Primus Scholae: Part Two

by Phil Hartman

CEREBRO DATAFILE:

COLLECTIVE CODEFAX: NEW MUTANTS II

FILE 02:

CODEFAX: Cable
REAL NAME: Summers, Nathan Christopher Charles
DOB: 9/1/87
AGE: 13
HEIGHT: 5'2"
WEIGHT: 106 lbs
HAIR: Brown
EYES: Blue
POWERS: Alpha-class psionics, pre/retrocognition

FILE 04:

CODEFAX: Lumen
REAL NAME: Summers, Jesse Robert
DOB: 8/12/89
AGE: 11
HEIGHT: 4'5"
WEIGHT: 65 lbs
HAIR: Red
EYES: Blue
POWERS: Alpha (?)-class photogeneration/photokinesis

9/2/00: Massachusetts Academy: 07:15 hrs EDT:

He blinked, yawning, as he crept down the tunnel towards the Danger Room complex, his older brother ahead of him.

~Up the lumens, kid,~ Nate sent to Jesse. The younger Summers boy obliged, glowing brighter to let them see in the gloom which the emergency lights failed to pierce.

"Nate ? You sure Uncle Sean and Ms. Frost'll be OK with your working out like this ?" Jesse asked, watching as Nate opened the door to the staircase access of the boys' locker room.

Nate looked over his shoulder to let Jesse read his lips, and said, "They've got my medfile and combat rating from the Mansion. They know what I'm capable of. I just need a spotter in the control booth."

"OK," Jesse sighed. They trudged into the room, finding their pre-assigned lockers, and Nate set his psimitar down before digging out his training skinsuit.

"Remember your jock and cup when we get started in power and combat training," Nate warned, starting to get changed. "Otherwise, don't be a doof and wear anything else underneath your training suit. It looks really dumb."

"OK," Jesse said, blushing. Nate smirked at him, listening as his brother said, "I'll look dumb anyway though."

"What, 'cause you're 11 and the rest of us are 13 ? Relax, bud - we're all guys," Nate said, zipping up his suit's front. "Or are you worried about what the girls will think ?"

Jesse blushed again, his glow shifting to red, but a small smile played about his lips. "They won't wanna look at me. I'm just a kid," he said softly.

"So ? Dom and I are practically engaged, and you KNOW who Ray's drooling over," Nate said, winking. "Have a little self-confidence, bud."

"I'll try," Jesse said. He watched Nate unsheath his psimitar and said, "But ... I still feel all weird around girls. I don't know what to say."

"Then take your time. Listen, learn, and wait a few years," Nate said, examining the psi-amplifying weapon. "There's no law saying you have to pursue the opposite sex right now. We're not gonna keel over dead, after all."

"Thanks, Nate - y'know, for listening to me ?" Jesse said, following Nate to the control booth.

"That's what big brothers are for. Now, stop being mushy and program me up a level 8 round of jerk swatting," Nate said, re-entering the main Danger Room.

Jesse slid behind the control panel, finding the pre-programmed training sequence Nate had inputted the day before, and activated it. "10 Hand ninjas, coming up," he said into the microphone.

He shivered involuntarily as a feral grin crossed Nate's face, and 10 ninja warriors appeared across a suddenly-materializing wharf, a Madripoorean moon shining down from a night sky which had not existed microseconds before.

#He's so good at this ... and he kicks butt !# Jesse realized, amazed at the fluidity of his brother's movements. The first sweep of the psimitar telekinetically hammered two ninjas into the water, faint afterglows emanating from their dissolution.

Nate ducked a third's sword, then teke-blasted the ninja against a wharf pillar, ignoring the hologram as it melted. A fourth lunged at him, screaming before it faded under a psimitar swipe.

Jesse tried not to cry out when shuriken cut the air

- and impacted harmlessly against Nate's TK-shield. He looked over his shoulder amidst a golden glow, and smirked when a telekinetic fist slammed a fifth ninja into oblivion.

Nate's head snapped back around, and he parried a sword-stroke from a sixth ninja before sweeping the "man" off his feet and striking his foe with a downthrust of the psimitar.

A seventh ninja never saw the psimitar twirling through the air, end over end, until it found purchase in his flesh. The weapon returned to Nate's outstretched hand, claiming the eighth and ninth ninjas on its return arc.

#Would he really kill a real person ?# Jesse thought, shivering.

He blinked when the biosensor flickered, reading, [SECOND BIOFORM: MUTANT: ENTERING SCENARIO.]

The 10th ninja screamed once more, dying, as three rents in his tunic leaked blood.

And Jesse gasped, turning ashen before hammering the microphone button and yelling, "NATE !"

His older brother just nodded, maneuvering his psimitar to a defensive position, and watched the air ripple as the newcomer revealed himself.

"Aces moves, bub," Logan said, half-smiling. "Rather flashy, though."

"Why am I not surprised to find you here ?" Nate said, returning the smirk. "A little panache never hurt, old man."

"Well then, boy, you goin' to stand there all day, or do I have t'schedule an appointment ?" Logan snorted.

Jesse's eyes bugged when Nate dropped the psimitar and bowed.

"Your assessment, sensei ?" the boy asked, letting Logan examine the psimitar.

***

"You never told me Mr. Logan was your martial arts teacher !" Jesse exclaimed, getting changed for his own session while Nate showered.

"Who better to teach me ? He might still want Mom, Jess, but Logan's kicked more ass than most superheroes combined," Nate said, toweling off and donning a spare skinsuit. "I'd have to be an idiot not to have him as a teacher if I want to be ready for...."

He trailed off, giving Jesse a "we'll-talk-later" look when their other male classmates came in from breakfast.

"Explain to me again, Summers, why your baby brother here is training with us ? A deaf X-Man is no X-Man at all," Bill Shade sneered.

He yelled when the lights flickered.

"Lemme alone, you jerk," Jesse growled, wincing when his voice broke. "Just 'cause I can't hear doesn't mean I can't help people somehow."

Nate and Joe grinned at Jesse, while Bill rolled his eyes and muttered, "Snotnosed little ..."

"Bill. Spare us and shut up," Tom pleaded. "Jesse's just deaf, not paralyzed. Besides, Nate carries a big, sharp stick. I don't want to see you dismembered before the semester ends."

[next part]

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