NOVEL WEB C108 Holding Back
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Peter stared at the unconscious form of Carol Danvers, his mind racing with confusion and disbelief. The Professor noticed his odd behavior, as well as the bewildered look on his face.
"Do you know her?" Xavier asked, raising an eyebrow.
Peter broke from his shock and thought for a moment. Initially, he was going to deny knowing her, but then he decided to be truthful. "Yes, though I don’t know her personally," he admitted. "Where did you find her?"
Xavier paused, struggling to find the right words. "That's... hard to explain." He chose not to mention that Carol was a woman they had found inside a crashed spaceship, unsure if Peter would even believe him, or maybe he just didn't trust him enough to reveal the full story.
Seeing the Professor's hesitation, Peter became almost certain that Carol must have crash-landed here. ‘She had to have crashed, but where’s the ship?’
But for Peter, the pressing question was why she had crash-landed here already. If he was going by the movies, she had arrived far too early, by at least two or three years.
‘Maybe the crossover and my involvement in this universe has accelerated her arrival?’ Peter wondered.
Peter nodded. "Okay, well, let’s worry about her in a moment." He then looked over at the only teenage patient. "I’m guessing that’s Pyro? May I check him over?"
The Professor wheeled himself out of the way. "Be my guest, but once you’re done, I have some questions." He tilted his head toward Carol, clearly eager to learn more about her.
Peter nodded and walked up to the unconscious student. He placed his hand a few inches above Pyro's chest, closing his eyes as he concentrated. He used the Force to sense the boy's condition, feeling the ebb and flow of his life force. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and turned to the Professor.
"As I suspected, Rogue drained a significant amount of his life force. I’d say around a year’s worth," Peter explained.
The Professor was shocked. ‘He found out more in just a few seconds than we have since he's been in the infirmary.’
Of course, they knew Rogue drained his life force, as that’s her power, but they didn’t realize he lost an entire year of his life because of it.
"Is there anything you can do?" Xavier asked, his voice filled with hope.
Peter thought for a moment. "I can try to accelerate his recovery. He’s only like this because of the bodily shock that comes with losing so much life force. At least, I think so. Healing wasn’t exactly my strong suit back at the temple…”
‘Temple?’ Xavier thought, wondering what he meant by that. “So he’ll be okay?” He asked.
“Sure, but restoring a year’s worth of lost lifespan is impossible,” Peter said, pausing for a moment to think. “Well, actually it’s not impossible. I could theoretically do it, but the universe doesn’t give without taking, so I’d have to acquire the life force from someone or something else, and I’d rather not do that."
Xavier’s pulse quickened as he listened to Peter, “Yes, I’d rather you didn’t as well.”
“Anyway, let’s see what I can do…”
Without another word, Peter placed his hands over Pyro once more, channeling the Force to strengthen and stabilize the boy's life energy. A soft glow emanated from his palms as he worked, concentrating on rejuvenating Pyro's weakened state.
Before Xavier’s eyes, the boy's sunken cheeks filled out, and his frail limbs regained their healthy, flushed appearance. ‘Oh my god…’ The Professor watched in astonishment, deeply impressed by Peter's abilities.
The fact that Peter had achieved this through hard work, rather than being born with it, added to the marvel. That is, if what he said was true…
Once Peter finished, Pyro began to stir. His eyes fluttered open, squinting against the light as he started to mutter incoherently. The Professor’s initial joy at seeing his student awake quickly turned into concerned confusion as he listened to Pyro's words.
"You… stupid b*tch… just sit still," Pyro muttered, still half-lost in the haze of his awakening. “You know you want it…”
The implications of his words worried and horrified the Professor. At first, he realized that Rogue’s powers had most likely traumatized Pyro, and his mind was simply replaying the incident in his semi-conscious state. But the more he listened, the wider his horror-filled eyes grew.
Stood beside the bed, Peter's expression darkened, anger flashing in his eyes. “This motherf*cker…”
Peter was a hair's breadth away from snapping Pyro’s neck as he realized what the boy had done to Rogue to end up like this. And his anger only intensified when Pyro fully woke up and looked around the room, realizing he was in the hospital.
Soon enough, his eyes landed on the Professor, and he immediately launched into a sob story. "Professor, you’re here," Pyro seemed almost surprised, though he quickly collected himself, his voice trembling with feigned distress. "You won’t believe what happened… Rogue… she attacked me out of nowhere. We were all just hanging out when she took off her glove and touched me..."
As Xavier listened to the boy, he felt a surge of anger rising within him. He knew Pyro was lying thanks to his small utterance, revealing the truth of what had happened, though the boy didn’t seem to realize it.
The Professor could barely contain his fury but reminded himself that he was an educator and had to remain composed.
However, the same couldn’t be said for Peter, who turned from the kind amiable boy that the Professor had come to know, to a bloodthirsty predator. “Peter, let me handle this…” he tried to calm things down, but Peter’s didn’t budge a single inch, his gaze locked in his target.
Pyro felt the anger directed at him and turned to Peter, confused and fearful. "What’s your problem?" he asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
As he spoke, Peter nearly flung him across the room with a single thought, yet he held himself back. The only thing keeping him still was the promise he made to the Professor. He would have to leave the reprimanding to the school, even if he really wanted to do it himself…
Although Peter had already began to reign himself under control, Xavier didn’t seem to notice just yet. Still worried for his students safety, he tried to reach out to Peter through his telepathy, attempting to soothe his raging emotions.
However, as he was about to make contact, he encountered a barrier that swiftly repelled him, swatting him away like a fly. “Ugh!” The backlash from the mental repulsion caused Xavier to rock in his chair, his mind hazy for a few moments.
Sensing what the Professor had tried to do, and feeling his mental defenses block the intrusion, Peter couldn’t help but feel relieved. His biggest worry about coming here was Xavier reading his mind, but it appeared his defenses were strong enough to keep the telepath out and even give a small backlash for his trouble.
Meanwhile, Pyro glanced between the dazed Professor and Peter, “What did you do to him!” He shouted accusingly, igniting his body in flames as he tried to stand up, prepared to retaliate.
“?” Peter noticed this and sighed, realizing the situation was turning into a bigger mess than he had intended.
Waving his hand, Peter hoped Pyro was as big an idiot as he thought and said, "Go to sleep," using a Jedi mind trick on him.
And luckily, as he had hoped, Pyro’s eyes fluttered shut. The flames around him slowly faded, and his body collapsed onto the bed, unconscious.
‘I really wanted to beat the hell out of him, but I’d rather not anger the Professor more than I already have…’ Peter thought.
And just as Pyro collapsed to onto the bed, the Professor snapped out of his haze. “Huh?”
Xavier peered around the room and found Pyro lying in the bed, completely unharmed, which was surprising as he expected Peter to do something to him by now.
“Don’t worry, the little s*x offender is fine. I didn’t do anything to him.” Peter said, drawing the Professors attention. “I only put him to sleep, for his own safety of course. Otherwise, I might have ended up breaking my word…”
Realizing what Peter meant by that, Xavier smiled in relief. “Well, thank you for keeping your word,” he sighed. “You had me worried there for a moment.”
"Don't worry about it," Peter said with a shrug. "But if he doesn't get the punishment he deserves, I'll have to come back and handle it myself. There are two things I can't stand in this universe: s*x offenders and r•pists, and this guy fits into at least one of those categories."
The Professor frowned as he glanced over at his sleeping student, “Don’t worry, he’ll be properly dealt with…”
“Good…”
"Ugh, what’s with all the racket?! Can’t you two just shut up already? I’m trying to sleep here…"
Turning to the side, both Peter and the Professor found Wolverine sitting on the edge of his hospital bed, his hair messy and a tired look on his face. He rubbed his eyes and glared at them, clearly irritated by the disturbance.
“Who are you two? And where the f*ck am I?!”
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As Wolverine awoke, deep underground beneath Xavier’s mansion, where the remains of Carol’s ship had been moved, the once sleek and powerful craft was now a crumpled mass of metal, barely recognizable.
Amidst the wreckage, a slightly dented black box stood out, and inside it was a blinking transponder, its signal pulsing through the vast expanse of space, all the way back to the Kree homeworld of Hala.
…
..
.
On Hala, within the citadel where the Supreme Intelligence once ruled, Darth Sidious sat at his office, meticulously going over some paperwork, his plans constantly in motion.
As he worked, the door suddenly swung open and his apprentice, Darth Maul, hurried in. "Master, I have important news," he reported, his voice tense.
Sidious looked up from his work, his eyes narrowing. "What is it, Maul?"
"We’ve received a distress signal," Maul explained. "It's from your little pet's ship. It appears to have crash-landed."
Sidious's eyes flickered with annoyance. "Where is the signal coming from?"
"Wild Space, Master," Maul responded, his tone indicating the seriousness of the situation.
Sidious pondered for a moment, realizing the immense value Carol Danvers held. "She is too valuable an asset to abandon. You will take a handful of warships and find her. Wild Space is unpredictable, and we cannot afford to take chances."
Maul hesitated, a look of frustration crossing his face. "But Master, she is likely dead. Sending warships out there is a waste of resources..."
Sidious's expression darkened at the insubordination. Without warning, he held out his hand and unleashed a torrent of Sith lightning, striking Maul and sending him to his knees, shrieking in agony. “Aagghh!”
"Do not question me!" Sidious hissed, his voice filled with malice as he continued the assault, only letting up when he grew bored of Maul’s screams.
Breathing heavily, Maul struggled to regain his composure. “M-Master… I…”
Sidious glared at him. "You will do as you are told. Now go, and find her."
With a final, forceful gesture, Sidious used the Force to throw Maul out of the office, the doors slamming shut behind him with a resounding echo.
A/N: 2000 words :) 🚨Patréon Link🚨