The Institute

As we walked through the school, Jean took the time to point out what the different rooms were. Leaving the hanger, we had passed the Danger Room, which I was looking forward to experiencing, and walked all the way through the school till we reached the entrance hall. When we got there, we saw Storm and Wolverine talking to each other still in their costumes so they had most likely just gotten back.

"Hey Chuck, so Cyclops got the kid back alright. He joining the school?" Logan asked.

"Yes Logan, he has agreed to join the school. This is Kevin, he will be a student here from now on." Xavier replied.

"Alright bub, let's get a few things straight, don't touch my hammock, don't touch my beer." Logan says.

"Sure, why don't we shake on it?" I ask sticking my hand out.

Logan looks at me strangely for a second, before nodding and shaking my hand.

As soon as his hand touches mine, I begin absorbing his DNA.

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Healing Factor: Heals wounds faster than normal rate and slows aging. Rate increases with level. Lvl 1/10]

[Skill Gained: Bone Claws: Set of three claws that come out of wrist on command. Lvl Max]

'I got the two expected skills. So I need to level my healing factor to get it to heal faster. I guess I'm going to be injured in the near future to level it. I'm surprised Bone Claws was maxed right away, but I guess you can't really take 1/10 of the claws, so I just gained them normally.'

"Well look at that. A kid who's respectful, Red and Slim could learn a thing or two from you." Logan says looking satisfied before walking off.

Turning to Storm I offer my hand introducing myself; "Hi, I'm Kevin, nice to meet you."

She returns my handshake and while I once again begin absorbing her power, responds "Nice too meet you as well. I'll be one of your teachers here."

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Atmokinesis: The ability to manipulate the weather. Affected by one's emotions(negated by Gamer's Mind) Lvl1/10]

'Well it's good that the weather won't be changing based on my emotions. I had forgotten about that, I got lucky that Gamer's Mind cancelled it. I need to think what powers I absorb through more instead of just absorbing them right when I can.' I think with relief that a potential disaster was avoided.

Releasing my hand, Storm also moved deeper into the mansion to go change. Turning to Jean, Scott, and the Professor I asked "So, where's my room?"

"Here I'll show you where it is." Jean says before motioning for me to follow her down a hall.

We both walk down the hall a little ways before I ask "So what's your power?"

"I have both telekinesis and telepathy. I can't really control the telepathy well thought, so I end up reading people's minds on accident." Jean then pauses and looks at me closer for a second before continuing "actually, now that we're alone I just realized I'm not reading your mind."

"Well that's a good thing, wouldn't want you learning all my secrets now would we." I somewhat jokingly respond.

"Yeah, but it's just weird. The only other person who's mind I don't read is the Professor's and that's because he trained his mind to prevent intrusion. Wonder why I can't read yours. It's a nice change of pace though, you wouldn't believe how exhausting school is when you know the guys around you are picturing you in your underwear."

"Yeah I can see how that would be exhausting."

We walk the rest of the way down the hall in companionable silence before finally reaching what I assume will be my room for the foreseeable future.

"Here we are, the Professor already gave me the key to give to you. It's getting late, so I'm gonna head to my room, it's just a little ways down the hall. Let me know if you have any questions." Jean says.

"Will do. Have a good night Jean."

"You too Kevin."

With that she leaves back down the hall to her room and I enter mine. Now that I'm alone I can think about what I'm going to do while I'm here.

'I need to take this time to get as strong as possible before striking out on my own. I already absorbed a couple of powerful abilities, but I need to be more careful about potential risks that comes with it. Storm's ability could've been a disaster if it wasn't for Gamer's Mind. I'm not sure how the Phoenix will react if I absorb Jean's power, so I held off on it for now, but eventually I might need her powers. I'll at least have to try to level my healing factor to the point where I can recover from any damage I take. As more mutants move in, I can absorb their powers too.'

With my thoughts figured out, I decided it was time to get some rest and go to sleep. It had been a long day of running from Magneto and meeting new people, so it was about time I finally rested.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Next Day

I woke up well rested and excited to finally see the Danger Room today. Moving slowly I got out of bed and realized I didn't have any other clothes. All I had was what I had had on me before, which was just a grey long sleeve shirt with a black t-shirt over it and some jeans. I'd have to talk to the Professor about getting some more clothes, but until then I just took a shower and put the clothes I had back on.

I walked down the hall to where the kitchen was and found everyone but Xavier was already in there. Saying my greetings I sat down and ate the breakfast that was prepared. As I was finishing eating, Professor Xavier rolled in and said "Kevin today I'd like to take some time down in the Danger Room and work with your powers."

"Alright Professor, sounds like a plan." I answered, getting up and brushing the crumbs off of my hands. As we moved towards the Danger Room, I realized that everyone else was following us as well. Storm and Wolverine weren't really a surprise, they were teachers, they would need to know what I could do, but Scott and Jean were.

'Guess they want to see what I can do.'

Eventually I made my way into the Danger Room while everyone else entered the control area above.

"Alright Kevin, do you already know what your power is? For some reason Cerebro had difficulty identifying what your power was." Xavier asked me.

'I'll just act like my power is matter and energy absorption and use it like Kevin did during Alien Force, keeping the power absorption as a trump card.'

"I've known what my power is for a while. I can absorb energy and shoot it out, as well as absorb matter and obtain its properties, like this."

After saying that, I reached down and touched the metal floor of the Danger Room. I activated my matter absorption, and watched as the metal moved up and along my body until my body had taken on the properties of it.

Turning back towards the gallery, I said "So any material like metal, I can make my body have the same properties."

"Cool seems like it would be good for close combat. Me and Jean are mainly ranged attackers, so it'll add some variety." Scott remarked in a leader like tone.

"Does it feel weird?" Jean asked.

"Nah, it feels natural to me. My movement is still the same, so it's like flexible metal."

"Alright Kevin, we are going to activate some robots, just fight them any way you want so we can try to get a handle on your basic combat ability." Xavier said.

"Let's see how the kid handles this" Logan said before pushing a button on the panel which lead to 10 robots coming out of a hatch in the floor.

Looking towards them, I decided to just try to wing it. My life living on the street had gave me some basic street fighting skills, but I wasn't anywhere close to a martial arts expert and I didn't know how to change my fists into weapons yet.

Charging towards the closest bot to me, I delivered a quick punch to its face, which threw it across the room.

'Huh, guess my strength gets increased a lot more than I thought it did.'

Turning to the next bot I run towards it and grab its head, sending energy through it, resulting in it short circuiting.

The last 8 bots charged towards me together, so I punched one, knocking it back before I was hit from behind by another. It didn't really do anything to me with my increased durability, so I turned around and punched it as well. I grabbed two of the nearby bots and slammed their heads together, before grabbing one of the last four's legs and spinning around with it in my hand to destroy the last 3.

I took a deep breath, but wasn't tired due to my limited healing factor. Turning to look back at the gallery I ask "So, how did I do?"

Xavier nods saying "An excellent demonstration of your power. That's enough for today, we just wanted to get a baseline before we begin true training."

Nodding I walk out of the door and meet the rest of the group in the hallway.

Jean and Scott come up to me, with Jean saying "You did good. I'm sure you'll fit in here just fine." After her, Scott says "yeah you'll be a big help when we have to fight people like the Brotherhood."

Realizing I had to feign ignorance to who the Brotherhood were, I asked "Are the Brotherhood Magneto's team?"

Scott nods his head "Yeah Magneto's team is called the Brotherhood of Mutants. You'll be a great help, although I don't know how you'll do against Magneto if you're made of metal like Logan."

Shrugging my shoulders, I reply "I'll figure something out. I can absorb other materials and maybe I'll find a way around it."

'I should be able to eventually use my copy of his ability to counteract his magnetism. It'll take a lot of practice though, but that should be a priority, along with my healing factor.'

"That was all we wanted to do today, feel free to just explore. I've signed you up for the local school, Bayville High, and you start on Monday, you just need to take a placement test as they aren't sure where you are. Take the next day to settle in, and Jean and Scott can show you to school tomorrow."

Somewhat dreading having to go back to school, I just nod my head before saying "Well I'm gonna head back to my room, that test kinda tired me out."

Jean looked a little disappointed I didn't want to do anything right now, 'I guess she likes not having to hear thoughts all the time' while Scott looked indifferent.

'I would hang out, but I want to start practicing with my magnetism'

Heading back to my room, I enter before locking the door and moving towards my desk. Inside, there were already a bunch of school supplies.

'I guess Xavier is prepared for anyone who moves in.'

Grabbing a few paper clips, I sit down at my desk and prepare to test out my powers.