Canadian Nights: The Story of Oliver's First Mission Chapter 13 by Mo
Disclaimer: The X-Men and Alpha Flight belong to Marvel. The movie belongs to Fox. I do feel like Scott and Logan are a little bit mine since I've been borrowing them for so long.
9/15
I can't believe it. I've been here less than a month and I'm an X-Man. Well, just temporarily - as they keep reminding me - but still. I am so psyched. And Dr. Grey gave me this journal to write all about my first mission in. I'm going to write down absolutely everything that happens so I can always remember.
When I got called into Professor Xavier's office I was kind of nervous, wondering if I was in some kind of trouble. Even more worried when I got there and saw that Mr. Summers and Dr. Grey were there, too. But then they explained that they need somebody with my powers for an important mission they have coming up. And told me I didn't have to do it if I didn't want to but it would be a big help to the whole team. They kept saying that taking on this one mission isn't committing me to joining the X-Men, that there's plenty of time to decide between now and when I finish school. Yeah, right! Like I didn't want to be an X-Man from the first time I heard about it. Like I'm going to change my mind after I get to go on a real mission.
I'm getting the details on what I need to do in a couple of days, they said. And I'm not allowed to tell any of the other kids anything about it. But I can say I'm going on a mission and don't know when I'll be back. This is so cool. I wonder if I get to wear one of those uniforms. Do I get to call Mr. Summers "Cyclops"? Do I get a code name, too? I'd better think of a real kickass one, just in case.
9/16 Well, I guess if I'm going to write everything down I should back up a bit. Things here have been kind of up and down for me. I am so glad to be off the streets and somewhere safe, somewhere where it's okay to be a mutant. Fuck, it's even good to be a mutant here! So, that's been really great And I like being back in a school.
I always did well at school and it was always better at school than at home, even before I came into my powers and my parents kicked me out.
So, those are the plusses. Then there's the minuses. It's nice to feel safe but I hate that they treat me like a kid here! I mean, I know I'm a kid but I've been living on my own with nobody telling me what to do. It's hard to go back to a curfew and homework and rules. Although I have to say, everybody here has been great about that. I bet if I was in a regular school they wouldn't understand at all, but so many of the kids here were in the same boat and talk about the trouble they had adjusting, too. And, anyway, I'm so tired with the classes and the workouts in the Danger Room and the exercises I'm doing with my eyes that I couldn't stay awake past lights out if I tried. Not that lights out has meant much to me until recently. But it does now that I'm seeing again! Yay! But I'm not ready for that part yet.
Getting back to what I was saying, most of the rules haven't been so hard to follow. The tough one has been about no fighting. I mean, what am I supposed to do when somebody calls me a faggot? Yeah, like I'm really going to say that I don't want to hear "homophobic hate speech". I say something like that and they'll just think they were right. But actually it did work when Bobby said something just like that. They really stopped saying stuff about me after he yelled at them for it. I bet Mr. Summers put him up to it. Bobby's older and a real X-Man, so the guys listen to him. But it's not like if a teacher was there and they wouldn't have said it in the first place. Besides, nobody thinks that Bobby's gay so he can say whatever he wants.
Well, nobody would think I am either if I hadn't been sucking dick for a living for the past few months. I sort of wish I told Mr. Summers the truth about that. I don't know why I lied to him and said I just let those queers blow me - that I never did them. I wonder if Dr. Grey told him the truth. Well, if she did he has never let on. Never said anything about me lying or anything.
What's the story with those two, I wonder? The kids at school say they were going to get married, that they were living together. But then she cheated on him with that Logan guy and he got mad and broke up with her. Well, he doesn't seem mad at her. I see them together a lot, talking and laughing - you'd think they were best friends. I heard Jubilee and Kitty saying they think they'll get back together again, that they don't think Mr. Summers really spends the night in his own room. I wouldn't be surprised - she's gorgeous. Still, if she did cheat on him...
So, almost everybody here seems scared of Logan. He sounds like a real dangerous guy - I'm going to find out for myself because he's part of the mission. They say he has nine-inch metal claws coming out of his hands and he'd just as soon carve you up with them as look at you. I heard Mr. Summers really couldn't stand him from the start - there have been all sorts of stories about the two of them fighting. But I tried asking him about Logan and he said that he's a little bit hard to get to know, but that they are very close friends. Well, maybe he doesn't want to tell me the truth, particularly if it has to do with Dr. Grey. But I've seen the holes in the desk in Mr. Summers's office - just the right number for those adamantium claws. I bet I know what happened. I bet they were fighting and Logan pointed the claws at him and said he was going to cut him. And Mr. Summers told him he could blast him before he even managed to reach across the desk. So he just cut up the desk because he was mad and frustrated and knew those Cyclops optic blasts are way more powerful.
So, anyway, this Logan is heading up some secret project and Mr. Summers said he'd help him out. And he needs somebody who can see through things and that's me. They said they'll give me more details on what I have to do and where we're going pretty soon. I know it's out of the country, though. They gave me some fake identification papers that show me as being older. Professor X said it's because they don't want us to call attention to ourselves going over the border and a minor without parents gets a lot of scrutiny. It's going to be Mr. Summers and me going. Only I'm supposed to call him "Scott" on the mission, since we're just supposed to be two friends traveling together and I'm not supposed to be a kid. People always tell me I look older than my age, anyway.
It's like a whole new life now that I can control my powers. I can see normally or I can see through stuff - I'm controlling it almost all the time now. It seemed like I'd never see and now it's just so easy I can't believe I couldn't do it before. It's like when I was a little kid learning to ride a bike, falling down again and again. And thensuddenly you know how to balance and you can't understand why it was so hard before.
So, things have really been looking up lately, even before the mission came along (and when are they going to tell me more details? I can't stand waiting!). I'm getting along better with the other guys, I can see, and I'm spending lots of time with Mr. Summers - Scott - between advisement sessions and the Danger Room and the poetry class he teaches. I wasn't going to sign up for it but he asked me to. He told me it was all girls last year and it got a little weird and he wanted to change the dynamic a bit. And then he put on this deep, lumberjack-like voice and said "Real men read poetry, Oliver" just to make me laugh. And promised me lots of good stuff to read. It's been great so far, although it is mostly girls and they are just mooning and sighing over Mr. Summers the whole time. Well, that's okay with me. Several of them are real cute and x-ray vision gives a whole new dimension to girl-watching. I don't have to look at a girl and just wonder what she looks like naked anymore - I can see for myself...
But, anyway, the very first day we read this poem by Robert Service, called "My Friends". It's like telling a story but it's a poem. All about this guy way up north in the Yukon and he's dying and his two friends are a murderer and a thief. They manage to keep him alive long enough to get him to the Mountie post where he gets a doctor and they get arrested. And it's all about how what they did in the past doesn't matter as much as who they are now and what they are willing to sacrifice to save him. I wonder if Scott picked that poem for me. I like the ending of it:
"And there was my friend the murderer, and there was my friend the thief,
With bracelets of steel around their wrists, and wicked beyond belief:
But when they come to God's judgment seat--may I be allowed the brief."
9/17 We're leaving tomorrow! And I am packing a uniform, just in case, although they said we probably won't use them. Scott gave me one of his and it fits perfectly. I tried it on in the dorm and then just wore it while I was doing my homework, just to make sure it was comfortable. The guys were all totally green.
So, we're flying to Buffalo and then driving from there to Toronto. We'll be staying overnight at Alpha Flight headquarters there - they are like the X-Men, only they're part of the Canadian government or something. And Scott told me their leaders aren't even mutants - just the Alpha Flight operatives themselves. I can't believe that there are regular humans who would choose to work with a team of mutants. I wish my parents could hear about this. I wonder if it would make a difference to them, if they realized that some people think it's okay to be a mutant. I wonder if they even think about me. Maybe they're sorry they kicked me out. Yeah, and maybe pigs can fly, too.
Anyway, the project is in Saskatchewan, which is way out in the western part of Canada. I think I should have paid more attention in geography classes - I never heard of Saskatchewan. And it's a joint project of the X-Men and Alpha Flight. We're building a secret center way up north and in the middle of nowhere. It sounds like one of those places Robert Service writes about - maybe that's why Scott has been reading his poems. So, we're checking in with Alpha Flight and then going to the new center. I'm supposed to use my vision to figure out where they are going to dig a well. I sure hope my sight works this time. It's been really working good, lately. I think I've got the hang of it. But what if I can't see when I'm there? What if I can't control it? I'm getting nervous about this. I could be a hero or a useless dork. It all depends on my eyes.
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