X-Men: The Gifted Ones

16. TRAINING ROOM, XAVIER MANSION, WEST CHESTER, NY

Charles dreaded what he was about to ask Jane to learn. It was against everything she had been trained to do, he knew it.

But she had to do it. He had to take her there. There was no other choice. He hoped it would make her feel she was equal to the others. She always compared herself to Polaris, or Cannonball, or Impetus, and found herself wanting. Nothing seemed to convince her that she possessed an immense gift. Anyone can take a life, he had told her, but not everyone can save a life, heal another.

He called all of his new recruits together for a group training. He wanted to show each of them how they could pool their gifts together. All of them had spent the last two months training individually. The time to bring it all together had come.

It was time for Jane to show the others just what she was capable of.

Charles had her face off against Impetus. He had them stand facing each other in the middle of the room.

"Impetus, you may hate me for this," Charles warned. "I am about to ask Mercy to do something new."

Jane looked at Charles, shocked. The last thing she wanted to do was something different in front of everyone and fail.

"Impetus, you are to grab Mercy by the arms and use an energy blast to try and knock her off of her feet. Mercy, you will take advantage of the contact and use your power to inflict an injury before you are off of your feet. Got it?"

"Yes, Professor," they replied. The two crouched in a fighting stance and circled one another. Impetus then stood up, "Uh, Professor, what kind of injury are we talking about?"

Charles grinned, "I have no idea... but don't worry, she'll heal it, won't you, Mercy?"

"Yes, Professor," she acknowledged. She tried to feel confident. She tried to put herself in the headspace she had when she was asked to reflect an injury back. She had perfected that skill, but she had never inflicted an injury where there was none. Everyone was in for a surprise with this. "Ready, Impetus?" she teased.

"As I'll ever be, not knowing what you're about to do."

"No one ever knows what injuries will happen in war," Jane told him, circling him. "If it's one thing I learned, it's that you just go, you do it, there isn't a damn thing that talks about coming back. You always assume it'll never be in one piece no matter what part you play. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you can throw yourself in to do what you need to do. You protect yourself on a moment to moment basis, ready for anything, but always ready to die."

"Good God, woman," he gasped. "A bit fatalistic for a nurse!"

Charles was amazed. "She's right, Impetus. She's been to war. She knows what anyone is in for with what's ahead. Listen to her."

"Uh, Professor? Make sure she doesn't kill me when she injures me?"

Jane was amused at his trepidation.

"Just be ready for anything," Charles warned. "And Mercy? Try to only focus on the body part you have contact with."

That only increased Impetus' worry. "Watch what you grab then, will ya?"

"I make no promises," she teased. The two crouched again. Jane tried to imagine Impetus as an enemy. She had to remember this was a training session, but in this moment, he was her enemy. She could see him gathering up his inner energy to create a blast. She tried to imagine him trying to hurt someone she cared about, imagined him trying to hurt Charles. He grabbed her arm and her shoulder as if to slam her down. She focused her energy on his arm that gripped hers.

A sickening crack resonated through the room followed by horrified silence. Impetus fell to the ground in a flurry of obscenities. "You crazy bitch!" he fumed as his radius and ulna splintered through his forearm. Everyone stared in shock. Polaris looked sick to her stomach. Sway looked as if she was about to faint. Cannonball had to turn around.

Jane looked up at Charles and found he was gazing upon the injured man with an expression of horror and pride. Impetus' face was pale with shock at his injury. She crouched down next to him and tried to calm him down.

"Get away from me!" he screamed, sending forth an energy blast that knocked her on her back.

"Lucas Bishop," Charles snapped, "try to calm down and let her approach! Remember, this next part is what she does best!"

"Are you kidding me?"

Jane scrambled to her feet, "Or I can leave him here and we can take him to the emergency room and he can heal the old-fashioned way?"

"You wouldn't do that," Charles chided. "Now Impetus, let Mercy fix this."

He said nothing but glared as Jane approached him and crouched down next to him. She smoothed his hair off of his forehead and spoke softly to him. Charles watched her with anticipation and delight. She was in nurse mode, doing what she did best. Jane took his arm gently and laid it in her lap, looking into Impetus' eyes with a calm smile. Charles knew what Jane was focusing on, imagining. He knew she was imagining her with him, imagining a future with him, a romantic one. He couldn't help but peek into her mind to see what the image was. Charles realized the image was simply one of him. He was happy, smiling. He wondered what it was she was truly after as she imagined that.

Everyone watched in amazement as Impetus' bones started to mend themselves and the torn flesh started to cover the reunited bones. Within a few moments, there was not even a hint that the man's arm had been pierced by splintered bones.

Impetus held up his arm in wonder. He tried moving it and found it had been returned to the state it was before Jane had broken it. In fact, he realized, even the aches of sprains and strains from previous trainings were gone.

Jane looked at him in quiet satisfaction. She had successfully healed an injury that, before she was one of the X-Men, she would have only tried to absorb the pain. She realized she had not only absorbed and blocked the pain, she had also healed the wound and prevented her body from taking it on. She felt accomplished, she finally felt pride in herself. She finally felt as if she belonged among the others.

"Stand up, Mercy," Charles requested. She complied. "I know some of you here wondered why I would pick someone like Jane to join our team." He didn't single anyone out, but he knew those who had done that knew who they were. "If any of you still have any doubts as to what she can do and how she can help us, you will be next in line for this training."

Everyone looked down. No one wanted to be next. Impetus' fractured arm had humbled everyone.

"Mercy, that was an excellent demonstration. I hope after this, you no longer harbor any doubts about what you can do."