X-men: Mutant Awakening (Ch. 2)

Author's Note - German Phrases used in this chapter: Mein Gott! (My God!) Also, many thanks to Kindar for beta-reading! :)

Chapter 2

Alarm flooded Professor Xavier as he thought quickly, getting to his feet, but Ororo beat him to Tad.
Tad laid there in a crumpled pile with a nasty oozing gash on his temple.

"Is he alright?"

Ororo bent over Tad, quickly looking him over, and withdrew a sharp breath. "He may need some stitches, but it doesn't seem life-threatening. It'd be prudent to check his vitals in Med Bay immediately."


Professor Xavier mentally sent out a thought probe in search for their resident, Nightcrawler, and found him in the Danger Room training.

He broadcast to only the people inside this room, excepting Tad, and Kurt in a private mental connection. Kurt? We need your help - Teleport into the study please.

Kurt paused while clinging to the wall, as he heard Professor X's request. It wasn't like the Professor to have him teleport directly to the study -- it must be an emergency. He wondered if it had anything to do with the new mutant they were expecting. Without another thought, he called out, "End Simulation."

The setting along with the enemy holograms vanished into sparkles of light and were gone in a second, showing the bare metal walls and floor of the Danger Room. He closed his eyes, focusing on the study. He pushed through space with his mind, and had a sudden flash of vertigo for a bare second, then his equilibrium stabilized. 

Kurt focused on where he was, crouching on a chair. He spotted the trouble immediately. He climbed off the chair, and knelt by Tad then gazed at the Professor with deep concern.

"Mein Gott!  What has happened?" His German accent grew more obvious as he took in the injuries.

Professor Xavier stared at Logan who looked halfway guilty and mostly confused, then at Kurt. "He had a scare, and hit his head on the desk. Please teleport him to Med Bay. Ororo will be down there immediately."

Kurt nodded, then gently scooped his arms under Tad, and brought him closer to him to ensure easier teleporting. It helped if the passenger he carried was as close as possible to him when he initiated a jump. The new arrival was heavier than he'd expected to lift up, but Kurt thought he could manage He focused on the Med Bay, and disappeared with a pop of brimstone and smoke.

Ororo stood up and looked at her student. "Brenda, you can come along -- now will be as good a time to learn the basics of medicine."

Brenda nodded, picked up Tad's duffel bag from the floor, and followed Ororo out the door as they went underground to the Med Bay.

Logan stood there scratching a mutton chop until Professor Xavier cleared his throat. "Is there something else?"

The grizzled man sucked on his cigar for a moment, then shook his head. "Not really. I just wanted to meet the new guy? I thought you wanted me to?"

Professor Xavier nodded slightly, remembering now the reason he called Logan. "Oh, yes I did. I'm really didn't foresee this happening. I merely just wanted to have him meet you, since he will be enrolled in your class."

Logan yanked his cigar out of his mouth, and stared at Professor Xavier in surprise.

Xavier fell silent, suddenly pensive, knowing this was a delicate matter. "Logan, can you do me a favor?"

Logan stood there, shifting from one foot to another, feeling suddenly uncomfortable for some reason. "What is it?"

Xavier didn't speak for several seconds, trying to frame his question tactfully. "Did you notice his bruises?"

Logan nodded, not certain where this was going. "Yeah. The kid was in a fight or something?"

Xavier exhaled softly. "Yes. I believe he was badly outnumbered in a fight. For what reasons, I'm uncertain, but I have my suspicions. It appears he was a victim of a mutant bashing. He was in great pain as I sensed his mutation." He paused before talking again. "I won't pry into his mind, until he decides to disclose what happened. I simply would like you to keep a watchful eye on him at least while he's in your classes. Perhaps he'll be willing to talk about it at one point."

Logan grunted with a curt nod, as he left the room, feeling oddly protective of the new guy and pissed. He had a class later this afternoon on brawling techniques for hand to hand combat. On the way to his room, he decided that a good Danger Room training session might be a good idea -- to work up a good sweat, and to take his anger out on some simulations, instead of the kids.

Logan stalked to the elevator and smashed a button, going down. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to relax. This new guy had him on edge, and damned if he knew why.

He stood at the controls and turned up the difficulty a little higher than normal. He considered for a second, then punched in a variety of enemies, and set it to randomized. Logan set the encounter levels to it's maximum level.

Might as well get some good exercise.

He hit the start button. Logan loped out of the control room, and made his way into the Danger Room. He instinctively ducked as a projectile disc flew at him.

* * *

Kurt had gingerly laid Tad's unconscious body onto a hospital bed, and waited for Ororo's arrival. As soon as Ororo came in, Kurt walked to her, and stopped her for a moment. "He is safe on a bed. I wish to know when he returns to good health."

She nodded. "I will. Thank you."

Brenda had trailed in behind her, and waved at Kurt before he left. She put the duffel bag by Tad's bed, tucked out of the way. When they moved him into his own room, the duffel bag would go with Tad. She thought it'd be best to keep the bag right near him for the time being.

Ororo was instructing in basic first aid to Brenda as she dabbed at Tad's head wound and wiped away the blood, to inspect it closer.

To her surprise and relief, Tad didn't need any stitches -- just a bandage.

Brenda listened attentively, glancing at Tad, and as she watched Ororo apply a small pad with some gauze tape around it's edges to Tad's temple. She spoke quietly. "I wish he would feel better."

Ororo glanced up at her, and frowned. "What did you pick up from him?"

Brenda bit her lip, thinking hard. "I don't know exactly. Confusion. Fear - a little of it, but I don't know why exactly. Withdrawn. Lonely - uh..." She hesitated, breaking off into silence.

Ororo straightened up and spoke firmly. "What else? We need to know why Logan scared him."

Brenda had a good hunch, but she didn't want to say it. She pushed away from Tad's bed and turned around with arms crossed. She sounded slightly pained. "The rest of it... No. I don't want to say it."

Ororo furrowed her eyebrows together looking a bit irritated, then sighed. "Why not?"

Brenda glanced at Ororo and her eyes unfocused momentarily. "Logan's part of all this."

Ororo blinked in slight surprise. "How is he part of it?"

Brenda sat down at a nearby chair by the bed and rubbed her eyes - it had been a long morning. "I know what he was feeling when he saw Logan. Some of it has to be private. And I can't get any more specific than this, you know that."

Ororo didn't speak for a long minute, then nodded briskly. "Alright. Fair enough." She went to get the portable scanner that was hooked up to a computer on a wheeled cart.

Wheeling it over to Tad's side, she initialized the program for a new patient, and typed in the basics: His name, and gender. What she didn’t know she would fill out later.

Tad was slowly waking up by the time Ororo held the scanner and was about to run it across his body.
He awoke to see himself in what appeared as a hospital and saw Brenda and Ororo with him. "Uuugh... what? Where am I?"

Tad was confused and relieved that the incredibly hot man didn't appear to be around. He probably was a mutant here too.

Ororo was smiling warmly at him, holding what seemed to be an ultraviolet light scanner or something. Brenda had been sitting, but she stood up by his right side, with a reassuring smile. Ororo spoke with relief in her voice. "Good. You're awake! You're in our Med Bay. How are you feeling? I've put a bandage on your temple to stop the bleeding. It should heal quickly enough." She wondered if she should ask about Logan, but she saw Brenda shaking her head.

Tad moaned softly as his head ached. "Uh... My head... um, other than that... I think I'm okay."

Ororo smiled. "Good. Your headache will fade after I get you some aspirin. Right now, I was going to scan your vitals into the computer -- to make sure there's no injuries that you're not aware of."

Tad frowned. "Will it hurt?"

Ororo shook her head. "No. It's completely painless -- it's like a body x-ray, but more detailed than that. Is that okay?"

Tad wasn't sure he wanted to really argue with this nice lady, so he murmured. "That's fine."

Brenda patted his hand gently in reassurance. "She's a good medic."

Tad turned to Brenda and managed a smile. "That's good."

Ororo tried to decide whether to glare at Brenda, or shake her head. She rolled her eyes slightly, and with a smile of amusement she began scanning him with the device.

She made several passes from his head to his toes, then scanned Tad's left from his side. The white haired woman handed Brenda the scanner and showed her how to use it -- it just required her to hold a button down while scanning.

Brenda fumbled with the scanner before turning it on, and doing a pass or two over Tad's right side. Pressing the button again to turn it inactive, she handed the scanner back to Ororo.

The dusky woman set the scanner on the wheeled cart's surface, and clicked a few keys on the laptop.

Tad watched them with a certain degree of fascination -- as far as he knew regular hospitals didn't have this kind of fancy scanning equipment. Whatever Ororo saw, she seemed a bit pleased, yet slightly concerned. Perhaps it wasn't as serious as he thought.

Ororo moved back to Tad's left side, and spoke with a smile. "Most of your injuries aren't serious, and should fade within a couple days. However, there are bruised muscles around your stomach which should heal within a week provided you take it easy for a few more days." She paused to contemplate Tad's injuries. "I'm also surprised you didn't complain of any pain today."

Tad sighed, feeling a little irritated. "I was taking Aleve and stuff to keep the pain away. It worked well enough."

Ororo was concerned. "But your injuries could have easily been more serious!"

Tad so didn't want to go into this. "They weren't. Drop it, please."

Ororo started to protest, but Brenda shot her a warning glance that Tad didn't see.

The white haired woman forced a smile on her face. "Alright. Fair enough. I'll be right back with your aspirin." She patted his arm lightly, then went around the corner. She was back in less than a minute with a small glass of water, and four aspirins. Ororo gave them to Tad who took them gratefully and gulped his pills and water in one go. She smiled warmly, as she took the paper cup away from Tad. "You can stay here at least overnight for observation, before we scan you again. Tomorrow, you can have a more formal tour of the premises."

Tad tried to crane his head to look around, but couldn't move it very far. "Alright. I guess there's nothing I can do...Where's my duffel bag?"

Brenda pointed down by Tad's head on his right side. "Right here. I brought it down -- thought it'd be best to have it with you until you're into your own room here."

Tad relaxed, suddenly feeling better. At least his bag wasn't still stuck in the study, or taken. It was all he had with him.

Ororo nodded and spoke gently. "If there's nothing else you need at the moment, I need to conduct a class in about five minutes."

Brenda glanced at her hopefully. "Can I skip class this once? I'd like to stay here for a while."

Ororo had a smile play around the corners of her mouth. "I suppose that will be okay. I'll give you your homework after class."

She glanced at Tad, with a warm smile. "You can sleep if you need to take a nap. The bandage is only for a shallow cut. Brenda will help if you need anything."

Tad barely nodded, but that seemed to be enough for the white-haired woman, as she strode out of the Med Bay.

As the metal doors swished shut, Brenda looked at Tad with a mixture of curiosity and interest.

"So."

Tad glanced at Brenda with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" He didn't know her that well, but she seemed nice enough. He was relieved that at least he'd not get beat up by her.

Brenda's eyes clouded over in confusion. She had picked up a short pinprick of emotion that she couldn't figure out, but it was muddled with his other emotions.

"Tad...um, can I ...er, talk to you seriously? Don't get mad at me when I ask you this." She got the chair and pulled it closer to the bed, sitting down.

Tad felt nervous, but something inside him told him to at least hear her out. He nodded a little.

Brenda licked her lips, then paused. He might hate her for asking, but she had felt his emotions when he saw Logan: fear and lust. It hadn’t taken her long to add up the clues, and figure out why he had been in a fight. She tapped her fingers on the edge of the bed, then spoke quietly. "...You're gay, aren't you? That's what the fight was about?"

Tad stared at Brenda in shock, and glared in anger, then sat up rigidly. "Stop looking in my head!"

(TBC)
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