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ax_mainSimon finds himself examining another mutant after the facilities are raided, and in the process, meeting a wizard.
It was already an exhausting evening. Simon had known that the teams were going to rescue some mutants from experimental labs, but he'd had no idea that there would be so many. He'd had some idea what to expect, in terms of their health, especially after examining Pam, but seeing the shell shock so soon after the kidnap victims had been freed...it was mind-numbing. They had all been through torture on a scale that no teenager should have to endure.
Hank had asked him to examine everyone, and he'd been doing his best, but Simon already looked a little haggard when he quietly asked the ruddy boy in the corner into an exam room. "You're, ah, Caleb?”
From where he sat hunched on an exam table, Caleb watched the boy warily out of the corner of his eye. “Yes.” He had no reason to trust these people. They may have rescued him, but that didn’t mean their motives were altruistic.
"My name's Simon," he explained, taking a seat on a stool to start off. He'd learned that most of the rescuees were standoffish, so he didn't want to start in with the exam right away. Plus, you know, he could use a break.
“You’re a mutant?” Caleb asked.
Simon nodded. "I have the ability to read a person's bio signs and physiological makeup by touch. It's earned me the dubious honor of examining some of the new mutants that arrive, so as not to have to rely on things like bloodwork and MRIs.”
“So, you are here to read me.” The Right would have killed to get their hands on that ability. To be able to know about a mutant at a touch had to be a wet dream of theirs.
"Only if you're agreeable," Simon promised him. "This isn't the Right. We don't experiment, and the only research done here is to learn more about who and what we are. No one will force you to take a medical exam, but after what you've been through...it might be advisable. We've had experience with others who have been rescued from such places.”
Caleb wasn’t convinced. He wondered what they would do if he try to run? “Where are Molly and Clint?”
"Mr. ah, that is, Molly - I believe he's being shown around. Or at least is being given a bed and some food. Dr. McCoy would like to keep your other friend, Clint? He would like to keep him down here overnight for observation, until we can secure a pair of hearing aids, and figure out what they did to him," Simon explained.
So, Clint was nearby then… Caleb glanced at the door. “They poked and prodded him like a science experiment until they burned him out,” he said, anger in his voice. “We were not people to them. We were tools. Even calling us ‘tools’ is too kind.”
The blood drained out of Simon's face just a little at the description. Of course, he already knew the broad strokes, and Caleb described most of what had happened to the other rescued kids, but the very fact that they'd had to live, thinking of themselves as less than people...it was difficult to stomach. "I can't imagine what you've been through," Simon agreed quietly.
“How fortunate for you then that I can remember it down to the very last detail.” Caleb regretted the words as soon as they were out. If Simon was who he said he was, he didn’t deserve to be talked to like that.
Right. Simon supposed he should have expected something like that. None of the rescued mutants much cared for doctors, or anyone associated with medical help. It was likely that none of the new arrivals would either. "Would you rather I wait to examine you then? At least until you're a bit more comfortable." he suggested.
“No, it’s alright,” Caleb said, and there was an undercurrent of apology in his tired voice. “Do what you need to do.”
Simon nodded, then stood. "I just need to touch your skin. So your hand, or arm, whatever's comfortable.”
Caleb pushed his glasses up with a knuckle, then offered Simon his hand.
It didn't take long to figure out that Caleb was just as underfed and exhausted as the others. He harbored numerous old scars that echoed abuse, and Simon noted the presence of psychological damage as well. The powers, however, were a little bit more difficult to understand. Something to do with...a familiar, but unsettling energy. That part of his own power he was still learning to control, and he pulled away, frowning with uncertainty. A year ago, he would have denounced the idea completely, but after time spent around Illyana and Billy, he simply couldn't dismiss it out of hand. "Your powers. You are...magic?"
Caleb pulled his hand away and wrapped both arms back around his middle, hunched in on himself as if trying to disappear. His expression, though, had changed at the question. Less wary now, but surprised and confused and there was a definite spark of curiosity in his blue eyes. Simon had his attention now.
“I’ve alway thought of it like that, but I never told anyone,” Caleb said slowly.
"I admit, I don't have a lot of experience with it," Simon told him. "I refused to believe that it actually existed as a type of force, or energy, for some time. And I still believe that it's just something that physics has yet to explain. But... there are a couple of others here that use such a thing.”
Caleb perked up a little. “There are?” He had hundreds of questions, but the first two to come quickly, stumbling out were, “What—what can they do? How does their magic work?”
"I, uh," Simon looked a little abashed. There was not much he did not know. "I'm not sure. Illyana can teleport to another dimension, though what else she does is beyond me. Billy can wish things into existence, but if you ask me, that's more like warping reality than anything else. Another student can enchant objects, it seems. There are a few others, too, but as I said, I'm used to working with science. This kind of thing is somewhat beyond me.”
No matter what Caleb decided to do after today, he was going to talk to this Illyana and Billy. There abilities sounded nothing like this, but maybe he’d be able to learn something. “Well, you do things that I couldn’t possibly do. We all have our strengths.”
Simon quirked a small smile. A positive statement out of someone who'd undergone such horror was a good sign. "I suppose that's true. What is it that you, ah, do? With the magic, I mean.”
“You can’t tell? With your,” Caleb gestured at Simon, “fancy power?”
"I can feel the energy," Simon admitted. "But I have no idea how you use it.”
Caleb did look up now, finally looking Simon fully in the eye. “And if I didn’t want to tell you? Or anyone?”
Simon blinked, then sighed out softly. "I'm sorry. I'm pushing you. Of course, you don't have to tell anyone what your power is, or what you can do. I was just curious. It's ah, it's a terrible habit of a scientific mind.”
Caleb watched Simon an uncomfortable beat longer, than answered, “Spellcasting. I, ah, meditate on what I want to be able to do, then the spell just…comes to me. I write it down and—” He pushed his glasses up again. “And, ah, magic.”
"Like a wizard," Simon breathed out, impressed, and a little awed.
“Yes!” Caleb said, excitedly. “Exactly! Like a wizard!” He’d had the same thought himself when he’d first manifested his mutation and he had pushed it aside as a silly fantasy, but he’d grown to know better.
A smile tugged at the corner of Simon's lips at Caleb's excitement. "I'll admit, I never would have thought I'd meet an actual wizard. Insanity aside, I wouldn't mind seeing what you can do someday.”
Caleb saw his opportunity and decided to take it. “Do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?”
"Does it have to be paper?" Simon asked curiously. "We've got a few extra digital pads lying around here somewhere.”
Caleb was impressed. It was a good question, and it had taken the Right the better part of three weeks to come up with it. “I prefer paper. The digital pad is, ah, hit or miss. It doesn’t always work.”
Simon nodded as if that made sense. (The truth was, nothing made sense anymore. They had the Prince of Atlantis not just living in, but flying around their school.) So, just to prove that he didn't even give a shit about physics anymore, Simon pushed up from the stool and disappeared down the hall to hunt down a full legal notepad and one of the really nice ballpoints from Hank's office. He was back a minute or two later, producing the items for the other teen.
“Thank you,” Caleb said as he accepted them. “This may take a moment.” He stood and turned so he faced the exam table, then set the legal pad down in front of him. Pen hovering at the ready, he let out a slow exhale. Though he’d written it and cast it before, the spell for summoning sat on the edges of his memory like a dream he knew he had, but couldn’t quite remember. He emptied his thoughts, then centered them on one thing: Frumpkin.
Distantly, Caleb was aware of the exam table paper crinkling and rustling as he started to write. The words flowed out of him easily, with a kind of surety that few things came to him with. When he was finished, he blinked, eyes coming back into focus, and there, on the paper before him, was a finished spell. He remembered it now, clear as day, and he wondered how he could ever have forgotten it—Especially with a memory like his.
A kind of excitement rose in Caleb’s chest. This would be the first spell he’d cast for himself in years. No motive other than the simple desire to have his friend back. He started speaking the spell, his hands pulling unseen magic from the air and shaping it. All around him, he could feel the energy building up, answering his call, bending under his will. Purple light swirled on the table in front of him until it finally faded away and in its place was an orange tabby cat.
Caleb immediately scooped Frumpkin up. He buried his face against him, eyes pricking with tears, then hugged him against his chest, scratching him behind his ear as he murmured apologies to him in German.
Simon just stared, and stated the obvious. "That's a cat.”
Caleb held onto Frumpkin tighter. “Yes, it’s a cat.”
"Is it," Simon frowned in confusion. "Is it real? An actual animal you produced from…energy?"
“Of course, he’s real!” Caleb replied, offended.
Simon reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. It's. This is new.”
Caleb’s brow knit, attention caught again. “The other magic-uses cannot create animals?”
"Well, I suppose it's possible that they could," Simon admitted. "I've just never witnessed it. Then again, I'm not on the best of terms with Illyana, and Billy's been a bit withdrawn lately, due to some events that occurred before the New Year. Though...now that I think about it, I think that one of the twins frequently summons a bear cub.”
Ah, so there was a twin with a bear too. “You do not keep track of everyone’s mutations here?” That was hard to believe.
"Ah. Well, we keep a database, yes, but there has been a lot going on lately, and a lot of new arrivals. And frankly, I'm fairly antisocial, and don't always know all the ways someone's power could be used," Simon explained.
That last thing Simon said was probably the most believable thing Caleb had heard since he got here. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of a database, though, and made a mental note to ask more about that later. Right now, it was more important to ask, “Have most of the new arrivals been from places like where I was?”
"No," Simon admitted. "We get a lot of new students through recruiting. In fact, those that were rescued with you, and from another facility tonight - they're our first rescues. The others were either rescued by others or made it out themselves. We are hoping to find more, though.”
Caleb supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that they were the first rescues. He’d been at the Facility for years and he hadn’t been found until now. “How many others are there?”
"That we know of, three, before the six of you they found tonight," Simon told him.
Only three. Caleb couldn’t decide if that was reassuring or not. Either the Right hadn’t been holding that many mutants, or there were a lot out there still in their captivity. “And they are all here?”
"One is," Simon agreed. "The other two...I'm not sure. Sometimes they are here taking classes, but mostly they live elsewhere, with another group of mutants. Honestly, I would define them as terrorists.”
That was a serious accusation. A very serious, very discomforting accusation. Caleb frowned. “How are they terrorists?”
Simon took a deep breath. "There's a schism, in the mutant community. There are those, like many of the students here, that want to try to assuage the fears the general public has regarding us and our abilities. However, there are others who believe that they need to take out the detractors of mutants head on, with acts of terrorism and vandalism.”
That couldn’t be Nott. She was too smart to get involved in something like that. “Detractors like the Right?”
"Mm, no. They're called the Friends of Humanity. But I've heard rumors that they're funding the Right," Simon told him.
And no one was calling them terrorists Caleb bet. “Who’re the Friends of Humanity?”
"Terrible people," Simon sighed. "Hatemongers who hold rallies denouncing mutants. I admit, they're horrible, but we're supposed to be better than they are. We're supposed to find a better way.”
Mutant-hate groups. Mutant terrorists. What kind of world had Caleb returned to? And what did it say about him that he wasn’t surprised by it? “It should help that they have set the bar very low.”
"You would think so," Simon quirked a small smile. "Anyway. If there's anything you need while you're here, let me know? I think they want to keep your friend overnight, just to keep an eye on his condition, but they'll probably set you up with a room in the boy's dorm.”
Caleb still wasn’t sure he trusted any of this. Rescue from the Right, a safe place to stay in a school just for mutants... It seemed too good to be true. “I’d like to check on him.”
"Of course," Simon agreed, stepping back. "Or we can set you up with a cot in his room if you want. I uh, I may be able to find some things for your cat as well. It - does it need a litter box? Food?”
Caleb gave Simon a curious look. “It’s a cat.” He moved Frumpkin to his shoulder where he perched with a comfortable familiarity. “A cot would be good, thank you.”
Simon wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he made a mental note to see if they could have one of the teleporters pick up some pet supplies in town. Just in case. He really didn't want to have to deal with the smell of ammonia in the boys' dorm. Or in the infirmary, for that matter. "I'll have them set something up," he promised.
“Thank you,” Caleb replied. “I appreciate it.”
Nodding gently, Simon opened the door. "It's the least I can do."
It was already an exhausting evening. Simon had known that the teams were going to rescue some mutants from experimental labs, but he'd had no idea that there would be so many. He'd had some idea what to expect, in terms of their health, especially after examining Pam, but seeing the shell shock so soon after the kidnap victims had been freed...it was mind-numbing. They had all been through torture on a scale that no teenager should have to endure.
Hank had asked him to examine everyone, and he'd been doing his best, but Simon already looked a little haggard when he quietly asked the ruddy boy in the corner into an exam room. "You're, ah, Caleb?”
From where he sat hunched on an exam table, Caleb watched the boy warily out of the corner of his eye. “Yes.” He had no reason to trust these people. They may have rescued him, but that didn’t mean their motives were altruistic.
"My name's Simon," he explained, taking a seat on a stool to start off. He'd learned that most of the rescuees were standoffish, so he didn't want to start in with the exam right away. Plus, you know, he could use a break.
“You’re a mutant?” Caleb asked.
Simon nodded. "I have the ability to read a person's bio signs and physiological makeup by touch. It's earned me the dubious honor of examining some of the new mutants that arrive, so as not to have to rely on things like bloodwork and MRIs.”
“So, you are here to read me.” The Right would have killed to get their hands on that ability. To be able to know about a mutant at a touch had to be a wet dream of theirs.
"Only if you're agreeable," Simon promised him. "This isn't the Right. We don't experiment, and the only research done here is to learn more about who and what we are. No one will force you to take a medical exam, but after what you've been through...it might be advisable. We've had experience with others who have been rescued from such places.”
Caleb wasn’t convinced. He wondered what they would do if he try to run? “Where are Molly and Clint?”
"Mr. ah, that is, Molly - I believe he's being shown around. Or at least is being given a bed and some food. Dr. McCoy would like to keep your other friend, Clint? He would like to keep him down here overnight for observation, until we can secure a pair of hearing aids, and figure out what they did to him," Simon explained.
So, Clint was nearby then… Caleb glanced at the door. “They poked and prodded him like a science experiment until they burned him out,” he said, anger in his voice. “We were not people to them. We were tools. Even calling us ‘tools’ is too kind.”
The blood drained out of Simon's face just a little at the description. Of course, he already knew the broad strokes, and Caleb described most of what had happened to the other rescued kids, but the very fact that they'd had to live, thinking of themselves as less than people...it was difficult to stomach. "I can't imagine what you've been through," Simon agreed quietly.
“How fortunate for you then that I can remember it down to the very last detail.” Caleb regretted the words as soon as they were out. If Simon was who he said he was, he didn’t deserve to be talked to like that.
Right. Simon supposed he should have expected something like that. None of the rescued mutants much cared for doctors, or anyone associated with medical help. It was likely that none of the new arrivals would either. "Would you rather I wait to examine you then? At least until you're a bit more comfortable." he suggested.
“No, it’s alright,” Caleb said, and there was an undercurrent of apology in his tired voice. “Do what you need to do.”
Simon nodded, then stood. "I just need to touch your skin. So your hand, or arm, whatever's comfortable.”
Caleb pushed his glasses up with a knuckle, then offered Simon his hand.
It didn't take long to figure out that Caleb was just as underfed and exhausted as the others. He harbored numerous old scars that echoed abuse, and Simon noted the presence of psychological damage as well. The powers, however, were a little bit more difficult to understand. Something to do with...a familiar, but unsettling energy. That part of his own power he was still learning to control, and he pulled away, frowning with uncertainty. A year ago, he would have denounced the idea completely, but after time spent around Illyana and Billy, he simply couldn't dismiss it out of hand. "Your powers. You are...magic?"
Caleb pulled his hand away and wrapped both arms back around his middle, hunched in on himself as if trying to disappear. His expression, though, had changed at the question. Less wary now, but surprised and confused and there was a definite spark of curiosity in his blue eyes. Simon had his attention now.
“I’ve alway thought of it like that, but I never told anyone,” Caleb said slowly.
"I admit, I don't have a lot of experience with it," Simon told him. "I refused to believe that it actually existed as a type of force, or energy, for some time. And I still believe that it's just something that physics has yet to explain. But... there are a couple of others here that use such a thing.”
Caleb perked up a little. “There are?” He had hundreds of questions, but the first two to come quickly, stumbling out were, “What—what can they do? How does their magic work?”
"I, uh," Simon looked a little abashed. There was not much he did not know. "I'm not sure. Illyana can teleport to another dimension, though what else she does is beyond me. Billy can wish things into existence, but if you ask me, that's more like warping reality than anything else. Another student can enchant objects, it seems. There are a few others, too, but as I said, I'm used to working with science. This kind of thing is somewhat beyond me.”
No matter what Caleb decided to do after today, he was going to talk to this Illyana and Billy. There abilities sounded nothing like this, but maybe he’d be able to learn something. “Well, you do things that I couldn’t possibly do. We all have our strengths.”
Simon quirked a small smile. A positive statement out of someone who'd undergone such horror was a good sign. "I suppose that's true. What is it that you, ah, do? With the magic, I mean.”
“You can’t tell? With your,” Caleb gestured at Simon, “fancy power?”
"I can feel the energy," Simon admitted. "But I have no idea how you use it.”
Caleb did look up now, finally looking Simon fully in the eye. “And if I didn’t want to tell you? Or anyone?”
Simon blinked, then sighed out softly. "I'm sorry. I'm pushing you. Of course, you don't have to tell anyone what your power is, or what you can do. I was just curious. It's ah, it's a terrible habit of a scientific mind.”
Caleb watched Simon an uncomfortable beat longer, than answered, “Spellcasting. I, ah, meditate on what I want to be able to do, then the spell just…comes to me. I write it down and—” He pushed his glasses up again. “And, ah, magic.”
"Like a wizard," Simon breathed out, impressed, and a little awed.
“Yes!” Caleb said, excitedly. “Exactly! Like a wizard!” He’d had the same thought himself when he’d first manifested his mutation and he had pushed it aside as a silly fantasy, but he’d grown to know better.
A smile tugged at the corner of Simon's lips at Caleb's excitement. "I'll admit, I never would have thought I'd meet an actual wizard. Insanity aside, I wouldn't mind seeing what you can do someday.”
Caleb saw his opportunity and decided to take it. “Do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?”
"Does it have to be paper?" Simon asked curiously. "We've got a few extra digital pads lying around here somewhere.”
Caleb was impressed. It was a good question, and it had taken the Right the better part of three weeks to come up with it. “I prefer paper. The digital pad is, ah, hit or miss. It doesn’t always work.”
Simon nodded as if that made sense. (The truth was, nothing made sense anymore. They had the Prince of Atlantis not just living in, but flying around their school.) So, just to prove that he didn't even give a shit about physics anymore, Simon pushed up from the stool and disappeared down the hall to hunt down a full legal notepad and one of the really nice ballpoints from Hank's office. He was back a minute or two later, producing the items for the other teen.
“Thank you,” Caleb said as he accepted them. “This may take a moment.” He stood and turned so he faced the exam table, then set the legal pad down in front of him. Pen hovering at the ready, he let out a slow exhale. Though he’d written it and cast it before, the spell for summoning sat on the edges of his memory like a dream he knew he had, but couldn’t quite remember. He emptied his thoughts, then centered them on one thing: Frumpkin.
Distantly, Caleb was aware of the exam table paper crinkling and rustling as he started to write. The words flowed out of him easily, with a kind of surety that few things came to him with. When he was finished, he blinked, eyes coming back into focus, and there, on the paper before him, was a finished spell. He remembered it now, clear as day, and he wondered how he could ever have forgotten it—Especially with a memory like his.
A kind of excitement rose in Caleb’s chest. This would be the first spell he’d cast for himself in years. No motive other than the simple desire to have his friend back. He started speaking the spell, his hands pulling unseen magic from the air and shaping it. All around him, he could feel the energy building up, answering his call, bending under his will. Purple light swirled on the table in front of him until it finally faded away and in its place was an orange tabby cat.
Caleb immediately scooped Frumpkin up. He buried his face against him, eyes pricking with tears, then hugged him against his chest, scratching him behind his ear as he murmured apologies to him in German.
Simon just stared, and stated the obvious. "That's a cat.”
Caleb held onto Frumpkin tighter. “Yes, it’s a cat.”
"Is it," Simon frowned in confusion. "Is it real? An actual animal you produced from…energy?"
“Of course, he’s real!” Caleb replied, offended.
Simon reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. It's. This is new.”
Caleb’s brow knit, attention caught again. “The other magic-uses cannot create animals?”
"Well, I suppose it's possible that they could," Simon admitted. "I've just never witnessed it. Then again, I'm not on the best of terms with Illyana, and Billy's been a bit withdrawn lately, due to some events that occurred before the New Year. Though...now that I think about it, I think that one of the twins frequently summons a bear cub.”
Ah, so there was a twin with a bear too. “You do not keep track of everyone’s mutations here?” That was hard to believe.
"Ah. Well, we keep a database, yes, but there has been a lot going on lately, and a lot of new arrivals. And frankly, I'm fairly antisocial, and don't always know all the ways someone's power could be used," Simon explained.
That last thing Simon said was probably the most believable thing Caleb had heard since he got here. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of a database, though, and made a mental note to ask more about that later. Right now, it was more important to ask, “Have most of the new arrivals been from places like where I was?”
"No," Simon admitted. "We get a lot of new students through recruiting. In fact, those that were rescued with you, and from another facility tonight - they're our first rescues. The others were either rescued by others or made it out themselves. We are hoping to find more, though.”
Caleb supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that they were the first rescues. He’d been at the Facility for years and he hadn’t been found until now. “How many others are there?”
"That we know of, three, before the six of you they found tonight," Simon told him.
Only three. Caleb couldn’t decide if that was reassuring or not. Either the Right hadn’t been holding that many mutants, or there were a lot out there still in their captivity. “And they are all here?”
"One is," Simon agreed. "The other two...I'm not sure. Sometimes they are here taking classes, but mostly they live elsewhere, with another group of mutants. Honestly, I would define them as terrorists.”
That was a serious accusation. A very serious, very discomforting accusation. Caleb frowned. “How are they terrorists?”
Simon took a deep breath. "There's a schism, in the mutant community. There are those, like many of the students here, that want to try to assuage the fears the general public has regarding us and our abilities. However, there are others who believe that they need to take out the detractors of mutants head on, with acts of terrorism and vandalism.”
That couldn’t be Nott. She was too smart to get involved in something like that. “Detractors like the Right?”
"Mm, no. They're called the Friends of Humanity. But I've heard rumors that they're funding the Right," Simon told him.
And no one was calling them terrorists Caleb bet. “Who’re the Friends of Humanity?”
"Terrible people," Simon sighed. "Hatemongers who hold rallies denouncing mutants. I admit, they're horrible, but we're supposed to be better than they are. We're supposed to find a better way.”
Mutant-hate groups. Mutant terrorists. What kind of world had Caleb returned to? And what did it say about him that he wasn’t surprised by it? “It should help that they have set the bar very low.”
"You would think so," Simon quirked a small smile. "Anyway. If there's anything you need while you're here, let me know? I think they want to keep your friend overnight, just to keep an eye on his condition, but they'll probably set you up with a room in the boy's dorm.”
Caleb still wasn’t sure he trusted any of this. Rescue from the Right, a safe place to stay in a school just for mutants... It seemed too good to be true. “I’d like to check on him.”
"Of course," Simon agreed, stepping back. "Or we can set you up with a cot in his room if you want. I uh, I may be able to find some things for your cat as well. It - does it need a litter box? Food?”
Caleb gave Simon a curious look. “It’s a cat.” He moved Frumpkin to his shoulder where he perched with a comfortable familiarity. “A cot would be good, thank you.”
Simon wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he made a mental note to see if they could have one of the teleporters pick up some pet supplies in town. Just in case. He really didn't want to have to deal with the smell of ammonia in the boys' dorm. Or in the infirmary, for that matter. "I'll have them set something up," he promised.
“Thank you,” Caleb replied. “I appreciate it.”
Nodding gently, Simon opened the door. "It's the least I can do."
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Date: 2018-04-16 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-16 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-18 01:40 pm (UTC)