (besides his own of course). It was thick, creamy, and had a distinct musky taste to it. He felt so hot swallowing another guy's load of cum, and he shot ropes of cum on to the tile floor of the bathroom. The two young men made out, and then went back into the club to dance together the rest of the night.
As time progressed, Alex's sexual experience grew. He may be a kind and gentle soul, but that does not mean he was a "good boy". However, despite the growing list of men Alex had hooked up with, he still had not gone all the way with anyone, which is to say, he had yet to engage in anal sex. He was unsure as to why this was the case; there were plenty of guys who were willing, some of which had begged to fuck him. More likely, on some level, he wanted to wait until he met someone special.
That someone special was to be Jared, who worked as the bartender in Alex's favorite gay club. He was an attractive college-age guy, average height, brown hair buzzed military-style, deep brown eyes, a genuine smile, and the killer body of a former high school football player. The two guys met early on, as it is well known to all clubbers that a good relationship with the bartender is a very good thing. After Alex had been going into town at night for the better part of a year, Jared finally worked up to asking him on a date. Alex's heart pounded, he had yet to go on a real date. Of course he said yes as soon as his wits came back to him.
Jared and Alex's date was magical. They went to a gay friendly restaurant in town, where Jared paid for dinner. After dinner, they took a walk in one of the city parks along the man-made streams and talked. Alex was giddy with happiness the entire night, and was terrified to screw it all up. He was finally on a date, and actually TALKING to someone. Someone was interested in him beyond his physical appearance, and there could be no greater feeling for him at that time. The date was incredible to Alex, as Jared was a perfect gentleman, and the night ended with a single tender kiss which made Alex feel like he was floating. Of course, they agreed to see each other again soon.
In the following weeks, Alex and Jared's relationship blossomed, and Alex feel head over heals in love, the way only a young man can fall in love. His every thought was with Jared, so much so that he could barely focus on schoolwork or swim practice. He came close on several occasions to bursting out his whole secret life, desperate to tell SOMEONE. But, he managed to keep himself together, and maintained his silent trance-like obsession for his beloved. The time came when Jared took Alex back to his dorm room, and they had sex at last. Jared was patient and gentle with Alex, and he took his time to loosen him up and make him as comfortable as possible. Alex lay on his back on the comfortable bed, his heart pounding with anticipation, his head swimming with the sensations from Jared as he rimmed his virgin hole. Jared held the strong swimmers legs high and wide as he rimmed his hole, then fingered it loose. As he felt Jared's tongue and fingers slide inside him, something within him woke up. A fire began to burn inside him, a growing and consuming hunger which demanded to be quenched. Alex was rock hard as his ass was invaded for the first time, and was soon begging Jared to fuck him. Jared took the muscled legs and guided them around his waist, where Alex held on tight. Slowly Jared's cock slide into Alex, and the hungry fire within Alex flared with delight. A low moan escaped his lips as Jared slid inside in one smooth, slow motion, right up to the hilt. Alex wrapped his legs tighter around Jared's athletic waist, and wrapped his arms around the strong chest, where his hands splayed against the muscles of his back. They kissed deeply and tenderly, and just stayed that way for a moment, holding each other, with Jared inside Alex, and both of them loving every minute of it. Jared began to move in and out of his young lover, sliding out and then all the way in so that his groin rested against the young solid ass. The sapphire blue eyes met with the dark brown ones and the two made sweet love in each others arms. The hard cock sliding in and out of Alex's ass brought him to greater and greater heights of pleasure, beyond anything he had experienced before. His cock was swollen and ready to burst the entire time, and he was afraid to touch it for fear of cumming too soon. Before long, they both came, with Jared pounding away, and Alex with his head thrown back in ecstasy and his hands gripping the sweaty footballer muscles of Jared's back. As they came down from their orgasm, the two kissed tenderly, and Jared nuzzled into Alex's neck, and whispered in his ear "I love you". Alex's heart had never pounded so hard in all his life, and he finally felt that all was right with the world. He and Jared had sex twice more that night, and then he fell asleep in his lover's arms, utterly content.
The next week was a blur of sex, sweat, and strange positions for Alex, as he and Jared had sex at every opportunity in every position imaginable. At first, this was the time of Alex's life, but soon he began to grow concerned by the fact that he and Jared never did anything besides have sex, and Jared did not seem at all interested in anything else. The day eventually came, soon after Alex's 17th birthday, that Jared stopped calling him. Not only did he stop calling, but he never returned calls from Alex. The worry over what was happening to his love consumed Alex, as is the case for most people's first love. He rushed to his favorite club, where he was relieved to see Jared in his usual place, behind the bar. Jared spotted him when he came in, and immediately engaged himself with a large group of customers. Alex, now a combination of terrified and enraged, charged straight through the group of customers, and faced his lover on opposite sides of the bar.
"Why won't you call me? What happened?" Jared looked around apologetically at the customers who had been so rudely interrupted. The customers did not mind though, since one of the few things gays loved more that booze was a good old fashioned dramatic display.
Jared placed his hands on the bar and leaned over it, bringing his face in close to Alex's.
"Look, don't make such a big deal about it. I had a lot of fun with you, but you don't own me."
"WHAT?!"
"It was just about the fun bro. You were a terrific fuck, but now I need to move on. I had fun; maybe we'll do it again sometime."
Alex stammered confounded for a moment, he had no idea how to process this.
"But, you said you loved me."
"Of course I did, it took forever for you to give it up. If that's what I had to do, that's what I did."
Alex's pain and anger could not be described, born as they were from the irrational infatuation first love. He had been used and lied to, for no other reason than to be used for sex. As tears ran down his face, his fists grew tight and his jaw clenched tight. Suddenly, for seemingly no reason, bottle after bottle of alcohol began to blow apart on the racks behind the bar. The people around the bar scattered, trying to avoid getting cut or wet. Finally the pipe leading to the bar sink blew, spewing copious amounts of water onto the floor and onto Jared. All the people around were too busy avoiding being involved in the chaos that none of them put together who had caused it. Alex's pain and anger were temporarily overridden by his terror at being revealed as a mutant, and he turned and ran out of the club. He ran and ran, with terror chasing him. The sky let loose a sudden and torrential rain, drenching Alex from head to toe. He ran until he found himself in the park where he and Jared had gone on their first date. He fell to his knees with exhaustion in the deepening mud. It was here that he cried and screamed, and the pain, anger, and terror scarring his heart horribly.
Back in the X-Mansion, several members of the X-Men, the Professor, Dr. Halden, and all of Hydrogue's friends were gathered around a table in a small room off the main hospital section. They had been forced to retreat from Alex's room when the room erupted into shifting and chaotic weather. The room was barraged by snow, rain, sleet, and once (to the detriment of some expensive medical instruments), hail. Now, it was torrentially raining, so much so that Barrier had been forced to block the doorway to the room in order to prevent the flooding of the entire hospital section.
"Won't he drown if we leave him in there?" asked Echo.
"I doubt it" answered the Professor. "Alexander's powers will not harm his own body, though they may harm ours if we get in the way. His instincts will keep him safe."
"Well, at least we know he still has his powers" offered Cyclops.
"So what's happening to him?" asked Demon, in an oddly quiet voice.
"Hydrogue is reliving his life inside his mind, up until the point where he was hurt."
"How did you find that out" asked Demon somewhat icily. "Reading his mind?"
"I don't need to," responded the Professor, calmly. "His thoughts and pain are so loud that I can barely keep them out of my head."
"I was wondering why I was seeing little flashes of Alex when he was younger" noted Psionic, cutting off any further sarcastic comments from Demon. "But why would he relive all of his memories?"
The Professor offered the concerned red mutant a kind smile, and then said " I do not know for certain, but I believe that so much has changed for Hydrogue in such a short period of time, that he has not been able to process it fully. His mind is forcing him to re-evaluate his life before now, as a response to a grievous injury."
"When will he wake up?" asked Will.
"I believe he will awaken when he has finished his story, and at that point he will arise in order to find his place in it again."
"Doesn't he need time to heal?" asked Iceman, who was idly manipulating a chunk of ice into various shapes on the table.
"Actually," Dr. Halden spoke up, "I believe that his physical wounds should be able to heal themselves at any time." The table looked at him very strangely. He therefore explained. "Well, I have been trying to learn as much as possible about Alex's physiology, and I have discovered that, for some reason, he is almost entirely water now."
"Isn't everyone mostly water?" pointed out Echo.
"Yes, but Alex is more than that. His body is about 99% water now; it is replacing all of his vital organs and tissues. Water molecules now hold the overall molecular shape of every structure in the human body. The only thing he appears to keep is an outer layer of skin, and the smaller electrolytes, such as potassium, sodium, and such."
"So," started Ghost, "he doesn't have any organs?"
"No, he does. His natural organs have just been replaced by ones made completely of water. His powers much hold the structures in place by instinct."
"Ok, then why does that mean that he can heal at any time?"
"Well, he has unlimited power over all water doesn't he? Logically speaking, his powers should allow him to close these wounds, which are entirely water, at any time"
"Then why don't they?" asked Demon, a bit harshly.
"Well," started Dr. Halden, "I'm not sure. Even though we know he still has his powers, despite being injected with the cure, he may not have gotten rid of all of it. That being the case, maybe his powers have been limited by whatever amount of cure stayed in his body. Until his body manages to remove the rest, he may not have as many powers, or may have reduced control over them. Or, and I think this is more likely, he may be trapped in his memory so much that he can't heal himself until the story is over."
Silence fell over the room.
"I hope it's over soon" Demon said quietly, to nobody in particular. He was too busy staring off toward the doorway which blocked Alex from view.
Alex barely survived his broken heart. He felt dirty and used by Jared's betrayal, and he did not cope well. He coped the same way far too many young gay men cope with the sadness in their lives. Alex led a life of rampant promiscuity, using his full talents of seduction and enticement to win him greater and greater conquests. With his beautiful eyes, genuine smile, and incredible body, he was very successful. He engaged in a great many sexual activities, and though he did try topping a few times, far preferred to be the bottom. Luckily for him, mutants are just different enough from humans that they cannot contract most human STD's. He even took a job at his favorite club as a go-go boy, and so every Friday and Saturday night, Alex would shake his pert little ass in his underwear for a shockingly large number of tips.
And so it went, with Alex using any number of strange attractive guys to satisfy his sexual urges. This brought him most of the way through his senior year of high school without incident. His swim teammates could tell he was now getting some (though he of course made up stories), and therefore did not harass him as much as before about getting laid. He became good friends with a number of his teammates, and life was very good for him. Alex even became one of the two co-captains of the swim team for his school, due to his amazing skill at the sport. He became particularly close to Gordon, his co-captain, and Gordon became the first person Alex came out of the closet to (at least about being gay). Gordon accepted this, and in time, became very glad about it. The reason for this was, of course, the fact that he now had a best friend who would suck his cock. And that is exactly what Alex did, every day after school, and again at the end of practice after the other swimmers had left the locker room. Gordon had dark, almost black hair, honey colored eyes, and pale skin. His built swimmers body was pale and totally hairless, and he hid in his speedo a rather large cock, which Alex loved to service as often as possible. It was long and fat and tasted incredible, and Alex would suck it lovingly and as often as possible. The two would even sleep over each others houses, where the goal became to set a new record for how many times Alex could get him off in a single night.
But one day, it all went sour. Alex and Gordon had been careless in making sure that all of the teammates had left for the day before they began their ritual. Alex had been hard at work for several minutes when 4 of their teammates walked into the locker room. There they were, with Gordon sitting nude on a bench along the wall, with his back leaning against the wall, and Alex on his knees, cock rock hard in his dark blue speedo, and with his nose buried deep in Gordon's pubes. The teammates cried out in shock to see their captains in such a state, and again was Gordon's long, snake-like dick slid out of Alex's throat.
"What the fuck?" asked Josh, one of the teammates.
"Dude, their fags!" shouted Ryan.
"No, I'm not a fag," defended Gordon, "he is!" The accusing finger pointed in Alex's face was like the finger of doom.
"Please guys," began Alex, "don't freak out. I'm the same guy; I just like guys instead of girls. Its no big deal." His heart began to race as he fought off the instincts to panic.
"Dude, that's fuckin nasty!" retorted Frankie. The room was still for a moment, and then the largest of the interrupting teammates, Doug, lunged for Alex. Alex's strong legs propelled him backward faster than the big man could reach for him, and turned to sprint out the door.
"Come back here faggot!" yelled someone, as they all gave chase. For fear of being labeled a fag lover, or worse, a fag himself, Gordon donned his discarded speedo and joined in the chase. Alex ran through the locker room, through the shower area, and into the main pool area. It was a huge room with a high ceiling and a strange echoing quality. He ran around the edge of the pool, seeking the back way out. Unfortunately Ryan, who doubled as a tack star, was on the chase, and with the addition of his shoes versus Alex's bare feet, quickly over took his quarry. The blonde guy slammed Alex in the back, driving him headlong into the pool. The five pursuers (for Gordon was too afraid to stand up for his better judgment) surrounded the pool. Each time Alex tried to get out of the pool, one of the guys pushed him back in. No matter what edge he swam to, one of them reached it first, and back underwater he went. He begged and pleaded with them to let him go, even swore to quit the team so they would not have to see him again. They did not relent. At last, one of the angry bigots threw a large, heavy floatation device used by lifeguards, and hit Alex in the side of the head. Alex's vision blurred, and he sank to the bottom of the pool, disoriented and momentarily barely conscious, with a small amount of red blood staining the water. After a few moments, he regained his higher reasoning skills, and rage erupted within him, and combined with his survival instinct.
Using his water powers, Alex propelled himself up, up, and out of the water, leaping out form the center of the pool to land on the side of it, facing 3 of his 5 attackers. All of the boys were frozen in horror and disbelief, so much so that it caused him to look down at himself. He realized then that, for the first time, he had turned himself completely into water. With no time to ponder this new development, he turned back to his attackers as on of them said "he's a fucking mutant too! He's a double freak!"
Alex had had enough. From his hands he launched twin geysers of water, which struck two of his attackers in their chests. The two guys were thrown back into the wall, where they connected solidly, and slid down to the ground. Two more jets took down two more attackers, and then the only people standing were Alex in his water form, and Gordon, his betraying friend.
"I thought I could trust you. Someday, I was even going to tell you about this" Alex said, indicating his now obvious mutant status.
"I'm sorry" Gordon said in a whisper, one that only he and, he hoped, Alex, could hear. Alex shook his head in disgust.
"Sorry isn't good enough." He turned now and walked from the pool, reverting to his human form as he went. He collected his clothes and ran from the place, afraid of what to do next. Both of his terrible secrets had just been laid bare, and it was only a matter of time before he was exposed to everyone he knew and cared for. The one person he thought would stand by him on this day had turned on him, leaving him utterly alone as he ran.
Doppelganger had no idea why he had been summoned to Magneto's war room. Though he was a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, he was not a high ranking member, and had never before been a part of the grand planning that went on in that room. As he approached the great double-doors, he saw that blocking them was a huge black stone gargoyle, with large dragon-like wings, a barbed tail, and deadly talons. He stopped in front of the statue and looked around, wondering how one got into a room with a blocked entrance.
"Who dares approach?" asked a great, booming voice. Doppelganger was so startled that he jumped back several feet, and looked around for the source of the noise. To his horror, he realized that the statue had TALKED to him. Then it moved.
The gargoyle bent low, getting closer to Doppelganger, and swept its great stone wings around him, encircling the young mutant in stone. The short mutant frantically searched his mind, thinking of all the mutants whose DNA he had sampled, wondering which powers would be useful against the great stone beast. But he need not fight this foe.
The skin of the statue rippled, and the black outer layer seemed to melt off, and fell before it in the shape of a man. It was then that Doppelganger recognized Fuse, one of Magneto's higher ranking associates. Fuse was a tall, well built, handsome black man, with a shaved head, white teeth, and a day's worth of stubble for a beard.
"I have been requested by Magneto" Doppelganger explained. He tried his best to keep the slight tremble from his voice.
Fuse leaned in, bringing his face in close to Doppelganger's. This required him to bend down a bit, as he was very tall, and Doppelganger fairly short. "I know. You may pass" he said, a perverse smile on his face.
Doppelganger shook off the shudder which threatened o run down his spine, and, after Fuse moved his pet statue, walked through the double doors into the war room. The room was large and circular, with several large view screens along one half, and full length windows along the other. Out the windows, the expanse of the large, unknown island on which Magneto based his operations could be seen. The island was roughly circular, spanning about 8 miles at its widest point. The island was as yet unknown to the human world, as it was far out into the Atlantic Ocean and was away from all major shipping lanes. It was mostly forested, though the various structures could be seen nearby, as the Brotherhood's operations were expanding quickly in the tumultuous times.
In the center of the room was a circular table which could seat twenty people, the center of which contained a large holographic imager. Whatever had been on display, Doppelganger did not know, as the device deactivated the moment he entered the room. Around the table sat Magneto, Mystique, Pyro, and the young girl he had seen return with Magneto from his trip to the X-Mansion. The young girl had pale skin, and long dark brown hair with a streak of white on the bangs, and was dressed in a suit of scarlet leather. She had a kind face, but this was overridden by the darkness in her eyes. She had an aura of power and evil around her, and she regarded him with her dark, red rimmed eyes.
"You asked to see me sir?" Doppelganger was very intimidated being in this room, and even more so because he had directly addressed Magneto, one of the most dangerous mutants in the world.
"I asked to see you" spoke the young girl. Her voice had a strange multi-harmonic quality, as though there were two distinct voices speaking at once. All eyes turned to her at once the moment she spoke, and she commanded undivided attention. "I have heard of your powers, and I wish for you to do something for me."
"What could I possibly do for you^Å." He struggled to end the sentence without knowing her name.
"She is The Phoenix" answered Magneto, with distain in his voice. It was as though he were annoyed that Doppelganger did not know her name.
"And I wish for you to explain to me exactly what you can do with your powers" the Phoenix stated flatly.
"Um, ok" Despite Doppelganger's sincere confusion, he obliged. "I can absorb the DNA of anyone I can come into physical contact with. I can retain this DNA within me and call it forth at any time, turning myself into an exact genetic replica of that person. In the case of mutants, this also allows me to use their powers the same way they can." He smiled, as he was very proud of his powers. The young girl smiled as well.
"Fascinating. Tell me, can you take DNA from someone who is not alive?" The question caught Doppelganger off guard.
"Um, I don't know, I have never tired. But, I would assume that I could."
"Good. Tell me then, could you take the DNA from this?" She held forth her hand, and in it, she held several long strands of red hair.
"Well, I don't know." Feeling as though his health were at stake, he quickly changed his position, saying "yes I think so."
"Good." The Phoenix stood, and slowly, gracefully walked over to Doppelganger. He reached out to take the strands of hair from her when her hand snapped out incredibly fast and seized him by the throat. Doppelganger's eyes widen in shock, and his hands went to free his throat from the impossibly strong grip. The blood vessels in his face bulged out and darkened, and he felt his very life draining into the skin of The Phoenix. Her eyes bored into his, and then began to glow red, lit with inner flames. Doppelganger lapsed into unconsciousness, and she dropped him unceremoniously to the floor. She then turned her focus on the strand of hair in her hand, and slowly but surely drew the DNA within herself. As she did this, her hair grew longer and turned a brilliant red color. She grew taller and slimmer, her facial bones shifted, and her skin grew less pale. As she turned, the lights flickered and grew dim and clouds formed to block out the sun. Standing there before Magneto and Mystique stood The Phoenix, in a replica of her original body. A ball of red light formed in her hand, and she looked at it with enormous delight. With a flash, the ball blasted outward, shattering the windows of the war room, and exposing them all to the air outside. Magneto and Mystique dove to the ground to protect themselves from the flying glass. When all the glass had fallen, both of them looked up at the Phoenix, who was now floating in the air in seeming ecstasy. Both of them fell to their knees before the god-like mutant, who met their display with a superior smile.
The Phoenix's maniacal laughter could be heard throughout the entire island, and chilled the bones of all who heard it.
As Alex ran home, he knew that his life was about to be completely ruined. He knew that his family would try their hardest to love him if they knew he was gay, but not if he was a mutant, and certainly not both. As he ran, tears ran down his face, and he cried for the loss of everything he had ever known. He stopped at home just long enough to stuff his backpack full of clothes, and take all the money he could find. He felt awful stealing money from his family, but he knew he would need it. Alex paused at the threshold of his childhood home, and looked back inside one last time. With a sigh, and yet more fallen tears, he ran out into the rain with all of his possessions on his back.
Alex took a bus to the city, not knowing where else to go. He spent the first couple of nights in his usual club, and went home with guys who seemed safe, so that he could sleep indoors. But soon his picture was on every television station and newspaper, as the search for the runaway expanded. Alex was touched that his family was trying to find him, but also knew that it was only a matter of time before they heard the story from his teammates, and they would no longer consider him family.
As fate would have it, the answer to Alex's problem appeared on the television on the 5th night of his exile. He had spent his at the home of Richard, a good looking guy in his 30's, and after yet another round of sex, Richard had taken a shower. While Alex lay naked in the silk sheets of the bed, he watched the news, which was running a fairly un-biased story on Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which had been revealed to be a home for runaway mutant kids. The news went on to talk about the devastated families of some of the students, who had thought their children were just going to a private school for highly intelligent students. All of this passed by unnoticed by Alex though, as he considered the possibilities. He would not have to live off of his looks and sell his ass for room and board as he hid from the world. He certainly didn't mind casual sex, especially as he still only had it with those he was attracted to, but it was not a good long term plan. The TV captured his attention completely as he sought the location of this school. And then there it was: Westchester, New York.
Alex was dressed and out the door before Richard ever got out of the shower, much to the dismay of the still-horny older man. When he reached the bus station, Alex was dismayed to learn that he was very far short of the money he needed to get to New York. He would only be able to get halfway there, and would then be unable to buy food.
And so, he hitchhiked. He was only able to travel short distances in the right direction before having to get out and thank the drivers who had picked him up. This way, he was able to travel, but still had money for food if he couldn't persuade anyone to buy it for him.
Two weeks, and uncounted sexual favors, and an 18th birthday later, Alex arrived in New York. It took him several days to locate the Xavier Mansion, and when he finally did, he stood in front of the closed gates for over an hour. Was he ready for this? He had spent his entire life alone, secluded, afraid, and now it just might all be over. There were people on the other side of that gate who were, at least partly, like him. He longed for this change, and yet he feared it as well. He wasn't sure if he could let anyone in close again, did not know if he could trust.
The decision was made for him. The tall iron gates opened, and Alex looked up to see a bald man in a wheelchair headed towards him. The man had intelligent blue eyes and a kind face, and he wheeled right up to the gate, stopping a few feet from Alex.
"Welcome Alexander Wental" said the bald man. At Alex's clear look of surprise, he continued "I am Charles Xavier, I own and run this school."
"You know my name?" Alex managed to stammer out the few words.
"I am like you Alexander, I am a mutant. My powers are telepathic in nature, and they allowed me to know your name. They also told me when you arrived here an hour ago, and that you were having difficulty coming in. I can assure you, you are welcome and safe here." Charles extended his hand to Alex, who accepted despite the silent tears welling in his eyes. Welcome and safe. At last.
Though of course it would not last. The months of Alex's stay in the X-Mansion were good to him, but he was far from safe. As he learned more and more about his powers, the great and terrible force within him, he began to be separated again from the only community he had ever belonged to. The outside world was spiraling into chaos around him, while his inner world did the same. He now had to fear the power within himself, and it made him feel even more alone than he ever had before.
Storm stood atop the roof of the mansion, her eyes white, and her silver cape billowing in the wind. Above her swirled the immense storm system which had formed above the mansion in the past few minutes, which she struggled to control. The storm was like an arctic hurricane, with great clouds whirling in a circular pattern, causing a slightly calmer eye, which was centered on the mansion. The area beneath the clouds suffered a plummeting temperature, and soon the ground was frozen solid despite the summer month. Gale force winds cut the air even more, whipping tree branches down, and causing untold chaos in the city around the school. Lightning flashed and struck, again and again, causing small fires which were quickly suffocated by the biting cold. Storm reached out with her considerable powers, but they were for naught. The power which controlled this storm was beyond her, and in a state of complete emotional chaos. The psychic mutants felt the powerful emotions keenly, and through these mutants the sorrow and pain radiated outward, engulfing the entire mansion. In that moment, every mutant in the Xavier Mansion knew the terrible loneliness and pain that was the culmination of Hydrogue's life. The storm grew worse and worse as Hydrogue reached that point in his memories that landed him in the hospital bed in the first place.
In the basement, Demon, Echo, and Dr. Halden stood beside Hydrogue's bed, trying to hold him down as his body thrashed and seized. Wind began to blow through the room, and the temperature dropped drastically. Demon used his considerable strength down to hold his friend in the bed, but was thrown back when Hydrogue opened his mouth and screamed a horrible, wailing, pain-filled scream. The three young men were knocked to the ground by a pulsing force which blasted out from Hydrogue's body, and suddenly the room was silent and still.
Demon looked up as Alex sat up in bed, and watched in amazement as all of his wounds sealed within moments. The bandage around his head fell down, revealing the brilliant sapphire eyes he was so well known for. Demon smiled with joy, but quickly realized that something was wrong. Alex's eye color had been restored with his powers, but he was looking around as though searching for something, and blinking rapidly. He realized what had happened a moment before Alex spoke for the first time.
"I can't see anything" he said. His nightmare was not over. He was still all alone in the dark.
Across many miles of ocean, Phoenix sat in her throne-like chair and felt the reawakening of Hydrogue. No other being on the face of the earth captured her attention more than that boy, whose powers were the only ones that would even come close to challenging her. She was not concerned though. After all, she had a plan.
Sitting on the table was a small vial filled with a strange amber liquid. The liquid was the result of several hours of painstaking work, where The Phoenix had carefully arranged molecules one by one. She had created a flawless piece of work, a pivotal creation which would tip the balance of the entire world. She smiled at the distance throbs of power from her fellow Class 5.
After all, she had a plan.
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OK, I am so very sorry that this chapter took so long. I suffered writers block for several weeks, and I simply refuse to put out anything I am not proud of. That being said, I hope you all liked it. I hope I didn't lose anybody with the shifting points of view.
As always, PLEASE let me know what you think. If you hated it, tell me that, and you won't see it again. And of course if you loved it, I like to hear that too.
I love you all, stay safe.
-Matt --Phoenixfire543@yahoo.com