XMEN Pornography Story: Into the-x-Five (iii)

“Sorry about startling you like that.” He said. “But, seeing as how you both love to pull pranks, I figured you wouldn’t mind. My name’s Kurt.”

“Um, yeah.” Sam said. “Sorry about that. But they had it coming to them, I guess.”

“So I’ve heard. You two were trying to teach them a lesson. However, don’t you think there was a better way to do that? After all, one doesn’t need mutant powers to pull pranks.”

“Are you here to arrest us?” Paige asked, defiantly.

“Arrest you?” he replied, looking confused. “We’re not the police. We don’t arrest people. We offer them a better future.”

“A better future? You mean, like your friend mentioned earlier? She said you were here to offer us a home with you.” She said. “Which reminds me, where are your friends?”

“We’re right here.” Another voice said.

They looked around to watch as another man, this one wearing a visor over his eyes, seemed to step out of the rough stone wall just a few feet to the side of where they’d been sitting. They moved away in fear when he walked over to stand next to Kurt. Seeing their reaction, he lifted a gloved hand to calm them.

“Please, take it easy. We’re not here to hurt you. We only want to help. My name’s Scott.” He said, in a deep, business-like voice.

“Yeah, sugah. We’re the good guys.” Another voice, this one female, replied. “The name’s Rogue. Nice to meet ya.”

Instead of appearing out of thin air, or stepping out of the seemingly solid wall, this voluptuous young woman walked into the cave through its only entrance. She stopped next to the visor-wearer and laid a gloved hand upon his broad shoulder. She smiled warmly at the two of them before flipping her hair back off of her shoulder.

“Yes, we’re the good guys.” The woman from earlier said, as she stepped out from behind Kurt. “I told you already that we try to help mutants and make the world safe for them. So, are you going to run again or are you finally going to listen to us?”

“Do we have a choice?” Paige asked, sarcastically.

“Of course you have a choice.” The woman, who called herself Jean, replied. “We’re not going to force you to join us.”

“Then let us leave.” Sam said.

“Of course. If you want to leave, then go ahead. You can go right back to playing childish games. You can call it karma, if you want, but not everyone is going to agree with you. One of these days, you’re going to run into someone who won’t find your pranks funny. They’re going to respond in kind and you’ll just end up getting hurt.” Jean said.

“We can take care of ourselves.” Sam replied, in the same tone of defiance that his sister had used.

“Oh, really? And can you protect yourselves when people start to see your pranks as attacks on humans by the mutant race? Can you protect yourselves when you prank someone who has friends in high places, such as the military or an equally powerful group of people? If you’re going to play with fire, you’d better know who’s going to burn you.”

“Wait.” Paige said, cutting off her brother’s next comment. “Why would they see our harmless pranks as attacks by the entire mutant race?”

“They’ll see it that way because humans fear us.” Scott told them. “Fear breeds hate and hate breeds violence. Surely, you’ve realized that by this point in your lives.”

“Yeah, we have.” Paige said, looking suddenly embarrassed. “Look, we’re sorry about what we’ve done. But I just couldn’t let those people walk all over us.”

“I understand.” Jean said. “We’ve all got to stand up for ourselves at times. But you need to realize when retaliation is necessary and when it does more harm than good. We can help teach you that.”

“Well…” she said, slowly.

“Wait a minute. Are you seriously going along with all of this?” Sam replied, turning to look at his sister. “How do we even know we can trust them? What if they’re criminals or something?”

“Look, we’ll make it really easy on you.” Jean said. She slid her hand underneath the golden belt around her waist and pulled out a business card. She stepped over to the pair and offered the card to Paige. “If you want to join us, just call us and we’ll come pick you up. If not, then enjoy the rest of your lives. All we ask is that you stop pulling pranks using your mutant powers.”

“Uh…thanks.” Paige replied, taking the card and glancing at it before sliding it into her back pocket.

“We’ll be in the area for the next several hours.” Jean said, leading her team towards the exit. “If you change your mind, you can find us at the diner in town. After that, you’ll have to call the school to reach us.”

“Thank you. But we’ll be just fine without your help.” Sam said.

“I’m sure you will. See you around.”

As the four of them left, Sam looked at his sister and suggested that they head home. Paige nodded and followed her brother toward the exit. Despite what her brother had told the group, the idea of being at a school surrounded by other mutants was very appealing to her. She wanted to find a place where she didn’t have to worry what other’s thought about her being a mutant. She longed to find acceptance by people her own age.

But she didn’t want to go off to that school without her older brother at her side. If only she could convince him to go along, she’d feel a lot better about leaving the rest of their family behind. Just outside of the cave, Sam scooped her into his arms again and blasted off for home. While they flew across the countryside, Paige tried to figure out a way to change his mind and convince him to go with her.

“So, why exactly are we sticking around?” Scott asked, as the four of them sat in a corner booth at the local diner. “They didn’t seem all that interested in our offer.”

“Really, Scott. You need to learn how to read people.” Jean replied, after taking a drink of her coffee. “Paige really wants to go with us. She’s just afraid of leaving her family of being separated from her brother.”

“Oh, then we’re juts waiting for her to contact us?” he said.

“That’s right. I expect she’ll arrive in the next couple of hours.”

“That’s great. We get to spend two hours sitting here and sipping our coffee. That’ll be a blast.”

“Aw, come on, sugah. This place ain’t that bad.” Rogue said, looking around. “At least there are a few cute guys here.”

“Well, that just cheers me right up.” He said, sarcastically. “Maybe I’ll find me a man while I’m here.”

The other three laughed, which put a quick end to Scott’s foul mood. It wasn’t often that he cracked a joke, but it was nice to know that his friends appreciated his sense of humor when he did. Relaxing somewhat, he rose from his seat and walked over to the jukebox. He put in a few quarters and selected a few of the most recent songs he could find. As he returned to the booth, he saw the others whispering quietly with each other.

“What’s up?” he asked, sitting down next to Jean.

“We’re being watched.” Kurt said. “I think we’d better order something to eat or get out of here.”

“Yeah, the same three guys have been watchin’ us since we came in.” Rogue said, nodding her head in their direction.

“They’re not very welcoming to strangers here. Are they?” Scott replied.

“Oh, it’s not the area, or even the diner, that’s the problem.” Jean said. “It’s just those three.”

She studied them for a few moments and Scott knew that she was gently probing their thoughts. Her eyes widened after a minute and she looked over at Kurt. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she looked him over carefully. Then she nodded and leaned closer to him.

“Kurt, honey. You’re image inducer is acting up again. Those three can tell that you’re a mutant. Fix it before someone else notices, if you don’t mind.”

“Huh?” he said, confused. Then he looked down at himself and noticed that his fur was showing in places. He slapped at his side where the image inducer was and his image flickered before resettling on entirely human. “How’s that?”

“That’s much better. Thank you.”

“Well, let’s order something and see if that helps ease the tension. We don’t need a fight here.”

The others nodded their agreement and Scott called the waitress over to their table. They each placed their orders and tried to ignore the intent stares of the three young men. Their meals arrived in short order and they busied themselves with enjoying the delicious-smelling food. Scott chanced a quick glance across the room to find that the three men were now talking amongst themselves and seemed to be ignoring them. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention back to his meal. The rest followed suit and soon all tension was gone.

“Hey, sis.” Sam said, knocking on her bedroom door. “You awake?”

“Yeah, come on in.” she replied.

“Why were you so quiet at dinner? Are you worried about those other mutants?” he asked, walking in and sitting down on her bed.

“No, not really.”

“Then what’s going on?”

“Sam, aren’t you tired of hiding who we are?” she asked, turning her chair so she could face him.

“Of course I’m tired of it. I’d love it if we could just be accepted for who and what we are. Why do you ask?” he replied.

“I’m asking because I think we could find that acceptance at their school. I want to go and meet more people like us.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

“I want you to go with me. And I don’t want to leave the others without them agreeing that we should go.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I won’t deny that I still don’t trust them. But if you really want to go, I’ll go along to watch out for you.”

“Sam, you know I don’t need you to protect me.” She said, leaning closer to punch him on the shoulder. “I want you there because I like spending time with my big brother. And because it’ll be good for you, you big idiot.”

“You sure you don’t want me there just so you’ll have a punching bag?” he said, rubbing his shoulder.

“She laughed as she stood up and she motioned for him to follow her. They headed downstairs and told their parents about the school for mutants. Like Sam, they were both skeptical. But the moment they saw Charles Xavier’s name on the business card, their fears faded away. They’d heard a lot about him from his many interviews on television and they believed him to be a trustworthy person. Although they hated to see their children leave home, they both agreed that Paige and Sam should go. Their dad even agreed to drive them into town so that they could catch the others before they returned to the Xavier estate.

Paige was ecstatic that her parents had agreed. She quickly packed some clothes, as did Sam, and they said goodbye to the rest of their siblings. It took their father only twenty minutes to drive them from their home to the diner in town. As they got out, he offered to go in with them. But they both said that they could handle things from that point on. So they gave him a hug and waved as he drove off. They were both grinning as they turned to enter the diner. Their smiles quickly faded, however, when they saw the commotion inside.

“What did you say, mutant?”

“I said that ain’t any way to talk to a lady. Didn’t your momma teach you any manners? I don’t think she’d like knowing her kid’s a bigot.” Rogue said.

“Oh, please. One, you don’t even know my momma. And, two, she wouldn’t believe you if you told her.” The blonde guy replied.

“No, but I do know your momma, Jimmy.” Said Paige, walking over to the table and setting her suitcase on the floor before turning to him. “You want me to go and call her? I’m sure she’s home by now.”

“Mind your own business, Paige. This is between them and us.”

“Have it your way. Sam, have you got a quarter on you? I want to hear what his momma has to say about this.”

“Sure, I…”

“I told you to butt out, Paige. Don’t make me…”

“Don’t make you what?” she said, laughing. “You gonna try and stop me from calling her? Did you forget what happened the last time you tried to stop me from doing something?”

“No, not really.” He said, turning red with embarrassment. “Aw, forget it. Let’s go, guys.”

The three of them raced out of the diner amid gales of laughter from the other patrons. Paige just watched them go with a small chuckle, and then turned to the four at the table. She could see that they were all amazed at how easily she’d handled the situation.

“You guys alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re just fine.” Jean said. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem. We know those three from school. Jimmy’s mostly talk and his buddies aren’t much better.”

“So I see. I take it that you two have changed your minds about coming with us?”

“Yeah, we did.” Sam said. “Paige can be very persuasive when she wants to be.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Jean said. “Well, shall we go or do you two want to get something to eat?”

“We’ve already eaten, but thank you for the offer.”

Jean nodded and, after she paid their bill, she led the way out of the diner. They’d hidden the Blackbird in a nearby, vacant field, but Jean sent her thoughts out anyway to make sure no one else was watching them. When she felt that the way was clear, she nodded to Scott and he lowered the cloaking field on the stealth plane. Paige and Sam both looked up at the plane in awe, and then followed the others up the ramp. Rogue showed them where to stow their suitcases as Scott and Jean prepared for takeoff. Once their gear was taken care of, they buckled themselves into their seats and got comfortable.

As they flew back towards Massachusetts, Rogue turned to talk to them. She knew that those who couldn’t fly themselves tended to get nervous on supersonic flights and she wanted to put Paige’s mind at ease. However, the young girl seemed perfectly at ease as she looked around the compartment with interest.

“You alright, darlin’?” Rogue asked anyway.

“Who me? Yeah I’m fine.” Paige replied. “I’m used to flying with Sam, but his flights aren’t nearly this comfortable.

Rogue laughed and said, “Yeah, I don’t imagine being held by a flying cannonball would be all that comfortable.”

“Hey, I try to make it as pleasant as I can.” Sam said, sounding a bit insulted. “It’s a bit harder to fly when you’re carrying someone.”

“I’m only teasing you, sugah. I’m sure you do your best tah protect her and all. Besides, I know all about trying to fly while holding someone.”

“You can fly, too?” he asked.

“Yeah, I can. But it’s nothing like how you do it. There’s no explosions involved with my flying.”

“Oh, well, that probably makes things a lot easier on your passengers.”

The three of them continued to talk for the rest of the flight. Rogue told them about the school, about Professor X, and about the local high school. They were a little confused at first when she mentioned the high school because they’d been told that they were going to a school for mutants. But Rogue quickly explained that the high school part was so that they’d have a well-rounded education. She also told them tat they were never meant to be completely isolated from the humans and that, to gain their acceptance, they needed to live among them.

They understood and said that was fine. Then Paige asked who else went to the school. Rogue told hr that the school had many students and that they’d slowly meet them as they settled in. Kurt, otherwise known as Nightcrawler, told them that new students went through orientation together and that that was a good way for them to meet people. As he finished speaking, Jean called back to them and said that they were about to land. Paige and Sam looked through the front windshield in time to see the hologram drop and reveal the hanger behind it. The Blackbird landed easily and everyone moved to the door. Scott and Jean left to speak with Prof. X, so that left Rogue and Kurt to show the two newest students where they’d be staying.

“There are a lot of rooms in this place, so it’s easy to get lost. If either of you run into trouble, just find the nearest intercom and ask for help. Jean or the Professor will be able to find you wherever you are.” Kurt said, as they walked along a passageway filled with doors on either side.

“They’ll be fine, Kurt honey.” Rogue said. “Here, you take this room, Paige. I don’t believe anyone’s using it now.”

“Yes, that one’s free.” Kurt replied. “And you can have this one across the hall, Sam. I figure it’ll be easier on you two to have each other close by.”

“Thanks a lot.” Paige said, while Sam nodded. “We really appreciate all the help.”

“No problem, sugah. Your orientation won’t start until tomorrow, so you two are free for the rest of the day. If you need anything, just use the intercom like Kurt said and someone will be along to help. Oh, and welcome to your new home.”

“Thank you.” They both said together.

After Rogue and Kurt left, they looked at each other and let out a breath to release the nervousness they’d both been feeling. Then they turned and entered their respective rooms to unpack. However, the moment Paige entered her room, her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide with amazement. Her room was twice the size of the one she’d had back home and this one even had a large walk-in closet. She dropped her suitcase on the large, queen-sized bed and sat down next to it. She just couldn’t believe how quickly her life had changed.

One moment, she was living at home with her lower middle-class family and the next she was living in a mansion with other mutants. She only hoped she’d make enough of an impression tomorrow that they’d allow her to stay. She shook her head in disbelief at the fortunate turn her life had taken, and then began unpacking her suitcase. Once she’d finished, she took a shower and slid into her new bed. Within only minutes, she was sound asleep with a wide smile firmly etched upon her features.