MEETING

"So this is it!" I looked at the huge mansion once again and the sign beside its entrance. It read:

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

Holy shit it really was real.

I was really in the Marvel universe. Even after all this time, I couldn’t help but be amazed.

"Yup, it’s been some time since I came here…brings back some old memories." Moe added wistfully.

There were people (mostly teenagers) moving about the lawn and near the entrance.

‘They’re all mutants. Each with their own set of abilities!'

"Well, let’s go inside. You’re the one who wanted to come here as soon as possible. It’s only 8 in the morning, I’m sure their classes don’t begin till 9."

Moe started walking ahead of me and I shadowed him. Most of the kids there didn’t say anything but I could feel their curious glances. They must be thinking that I'm a new student.

I put my head down and followed Moe, who seemed to know his way around here.

When we reached the entrance, I could feel the entire courtyard looking at us.

‘Geez this is so weird!’

"Hey...what do you guys need! New enrollment?" It was an Asian girl in a bright yellow jacket who welcomed us.

"No…no. I’m an old friend of Charles. We just want to meet with him!" Moe said with enthusiasm.

"Oh I think you have to speak to one of the teachers before you meet with the professor." The girl returned the smile.

"Uh...Could you direct us to one of your teachers?" I spoke for the first time.

"Yeah sure if you go straight-" She started pointing to the main door when another person cut her off.

"I’m a teacher! How can I help you?" said a white haired brown lady. She looked like a supermodel.

‘Holy shit that’s STORM!’

"Yes, I’m an old acquaintance of the professor. I would love to introduce my friend here to Charles. Could you help us?"

She smiled brightly and said, "Of course! Please follow me…Jubilee go to your classes before you get too late."

Jubilee who was watching us curiously snapped out of her deep thoughts and said,

"Yes Miss Munroe." She went ahead of us, skipping one step at a time.

After each skip, a firework exploded from her boot to the ground.

‘Damn they really didn’t care about hiding their powers here did they?’

"Oh forgive me, I didn’t catch your good name." Storm asked Moe.

"It’s Moe Harris! Proud owner of Moe’s café, you should drop by my café when you’re free!" Moe shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Moe. My name is Ororo Munroe. Like I said before, I teach here and…you are?" She turned to me.

"My name is Peter Parker ma’am."

She gave me a warm smile.

"Well Peter, would you like a tour around the institute? I think you're the inquisitive type." She motioned to Jubilee. Fireworks still appearing out of thin air from her boots.

"Maybe you would like to talk to some of the other students here, there's still some time before the classes start."

"Thank you, ma'am. I would love to one day, but meeting the professor is why I came here today. Everything else can wait!"

She half smiled at that.

"Well that’s too bad. Let me know if you change your mind."

She must have picked up on the sense of urgency in my tone and led us directly to Charles Xavier's office.

It would be an understatement to call the mansion huge; it was gigantic. I’m sure it could house a thousand people easily. As we walked, I saw the classrooms full of students and the dormitories that housed the students.

"What are your fees like?" I couldn’t help but ask.

Storm laughed and said, "Oh we don’t take any. The professor finances the institute with his trust fund. Everyone from every walk of life is welcomed here!"

I really couldn’t believe it. I’m sure even the best private schools don't have some of the basic facilities that were provided here.

The place looked more like a fancy hotel than a homeless shelter for the needy. My respect for the professor grew.

"Are you interested in joining? We don’t discriminate. The institute believes that every child is gifted in some way. Don’t think that we only take certain students."

Before I could answer, one of the girls walking opposite of me almost crashed into me.

I braced for impact, but her body passed through mine like it was made of air. It was as if her body was a 3D projection and didn’t really exist in space.

‘What!’

I stopped walking and turned to look at her, but she didn’t bother looking back. She was too invested in her conversation with her friends.

"Sorry about that, that’s Kate. Her gift is to phase through solid objects. She tends to forget about her surroundings a bit. She didn’t mean to scare you." Storm apologized for her student’s carelessness.

"No, that's quite alright ma’am."

We kept walking for another minute before finally reaching a huge wooden door.

‘I reckon that must be his office.’

The room was soundproof but my hearing could still make out a couple of people speaking. I couldn’t clearly understand what they were saying but it sounded like there were three men and a woman inside.

"Give me a second please, I’ll let the professor know about you, Mr. Moe. I hope you don’t mind waiting for a couple of seconds."

"Not at all dear, take all the time you want." he replied energetically.

"Ma’am?"

"Yes…Peter?"

"It’s very important that I meet him as soon as possible. So please…."

I don’t know how long humanity could last, how long Theo could last. I have to hurry up before anything bad happens.

She gave me a serious nod and said, "Understood. It won’t take more than a few seconds."

She opened the door and went in.

I had to give it to her, she was a reliable person. She didn’t question us or our motives or make me feel bad about rushing her. She was kind but also stern when she needed to be.

I’m pretty sure she was the perfect candidate to replace the professor should anything happen to him.

"You okay, Pete?" Moe asked me from the side.

I gave him a thumbs up and replied, "Thanks for doing this Moe, I know you don’t have to but thanks nonetheless."

"That’s alright kid, besides it’s been awhile since I talked to Charles. So it’s an opportunity to catch up with an old friend again." He smiled from cheek to cheek.

Damn, it felt good to have him in my corner. This would have been so difficult to do with no help. Frankly, I'm not sure if I could do it alone.

"All right guys!" Storm said as the door opened.

She held the door for us as we entered. The room was filled with fancy items like flower vases and 18th century portraits. The floor had this expensive wood finish to it and a carpet covered a huge portion of the room.

The windows were open, letting the morning light enter gently.

There were four people apart from Storm and us, three men and one woman.

One looked like he was an alcoholic, and he was huge and burly.

He looked like he hadn't shaved in a century. An unkempt face along with a feral look in his eyes.

He was nothing like I expected him to be. Wolverine was tall and stocky, looking like Hugh Jackman's ugly twin.

The other man was the opposite of him. Excessively groomed. Hair was gelled, and his face was shaved clean. Looked like he carried a mini trimmer with him at all times. To add the finishing touches to the look he even had sunglasses inside the building. That's Cyclops alright.

The men had some kind of animosity towards each other, the tension was heavy. They definitely had a rivalry.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The woman beside the pretty boy had an innocent smile on her face. Red hair that went down to her waist and looks that could kill.

I turned my attention to the bald man sitting on the expensive wooden desk. He started smiling when he saw Moe.

"It’s been a long time, old friend." Professor Xavier looked and sounded exactly like I imagined. Kind and patient.

"Charles...damn…you look weird. I think I preferred your old look. Bald just doesn’t suit you." Moe said with a grin.

Suddenly the room wasn't as tense as before. Moe's energy was contagious like that.

"We all have to grow old, friend." Prof X looked at the burly man for a second and then returned his gaze to Moe once more.

"How is Elaine, by the way, hope you’re not pestering her as much as you used to."

Moe’s smile faded a little at the mention of his wife.

"She….passed…a year ago."

He looked shocked and sad to hear the news.

"I’m sorry to hear that…I should have kept in touch-"

"No, no...god no. You’re too busy as is, I don’t expect you to do that. In fact I appreciated not seeing your ugly mug for some time." He said with a giant laugh.

"Hey!" The professor semi-shouted.

Leave it to Moe to break the ice and brighten up the mood of the room.

They started telling stories and reminiscing about the old times.

After a good two minutes of exchanging all their best stories, they finally caught up with each other. The professor’s focus then turned to me,

"And this is-"

"This? This is my long lost son, Peter Harris. My only son!" Moe spoke before I could introduce myself.

"Oh nice to meet you Peter-"

"My name is Peter Parker; I’m not related to the old man!" I yelled out, embarrassed.

"Jesus, this guy is a loon." I heard Wolverine say.

Cyclops was shaking his head and Jean Grey was covering her mouth trying not to laugh too much.

"I see you haven’t lost your childlike enthusiasm, Moe. Isn’t it a bit early in the morning for pranks though?" He chided Moe, whose only response was a shrug,

"So young man, what is it that you need from me?" The professor asked me expectantly.

I gave Moe a look and he returned a serious nod.

We had agreed not to reveal the truth about the multiverse and our previous lives.

I clear my throat and say to the professor,

"Magneto plans to kill all of humanity and if left alone he will succeed."

The room went cold at the mention of Magneto’s name.

Nobody spoke or said anything. Charles Xavier to his credit looked unfazed as he studied me with his eyes.

‘Good, that got their attention!’

It was Scott Summers who spoke first, "What are you talking about? Magneto? Who’s that-"

That was disappointing.

He had decided to keep up the kayfabe instead of actually engaging with what I had to say.

‘Believe what you want but he has my friend, a mutant who can stop time. Magneto intends to use his abilities to rapidly age humans and kill them all. Don't ask me how but I do know that's what he's planning."

Xavier folded his hands and looked at his desk, contemplating what I said.

"We have no idea-" Scott started pretending again, but Storm interrupted him this time.

"Scott, that's enough. Peter clearly isn’t lying."

"So we just reveal everything to him? What if he’s a spy? Haven’t we been stabbed in the back enough times." Cyclops was getting irritated.

"Scott, calm down. We need to listen to the young man." Jean Grey held her boyfriend's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

"All I know is, if that metal fucker thinks he can get his way, then I’m going to rip his spine out!" Wolverine gritted his teeth, and his adamantium claws revealed themselves.

"Logan there is a child here! Mind your language." Storm scolded him.

"Sorry about that Ro..." The claws retracted back into his hand and the wounds healed in half a second.

"I can't believe it after everything we've been through. We're going to start listening to some random strangers again-"

"Scott calm down!" The red haired woman tried her best to quell her boyfriend's anger.

"I'm with glasses on this. How do we even know if this... [he motioned to me] isn't a trap?" It seemed Wolverine agreed with his rival.

Jean and Storm argued back much to Scott's chagrin.

The whole room started arguing. I thought the professor would step in and calm things down but he didn’t, he was too busy thinking.

Fine, I’ll be the adult in the room.

"LOOK.." I started loudly,

"I don’t care if you trust me or not…I don’t care if you think I’m some kind of spy either. What I do care about is my friend Theodore Wellspring. I was at Midtown High when Magneto attacked. I fought him-"

"Wait a minute, you fought magneto?" Storm said, looking alarmed.

"Well… It was one of those fights where you punch him when he's not looking."

Wolverine rubbed his chin and said, "I’ve been in my fair share of those myself."

I didn't notice before, but he really did have a Canadian accent.

"Theo and I ran away. We were outnumbered by their ‘Brotherhood’. It wasn't easy but we almost made it out but in the end Magneto was too smart for us. He captured Theo and damn near killed me."

"You don’t look injured to me, matter of fact you look real healthy." Wolverine started antagonizing me.

"I guess I’m durable." I brush him off and continue,

"Moe told me you can help me find Magneto, that’s why I’m here." I walked up to the professor’s desk, and both Cyclops and Wolverine walked ahead to block my path.

"Guys stop!" Jean Grey cried out.

"You better back away now, Bucko!" Wolverine said with his eyes completely on me.

"I’m sorry but we can’t trust you yet, so maybe...stay back for now." Cyclops touched his sunglasses.

‘That can’t be good.’

"Look I don’t care about you or your X-Men, all I want is to save my friend and hopefully while I’m at it, save humanity too." I reasoned with the professor.

"And how do you intend to do that bud?" Wolverine spat back at me.

It took all my might to not say anything back and keep my eyes solely on the professor.

‘A bunch of divas pretending to be superheroes!'

That's what the X-Men were, at least from what I've seen so far.

"Assuming that you’re telling the truth, what would you do with the information I give you?" The bald man broke his silence.

"I would save my friend and then run away. Leave it to you guys...I know firsthand just how powerful Magneto is." I answered sincerely,

"Wouldn’t you want to avenge your friends who died on that day?"

"Believe me there is nothing more I would love to do than kill that piece of shit." I said, biting each word.

"But…he’s not responsible for killing my friends and even if he were, I don’t think I could take him on."

This shocked everyone else in the room, even the professor was a little surprised.

"What do you mean Magnus didn’t kill your friends? The tragedy, so many innocent lives killed-"

"Magneto didn’t kill them, it was another third party group that did that. They were well armed and well trained, definitely some kind of mercenary group. After Theo is saved, I plan to find the truth about that but for now saving the world is more important."

Everyone was speechless. Not even Wolverine had anything to say to that. It seemed everyone was stuck on the mercenary part.

I elaborated further,

"The mercenaries or terrorists were the ones who killed most of the people, not Magneto. Not for his lack of effort or anything like that, but it wouldn't be fair to say that he killed those innocent people. He wasn't responsible for that. In fact he was the one who killed all the mercenaries there, so in a way he probably saved more people's lives than he took." My thoughts went to the cameraman Magneto killed.

"Well I'll be damned..." Wolverine was speechless.

"So the news about the terrorists was…true?" Scott was completely shocked by the revelation.

"What the hell is going on?" Wolverine said while glancing at the professor, who started talking,

"That makes sense, Magnus was never the type to go after civilians-"

"Yet he’s trying to wipe out the entirety of mankind and kill an innocent mutant to achieve his goals!" I said sternly, not allowing him to cover for his friend, Magneto was not a good guy and he’ll never be one in my book.

"Of course, I didn’t mean to say he was good but...outright murder is not his mode of operation." He clarified.

"Maybe, maybe not, but what matters most to me is—"

"Saving your friend! You're like a broken record, Jesus!" Wolverine mocked me.

I looked at him for the first time in our conversation and let him know I wasn’t afraid of him.

Sure his claws and wild nature might have scared anyone else but I know for a fact I could beat him in a one-on-one fight. It might cost me an ear or two, but in the end, I know I could kill him.

"Logan stop!" Charles Xavier stepped in before we came to blows.

"Yeah, that’s right, Logan!" Ms. Phoenix herself commented from the side.

This surprisingly shut him up. He muttered something but otherwise remained quiet.

"So are you going to help me?....or not." I asked anxiously.

Charles scanned me again and said, "I will save your friend, I promise you, but I cannot risk bringing you along. We will rescue him ourselves, I assure you."

I was not going to let him get away that fast.

"I can more than easily take care of myself, I’m strong. Maybe even stronger than your A-team here!"

Cyclops huffed at that.

‘Good, just the reaction I was waiting for. Insulting them is clearly the way to go! It worked for me at the basketball club-’

I couldn't finish my thought because Pierre's face came to mind. Will's face came to mind. I started choking, but somehow I held it together.

"We'll save your friend, please don't worry-" Jean grey started, but I cut her off.

"I have other important information that I could share on the condition that you bring me along with the mission."

"You’re just a kid, what can you do?" Wolverine started talking again.

He played straight into my hands,

"Well I can start by kicking your ass." I openly mocked him.

"What was that punk! What did you say right now?" The huge man started making his way towards me.

"Logan, stop, he's a kid-" Storm tried to pacify him but had no success as I interrupted her.

"I said you and your sissy X-Men aren’t shit. If I left it to a hobo like you, humanity wouldn't stand a chance." Maybe I went too hard with the insults as he looked furious.

"What did you say? You little shit." This time the sunglasses-wearing douche responded.

"Scott what are you doing!" Jean cried out.

"Yeah that’s right, douchebag, you heard me. I knew you were blind; I didn't know you were deaf too."

"Peter...what are you doing-" Storm looked perplexed at my provocations.

"Alrighty, that’s enough from you, smart mouth!" Logan lunged at me. He didn’t have his claws out so I guess he thought he would teach me a lesson via an old fashioned ass whooping.

‘Boy was he in for a surprise..’

I positioned myself away from Moe, so that he wouldn’t get caught in the impromptu brawl. Time slowed down as Wolverine flew towards me, my senses honed in and my body was ready to execute the next move.

"LOGAN STOP!" Storm yelled out,

Jean tried to use her psychic abilities to stop him but it was to no avail, he was just that fast. Cyclops held his sunglasses, ready for anything to happen.

Just as Wolverine was about to land near me, he stopped. He stopped moving completely.

Wolverine remained stuck in the air. It looked like invisible strings stopped him from falling.

My eyes immediately went to Jean, who was just as confused as I was.

"Who do you think you are?" Moe spoke gently but with such great power that it seemed like he was talking to me and not Wolverine.

"What the fuck is this?" Wolverine tried moving his head but couldn’t budge an inch.

"You fell for the provocations of a teenager. Don't you teach here? Is this how you resolve an argument?" Moe’s tone darkened.

Wolverine looked like he couldn’t breathe anymore. His skin became paler and paler as the seconds passed.

"You dare attack my friend! One who needs your help the most." Moe’s eyes lit up with anger.

I could see the wolverine’s veins enlarge to the point of exploding. For a second, I really thought Moe was going to kill him. I wanted to tell Moe to let him go, tell him that I knowingly insulted him so that I could prove my strength. I wanted to tell him that but...I was too scared. I was afraid that he would turn his ire towards me!

Moe Harris was no longer the kind old man who made bad jokes and loved talking nonstop. If he was, then I couldn’t recognize him. No…this was something else…he was something else. Almost like an eldritch deity, something that shouldn’t be left alone and shouldn't be disturbed.

"I apologize for Logan’s poor manners, Moe. Could you please consider letting him go?" Charles Xavier said from the side, he was smirking.

‘Wait…why was he smirking?’

Moe’s eyes were still locked with Wolverine’s.

I was still holding my breath wondering if I was about to watch one of the iconic X-Men die.

.

.

.

.

And then Moe sighed.

Wolverine fell to the ground, holding his stomach and curling into a fetal position. He was in pain.

"The next time you attack one of my friends, remember this moment. Take solace in the fact that my love for Charles outweighs my contempt for you. He just saved you from an eternity in hell."

Moe sounded nothing like the funny old man I knew.

Storm and Jean rushed to see if their friend was okay.

"Yeah..[cough]..will [cough]..do that."

"Take care that you do." Moe replied coldly.

"So...I see you’re back to form." Charles said with a wry smile.

"Nah...I’m just here to introduce Peter to you...that’s all...you know I’m done with all of this superhero business."

It was scary, how effortlessly he switched back to his usual persona.

"Hmm…that’s a shame. We could have used you in this mission but…that won’t happen and I understand your reasons."

Wolverine got up and sat down in a chair, unable to stand for some time.

"So what about me? Can I join this rescue mission? Come on, just give me a chance to prove that I could be useful.." I pleaded.

Charles Xavier, Professor X, let out a small laugh and said, "I like your tenacity, young man."

‘So does that mean--’

"The answer to your question, however, is no."

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