Recent Posts

Max saw the pink haired man enter and set his bag down. Max had heard about Cafas but had never run into him around the mansion. As they locked eyes he couldn't read anything about the guy. No pleasant smile, just a blank expression.

-"Well Max, if that's a yo-yo, then I have got to see this. Level one is all yours."

Max didn't know how Cafas knew his name, but the remake seemed like it held genuine curiosity. Max gave him a thumbs up as Cafas introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. Hope I don't disappoint." Max grinned.

He hadn't expected an audience for his session and it made him curious as to whether he was being tested or not. He grinned. If this was some kind of test he would just have to blast through this level.

The round began and an explosion rang out. A building down the street and to the left combusted. Max heard a scream and saw a man fly out of the fourth floor window. The man grabbed onto the edge of the balcony and dangled there.

"Objective: Neutralize targets and secure civilian." The danger room announced.

On call the doors of the building flew open and Max saw two robots walks out. They looked like the standard Bots the police used around town, except they had some kind of tanks on their back with lines that ran to their palms.

Max took off at a full sprint towards the building. The hololight civilian was the mission priority. Max needed to get up there.

As Mad neared the building the Bots turned on him. The one on the left extended its hand and a blast of fire rushed out of its hand towards Max. The young dancer rolled and he felt the heat wash over him as he ducked the blast. He came out of the roll onto his knees. He was in range now.

With a flick of his wrist he threw his yo-yo, sending out his power as he did. It swung outward and collided with the Bot who had tried to cook him. As the yo-yo made contact Max extended his bubble of gravity over the Bot. The Bot flew backward, propelled back into the building by the augmented gravity.

The second Bot fired off a blast as Max recalled his yo-yo. The young dancer twisted his way out of the attack and flung himself at the Bot. The Bot threw a punch at Max but he spun out of the way and his hand reached out, grabbing the Bots extended arm. He formed another bubble around this Bot and grinned as the Bot hurled itself across the street and stuck to the opposing wall, pinned there by a field of double gravity.

Max changed gravity on himself, pulling himself to the wall of the building. He ran up the side.

"Easy." He thought to himself.

He reached the third story in an instant and was just about to extend his arm to grab the dangling civilian when the wall he was running up exploded. Max pulled himself away from the building as rubble blasted outward. The civilian screamed again as he was thrown off the balcony.

A third Bot appeared in the hole that had formed in the wall of the building. Time seemed to slow as Max hung suspended in the air, his arms raised to shield himself from the blast. He could feel his power holding the two Bots below him, and he knew he was reaching his limit of surface area for his power. He would have to be careful.

He reasserted gravity on himself and fell. The civilian tumbled down in front of him. The Bot leap at Max from above. As he fell Max spun and threw out both of his yo-yo. One streaked down to the civilian and wrapped around his leg. Max threw out his power and made the man weightless. At the same time the other yo-yo wrapped itself around the the head of the falling bot. He released the yoy holding the civilian as the hololight man gently touched the ground. Now came the tricky part.

Max grabbed the wire of the yo-yo with his free hand and doubled gravity on himself. He pulled the wire as hard as he could at the same moment. He watched as the force of double his weight and all his strength pulled the wire wrapped around the Bots head and with a mechanically snapping noise he saw the head seperate from the body.

He made himself weightless a moment before hitting the ground and used the momentum from his fall to spring off the sidewalk, grab the civilian and pull them safely down the street as the last bit hit the ground and exploded.

A buzzer sounded and the Bots and civilian vanished. Max felt his augmented gravity bubbles disappear and let out a sigh. He was breathing heavy and sweating from the exercise and use of his power.

"Level One Complete. Level two will begin in 60 seconds" the danger room announced.

Max collected his yo-yo and turned to Cafas, grabbing his towel as he went and wiping the sweat from his face.

"So what did you think?" He asked with a proud smile," you want to takelevel two? I don't wanna hog all the fun."

Devon returned Max's handshake. The guy had a brilliant smile and seemed to effortlessly exude confidence. Hadden, why did that name seem so familiar? Max had the sneaking suspicious he had heard it before but couldn't place where. He gave a small laugh at Devons remark.

"I prefer to think that I'm a bit more graceful than this usually." He smiled.

He felt his face redden, he usually didn't get compliments on his ability.

"It's not as impressive as it looks," He said waving a hand behind him dismissivly, "It's just gravity manipulation so floating basically just feels like pulling a lever. What's your gift?"

He felt stupid for asking so bluntly. Some mutants were a little shy about talking about there gifts. His few days at the mansion had already gotten him slightly more used to it but he knew it wasn't the norm everywhere.

"So what brings you to visit?" He asked 

Max produced a genuine smile at Maya's cake joke. It was in that moment he decided they were going to be friends, she had pulled him out of a hell of a spot and was a decent enough person to humor him.

He got up taking Maya's standing as a cue and walked to the office door. He opened it and gestured for her to lead the way to the kitchen.

The best part about living in a mansion full of mutants is the kitchen is always stocked to feed an army. Max entered and immediately went to the cabinets and pulled out a number of cooking supplies.

"Do since I went on a bit of a tmi trip with you how about you tell me about yourself. What are you into when you aren't swooping in to save naked weirdos?" He said as he placed some pots and skillets on the stove.

He listened as he cooked, making a feast of random assortments of food. His hands worked mechanically, you didnt live alone and not learn to cook if you liked to eat. In a few short moments he had everything sitting on the island. Fettuccine Alfredo ended up in a bowl beside a plate of soft tacos which was leaning against a platter of pizza bites. He grabbed a few boxes of snake cakes and a some cokes and started chowing down.

"Dig in. Plenty to go round." He said, his mouth overflowing with food.

Max would have said the news hit him like a truck, but it felt a little too on the nose for his poetic tastes. He watched Maya closely as she looked at the screen. As she leaned back he felt a lump form in his throat.

"Look man, I don't mean to freak you out, but... this here says you moved in about year ago. And that... a year ago today... it says you were hit by a car. And died."

Max just stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to burst out laughing, tell him she was just messing with him and send him on his way. Instead they held eye contact and he saw no break in her stressed out frown.

"Thats...rediculous. Yeah I got hit by a car but it was a few hours ago at most." He stammered.
He peered around the desk and looked at the screen. He saw his file, saw the details, but it wasn't until his gaze drifted to the corner of the screen and he saw the date that he actually believed it.

He stood up without knowing why. His brain was frozen but his body refused to be still trying to compensate. His hands picked up things of Maya's desk and he felt his fingers fidget with them. A million thoughts collided on him at once and out of his mouth.

"My parents think I'm dead. They would have had a funeral. A year? Where have I been? How am I here?" He sputtered.

He sat back down and did the only thing he could to not go crazy. He shut it all down, he imagined a blob, an oozing orb of fear, panic, and worry and he threw it in a box locked it up with chains and three it to the bottom of an ocean in his mind. It would resurface he was sure, but couldn't have it now.

He looked at Maya.

"So you're an xer. Have you ever ran into this before. I lost my phone and Id think the school could help me with that?" He asked calmly.

"Also given the circumstances do you think maybe I could have something special to eat? It appears I've been missing quite a few meals lately." He laughed, not a happy laugh more of a wild sputter as he felt himself wanting to break again.

"No!" He thought to himself.

He stopped laughing and clenched his fists.

"Sorry. Lot to take in and all." He mumbled

"Session Beginning level 0" a cool female voice announced through the speakers.

Max stood in the center of the danger room that had transformed into a partially destroyed urban street. He was in his standard jeans and a black t-shirt and smiled as he unzipped his fanny pack.

Usually he wouldn't ever go into the danger room to train, but after what he can only call a year long blackout he felt he needed to see if his body was still as spry as it had been when he was gone. A car accident followed by nothing before waking up naked in an alley a year later. The police report had said he was dead on the scene during the crash, yet here he was. His special circumstances had allowed him to be given access to the room and a private block of time.

He had decided to start off easy. He pulled his hands put of his pack and felt the reassuring weight of his steel yo yos in his hands. Each one was wound with high durability metal wire and they were hefty. With a flick of his wrist Max sent one out in a simple walk the dog. With a push of effort he sent his power down the wire and watched as the yo-yo began rising up and flying around as he changed the gravity on it. He sent it in wide arcs and allowed himself to push out with his ability until the alarm in his pocket went off and the yo yo fell.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had continually used his power for three minutes before feeling it begin to fail. Max smiled, it seemed his powers weren't any weaker than before. Now to see what he could do.

"Begin level one" He called to the room.

"Beginning Level One in 30 seconds, waiting on new arrival." The female voice responded.

As the danger room countdown began Max turned as he heard the door open. He thought he would be alone in the session but apparently he had been quite mistaken.

"Dude. C'mon, I'll take you. I work there."

The words were like a spell. Max hadn't been in the mansion for very long, hell he didn't really consider himself a student since he'd hadn't ever attended a class. Mostly the mansion had just been a place to stay after he got evicted from his apartment.

She offered him her hand. It seems a rather odd thing to do and Max almost told her he was okay to walk. She worked at the mansion, she was probably a mutant. Teleportation would easily explain how she had found him.

He took her hand and tried not to yell put in protest as she pulled him into a shop window. Instead of smashing through it however Max felt himself slide into the glass and tried to take in the sensation of moving through the wondow. He could feel them traveling at a high speed and saw sweeping images of mirrors that they passed. He shut his eyes as his stomach struggled against the sensation.

A moment later Max fell out of a mirror and onto a carpeted floor with less than his usual grace. Luckily the blanket had stayed on and he lifted his head to take in the room. It was some kind of office, quite nice in fact. He rose and walked over to once of the chairs and sat down placing his head on the cold wood.

Traveling through the mirror had messed with him. He was used to being thrown around but something about the smooth mode of travel had put him off balance.

With his head still down he gave the girl a thumbs up

"Thanks. I didn't catch your name earlier by the way. You said you work here? Teacher?"