X-Men: The Gifted Ones

22. CEREBRO, XAVIER MANSION, WEST CHESTER, NY

The classrooms had been set up.

The booklets had been printed.

The textbooks had been purchased.

Dorm rooms had been set up and decorated by Jane. Charles loved how she seemed to make each room seem like a home rather than a sterile dorm. They decided to start small with eight children. Jane seemed to relish in the decoration of the dorm rooms. Charles hoped this would be the family she had always wanted.

She seemed happy.

It was now time to find students.

Only Charles could do that.

Charles entered his Cerebro unit and cleared his mind. He wanted to find eight children who would need the school the most.

He activated Cerebro and quickly found who he was looking for. Cerebro highlighted the eight children and Charles was able to glance at them while the unit recorded their coordinates.

The first child amazed him. There was something familiar about the child and he realized that the boy resembled Havoc. He wondered if Havoc had a brother and sensed that the boy had to be a relative of Havoc. The boy looked to be about seven years of age. Charles was not sure what mutation the boy had, but the boy was wearing sunglasses and had a bandage covering his eyes.

The second child was a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who was also about seven years old. Charles noticed that she had pointed teeth. He noticed she was scowling and someone had thrown a rock at her, yet it had bounced off and she had not even noticed it. He found it interesting.

The third child was a young Japanese boy with black hair and dark brown eyes. He looked as if he was about twelve. He was playing with a model rocket that he fueled and launched himself by touching it.

The fourth child was a young girl with dark skin and white hair who looked about ten years of age. She was in her back yard and made some rain to water her family's flowers. He noticed there were clouds above her, and as soon as the flowers were watered, the sky had cleared.

The fifth child was a young boy about eleven years old with black hair, dark skin, and brown eyes. He was making a basketball game go in his favor and it seemed as if he can control his luck. Charles wondered what else he could control...

The sixth child was playing with her Barbie dolls. She appeared to be about seven years old and her blonde hair was whipping around as she danced with her dolls and sang a song that she must have made up, because Charles had never heard it before. She seemed joyous, but yet it seemed as if she was hiding. It appeared as if her dolls were in a band and she was created a light show on the toy stage with her powers.

The seventh child was a small, deformed boy about seven years old. He had blue skin and his body appeared misshapen. His legs were bent inward, his back was bowed, and he had large, long arms. His face had a broad forehead, large eyes, and a crooked jaw. He seemed very angry as he hit walls in a very plain room, cracking them. Charles' heart went out to the boy, and he was sure Jane would single him out for special attention.

The last child was a young girl, about nine, with long brown hair and brown eyes. She looked very angry. She was in the middle of her bedroom, screaming. There were books, clothes, and toys swirling around her. She had a yellow glow about her. He was fascinated by her. She was the most powerful mutant he had ever seen at that age.

Charles quickly deactivated Cerebro and tried to catch his breath. The last mutant really shocked him. He couldn't even begin to imagine where her powers started, and he was certain they had no limits. He left Cerebro and went into the hallway where Jane was waiting for him.

He took in a deep breath. "Well, Mrs. Xavier, it is clear we have some places to go."

"I knew you would find enough children," she smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder as they examined the coordinates of their prospective students.

"Yes and a couple surprises. I did not know that Alex had a brother."

"Another Havoc? Are you sure?"

"It appears to be the case. He had a bandage over his eyes, I can only guess he has the same talent or something similar. He looked exactly like Havoc."

"Here are their locations," she said, reading off the addresses that the coordinates had indicated.

"Alright. The next step is to do a little research on them, find out their names, a little about them. When possible, we give them a call and schedule an appointment. Explain how we hope to help their child. Then we go visit."

"Which ones should I take?"

"I'll have you visit all but one of the girls," he said, looking it over. "Some of these children appear to have no families at all, they're alone in foster homes. However, I'm taking the last one but will be bringing along a friend to talk to her."

"A friend? Who?" she wondered.

"Believe it or not, I think I actually need Erik for something. Jane, this girl is extraordinary; I've never felt such psychic energy from someone. I can't wait for you to meet her!"

"To bring Erik and no one else, she must be unusual."

"She's a Class 5, and I think Erik would be more convincing for her that either of us."

"You trust Erik with this?"

"Maybe it will encourage him to stand with us."

"You're serious?"

"It's worth a try," he sighed. "He's a good man, truly. He's just...angry. He almost died in Auschwitz, you know. Only his power saved him. He is still on our side, in a way."

"You know him best."

"I would like to think so."

"So now what do we do?"

"We go get our students," he smiled. "What do you think, my dear Mrs. Xavier? In a few weeks, this house shall be filled with children. Just what you always wanted?"

She hugged him. "Yes, Mr. Xavier. It is! Just think about how many of them need us now!"

"Why do I have a horrible feeling that this will not stop at 8 children?"

"Why should it?" she smiled deviously.