Welcome to Gaia! ::

Chapter 2

“Damn kid’s late again.” Mr. Silverman muttered into his soup, trying not to spill as he ate it.

Right as he brought the spoon to his mouth the front door banged open causing him to jerk and spill tomato juice on his whit shirt. He dropped the spoon with a curse and headed towards the bathroom to wash out his shirt in an attempt to keep it from becoming a permanent stain.

Mrs. Silverman pursed her lips when she saw it wasn’t Valiant, but Greg, another one of their foster kids, she and her husband fostered, that had come in the front door. Greg walked into the kitchen soaked wet and dripping on the kitchen floor.

“You’re messing up my floor! I just mopped today!” She gasped, feeling angry.

“Sorry, I’ll go clean up. I was just seeing if Kyle was back yet.” Greg apologized walking back to the wet room at the back door entrance.

“Kyle is on the DC field trip, he won’t get back until Sunday afternoon or evening.” Mrs. Silverman informed him.

“Hmm…I thought they left on Thursday at three am for the DC trip. I hope Kyle didn’t lie to you about that, seeing as he left today.” Greg said with a frown.

Mrs. Silverman’s eyes narrowed into slits and then cursed under her breath. Mr. Silverman came back into the room wearing only his undershirt with a satisfied look on his face, until he heard her cursing.

“What’s going on now, Liz?” He asked with a deep sigh.

“Our son lied to us about going on the DC trip, the bus left on Thursday at 3 am, as far as Greg knows.” She replied a pissed loon on her face.
The back door creaked on its hinges causing the three of them to turn around sharply and see Valiant walk in dripping wet in the wet room.

“Am I late?” Val asked, his breath coming out in a gasp. Mrs. Silverman’s face softened and then she turned to glance at the clock on the microwave oven.

“You’re about ten minutes late, but at least you’re home unlike Kyle.” Mrs. Silverman told him, still upset.

“What’s this about Kyle? I thought he went on the DC trip.” Val said as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

“He lied to us about going on the trip to Washington. Greg says the others left on Thursday at 3 am.” She replied, seething inwardly.

“Call the school to make sure, but I’m certain there was a bus that left today as well as the one that left yesterday.” Val told her.

“There was? Why would the school delay the departure of half of the group like that?” Mr. Silverman asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

“I’m not sure but I think it had something to do with having to get a new chaperone at the last minute.” Val replied, as he ladled vegetable soup into his bowl.

“Don’t eat that, ours has beef in it, yours is on the stove without the beef.” Mrs. Silverman said sharply putting her hand on his arm before he could take a spoonful of the soup.

“Right…thanks for stopping me.” Val replied tiredly. He pushed the bowl in front of Greg, taking the empty bowl in front of the other boy and walked over to the stove.

“Why is it you don’t eat any form of meat again?” Mr. Silverman asked, rubbing his jaw.

“My genetics are messed up and I can’t properly digest meat products at all. They also tend to make me deathly ill so I stay away from them.” Val replied eating the barley vegetable soup that Mrs. Silverman had made for him.

“Oh…right. They told us about that before we took you as a foster kid, I just forget.” Mr. Silverman said with a shrug.

“Well don’t eat too much, I have an apple crisp waiting in the oven. I found a new recipe online that uses honey instead of sugar and tastes just as good. Hopefully it won’t be too sweet for you.” Mrs. Silverman said with a warm smile.

“What about the rest of us?” Greg muttered into his bowl.

Mrs. Silverman frowned raising an eyebrow at Greg’s attitude.
“Enough of that young man, besides it will be better for all of us to eat less sugar than we do.”

“If you say so.” Greg retorted.

“That’s enough Gregory; there will be no more backtalk out of you tonight,” Mr. Silverman said in a low warning tone. “and stop slouching at the dinner table.”

“Yes Sir.” Greg replied straightening up in his seat but not looking very happy about his full name being used.

“I assume that since I was late arriving home that I will be confined to the house for the night?” Val asked.

The Silvermans turned to look at him as he spoke and then considered his words for a moment before they spoke.

“Yes.” Mrs. Silverman said.
“Not necessarily.” Mr. Silverman replied.

“Wait, what are you saying David?”

“It’s not our decision to make anymore. You’ve been taken out of the system because they’ve found records of who your guardian is. He’ll be here at 7:00 to pick you up.”

“I have a guardian? Why the hell did it take them two years to locate him? Did they tell you anything about him?” Val asked, every muscle in his body tensing up.

“His name is Victor Varoujan, he used to be part of the Armenian army and emigrated to the US over ten years ago. He’s a mechanic and engineering specialist, he’s working on a vehicle that will run on water. He’s in his late forties and apparently he’s your father’s cousin on his mother’s side.” Mr. Silverman explained, looking rather impressed.

“s**t, they’ve found me! I have to go now.” Val said, jumping to his feet and racing up the stairs to his room.

The Silvermans and Greg stared at each other in stunned silence before they erupted from their chairs and raced up after Val.

“Val what do you mean, why do you have to leave?” Greg demanded as he burst into their room.

Val looked up from the chest that he had been filling and replied.
“My father doesn’t have any cousins, my grandmother was an only child. The name he stole, Varoujan is the name of an Armenian poet who was murdered horribly decades ago. Just like my entire family was murdered years ago. The men that did it, want me dead as well and will stop at nothing to kill me. You may want to pack some suitcases and go away for the weekend. I’d hate to see you caught in the middle of this and end up dead because of me.” Val said looking up at the Silverman’s with sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I never meant to bring this sort of thing to your doorstep.”

‘It’s not your fault Val. We’ll go out of town and visit my sister’s family for a week or so. Where will you go?” Mr. Silverman asked.

“It’s better you not know in case they come after you.” Val replied closing the lid of the chest.

“How do you plan on lugging that big chest around with you?” Greg asked skeptically.

Val looked at the massive chest and smiled. He held his hands on either side of the chest and chanted a sort spell which caused the chest to shrink to the size of a pillbox.

“That’s how,” Val replied with a smile at their shocked expressions. “You needn’t worry about the house; it’s protected against any sort of harm. The only thing they could do is go through your belongings and break them.” He added.

Then he slipped past them, went down the stairs, and through the kitchen and into the wet room. He grabbed his dark gray trench coat and pulled it, stuck his miniaturized trunk into his backpack, zipped it up and left out the backdoor. Had he left a moment later he would have encountered a very enraged German behemoth of a man. As it was, he and the Silvermans got out of the house before their residence was visited by Carl Topham.
* * * * * * *


The rain poured down in a rush, completely soaking Val thoroughly. His bones even ached from the coldness. Had the rain been lighter he would have made use of his wings and flown to the X-men’s hideout. Yes, hideout. The X-men had been smarter and had decided to forgo the opulent conspicuous mansion for a safer residence for their families and students’ safety.


As it was, the rain would have driven him back to the ground had he tried to fly. So instead he opted for walking. Though walking in the middle of a rainstorm after 7 o’clock at night wasn’t really a wise way to be inconspicuous. Val frowned when he realized the rain was starting to come down harder than before. A sharp pang on his right shoulder caused him to look up and see that it had started to hail and it was starting to come down fast. That settled it, he had to get out of the storm until the hail let up. It wouldn’t be smart to wind up bruised and concussed from the hail.

He spied a run down building with broken windows, cracked bricks and rubble around it, seemingly empty and abandoned. He hurried through the storm and slide inside one of the larger openings in the broken wall quietly. He was glad to find nothing lurking in the shadows of the interior and located a safe spot in the rafters of the building and settled down to wait out the storm.

Outside the storm raged on without any sign of lifting or moving on. Val sighed, massaging his forehead and gave up any idea of leaving the building and arriving at the X-men residence anytime before the next day. Just as he was about to nod off to sleep he heard the sound of scuffling shoes echo through the building, and he was fully and completely alert and awake.

“Keep it quiet, who knows who’s hiding in here already!” hissed a voice in a low whisper.

“Clear over here.” Came another voice, this one female from under Val’s perch in the rafters. Val willed himself still and calm, not wanting to give away his presence without knowing who the people were and why they were scouting out an empty building.

“Clear here.” Came a brusque voice from the east corner of the building.

“All’s empty and the place shows no signs of disturbance. Let Callisto and the others’ know.” Came another voice from the west corner.

Within the next half hour the building was full of an odd assortment of mutants and mutates. Some were old, some young, but the majority of them were young adults. Val watched, intrigued by how such a large group was able to stay hidden from the riads from sentinels and government troops. He guessed they must be very streetwise and knew how to elude the two raiding groups better than other mutants that had to go to ground in New York.

“I thought you said the place was completely empty!” A woman’s voice growled causing everyone to go quiet at the accusation.

“It is Callisto, we checked the whole building.” One of the female scouts replied.

“Oh, so you checked from the top to the bottom?” The woman demanded coldly.

Val sighed loudly causing everyone to jump and glance up to the rafter where he was reclining.

The woman, an interesting sight with spiked short green hair, squid like appendages fro arms, tattoos, an eye patch and a very finely toned muscular body turned and shot an icy glare with her good eye up at him.

Val secured his belongings in the rafters and then jumped the whole ten feet to the floor landing without a sound on the balls of his feet, half crouched. His trench coat billowed out behind him and then settled on his frame as he rose to his full 5’ 9’’ height, a good three inches taller than the woman called Callisto. Several of the men started forward, one reaching out to grab him, only for Val to raise his hand and gaze at him with raised brows.

“Look, if you want me to leave then I will, I don’t want to cause you any distress. I just needed a place to stay out of the storm until it blew over.” Val said softly. “I’m sorry if I startled you.”

Callisto’s eyes bore into him for several moments before she signaled for the men to stand down as she approached Val.

“So tell me, why’s a nice kid like you not home with your family?”

Val just stared at her staying silent at the question, not sure of what to say or if he should answer at all. Finally he shrugged indifferently saying.
“It’s better for you and your people that you know less about me. So let’s just share the building in peace until morning and without any more questions.”

Callisto’s eyes and face went hard and dark as she glowered at him. “Fine, just stay up in your rafter and don’t’ bother us.” She shot back.

Val nodded, watching the others back away from him with mixed expressions of anger and curiousness. Then he turned and using a mix of gymnastics and wall climbing techniques made his way back into the rafters. He heard murmurs from the group below and frowned wondering if he had shown them more of his abilities than he had meant to. He had figured it would be better to not reveal his wings and raise more questions and curious stares than to use his physical prowess. Perhaps he had been wrong.

“Hey kid, you can at least tell me your name so I can stop calling you kid.” Callisto called from below staring up at him with a much more inquisitive stare than before.

“Call me Val, most people do.” He replied.

She nodded and then turned back to some task she was working on.
* * * * * *

“He’s not coming Mommy.” Rose said sadly staring out at the rain pouring down outside.

“Honey, he promised he’d be here, perhaps he’s just late.” Rogue told her daughter as she brushed Rose’s hair.

“No, I know he’s not coming. He’s on foot and he got caught in hail so he had to go inside somewhere. The rain’s not going to let up for a good while. He’s going to be stuck inside until it stops.” Rose replied with a loud sigh.

“How do you know that mi chere?” Remy asked with a frown as he joined his two girls in the living room.

Rose screwed up her face as she thought for a moment. “I don’t know, maybe he sent me a message with magic so I’d know.”

“Why wouldn’t he just pick up the phone and call?” Eric asked with a frown.

“Well maybe he doesn’t have a phone where he’s at!” Charles shot back at his brother.

“Charles…please not so loud, and watch your grammar.” Rogue said rubbing her forehead trying to ease away her headache.

“Yes Mom. I’m sorry I yelled, I forgot you had a headache.” Charles replied getting up to hug his mother.

Rogue smiled at him hugging him tightly, replying. “That’s alright, I forgive you. I’m glad I have such polite children.”

“Well,” Remy drawled, “Our children should be getting to bed because tomorrow starting early is going to be an exciting day for them.”

“It is? Where are we going?” Eric asked leaping up with excitement on his face, jumping up and down barely being able to contain himself.

“Oh no, I’m not saying. IT’s supposed to be a surprise.” Remy chuckled.

“Well it better be indoors cause it’ll be raining like mad all day tomorrow.” Rose predicted, staring out the window at the stormy sky.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s indoors. I think you’ll all have a lot of fun. The other kids are going as well.” He assured her.

“Yeah! This is going to be fun!” Charles nearly shouted and then raced from the room followed by Eric and Rose.

“Where are you all going in such a hurry?” Rogue and Remy heard Logan ask their kids as they ran past him coming down the stairs.

“To bed! The sooner we go to sleep the sooner tomorrow comes!” Rose replied without stopping her giddy race to bed.

Logan laughed as he came into the living room, shaking his head at the kids’ antics.

“So I guess you told them about the surprise outing for tomorrow.” He commented.

“yeah, the kids got a little overexcited about it, I hope they didn’t startle you too much.” Rogue replied with a happy smile.

“No, not as much as Jack and Lily did when Jean and I told them about it. Did Emma tell you that Emily tried to pick her head to find out where we’re going to take them tomorrow?” Logan asked, a bemused look in his gray eyes.

“No.” Rogue laughed. “I guess she’s just as headstrong as Emma is. I can’t imagine what she’ll be like when she’s a teenager.”

“That she is. I’m betting she’ll be a lot like Scott when she gets to be a teenager. Heaven help us all.” Logan replied with a laugh. Then his face grew serious, as he looked thoughtfully out the window at the storm raging outside.

“So the kid didn’t show up then?”

“No, and he didn’t call either.” Remy replied in a low voice.

“It’s possible that he got caught in the storm. At least that’s what Rose believes happened.” Rogue said.

“I don’t know…there was something off about him. He didn’t smell right to me and Scott says the kid has these really bizarre clawed feet. He got a hair off the kid and sent it to Moira to check it out. He seems pretty dead set to prove the kid’s not what he appears to be.”

Rogue frowned as she searched Logan’s face for a few minutes before she spoke gently.

“That’s Scott’s opinion, I’d like to know what you think of him Logan.”

“ I don’t really know what to think. All I know is this strange kid shows up, heals one of the kids, brings up all this magic business and claims Rose will manifest magical powers in a few weeks. I can’t help but wonder if we’re a bit too quick in accepting everything he told us at face value. I would have been a little less wary of him if we had gotten more background information about him.”

“Which is why I asked him to come over to see what he’d do. And to see how Lockheed would respond to him, he does tend to be able to pick up things that we can’t.” Rogue replied.

“Well he is a perfect judge of character, or lack of it.” Remy commented with a laugh remembering the last encounter an outsider had had with Lockheed.

Logan and Rogue laughed hard at the memory.
“Yeah, that is true. Well when he does show up, let me and Scott know. We want to be there for you and whatever happens.” Logan said turning to leave the living room.

“We appreciate that about you and Scott. It’s been a lot better for all of us being together like this, especially the kids.” Rose said, getting up from the couch and hugging Logan warmly, kissing him on the cheek.

“Yeah it has, and to think I never could have imagined my life with kids and now my life is now pretty much only about them.” Logan replied with a happy smile.

“I know, I still can’t believe it. I think Fatherhood has mellowed you out a lot Logan.” She replied.

“Oh god, don’t let the teens hear you say that, I don’t want my reputation being damaged.” Logan interjected, quickly glancing around to make sure a teenager wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation.

At this Rogue and Remy laughed heartily which made Logan roll his eyes as he left the room. When the two of them had worn themselves out they collapsed together on the couch.

“Well,” Remy said finally after a few moments of staring into her green eyes. “Rose will probably end up sleeping with us again tonight.”

“Most likely,” Rogue said absently playing with his hair. “is that going to be a problem?” She asked looking up suddenly into his eyes.

“Well it certainly puts a damper on any romantic notions I might have been thinking of,” Remy whispered, playfully tugging her earlobe.

“Oh really? Well if you can hold on to those “romantic” ideas of yours until Saturday, I think we’ll be able to figure something out.” Rogue replied leaning into him, her lips inches away from his left ear.

Remy groaned and pulled her onto his lap, burying his hands into her soft reddish brown hair as he captured her mouth and began to ravish it with his lips and tongue. Rogue moaned low in her throat, lifting her arms to hang around his neck, drawing him closer to her. After what seemed like an eternity in bliss, they finally broke their lip-lock and sank into each other breathless.

“Why Saturday?” Remy finally questioned a quizzical look on his face.

“Saturday is our night off from the team duties and I’ve gotten a babysitter for the kids so we could have a night for ourselves. I thought we could get a room somewhere nice and have some fun with role-playing.” Rogue replied with a devilish grin.

Remy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise then lowered in a very appreciative and speculative expression. Rogue couldn’t help but laugh at the abrupt shift of her husband’s mood.

“Do we have anyone in the med lab?” Remy asked, with a sudden gleam in his eyes.

Rogue abruptly stopped laughing, her eyes widening at the suggestion behind his question.

“I don’t believe there is.” At these words the two of them snuck off like two love struck teenagers.

* * * * * * *




Val finally awoke to silence. The thundering rain was no longer attacking the steel rooftop overhead. He stretched, attempting to loosen the muscles in his back that had tightened from a night’s sleep on a wooden rafter. His back protested as it popped in response to the movements he was making.

His gaze fell to the floor below where the Morlocks had bedded down the night before. It was covered in their still twitching sleeping forms. One man standing in the far east corner of the building watched him as he descended from the rafters with his backpack slung over one shoulder. Val saluted the man before he turned to exit the warehouse through a broken window.

He instantly stilled all motion the moment he caught sight of the large muscular man loitering across the street reading a newspaper in an attempt to be inconspicuous but failing at it. Val ducked down underneath the window with a epithet at the tip of his tongue. The guard’s attention alerted by Val’s actions began to move towards him. Val motioned the guard to stay put and then spoke in a low tone that carried through the damp still air of the warehouse.

“I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the guy across the street is looking for me. As long as you and the Morlocks don’t get involved in anyway he probably won’t bother you.”

The guard eyed him for a moment before he pointed out an opening in the back of the warehouse to Val. Val shook his head.

“He already knows I’m here. It would be better if I engage him so the Morlocks don’t suffer because of me.”

Val gulped in some air and exhaled slowly, then stood up and went out the broken window while the guard watched with wide eyed astonishment.

The moment Val’s heel struck the glass strewn pavement, the man snapped his paper closed and raised his eyes to stare at Val menacingly. Val met the piercing gaze without flinching or blinking, his white glazed eyes taking in the man’s face. A strange look flitted over the behemoth’s face as Val determinedly strode across the street coming to a stop only a few feet away.

“Are you here for me?” Val asked calmly as a sudden unexplained peace washed over him.

“Shouldn’t you be at home safe in bed kid?” The man asked roughly with fear laced in his voice.

Val immediately realized why the man was so uneasy. It was because he was a cop. He was most likely a lookout for the Morlocks or other errant mutants that might be in the area.

“I don’t have a home other than abandoned buildings.” Val replied.

The man frowned eyeing him up and down either trying to read his body language to see if he was lying or to assess if he looked enough like a homeless teen.

“Well then you’d better get a move on, mutants tend to over run the neighborhood. Who knows what they’d do to a kid like you.”

Val nodded then turned back to the warehouse. “well then I’d better go get the rest of my stuff, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t one of them.”

“Well that wasn’t too smart, if I had been a mutant I could have attacked you or worse.” The man called after him.

When Val stepped back into the warehouse through the broken window he was met by the strained expressions of the Morlocks. He motioned for Callisto and strode to a back corner of the warehouse out of the hearing range of the others. Callisto was joined by four other mutants who looked rather pissed by being awoken so early in the morning.

“The man out there is a policeman. He’s most likely on the lookout for groups of mutants. You need to get out of here immediately. I have no doubt that the building is surrounded by other undercover cops just waiting to raid it.”

Callisto frowned, a look of frustration and helplessness on her face.
“And just how do you propose we get out of here without being caught? If we’re surrounded…we don’t really have a chance of getting away.”

“Well if you will allow me I could try to do an invisibility spell over everyone…only you’d all have to be touching or connected in some way or it wouldn’t last long enough.”

Callisto’s eyebrows rose as she stared at him with frank surprise.
“You could do that?”

“Well,” Val paused. “I’ve only done it on thirty people before so I’ve never actually done it on this large of a group before. If I had more time I could create a portal to anywhere you wanted to go. However, the policeman fully expects me to be coming out of here and leaving within the next few moments. I expect the moment I’m out he and the others will storm the place.”

“Do whatever you can do, you’d only have to get us a block or two to the nearest sewer opening for us to get away to safety.”

“I can probably manage to do that.” Val agreed.

Hey that's fine Gabryl. I already know there is too much dialogue going on and not enough action at this point. I'll be fixing that soon.
I appreciate the comment.