Chapter 3

The next day, Nate woke up two hours early. After washing up and getting dressed, he decides to clear his thoughts for the day. After flying up to the roof of the school, Nate closes his eyes and begins the long process of clearing his mind. To do this, he needs focus and silence, so you can imagine the effect that an explosion behind the school had on him. Snapping his eyes open, Nate quickly psi-scans the area. He finds two psi-signatures: one that seems somewhat familiar, and another that he needed no trouble identifying.

Taking a deep breath, he leaps off the roof, gliding effortlessly through the air. Zeroing in on the signatures, he flies closer to the ground. Nate begins to see signs of the explosion all around him as the signatures grow stronger. Landing in a clearing, he sees a body lying facedown in the grass. Turning the it over, Nate stares down into the face of X-treme. His clothes are charred black, and there are burns all over his skin. Nate checks his vital signs, which were weak, but steady.

It was then that he heard a distant rustling in the bushes a few feet away. Arming himself with a dense tk-shield, Nate charged through the bushes, and right into a plasma burst. The brightness forced him to turn away for a few seconds, and then he ran after X-treme’s attacker, who appeared to be wearing a black jumpsuit. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, Nate unleashed a mind-blast on the attacker, who stumbled and fell to the ground. Before Nate could reach him, his hands began to glow, and he fired a plasma burst at a nearby tree, which began to fall toward Nate.

Unable to get out of the way in time, Nate braced himself and caught the tree, with both his hands and the power of his mind. Straining from the effort, he could only watch as the attacker escaped into the woods. The tree was getting heavier by the second, and Nate couldn’t keep it up much longer. Fortunately, that was no longer a problem as he was shoved out of the way. He looked up from the ground to see X-treme pushing the tree back to its original position. “That was quite a stunt you pulled there, Grey,” he said, looking down at Nate. It was then that Nate noticed his burns were gone, even though they had appeared to be third-degree. “It’s just another one of my powers,” he remarked, “along with limited telepathy.” He offered his hand, which Nate took. As he took his hand, Nate sensed that same darkness in his soul again, but decided not to mention it.

They walked back to the school together, comparing stories of their lives. X-Treme had been born to a poor single mother, who’s name he never knew. He was the older of two brothers, but X-treme’s mother died giving birth to his younger brother. The pair had moved from town to town, with X-treme taking on various odd jobs to support them both. X-treme and his brother hid the fact that they were mutants from the public, since life was hard enough without being feared and hated.

The two had finally made their way to New York City, where the two had encountered a mutant-hunting force known as the Gauntlet. The group was made up of an elite group of human rebels with the sole purpose of destroying all mutants. The Gauntlet tracked the two down and would have killed them, but they were saved by Spider Man. However, the rescue came with a price: during the battle, which took place on top of a forty-story building, X-treme’s brother fell off the roof, seemingly to his death.

Spider Man suggested that X-treme go to Prof. Charles Xavier and his X-Men, but X-treme, still a stubborn young boy, and overcome with the grief of losing his brother, declined his offer and continued to wander the globe, searching desperately for anything that would ease his pain. He soon found it in the joy of battle, a little over five years ago, in the tournament known as Overpower. Having been a participant himself, Nate could see where his supreme fighting skills came from. X-treme told me this was where he earned his name, as well as his reputation as a street brawler. Fighting more than eased his pain, it virtually eliminated it. He dedicated every battle to his brother, and had never lost...until he met Nate.

Since there was still some time before class, X-treme and Nate talked about the other students here, and not surprisingly, he was more interested in the girls. First, Nate told him about Monet St. Croix, or M, the 18 year-old girl from Algeria, including her powers of flight, super strength, and psionic abilities. Next was Paige Guthrie, the 19 year-old metamorph. Then 15 year-old pyrokinetic Jubilee, and finally 16 year-old Penance. Then X-treme wanted to know which one Nate was dating. After he stopped laughing, Nate simply told him that Paige was the only girl seeing someone at the moment.

Before either of them knew it, it was time for class. The day went pretty smoothly for me, but X-treme was having problems left and right. It seemed he couldn’t get along with any of the other students, not even Artie and Leech. Nate tried to help him once, but he quickly said he didn’t need any help. His bad day got even worse in the afternoon session in the Biosphere. He lost his focus and blasted Blink through a tree. Fortunately, Synch got her to the infirmary before her injuries got any worse. X-treme swore it was an accident, though Nate was the only one that really believed him.

The next few days weren’t much better. It seemed that every day, things were getting worse. First, Penance fell into one of her periodic comas. Then, Synch suddenly became very ill, and even after several hours in the infirmary, he showed no signs of improvement. Finally, Nate started getting these killer headaches, so bad that he couldn’t even walk without his head pounding. Eventually, he ended up in the infirmary with Blink, Penance, and Synch. Blink was slowly recovering from her injuries, so Nate took this time to get to know her better.

Things are getting even worse around here. Grey and three others are laid up in the infirmary, and soon it’ll be time for the trip. At least backup’s arrived as planned. The mission’s running smoothly now, even after that dumb kid tried to interfere. One thing’s for sure, she’s not going to like this at all.

About a week later, Ms. Frost said Nate should be able to start walking again. With help, he managed to walk several feet, and pretty soon was able to walk on his own. He still couldn’t use his powers to their full extent, though he could still use telepathy and move small objects with his mind. Fortunately, thanks to Nate’s many lessons with Psylocke, he was able to strengthen his powers a little more each day.

Unfortunately for Nate, the day he dreaded was soon upon him. Ms. Frost announced that the class would be completing their Telepathic Conditioning and Telekinetics classes, and that the final exams would be taken at Xavier’s school in Westchester. The class itself wouldn’t be difficult for Nate, but the fact that his mother, Cable and Psylocke were giving the final exam would be. Everyone knew how close he was to them, and to prove they weren’t showing favoritism towards Nate, he would definitely have to go to greater lengths to prove himself.

The following day, Ms. Frost drove them to Westchester, while Sean stayed behind to look after Synch and Penance. They arrived shortly after noon, and were greeted by Prof. Xavier himself. Jubilee ran up and gave him a big hug, while the rest of the class merely shook his hand. As Nate took his hand, he could see the worry in Xavier’s eyes. “Don’t worry about me, Professor,” he said in a telepathic message, “I’ll be fine.” At the time, Nate had no idea how wrong he was.

The Telepathic Conditioning exam began a few minutes later in the Danger Room. The object was to defeat three villains of Psylocke and Jean Grey’s choosing. Ms. Frost and Prof. Xavier agreed that Nate should take my exam last so he wouldn’t intimidate the rest of the class. X-treme volunteered to go first, and was very impressive. He defeated holograms of the Shadow King, Omega Red, and Magneto. In Nate’s opinion, his telepathy didn’t seem so ‘limited,’ as he originally stated. In fact, he appeared to be as powerful as Nate, and that’s pretty powerful. The others also passed their exams, and before he knew it, it was Nate’s turn.

He slowly walked into the Danger Room, taking deep breaths. From the Control Room, X-treme flashed him a thumbs-up. Nate ignored him tried to focus. So that he wouldn’t have an unfair advantage, Nate had to face three opponents at once. Unfortunately for him, these opponents turned out to be three people that he knew and loved. The room suddenly went dark, and he was surrounded by Sabre; his dead brother, David; and Psylocke.

Dropping to one knee, Nate just avoided a psychic knife that sailed over his head. Next, he leaped out of the way of telekinetic blast, only to have a glowing psionic sabre slash into his arm. As he rolled away, Nate could feel warm blood trickling down his arm. There was a steady hum as Sabre drew another weapon and ran towards him. When he got close enough, Sabre threw both weapons in a wide arch, the first slicing through Nate’s hand, the second just barely connecting with his forehead. Nate managed to stumble away before Psylocke kicked him square in the back. The impact forced him down to the floor, where he lay for a few seconds before blacking out.

Up in the Control Room, Nate’s classmates were obviously concerned for his safety. “Hasn’t he had enough?” Paige asked. “No, he hasn’t,” Psylocke snapped, “and the last time I checked, Jean and I were in charge here.” “She’s just worried about him, Ms. Braddock. I know I am,” Blink chimed in. “Trust me, Clarice,” Psylocke replied, “they don’t call him the X-Man for nothing.”