Issue #3 - Energize me

Issue #3 - Energize me

It was all happening so quickly. Two days ago Jacob Robinson was just an ordinary teenager - a 17-year-old with a lot of problems, but who doesn't have them in his age? At school he was a well-liked person, both by his peers and teachers. He was a decent student too, so it always helped... and what helped him even more was his rising fame as a sportstar in the local football team. Of course none of these people knew about his deepest secret. He was gay, not that he thought anything was wrong with, but it was better they they didn't know. Prejudice runs deep and as it was shown by the media homosexualism can destroy your sports career. It was wrong, but what could he do about it? A thought had crossed his mind actually. Recently he discovered his powers. He turned out to be a mutant, not mere homo sapiens, but homo sapiens superior. He was better, he could do so much more! As the handsome redhead named Jason revealed to him mutants were the next step of evolution of the humankind, but this evolution was happening a bit too quickly for people to handle. Those super-powers, those gifts - or curses, it depends how you look at it - manifest randomly in random people all over the world, but their numbers increase with every day. And he, Jacob Robinson, son of Harold and Melinda Robinsons, was one of them. One of those in whose hands the future lay.

Jason and his friend Dream had sent their Academy's brochure - Academy for Gifted Youngsters, it said, gifted was a very good term for describing who they truly were without making it too obvious. It was their newest project, a boarding school for young mutants who had just manifested their abilities. Its goal was to help them in controlling them. Jake couldn't help but feel so excited about going there. Jason had booked their flight to Los Angeles. As it seemed he stayed in Seattle for some time more and so the two flew to their base of operation together. The red-haired man was so nice - while he may have been a bit too self-confident at times (that cocky grin of his certainly added to his personal charm!), he was a very helpful person who answered every of Jake's questions. He also kept him company, comforted him, made sure he didn't worry too much about leaving home or being a mutant and when the flight became to boring to handle, he used his illusions powers (of course, used in such a way that only the two of them saw the phantasms) so the time passed much quicker. They were landing. On the airport a red ferrari already awaited them. "Come, Jake." He said and pointed at his car. The two quickly made their way to the suburbs and then to a remote place where the mansion was located.

Perhaps a mansion was a bit too much, because while it was very big, it wasn't a mansion. It certainly looked very well, all was in a certain modern tone, done with taste. The gate opened, letting them in. They parked their car in the garage and quickly moved through the yard. There were many figures, some pieces of art, some less so and even more plants. The area was huge - while the building may not have been the biggest he had ever seen, there was more than enough space to build two or three more such houses nearby. "Yeah," Jason spoke, as if he read his thoughts - or his face, "I know it's not too big, but it helps us keep a low profile. If suddenly we built a Playboy Mansion, someone could get suspicious... especially that we start brining young students from all over country. And it's not like the other mutant organizations don't have means to detect mutants... Most of them do, be it other mutants or technology, they're capable of it and it could make us a target. And we'd rather not be." He gave him a cocky grin, "So, ready to go in? We'll get your things, I'll show you your room, you'll meet Dream, she's the other advisor here, as well as a teacher. We're still in process of 'getting' new people in, so there's only one other mutant there. Actually... our goal right now is saving my friend, making his mind whole again and because he's a powerful telepath he'll be able to scan other mutants for us to take care of. But since we need you to wake him up... God, I hope that you'll be able to do that." For the very first time, Jake could feel that Jason was actually worried sick about wellfare of the one he was talking about. It was so unlike him, his aura changed from his usual cheeriness to sadness. "Totally by accident we found a young mutant though, so we offered him a place here. You'll meet him in a second." He smiled, showing his perfect white teeth. "Ready?" They entered the place and from inside it seemed much bigger than from outside. They moved to a huge living room, where a woman in her late twenties sat, working on a laptop of hers. She wore a sleveless red shirt and a short skirt (in the same color).

"We're back, Dream." Jason gave her a smile. She looked at both of you and smiled warmly.

"Welcome back Jason and hello to you, Mr. Robinson. My name is Dream Dayspring. I'm the other advisor and a teacher too. It's a pleasure to meet you." Her accent was indeed southern.

Jake could hardly believe it all was real. He had thought maybe it was all some joke, that is until they were actually on the plane and on their way to LA. The Ferrari that had been waiting for them was amazing, and Jake's eyes had practically bugged out of his head when Jason had mentioned that it was their ride.

The mansion, while not quite a mansion, was still huge. The grounds too were beautiful. The whole thing was just amazing. Jake asked Jason various questions about it, trying to find out everything he could about the place and about mutants in the world and what different mutants could do.

As they arrived, they were greeted by Dream and Jake gave her a smile, blushing a little as she called him Mr. Robinson, "Please.. just Jake. And it is very nice to meet you too. I can't thank you guys enough for this opportunity."

Dream smiled and nodded, "As you wish, Jake. I take it that Jason has already answered all the questions you may have about this place or mutankind in general?" Her voice was melodic and even though she looked so innocent and young, it contained all the wisdom of a professor. "If that is not the case, I'll be happy to do so. Of course, if Jason doesn't mind." He gave him a warm smile.

"Oh, Dream, you know. How could I be mad at you?" He winked at her.

Jake just smiled, watching the exchange between the two of them. "Yeah, he's been answering everything for me.." he said, "I bet I'll have more questions.. but.. I guess for now I think that's all I can think of."

He looked around, "This place is amazing. How many people live here right now?"

"Three. Me, Jason and our young resident Erik." Dream said, but Jason quickly chimed in.

"Actually four, with you - five." He pointed at Jake.

"Ah, yes, if you count Emmanuel..."

"That's our friend I've been telling you about..." Once again Jason chimed in.

"...but he's not even conscious. Worse, I think his mind has been shattered by a powerful psionic mutant and while his wounds have long healed, his psyche is still broken. The strength of that telepathic attack must have been terrible. I've never seen Emmanuel take a psionic hit before. As a telepath he should have been able to defend himself against almost any psychic assault and yet..."

"It's not like that. He must have been taken by surprise, you know how they work."

"Yes, you're probably right, but it's still a wonder that they have been able to disable him so quickly that he didn't even send out a telepathic S.O.S."

"They made a big mistake..." Jason's eyes closed, and Jake could feel his anger raising. "...but soon Em'll be healed and he'll tell us more about what's happened."

"I hope you're right. He has been unconscious for weeks now... and it was a miracle we were able to find him."

"Not a miracle, Dream, it's the money we paid to Omen."

Jake nodded as they spoke of who lived there. He had expected more people to live there, but it was so few, and one fewer without Emmanuel, the one he was supposedly going to help. He hoped he would do well enough.

He listened closely as they talk about what happened and how he was attacked.

Jake felt Jason's anger rising, and he reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder, "Hey, we'll help your friend. Don't worry." Jake knew he would.

"But.. who is Omen?"

"Yeah, we all hope so." Jason said, smiling to Jake. Dream gave them a curious smile, but she didn't comment. "I told you about Omen the first time we met. She was the one who foretold that you'd manifest. She told me where and when... for a price of course. Nothing comes without a price. She's an information broker, a powerful clairvoyant mutant. You know, creepy things like seeing you naked when you're taking a shower, all in her mind or reading your mind when you're thinking horny..." He laughed, trying to relax and not to think about the condition of Emmanuel.

"This is inapropriate, Jason. She is just a clairvoyant telepathy. Her mutant ability enables her to visualize things which are happening in far away places, as well as seeing the future or discovering the past."

"Yeah, yeah, I bet she watched a lot of people naked in their shower." He grinned.

"Eh, Jason, you're impossible."

"Yep, that's why you love me."

Jake listened and nodded. "Oh that's right, I didn't remember her name," he said.

As Jason talked about her powers, Jake blushed at the idea of what she could do, then he grinned a bit. He wasn't particularly shy, and in fact proud of his body and his various assets. She probably enjoyed it if she did look.

He shrugged a little, shaking his head a little as Jason and Dream playfully bickered, "Well hopefully she has better things to do.. if not, she gets what she deserves." He chuckled.

"Haha, you're right, Jake!" Jason laughed, but Dream felt at best uncomfortable. She shook her head and sighed loudly.

"I see that you have finally found yourself a soulmate, Jason. Someone who appreciates your weak attempts at humor." She said in an almost emotionless tone... but Jacob could feel that while she didn't show it, his comments made her her laugh too, but in her mind. She probably felt it was most inapropriate to do so... or just wanted to do the exact opposite thing of whatever the redhead was doing.

Jake laughed along with Jason, then glanced towards Dream and gave her a smile. He could feel that she liked it and thought it was funny. She was probably just more into the whole teacher thing and didn't think it appropriate to laugh at such things in front of a student. It felt weird to think of himself a student here. In a school with only a couple students? So strange.

He looked around the place again, "So.. what do we do first?"

"Right," Jason smiled and gave Jake a cocky grin, "we should get you settled, I'll show you your room and we'll get your stuff in there too. As we've had quite a long and tiring journey, I think it'll be for the best if we all rest a bit and only when you're well-rested we'll do something about Emmanuel's condition."

"I believe that this would be for the best." Dream said. "If you have any more questions, Jake, don't hesitate, ask." She smiled at him.

"You can always ask me too." Jason chimed in, winking at him. "Okay, let's go then." As they said, they did. They went upstairs and quickly got to a corridor with quite a few doors. "These are all rooms for our prospective students. My room's in another part of the building, as is Dream's and Em's. Here," he pointed at one of the doors, "it's Erik's. You may want to say hello to him, so just so you know where he lives. There's the restroom. And here it's your room. Come on, get in," he opened the door and Jake was surprised... It was not only large, but the luxury... wow. It had almost anything he would ever need, including TV set, radio, laptop, a small fridge and whatever else he would want. "Looks good for you?" He asked, taking care of Jake's things. "You need any further assistance?" the redhead asked him, as he grinned.

Jake nodded and followed Jason upstairs. He looked left to right and down the corridor. There were many more rooms here, obviously there was quite a bit more room for new students.

As they stepped inside, his eyes widened a little as he looked around. "Wow.." he said, this place is amazing, "This is.. all for me? I mean, to use while I'm here?" His family had been well off, but this stuff was even nicer, and they were just giving it to him. He could hardly believe it.

He blushed a little and shook his head at Jason's question, "No, I don't think so. We'll.. try to help your friend tomorrow? First thing?" Jake wanted to try soon. It sounded like the guy was in serious condition.

Once Jason was gone, Jake wasn't sure what to do next. Maybe he'd find out who that Erik person was?

"Of course," Jason said, smiling at him. "And thanks, Jake." He said as he left the room. Jake got to taking care of his things, unpacking and stuff, and when he was in process of putting his lingerie to the wardrobe, someone knocked on the door. He heard a weak boyish voice, "Uh, it's Erik." When he heard Jake inviting him, he opened the door and came in. As it seemed the other young mutant was a guy who looked younger than Jake, one or two years younger than him probably. He was tall and slim, not very muscled, as if only recently he started doing anything to improve his physical condition. He smiled and looked with his hazel eyes at the jock. "You're the new student?" His accent was Eastern European, it didn't sound as if he was in the USA for a long time. "I mean... uhm, you must be the new student. I'm Erik." He shook his head and run with his left hand through his short light brown hair, careful not to destroy the faux-hawk on his head. "It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand.

Jake jumped slightly at the knock. He'd been lost in thought, putting his stuff away, trying to keep it organized and put into places that he could remember at a later time when he was looking for it.

Turning, he saw the figure who called out. Jake paused for a moment as he looked at the cute boy, then he walked over and held out his hand to exchange handshakes, "Hey, yeah I'm Jake. Nice to meet you. They were telling me there was another student here. Doesn't it get a bit boring with so few people?"

"Uh, yes, it does." He said as they exchanged handshakes. He smiled shyly, "I haven't been around for long though... but it does get boring sometimes. Fortunately there's Jason." He smiled warmly, "...and Dream, of course!" He quickly added. "Uh, where are you from?"

Jake grinned a little at Erik's shyness. "I bet it does!" he said when Erik acknowledged that it can get boring. "How long have you been here?"

"And yeah.. Jason seems pretty cool so far," he said. Of course, Jason was totally hot too. "Dream I don't know very well yet," he added, "she doesn't seem to open up quite as well."

Jake ushered Erik into his room, "So this school should be pretty interesting, I guess.. What.. uhh... what can you do?" He paused, "Is that rude to ask?"

"A week. And, uh, Jason's a great help. I can talk to him whenever I feel like and he's always there to answer any questions I have. Dream... she may seem cold, but she is as nice. She's just more serious, I think." He said in his thick European accent. "Uh, I don't think it is. I mean, it's normal, yes? For mutants, uh, anyway." He was confused a bit, but then shrugged and touched his hair with his hand (he was doing it a lot). "I can, uh, regenerate. If I get beaten, I'll be back to be myself in just a few moments."

Jake nodded in agreement about Dream, "Yeah, she seems like she just tries to be more serious because she's a teacher or whatever."

His eyes widened a little as Erik told what he could do. "That's pretty cool," he said, thinking that it would have been useful a day or two ago. His bruises were still barely healed.

Jake smiled as Erik nervously touched his hair, and he got the feeling that Erik didn't meet new people very often or something.

"Your accent is pretty cool," he said, "but you speak English really good. Uhh.. really well. Where are you from?"

Erik smiled nervously, "I'm from Poland, and, uh, it's my first time in the America." He said quietly, "but, hey," It was then that he noticed some bruises and scars that hadn't healed yet on Jake's arm. "If you want, I can heal you... because, uh, I can heal other people too." His smile was now more of those shy ones, "and what can you do?"

Jake smiled, "That's cool, I've never met anyone from Poland." He paused, "And I guess I've never met anyone who could.. heal people. That's pretty cool. So you can just like.. heal anyone you find? That's amazing. You could save so many lives!"

"But yeah.. I mean.. I was in a fight a couple days ago, I'm still pretty bruised. You think you could fix it? It wouldn't be too much trouble would it?"

"As for me, I'm still kind of figuring it out," he said, not sure how to really explain what he could do, "They said I'm an Empath, which means I can feel other peoples emotions if I try and stuff."

Erik moved closer to Jake, "I'll try, it seems that they're mostly healed, so it shouldn't be too hard." He said, still smiling shyly, "Yeah, it'd be so great to be saving people..." He reached out and touched Jake's arm, on the jock's very eyes his bruises and scars just... disappeared! "Uhm, but, uh, I'll have to touch the site of injury if you want me to heal it completely." Erik was nervous, especially when Jake told him of his thing, "Like, you can feel what emotion I feel?" He felt that moment of awkwardness... and his embaressment.

Jake looked down as Erik touched him and gasped softly in amazement as the small bruises and scratches there faded from view. "Holy shit, that's awesome!" he said.

He nodded as Erik said he'd have to see and touch the areas in order to heal them. He supposed that made sense, if anything could make sense about mutants healing people. It didn't seem possible.

"Yeah, I can feel what you feel, kind of," he said, "I'm definitely not very good at it yet. But I can tell you're kind of shy." As Jake spoke, he pulled his shirt off, revealing all of the bruises and scrapes he had gotten there. "Don't be embarrassed about your power man, it is pretty cool!"

Erik's eyes lightened, when Jake pulled his t-shirt off, "Uh," he blushed, as his soft hand moved slowly on the jock's body, sending life energy into his body. It felt so... amazing, he could feel all that power - all that energy was making him, like, energized or something! It was totally working and making him more than ready to stand up and do whatever needed to be done! Even the feeling of exhaustion after the flight disappeared. Erik's hand continued its way and instantly healed all the bruises he had ever had and even some scars that he had got few years ago. Erik smiled, seeing that he made Jake feel so happy... and it was then that the empath noticed that all those bruises appeared on Erik's body! As if he was absorbing all the pain into himself. "Don't worry," he said, seeing that Jake had noticed it, "I'll heal in a minute." He said, smiling warmly... but still feeling embarrassed.

Because Jake is already on his maximum Health and Energy and Erik's power has a special option, Jake gains additional 6 red stones of Energy! Those additional stones will bleed off at rate 1/panel if they aren't spent.

Jake was feeling good, he was feeling pumped up and full of energy like he could run a marathon or win a game or kick some ass. It felt good. He wasn't tired anymore, was no longer considering taking a nap and he felt ready for anything.

But when Jake noticed the bruises appearing on Erik's body, his eyes widened and he quickly reached up, taking Erik's wrists gently but firmly in his hands and pulling them away, even as as Erik protested that they'd heal soon. Erik did say he healed quickly, but that didn't mean he didn't feel pain. "No dude.. I can live with some bruises, no way am I going to let you do that," he said.

He bounced on his feet a little, still feeling energized. "That's.. amazing though!" he said, "I feel awesome." He looked down at his chest and the bruises that were no longer there, reaching a hand up and touching himself where they used to be, "Crazy awesome."

Erik protested, when Jake pulled him away, concerned about his well-being. "It's okay. I heal really quickly... like... see?" He said, and the bruises and scratches that appeared on his body were disappearing before the empathic mutant's eyes! It was really amazing! "It's nothing, if you have some more bruises... uh, somewhere... on your, uh, body, I can, uh, heal them too." He blushed a bit, "or if you ever are hurt, come and see me." He whispered shyly, still feeling uncomfortable because of something.

Jake's Energy is now 20/15!