Illusions of a Prodigy (Ben)

[tigrawill]

Emma hadn’t told anyone she had been using Cerebro yet. She couldn’t see a reason why not but technically she hadn’t asked if it was ok, it was hardly her fault, with a machine that size Emma had to at least try it out, besides what was the worst that could happen. In truth the first time had been a little rough, Emma had never had her mind open to the entire world at once before but after she had used it two or three times she began to get the hang of it. This mourning however she had been intrigued, she had found a mutant, nothing unusual there, but this one seemed to have no idea what he was. For the rest of the mourning Emma had spent her time convincing herself to forget about it, but curiosity got the better of her.

Now she was sat in her car parked outside a small apartment clutching a few pieces of paper. She had decided to dress formally for this occasion, as well as covering considerably more than she normally would. Dressed in a white suit with an open necked blouse she was, as usual, the typical depiction of her name. Stepping out the car she grabbed a few pieces of paper from the dashboard and strode towards the building. She didn’t bother to lock the car, she was parked illegally anyway, all she did was give anyone who came along the distinct impression that the car was in fact a small blonde girl playing with her dolls. It was quite a bleak day, the sky was grey and the gentle wind was chilly. Rain spat down gently onto the pavement, it wasn’t heavy but it was annoying, Emma would be glad to get out of it Casting her mind into the building she scanned apartment after apartment until she found her mutant, then as finger rested on the intercom system she buzzed his apartment.

[ben]

To Ben, best thing about being a bike messenger is the fact that he couldn't work in the pouring rain, which gave him a day off. The only problem is that he couldn't do anything expensive, like going out to dinner since the young 20 year old was saving up for college. So there was only one thing he could do, sit at home and watch T.V. As the credits came up on his T.V for the first Superman movie, Ben heard a buzz from his intercom system. Ben would then get up from his old brown, yet surprisingly comfortable couch and slowly walked to the intercom expecting some kind of Jehovah's witness to answer. After all they always some how knew that he was here on any of his days off.

Ben would then press the button on the small control panel and said into the intercom with his voice full of disinterest "This is Ben Anderson, may I ask who is speaking?".

[tigrawill]

Emma had done this thing before but never for Xavier’s she had always recruited for the hellions, there she could just force them into accepting but that wasn’t the way they did things here. “Ah Mr Anderson, my name’s Miss Frost, I’m from Xavier’s school for the gifted. I was wondering if I might have a moment to talk to you about a potential scholarship.” She wanted to play her cards close to her chest at the minute, she knew Ben was a mutant and yet even now within this proximity she still couldn’t find the slightest trace of a thought about it. In fact not one person in the entire building was even contemplating mutants, well except an elderly woman on the top floor who was listening to something on the radio about terrorist attacks, but she was more concerned with her care taker who was apparently stealing all her left shoes. “At the very least can I come in out this damn rain for a few minutes”

In truth Emma wasn’t sure why she was here, there were hundreds of mutants with powers that would make the hellfire club drool but there was something about Ben being so close and so mysterious that drew her in. She wasn’t fond of the area however; needless to say it wasn’t quite of the same calibre as the institute.

[ben]

When the voice coming from the intercom mentioned a potential scholarship, Ben couldn't help but smile. Finally he was getting some kind of break that didn't involve using his father's dirty money that he was planning on using to pay for college before he found out that he was a crime lord. The voice would then ask if she could at least get out of the dam rain which gave Ben the impression that she might not get the scholarship if he made her wait. He would then rush towards the door as if his apartment was on fire and opened it. When he did, he saw a blond haired woman that appeared to be at least 10 years older than him and even though she wasn't wearing her normal revealing clothing, he could tell that it had all of the desirable traits of being the next sex symbol.

Ben couldn't help but stare at her body for a few seconds before snapping back to reality and said "Sorry about wait Miss Frost, please come in" Once Emma came inside, he would lead her to a small round table that had two chairs facing each other from opposite ends. He would then pull out a chair and said "Have a seat Miss Frost"

As someone that was educated in one of the best private schools, Ben of course knew how to be polite and this time he was pulling out all of the stops to make this woman happy and pleased. After all, all good jobs requires a college education these days.

[tigrawill]

Emma was relieved when Ben opened the door, she hadn’t wanted to force him, things often went much better if they co-operated. She smiled politely as she followed Ben into his house. Emma would describe the apartment as cosy if she were pressed to be nice, but then when you’ve been used to mansions and penthouse suits anything seems small to you so she didn’t push matters. He appeared to have been raised properly at least, obviously from a family of wealth and yet choosing to live his own life, Emma like that in people, it always reminded her of herself. “Mr Anderson, is it all right if I call you Ben? Please feel free to call me Emma whilst we’re in your house.” She was smiling quite sweetly at Ben, she wasn’t sure how to handle things now but figured a direct approach would be best, “I don’t know if you are aware but Xavier’s is a highly successful school, we educate people of all ages in a large variety of subjects. I’m afraid we can’t offer degrees at this time but we do often support our graduates in further education. Now the thing is that Xavier’s is also a rather exclusive academy... She paused briefly as she scanned Ben’s thoughts one final time, he was interested but still nothing on mutants. Emma was becoming more confused by the second as she filled through her paper work pulling out a specification.

“As I was saying we’re a fully boarding school, contained largely on campus. We’re rather picky with students, we look at much more than their grades, we tend to hunt down those with the more unusual gifts.” She passed Ben the specification over the table and for the briefest of moments their hands brushed together. Emma was taken aback; she was hit by a wave of psychic energy so strong that it could have come from her. So that was it, a telepath, and a powerful one too, he must have been blocking her out earlier. It took Emma a second to recover from the initial shock before she continued, there was no point skirting around the subject now so she reached out and spoke to Ben with her mind, “I see you possess a gift similar to my own” Emma was smirking to herself, she didn’t realise this was Ben’s first ever experience of telepathy.

[ben]

"You can call me Ben, Emma" said Ben as he sat down in the seat across from her. She would then proceed to tell him that Xavier’s school for the gifted educates people of all ages, but they weren't offering degrees at this time. It looks like she's going to talk about the scholarship thought Ben before Emma started talk about how the school was rather exclusive. She would then hand over some paper to Ben and when he reached out to get them, their hands brushed together causing his hand to glow a faint light blue before Ben's mind suddenly unleashed a powerful psionic attack.

Thoughts from everybody in the building would then start to enter Ben's mind as he held his head in pain. When Emma spoke to him through telepathy, Ben thought that it was one of her thoughts, though it did stick out more than the other one's he was hearing. If only there was a way I could end this thought Ben before his skin suddenly turned to diamond causing his telepathy to be suppressed. en would then look at his hands and appeared to be afraid as he had absolutely no idea what was going on. What's happening to me? thought Ben as he looked at the smirking woman. Since Ben also had a diamond form that was identical to Emma's, it would probably be clear to her that he wasn't a telepath, but a power mimic.

ooc:Seeing how you grouped all of your telepathy and diamond form abilities under two powers, I might as well do the same seeing how there are a lot of things you can do with telepathy.

[tigrawill]

For a moment Emma’s face was crossed with confusion. It was unusual that Emma was confused, even more so that she should actually show it. There was no way that this kid could have the exact same mutation as her, the chances were just to remote. That was then the realisation dawned upon her, he hadn’t been shielding himself from her probes this was his first ever mutant experience, he was a mimic. Suddenly Emma had an old feeling come back to her, not exactly a hunger but Emma needed to get this kid to enrol. Gift’s like this were rare at best, potentially mimics could be among the most powerful mutants of all if they just ran into the right people. Emma began to realise what he must be going through, she had terrible headaches when her gifts manifested slowly and Ben had just been hit with them at full force. “Ben listen to me, I know this must seem strange to you, but I can explain what’s happening. No doubt you’re aware of mutants by now, after all its all the media is talking about these days. Now remember I said Xavier’s Academy was exclusive, this is the reason, we’re a haven for mutants. The aim is to protect mutants from those that would harm then until they can control their gifts. I know this must be very confusing Ben but you are a mutant, I think you might be a mimic, when you touched me, you must have copied my powers.” Outstretching her own hand she took hold of Ben’s simultaneously shifting into her diamond form as well to try and reassure him she was speaking the truth. “What you felt first, that was people’s thoughts. I’m a telepath you see, now I’m going to try and help you change back. Whilst you’re like this the telepathy will be turned off but when you turn back it will start again, the important thing is not to panic. You’ll have to try and filter out the other thoughts. Don’t worry I’ll help you as much as I can” With that Emma shifted back into her normal form and starting erecting psychic buffers around the pair to try and filter out the surrounding thoughts. “Ok Ben, are you ready?”

There was little point trying to talk to Ben further until he understood things better and Emma felt he might just be more accepting of things if he at least had a normal body. This experience would be enough to freak anyone out, Emma had the good fortune to adapt to her gifts with time as did many mutants but Ben had been thrown in at the deep end here.

[ben]

After Emma told Ben that Xavier's was a safe haven for mutants in order to help control their powers and that he was a mimic, a part of him wished that he had never meet Emma at all. If he didn't he could have lived in bliss amongst humans without facing discrimination mutants everywhere are facing today. But he knew that was just wishful thinking, after all there will millions of mutants on the planet and he there was a very good chance that he could run into one in his life time. He would then rest his hand on the bridge of his nose as he tried his best to accept the truth of this heavy news. She would then reach out her hand towards him to touch his free hand and watched as her skin turn to diamonds like his in order to show him that he copied her abilities.

Emma would then explain to him that he heard people's thoughts due to her telepathy abilities and that the form he was in turned off those abilities. And then told him that she would help him as much as she can when he turns back to his normal form.

"I'm ready, but is there any chance that the abilities I copied from you wear off any time soon? I mean I'm practically a normal human without some other mutant's power" said Ben as he took his hand off the bridge of his nose. Unfortunately for Ben, these abilities would be permanent unless he replaced them with another mutant's ability.

[tigrawill]

Emma shook her head gently as she looked Ben in the eye, “I’m sorry Ben I can’t answer that. It’s possible that the abilities may fade of their own accord over time but it’s just as likely that they’ll never fade, or that they’ll need to be replaced by another power. Everyone’s mutations are unique I can’t tell you how yours works without testing it first. It’s important to remember though; mutation is not a curse, especially not yours. You have no physical mutation visible and you can effectively select your powers, if you were to so choose you could blend in seamlessly with normal society.” Emma tried to smile a little, she knew it seemed hard to swallow with all the reports on mutant terrorism and constant attempts to crush the ‘mutant threat’ going on around them but she genuinely believed what she said, “Ok now if you can I want you to change back to your normal form, I’ll do my best to keep out others’ thoughts but I want you to stay focussed on me and my voice. I promise you once you’ve done this once it gets a lot easier from there on. It’s just a matter on focussing on what you want to hear, not what’s all around you.” Despite outward appearances Emma was working exceptionally hard, drowning out as many minds as were around them was not easy plus she had started sedating those that she could to try and ease the whole thing. She could already feel a slight headache forming, nothing serious but she hadn’t exerted herself like this since she had woken up from her coma and it was proving more taxing than she remembered.

[ben]

"Alright... here goes nothing" said Ben in a sarcastic tone of voice. He really wasn't looking forward to the major headache he was about to receive, but he kept telling himself in his mind that it was better than having diamond skin for the rest of his life. Ben's skin would then revert back to it's natural state and Ben started to hear the thoughts of other people that were in the building. Despite the fact that there weren't as many thoughts to hear this time, the headache was just as painful as a hangover. As he placed his right hand on his forehead due to discomfort, he started tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Emma to speak so that he could focus on her voice.

[tigrawill]

“That’s it. Well done stay with me a moment.” Emma was surprisingly smiling reassuringly, it wasn’t often Emma smiled but in this situation she didn’t want to leave Ben struggling on his own. “Ok I’m going to teach you something called a psychic shield, it’ll help you keep other peoples’ thoughts out of your head, I want you to try it on your own first, if you struggle I may have to... intervene.” Emma didn’t want to do that, if necessary she could literally force the knowledge into Ben’s brain but that could be quite painful even for experienced telepaths. “You need to visualise a wall, or barrier inside your mind, stopping the thoughts from passing. It’s simple but it’s effective. Now if you can focus, I think you should contemplate Xavier’s School. I’m not asking you to enrol straight away but it’s worth thinking about. At the very least I think you should pay me a visit, I have a number of devices that can be used to dampen psychic abilities, just in case you should ever pick abilities like this up again.” Emma wanted the kid to enrol, even ignoring his rather impressive ability. In the short time she had grown to like Ben, she didn’t want to see him lost to his abilities, a slave of every mutant he happens to touch. “How’s your head feeling?” There was a genuine note of concern in Emma’s voice. She didn’t want to spy into his mind herself, he had enough going through his head at the minute without having her crawling around in there as well.

[ben]

When Emma smiled, Ben couldn't help but get the feeling that he was in good hands despite the fact that some people might think that she was enjoying watching him suffer. Following her directions, Ben would picture a wall in his mind blocking all of the thoughts which silenced the voices in his head. The wall Ben set up may not have been 100 percent perfect for someone using telepathy for the first time, but the fact that her telepathy was just as strong as Emma's ensured that no thought would go into his head. After he silenced the thoughts, Emma asked if his head was feeling better with a genuine voice of concern that was so real that Ben didn't need to be a telepath to see that she was actually concerned about him, a trait that was valuable for any teacher.

"I'm feeling a lot better now" said Ben right before he started looking at the papers. After taking a brief look,Ben could tell right away that this was the perfect school for him, if he were trying to get a high school diploma. Ben would then look at Emma and asked "If I do enroll, what kind of classes will I be taking seeing how I already graduated from high school?"

[tigrawill]

“That’s very much up for discussion. At Xavier’s we offer all of the standard classes you expect in any high school and many of the staff are willing to run classes and tutorials who are already above that stage. I myself am more than happy to run business and economic classes with anyone who wishes it. That’s not all we do though, a large part of the education at Xavier’s is understandably spent furthering your knowledge of your powers. We have extensive training resources that aren’t featured in many of the public documents. In most cases an experienced staff member with a similar ability teaches the students, however in your case you would be free to attend you liked. Now it’s important to remember we train you to become well rounded members of society, not weapons. However you are no doubt aware of the mutant organisation responsible for countering mutant terrorist attacks. They go by the name of the X-men. Once our students have mastered the control of their power there is the option to go on and help these individuals, it is entirely optional, you are just as free to leave and go back into normal society.” Emma was slightly nervous disclosing the base of the X-men to anyone, but it seemed that it was public knowledge to their enemies now days. It somehow seemed important Ben should know what they really do, besides he’d find out sooner or later, it was hardly a secret amongst the students. Emma felt as if she had hooked Ben, which was a good thing, today she genuinely believed Xavier’s was the safest place for mutant kind. “Why don’t you come see the place sometime? Get a feel for it and see what you think.”

[ben]

"You said that teachers teach students with similar abilities of there own. Does that mean that there is a teacher there that also has power mimicry?" asked Ben. He knew full well that there was a very good chance that he would be taking classes from every teacher there so that he could control any ability he copied, but it was also important for him to control his own ability. As for the X-Men, Ben really wasn't interested since was more concerned with living a normal life, but there was always the chance that he could change his mind.

"Well, what time do you think it will be appropriate for me to check at the school" asked Ben after Emma suggested that he should check out the school in order to get a feel for it.

[tigrawill]

Emma smiled slightly at Ben’s questioning, “Power mimicry is a very rare gift. I haven’t been at the school that long myself but I know of at least one other mutant with a similar gift. She isn’t a member of staff however and her abilities have some more... negative effects on her target.” “The old headmaster of the school was very good at teaching all mutants, unfortunately he’s no longer with us but we are trying to follow in his footsteps as well as we can.”

When Ben asked about visiting Emma was relieved to say the least, she had worried throwing him into the world of mutants as rapidly as she did would put him off the whole experience. “Our doors are always open at every hour, although if you’re hoping to be shown around I wouldn’t come in the middle of the night. Feel free to come whenever you’re available, I could take you over now if you like or you can come another day, all our contacts are in the paper work. Xavier’s operates a policy whereby no one in need of help is ever turned away, mutant or otherwise, even if you choose not to enrol you will always be welcome there.” Emma wasn’t sure what she was feeling now, a part of her was still her old self, wanting Ben for the power and little more but another part of her was feeling something different. Concern, it was a feeling Emma had felt very sparingly throughout her life, she just didn’t want to see Ben overcome by his abilities, and more importantly she wanted to spare him from all the torment a mutant could face in the world today.