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PLEASE!!!! Thanks. cvotulle@vt.edu
Quick Reference: “This is when someone is speaking aloud.”
#This is when someone is speaking telepathically.#
Revelations: Part 3
Chris Votulle, May 1997
Bobby sat in his room, with his head in his hands, wondering what exactly had
just happened. Hank hadn’t disclosed any information to him and this angered him
slightly because he felt that he deserved an explanation. Instead, he was
reprimanded for disturbing Hank’s ‘patient.’ Bobby had explained to him what
had happened and that he hadn’t done anything to provoke her. Hank seemed to
accept this account, but he still sent Bobby out of the lab leaving him to wander in
his confusion.
He pulled his hair in frustration. He stood up and kicked the pile of dust on the floor,
scattering the remains of his alarm clock in every direction.
* * * * *
She awoke to discover that she was being held in some type of crude cage. It
was dark and she was frightened.
“Mommy? Mommy, where are you?” her tiny voice barely penetrated the
silence.
Nobody answered. Her fear was escalating. She felt her way around her prison
in an attempt to detect a means of escape. There didn’t seem to be one. Her lip
began to tremble. Where was her Mommy? Why didn’t she come for her when
she called? What is this place?
Suddenly, almost in response to her thoughts, a light was turned on to reveal a
room full of all kinds of strange equipment. She had no idea what it was all used
for, but it looked very complicated and painful. If it was at all possible for
machinery to exhibit tendencies of malice, these machines took it to the extreme.
But even worse than the threatening devices was the man who was standing among
them.
She recognized him instantly, and with that recognition came the memories of
the horribly painful experiences that he had caused her to endure and she began to
scream. He tried to calm her down, telling her that he wasn’t going to hurt her. He
even told her that he loved her -- that he would take care of her from now on.
He opened the cage to let her out and she pressed herself to the opposite side,
hoping that he wouldn’t be able to reach her. He pulled her out of the cage and she
lashed out at him, kicking him forcibly and pounding her small fists into his chest.
“Let me go, let me go!” she screamed at him. She started to sob uncontrollably
and went limp in his arms. There was no point in resisting -- she was so small and
he was tremendous. All she could do was close her eyes and pray that when she
opened them it would all go away.
She counted to ten and then opened her eyes and was completely surprised to
find the man gone and a beautiful woman standing in his place.
“Forgive me, but you had a nightmare and were projecting your emotional
responses onto the astral plain. Are you all right?” The woman seemed genuinely
concerned and something about her was vaguely familiar.
Kali sat up and tried to block out all memories of the nightmare. She was also
quick to resurrect her mental shields. “Yes, I’m all right. It was just a bad dream --
nothing to worry about.”
Jean looked doubtful, but accepted her response anyway. She needed to gain
this girl’s trust and fussing over some mental trauma would not be a good way of
going about it. Besides, it could always be brought up later when she feels more
comfortable. “I’m glad. Hank told me that you had a rather frightening experience
earlier today and I was afraid that it had more of an effect on you than he realized.”
Jean paused. She wanted to make sure that she said the right things to the girl.
“I want to make sure that we start off on the right foot here. First off, I’m
going to promise you that you have absolutely nothing to fear while you remain
here. No one will hurt or threaten you. Also, you don’t have to remain here if you
don’t want to, but I would suggest that you stay at least as long as Dr. McCoy
deems necessary. My name is Jean Grey.” She extended her hand and Kali took it
loosely. “Please, feel free to ask me anything.”
Kali now remembered her from the night before and how her presence was
reassuring despite all of the frightening things that had happened that night. She
liked Jean instinctively, and she didn’t take to many people so quickly. It was a
refreshing change and oddly comforting. “I don’t like labs. W-would it be possible
for me to move somewhere else? And can I take a shower?” she asked rather
sheepishly.
Jean was relieved to get such a thoroughly human response from her. From
what Beast had told her, she was expecting resistance to help of any kind. “Of
course you can move. It may be difficult for you to walk though. That knife
wound you received last night tore through some muscle and it’s still healing.”
Kali smiled. “I think I can manage.” She stood up off of the bed, but this time
she was careful to place all of her weight onto her left leg. Then she looked at Jean
timidly. “Are you really a mutant?”
Jean smiled. This was something that she expected. “Yes I am. I have both
telepathic and telekinetic powers, in case you’re curious. This school is dedicated
to teaching young mutants like yourself how to use their powers properly. Using
your mutant capabilities is encouraged here, so don’t be afraid of people’s
reactions because around here it’s just ‘run of the mill’.”
Kali was visibly relieved. She then extended her right hand downwards and
reached her fingers towards the floor. They elongated and twisted around each
other, changing both form and shape until they hit the ground. She now had,
extending from her wrist, not a hand, but a sort of walking stick. Placing all of her
weight on her arm instead of her leg she was now able to walk with relative ease.
Jean was impressed. For someone who had not used her powers often, Kali
seemed very comfortable employing them creatively to practical use.
“If you can, please follow me and I’ll show you to a room where you can stay
while you’re here. There is a bathroom adjoining it so you can take a shower and
I’ll bring some clothes to you that you can put on when you’re done. Those
Rainbow Brite pajamas that Beast gave you look ridiculous. I wonder where he got
them from.” Jean shook her head in amusement.
Kali giggled. “Oh I don’t know. I always did have a fancy for Rainbow Brite.”
* * * * *
Scott looked up from where he was standing in the War room. All of the
X-Men were there except for Jean, Hank, Bishop, Ororo, and Remy. Jean was
with Kali, Beast was working on some experiments concerning the Legacy virus
since he didn’t get a chance to work on them yet that morning, Bishop was
patrolling the grounds, and Storm and Gambit were gone for a week's vacation at
the beach.
“First off, I would like to apologize to Betsy and Bobby for failing to show up
at our scheduled training session this morning.”
Logan snickered. “You mean that fer once the mighty Cyclops overslept? Glad
to finally know that yer human like the rest of us. Maybe now you’ll cut it out
with the pre-breakfast practices.”
Scott caught his eye and smiled. “That won’t be likely Wolverine.” He then
focused his attention back to the entire group and the issue at hand.
“Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you down here. Let me
assure you that I’m not about to send you on a mission to save both mutant and
human kind from evildoers or the like. It’s much simpler than that.” The tension
in the room eased slightly and it’s occupants were quite obviously relieved.
“While Jean and I were out last night we came upon a mutant-hating mob that was
in pursuit of a young mutant. We interfered, but were too late to prevent the girl
from sustaining any injury so we brought her back here. Hank has since treated her
and says that she is doing fine and will recover shortly. However, he has
discovered that she possesses many powerful mutant capabilities and most
probably doesn’t know how to use them all. Jean is talking to her now and, if I
know Jean, she’s going to try to persuade her to stay here at the school. I for one
think it’s a good idea. If she doesn’t learn how to control her powers or, worse,
uses them for amoral purposes I would somehow feel responsible. All I ask is that
you try to be friendly towards her and, if possible, help to ease her into life here at
the mansion. I trust that you have no objections?” He paused and when no one
moved to speak he resumed. “Good. That’s all that I have to say for now. Unless
anyone has something else to contribute you’re all free to go. Oh, one more thing.
Bobby and Betsy: count yourselves lucky. You won’t have to reschedule your
training session. Consider it a gift” He smiled and exited the room.
* * * * *
Kali toweled her hair dry and looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin was still
pale, but there was a slight rosiness to her cheeks. She didn’t just look healthier
though -- she felt it too. The warm water from the shower helped to relieve the
tension in the muscles of her leg and she found that she could now walk without
the aid of a cane, but she did have a rather exaggerated limp. Hopefully that would
go away shortly. She was wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of blue-jeans.
She smiled.
She was warming up to the idea of being in a house full of mutants. She had felt
isolated and alone most of her life. It would be nice to have people around her who
she could relate to for a change. She was so used to being the weird one. All she
had ever longed for was to be normal. She couldn’t take away her mutant powers,
but at least here she was given a chance to fit in and that was good enough. She
just hoped that she would be accepted.
Jean had left her alone for the time being and told her to meet her in the kitchen
when she had finished dressing. Jean had also given Kali directions on how to get
to the kitchen, which gave her an impression of just how large the mansion she was
staying in must be. This intimidated her since, in traveling the distance to the
kitchen alone, she was running the risk of meeting someone unexpectedly on the
way. She knew that she would have to encounter the people who lived there
eventually, but she wanted to do it on her terms. She had always been a shy
person. No, that was putting it mildly. ‘Abnormally frightened of others’ was the
phrase that her psychologist had used in describing her affliction. She’d like to
think that she was improving. Living on her own had forced her to speak up and
approach people more often. Even so, she would prefer to be introduced to these
complete strangers by Jean rather than having to explain to them her presence in
their house. She did not want to relive the episode with Bobby.
She closed her eyes and tried to collect her thoughts, taking several deep breaths
in an effort to calm herself. After a few moments she opened her eyes and
approached the door to her room. She stepped into
the hallway and started towards the kitchen.
* * * * *
“End program.”
Bobby wiped the sweat off of his brow as he stood panting from the intense
workout that he had just undertaken. Scott might have given him a day off, but he
knew that he couldn’t afford it. Of all of the X-Men, Bobby was the one who had
the least amount of control over his powers. Except maybe for Joseph, but
amnesia was a pretty good excuse for that. Bobby was one of the original members
of the team and just couldn’t stand being shown up by people like Gambit who not
only hadn’t been there as long, but had a very shady past that no one seemed to
dispute.
He tried to conceal from the other members of the team just how hard he
worked at mastering his ice powers. He spent hours each day going over exercises
that emphasized both strength and control, but he was a perfectionist and as such
he failed to see any improvements he was making. He tried to remain the always
aloof Bobby Drake that everyone was used to, but inwardly he was struggling with
bouts of depression and feelings of inadequacy.
These thoughts and other similar ones were tying up his concentration as he
walked towards his room. He was so absorbed in self-reflection that he wasn’t
paying attention to his surroundings and as he turned a corner he found himself
standing face to face with that same strange girl whom he encountered in Hank’s
lab that morning. The funny thing was that she was even more startled to see him
than he was to see her. He reached out a hand to steady her and smiled.
“We do have to stop meeting like this.” He looked into her eyes and was
prepared to meet a reflection of all of his self-doubt, but was surprised to see
nothing but clear blue. He had no way of knowing that her mental shields were up,
but it was just as well. This way he was able to restore at least some of his
confidence.
Kali didn’t know what to say. Here was that same man to whom she had
betrayed all of her emotional inhibitions. She wanted to run, but knew that she
was incapable of it. She was embarrassed to have shown such weakness in front of
him and even more embarrassed that she continued to do so. She quickly
straightened up and faced him, wearing her best poker face -- which was
formidable. “I-I’m sorry. Excuse me,” she said as she proceeded to walk past him.
Bobby quickly blocked her path with his body. “Wait! Look, I didn’t mean to
frighten you earlier today. Please don’t go without at least giving me a chance to
apologize.”
She relaxed slightly. “There’s no need. Please, just let me by.” She wanted
desperately to reach the kitchen and the safety which she imagined resided there.
“Well, I’d still feel better if you forgave me for upsetting you before. Are you
feeling better now?”
“Yes, much.”
“That’s good. So, am I forgiven?” Bobby looked at her with wide ‘puppy dog’
eyes.
She smiled half heartedly. “Of course. Can I go now?”
“No. Absolutely not. We still have not been properly introduced.” He
extended his hand to her. “My name is Bobby.”
She took his hand reluctantly. “I’m Kali.”
“Glad to meet you Kali. Now if you will allow me to escort you to your
destination?” He presented her with his arm. Scott had said to be friendly and she
looked like she could use some help walking anyway. That is, if she’d allow him
to help her.
She froze. Every instinct in her body told her not to accept. People couldn’t be
trusted -- especially men. If you got too close they would turn on you. But if she
wanted to live here, at least for a while, then she would have to learn to trust them.
Bobby sensed her hesitation and quickly spoke before she had a chance to
refuse. “I won’t bite. I promise,” he said as he made a motion of crossing his heart
with his hand.
Kali sighed in resignation and held on to his arm. She looked at him warily.
“I’m meeting Jean in the kitchen.”
“Great! It’s just about lunch time anyway. Let’s go.” He allowed her to lean
on him slightly as they slowly made there way towards to kitchen.
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