Chapter 10: A Reunion (1)
---
"The hole in one's heart gets filled by others around you."
– Kakashi Hatake, (Naruto)
---
<(Katherine Pryde POV)>
"Hey, that was cheating Kurt. You can't just teleport to the basket like that. If you use your teleportation ability, then there is no way we can win against you in a game like basketball." I yelled annoyed at him.
"Not my fault Kitty. It was you who suggested playing basketball with our powers anyway. Also, you never seemed to mind it when you were the one phasing through people while playing the game." Kurt seemed annoyed at Kitty's accusation.
"My phasing doesn't count, it's your teleportation that's the biggest cheat" Kitty argued with a huff.
"Whatever you say... cheater," Kurt muttered.
"What did you say you little blue ball..."
"Watch your mouth kitty, this is still a school even though you are now a junior member of the X-force." Jean interrupted me as she slowly walked towards us.
"S-sorry Jean, I guess I was too excited... However, I still don't understand how you got a teacher's position despite being only a few years older than us." I muttered, trying my best not to let Jean hear it.
"Talent Kitty, pure talent." Jean grinned as she still undoubtedly heard my mutterings.
"I am sure that having a romantic relationship with the new owner and the biggest sponsor of the school also helped," Pyro whispered to Bobby beside him.
"Shut up idiot. She will tear us a new one if she hears your words." Bobby, aka, Iceman whispered back at his new 'hot' boyfriend with a snap.
"Huh, did you guys say something?" Jean asked looking at them with an innocent smile.
"Of course not. We were just discussing how amazing you were and how compatible you are with Atem." Bobby quickly tried to get on her good side.
"I see. Thanks for that. Just make sure that you don't say or do stuff that can potentially ruin the reputation of the school or the X-Force." Jean warned.
"Of course Jean. What do you think of us? Savage ruffians? We will definitely maintain the reputation of the school and the team." Pyro confidently stated.
"By the way, why do you look to be in such a hurry?" I wondered aloud, already guessing the most probable answer.
"Atem is coming back today. I can sense his intentions with the bond we share due to our common heritage, him being the son of the Phoenix Force and me having already perfectly merged with its dark counterpart." She answered with a satisfied expression on her face.
How interesting. It seems that the rumors were right. She really is madly in love with Atem. Even Ororo's relationship with our resident New god doesn't seem to phase her the tiniest bit. I wonder just how the hell was he able to impress almost every female in the school without even trying.
Atem, the New God of metahumans, a being that the majority of the current metahuman population including me anonymously regarded as their god had changed all of our lives for the better after he appeared. From eliminating our enemies to doing some really good rep work for us metahumans including choosing that particular name for our race, he had done a lot, more than we expected or hoped for. He even sponsored the entire school on his own and made sure that each of us received the best training as superpowered beings as possible. Then, he went on to make his own island country with the Genosha after beating Magneto to establish it as an exclusive home to metahumans, a haven for them in a way.
But all throughout his journey, he didn't even for a single second forget his roots. He always remained loyal to not only us but the entire metahuman kind. From spending billions to make our lives better to leading mass protests to get mutant rights legal in almost every country.
Even America which was effectively one of the biggest metahuman haters mainly due to the corruption present in the top levels of the government had all but accepted us as its complete citizens. In fact, it was said that soon the country was finally going to officially release its metahuman rights bill where we would be given all the rights that we deserve along with a host of other rights that would make sure to enable our survival.
*Boom* A booming sound suddenly echoed like a small explosion as the very space looked like it was pushed apart by red energy and a hole was forcefully tunneled in it through which a muscular armored figure with godly charm oozing from his very being stepped in while being followed by a familiar white-haired woman.
"Ororo, Atem" I exclaimed in surprise at their coincidental time of arrival as Jean followed suit with an even stronger yelp as she almost threw herself in Atem's arms.
"Yo, how are the X-Force juniors doing?" Atem asked while hugging Jean, his words 'junior' annoying me quite a lot.
"I told you I am old enough to be a full-fledged member. At my and Kurt's age, the other members had even fought international criminals like Apocalypse and Sinister, so our ages should not be an issue at all. Just let us go on one mission and we will prove it to you. We will never disappoint" I spoke in a voice full of confidence while Kurt nodded non-stop showing his complete agreement with my words.
"Really? Then maybe I should consider letting you tag along on the next mission, shouldn't I?" Atem asked with a smile which for some reason made me feel like he was making fun of me.
"YES." But still, both me and Kurt shouted out in joy, afraid that he would change his decision.
"Fine fine. Now let's go and meet the others." He smiled as he stopped hugging the currently red-faced Jean and began to walk towards the school building with her and Ororo in tow.
"Do you think he was joking or he really will allow us to go on the next mission? I hope we get a really cool mission next time like going to space or something. Because the last mission was extremely boring according to Pietro. All they had to do was just keep an eye on Mr. Anthony Stark and make sure he didn't die at the hands of the terrorists while not getting found out that they were there." Kurt worriedly whispered in my ears.
"Don't worry, I am sure that the next mission the team is assigned will be one of its most adrenaline-inducing ones with plenty of action and cool chases. There is no way that we will lose out on it." I said with iron-hard confidence wishing my all that we wouldn't just have to sit back at the jet on our next quest.
***
<(Atem POV)>
"It seems the building has become much bigger than I remember" I murmured as I saw the extremely big castle school loosely based on Hogwarts, the jaw-dropping architectural behemoth designed and constructed purely by my sentinels and the super-powered faculty as well as students of the school.
"Arcane Academy for the Gifted" I read out the name of the academy displayed at the front of the building with huge attractive letters.
The vision I had for this school was not only for it to be the biggest and most reputed school for metahumans but one day perhaps cater to other types of super-powered people too like the Inhumans, Atlanteans, and maybe even sorcerers. That's why it had such a mysterious-sounding name to try to generate mystery from its very mention so that it could garner the interest of every teen in this world who was not ordinary or who didn't want to be ordinary.
"This was only possible because of you. This is the fifth year without a single incident. No, psychotic villains or nefarious government organizations trying to destroy the school or kidnap its students. This is now one of the safest places in the country for powered people. It's even safer than most other public schools in the country right now. So, are you proud yet?" Ororo asked from behind me with a heartwarming smile.
"Well, it's quite a good piece of real estate, so I guess it is good enough for me," I replied as we entered the main building after Jean handed over a thin bracelet to me which was the key card that gave entry inside the school.
Every student had one on them on their wrists along with their unique pin linked to the card. Only with the combination of the pin and the card would the building allow them passage but even then there were scores of security cameras at every turn which would continuously make sure through their face identification algorithms that the people who were getting entry into the building through the key cards were actually students and not strangers who had come in possession of their key card bracelets and their unique pin.
The teachers on the other hand had extra layers of security with DNA scanners and voice identification sensors built-in within the bracelets, not letting anybody else use them in place of the teachers.
"Except for a few individuals like Vanessa and Mystique, this is almost 100% safe. Even if they were to try and infiltrate the school, our cameras can find them out seven out of every ten times which isn't at all bad if you remember their skill levels at disguising as other people." Jean explained happily while hugging one of my hands.
It seems that she had really missed me these past few weeks.
"By the way, where is your clone twin, Madelyne? I thought she was over her hatred for Sinister. I remember she wanted to join the Hellfire Club back when you had started training her in how to use her powers." I asked Jean whose happy expression suddenly shifted to a dissatisfied one.
"She has been slowly becoming a little troublemaker. Despite being my clone, she has a personality completely opposite to mine. She is way more unruly and mischievous than me. All she does is just cause people trouble and try to claim everything I have and copy me in everything I do trying to prove herself better than me. Believe me, she gives me the biggest headaches." Jean completed.
"Oh, don't worry my fiery-headed little birdie. I'll make sure to set her straight. I am sure she is just misunderstood and begging for attention. That's the case for most teenagers nowadays." I nodded like a sage as I pretended to understand what was happening within the complex mind of Jean's clone sister, Madelyne Pryor.
"I certainly hope so my love. I really do." Jean said as she leaned on me for comfort making the situation a little awkward since there were still lots of people present nearby including Ororo as well as the students following us.
"Atem honeypoo, is that you? I see that you have at last remembered about your dear little wifey. I have been growing as dry as the Sahara due to the lack of 'action' every night. Let's have a grand orgy to celebrate your victory and return." I suddenly heard a familiar shrill girly voice as I looked in that direction expecting to see the only person in the world who could more or less relate with me about being reincarnated into the strange unfamiliar world of Marvel.
Instead, the first thing I saw was more than a 7-foot-tall muscular shark who would put the Rock to shame with its bulky body, running to me at full speed with tears in its eyes.
"What the fuc..."
---
Don't forget to 'comment' and 'favorite' this chapter if you like it.
Also, you can check out my Patreon page as well to read ahead or to support your amazing author.
Right now I have about 20 chapters in advance there.
(My Patreon uses the new billing method which means if you pledge on the 15th of this month, you will have to pay again on the day you pledged, i.e., the 15th of the next month. So whenever you subscribe, you will get a whole month.)
pátreon.com/God_Doom
(replace the á with a)