Every head in the control room turned simultaneously at the at the sudden ‘hiss’ of the opening automatic doors- a motion promptly followed by a pain-filled “YIP!”. Kurt Wagner, having had just nodded off, nearly jumped out of his Indigo blue fur at the sound, and managed to spill half his mug of hot coffee in his lap in the process.
“Cripes!,” he grumbled, standing to mop at the massive wet spot on the crotch of his sweat pants.
Jubilee quickly slid the infamous coffee mug in her direction to avoid any more near impotence-inflicting incidents for the morning, and sat back to take in the chaos. Marrow, Kitty, and Rogue laughed so hard they were nearly floored. Marrow, of course, was obnoxiously exaggerating her mockery- as usual- for no one else’s benefit but her own. Jubilee scoffed at the gut-bursting laughs under her breathe.
Yeah, reeeal funny, she thought. Your average McDonalds employee would be hung, tarred and feathered for the same infraction. Grrr......
......Logan, Warren and Hank cringed in sheer sympathy over the whole thing, while a flustered Storm scrambled for a near by tissue box. Poor Kurt just sighed pitifully, damn near tears, more due to the embarrassment that his ‘predicament’ managed to happen upon his mentor’s entering the control room, rather then due of the pain of it all.
With an equally frustrated sigh, Jubilee shook her head, feeling rather helpless in the situation. Sure, she liked Kurt and all, but what was there to do? She wasn’t going to, like, mop his pants up for him or anything.
Friendship stops at crotch-of-the-pants maintenance, she thought, mounting up Kurt’s coffee-drenched Kleenexes. Anything Beyond that is just freakin’ weird.
As quick as it’d happened, the over-due early-morning panic began to calm itself. Tissues where tossed on their merry little way to the trash can, all laughs subsided, postures were reformed, and poor old Kurt verified that the unexpected coffee singe hadn’t left any permanent damage. Slowly, everyone’s attention was diverted back towards their original wheelchaired assailant.
By then, Professor Charles Xavier had managed to place himself at his usual spot at the focal point of the briefing room table, composing himself into his usual cultured calm, hands carefully laced on the table in front of him. And as usual his perfectly bald head glared the white-wash ceiling lights, giving him a very subtle halo-effect.
Chuck bein’ heavenly? Yeah right. Jubilee stifled a giggle. She narrowed her gaze in on the significantly older man as he looked over all of his pupils. And he breaks the silence right abouutt..... now.
“Good morning everyone,” he smiled pleasantly. As the group nodded in response, the professor’s gaze rested on Kurt, “Are we all right?”
“Ah,” A fuzzy indigo blue index finger went up in the air, and Kurt gave the room a quirky look, finally giving into the amusement of the whole situation. He looked at the professor, to the crotch of his pants and back, “‘We’ are fine sir, jah.”
Jubilee’s giggle burst loose. The Professor let it slide, clearing his throat, "Well then, I believe we have a rather important matter at hand here,” he watched every face in the room fall, and nodded ,“I realize this is not an easy task to confront nor to carry out for any of you. Believe me, I’ve spent plenty of my own would-be rest hours pondering over this myself- however, it will be dealt with, today. Be confident that, in due time, each of your opinions will be heard, and each are entirely and equally valid,” he paused, his expression sharpening a bit, ”If, in any case, there is any sort of physical confrontation during this meeting, I certainly hope you realize by now that it will not be tolerated.” All eyes , nix the professor’s, shifted towards Marrow, who’d nearly mastered the infraction. She had, thus far, been the lucky recipient of toilet-scrubbing duty for a record three weeks in a row.
“Very well then,” The professor continued. Jubilee shifted in her chair, preparing for the long-haul, “As you all know, the next couple of hours have been scheduled to decide indefinitely about the future achedemic life and X-Team status of the young miss Cheyenne LeBeau. Now, part of this decision will be made via your own opinions, as I believe each of you have gained enough experience to do so fairly. However, the remaining decision will be entirely by my own ingenuity. After all,” there was a rare wry smile that flashed across Xavier’s face, "I do own the damned school.”
“Within the time span of the past week Hank and I have been in the midst of testing the child in efforts to not only find out where she is left on the achedemic scale, having never been subjected to any formal schooling, but also to accompany that knowledge with the vast array of mutant abilities she has been gifted with. I’m sure each of you are interested in those tests’ results, as they may help along each side in this matter, whether you feel it necessary for the girl to stay here at our New York local,” he gestured towards Jubilee’s side of the debate, “Or if you would rather, as Sarah so tactfully put it, ‘kick her the f**k out of here’.”
Jubilee smirked as she watched Marrow nearly cream herself. Everyone in the room had fallen victim to forgetting that the ‘School For Higher Learning’s’ headmaster happened to be a telepath, at one time or another....... some just more then others...
The professor nodded in Hank’s direction, signaling him to take over the lecture.
“Ah, yes,” the man codenamed Beast- blue fur, predominant claws, white laboratory coat, spectacles and all- stood and addressed the control room’s rather antsy audience, “Well since you are all obviously as anxious to clear this issue as quickly as I am, I’ll make this little speech as informative but as fast as possible.”
Hank took a brief breath and began, “Miss Cheyenne Mikayla Dreux-Mattie LeBeau, age 15, daughter to our resident Remy Ettienne LeBeau, and the believed-to-be-deceased Alexandra Marie DeVeaux, is at a bit of a problem spot when it comes to her qualifications for this school as a whole. Mentally, the child is potentially brilliant, but that potential is very much haulted due to her lack of schooling. She suffers from chronic nightmares- flashbacks of sorts due to past trama. She’s still in the midst of a repressed grieving process over to her mother’s untimely slaughter, and her own lifetime of abuse, and I believe, in the wake of her learning to cope, the new-found attachment to her father is very much enlightening the whole situation. Her educational knowledge seems to vary speratically- she cannot write extensively, can barely read, and has little or no real understanding of a structural daily life..... which, although that may sound preposterous, you must remember she’s never truly been aided with the chance to ‘live’."
“On the other end, having lived her entire 15 years in what I can conclude to be nothing less then a very well-kept ‘secret’ government concentration camp, she has managed to pick up some rather remarkable skills. Her math skills are impeccable, likely due to an incredible comprehension of advanced technology and computers. Besides her own native English, she is able to speak enough of multiple different languages to enable her to get by on a daily basis if needed, which likely was a necessity previous to her residence here.” The Beast paused to clear his thoughts.
“...And then,” he grinned that big-toothed grin of his, “comes the fun part.”
“That beeeiinng.....” Jubilee hated lectures, hated team meetings, and despised long bouts of silence just as much. She rested her head back on a pensively quiet Logan’s shoulder, “C’mon, Blue, you’re losing me.”
Hank ignored her, placing a blue furry finger on the table in front of him, “The fun part is what we have here. This child, her abilities as a mutant, are incredible. More or less, the gene pool has granted Cheyenne the best of “both worlds” in rendering her powers. Her mother, Alexandra, is said to have had morphing capabilities restricted to one peticular species, and Cheyenne LeBeau gained this trait. Her own abilities allow her to morph into any canine on the map, as well as a particularly unique lupine, or werewolf state--”
“So then, what we have is anotha Wolfsbane on our hands here,” Rogue finally spoke up, with a wary, rather cold tone lacing her voice. “Would ah be too out of place if ah were t’ say ‘big deal’?”
There was a slight snicker from Kitty Pryde.
Beast cocked an eyebrow, ”If not, then I suppose I’d be in the clear in saying ‘Yeah its a big friggin deal’. Cheyene’s morphing capabilities vary incredibly. On one hand she can completely transform herself into a puppy-esque state, and on the other, in her lupine form, she is able to transform herself into a completely new canis species. This form she refers to as the ‘Beowulf’ is a massive beast-like creature- A canine nearly three times her original size, with almost five times her already heightened senses and agility. Its skeletal structure is a near-perfect balance between that of a wolf and of a human’s- fully functional hands, ability to stand upright or on all fours. She’s able to speak fully, yet retains the appearance of that of a rather large wolf gone mutant.”
There was a pause. Storm looked up from the hole she was nearly staring into the floor in contemplation. She tilted her head questionably, ”You said the child inherited ‘the best of both worlds’, did you not?”
“That is correct.”
“Explain.”
Henry smiled, “Oh, you’re going to like this. The power of her father’s- to charge objects with an explosive Kinetic energy- rendered itself in a rather interesting way for miss LeBeau. Although she is without the ability to ‘charge’ anything around her, Cheyenne is able to create incredibly powerful kinetic blasts, if you will. With her ability to expense these ‘blasts’ through her arms, legs, or her entire body as a whole, the masses of condensed kinetic energy, once making contact with their target, are capable of doing as much damage as leveling a building, or as little as creating a blinding diversion. As a matter of fact, according to my calculations, if given the chance and circumstance, this young lady has the acute capability to destroy......,” Henry does a comedic drumroll on the control room table, “.....an entire city block.”
Jaws drop on behalf of the anti-kid-LeBeau team. Logan mouths a silent ‘Holy shit!”, receiving a lighthearted giggle from a suprisingly unsuprised Jubilee. Xavier scratches his bald head in deep thought.
“So this brings me to my point.” Beast’s facial expression, his entire being suddenly rendered itself dead-serious, “With all aprehenses and prejudices laid aside... all worries of a restrained but easily enhansable achedemic life laid to rest, and with all over-due psychiatric counseling needed to cure her own inner conflicts.... I prepose we let the child stay. The girl needs her father, indubitably, as He needs the chance to reconvene with her as well. Cheyenne herself is an incredibly powerful young woman, entirely capable of taking ranks in this team... if she is allotted the chance.”
“So I ask you....... Shall she?” |
