Theo thought offering the Morlocks a safe place to live, decent food and the ability to walk in the sun without having to hide themselves would be easy. It turns out he was wrong. While some of them liked the idea and agreed, others hated the offer and thought they were fine where they were.
So while most of the people left to go live in Genosha, a handful stayed behind. Theo did offer to make their lives better, but the people who wanted to stay refused even that. Apparently you can't always help everyone, at least that was the lesson Theo learned.
As for Leech, he was brought back to the main base with Ezekiel. While Annalee would go to Genosha, after she had Inoichi take a look inside her head. When Annalee was younger her children were killed and that drove her crazy. Her powers mixed with her mental state was a bad combination, which is why Leech was forced to be around her and keep her powers in check with his own.
Hopefully Inoichi could sort her out and fix the damage. Or at least make her somewhat better. Otherwise Ezekiel planned to clone her a new body without her x-gene. As for Leech, well the boy made some new friends.
vvvvv
Ezekiel waited for Leech to pack his things, even though he told Leech he would get all new stuff. But Leech still wanted to bring his book and spare clothes. They were all wrapped up in his tattered blanket, which he carried over his shoulder.
Ezekiel shook his head as he created a portal for them to the main base. After they stepped through the portal, Leech looked around in awe as Ezekiel checked his tablet. He smiled slightly to himself as he said, “Alright Leech, this will be your home from now on. Follow me and I will introduce you to some people.”
Leech glanced at the room as he asked, “Home?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Yes. You can stay here while you help my friends. Once that's finished, you can either stay here or go wherever you like.”
Leech dropped his sack and quickly dug through it. He pulled out his book and opened it up to a random page as he asked, “Leech go here?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “I can take you there in a few weeks if you like, after you get settled in.”
Leech smiled and said, “Yes, Leech wants.”
Ezekiel patted the boy on the back as he said, “Come on, let's go get you a room and get you cleaned up.”
As Leech started to repack his bag he asked, “Clean?”
“Ya, you kinda smell and your clothes are filthy. We need to clean you up so you give off a good first impression to everyone else.”
Leech tilted his head and asked, “Smell?”
Ezekiel glanced at the boy and paused, he forgot Leech didn't have a nose. Ezekiel pointed at his own nose as he said, “Normally people have a nose like me. It allows you to smell things and helps increase the taste of things.”
Leech reached up to his own face and touched it a few times. When he didn't find a nose he glanced down at the ground and said, “Monster Leech. No nose.”
Ezekiel gently patted the boy’s shoulder as he said, “You're not a monster Leech. You're just a little different. But don't worry. Once you help my friends out, you'll be able to turn off your powers and look normal and boring. Just like everyone else.”
Leech glanced back up his pure white eyes glimmered a little as he asked, “Leech no monster?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Nope, just different.”
Leech smiled back as Ezekiel said, “Follow me and I will show you where you'll live.”
Leech followed along and looked at everything as they moved towards the dorm section. It didn't take them long till they came to the room Leech would use. Ezekiel tapped the lock on the door with his tablet, then opened the door. As they stepped inside Ezekiel turned on the light switch next to the door.
The interior of the room was plain. Only a bed, night stand, small work table and chair dotted the room. Off to one side was a closet along with a door to the bathroom.
Leech looked around the room in wonder for about a minute before he asked, “New Leech home?”
“Yes, you'll live here from now on. But first let's get you cleaned up.” Ezekiel said as he moved towards the bathroom.
He opened the door to show a standard bathroom, toilet, sink, shower/bath combo. He waved to the shower and said “Step inside there for a minute, with all of your stuff.”
Leech followed directions and stepped into the shower and then looked back at Ezekiel. Ezekiel pointed at some runes carved into the shower wall as he said, “This is a normal shower and a magic shower. You slide your finger down this rune here and the magic will clean everything in the shower area.”
Leech looked at the runes, then the faucet. He studied them each for a few seconds before he looked at Ezekiel and asked, “Shower?”
Ezekiel let out a sigh and said, “I'll need to give you a crash course on this stuff. For now just stand still inside here. I'll start the show for you.”
Leech nodded as Ezekiel swiped his finger over the rune. The shower hummed as golden spell lines formed around it. Leech glanced around, his mouth hung open as he watched the spell lines floating around him. The golden lines formed up a pattern, before it circled around Leech and moved up and down his body.
With each pass, Leech and his clothes became cleaner. It didn’t fix the damage to his clothes or the faded color. But once it was finished, Leech and his belongings were the cleanest they had ever been. Ezekiel flashed the boy a smile as Leech looked at his fresh clean clothes in wonder.
Ezekiel patted him on the shoulder and said, “Now that you're clean, let me give you a crash course on how all this stuff works. Follow me to your bed.”
Leech was still looking at his clothing in wonder as he followed Ezekiel to his bed. Ezekiel had him lay on his bed and put Leech under a genjutsu. The genjutsu was designed to explain common concepts and manners to Leech, like taking a shower, how to use the bathroom, proper way to use silverware, what a handshake was. It also helped him memorize the bases layout, where the cafeteria was, rec room, his room and other important areas.
Ezekiel could probably make a genjutsu to teach the boy how to speak properly. But he thought just putting the boy through school with the other kids would be better. He wasn't completely sure how old Leech was, but he couldn't be older than fourteen years old.
Caliban, before he left for Genosha. Told Ezekiel that he found Leech as a baby about twelve years ago. He was pretty sure Leech was abandoned because of his looks, so he took the boy to the catacombs and he was raised there ever since.
Ezekiel was pulled out of his thoughts as Leech sat up in bed. Leech looked around the room as his eyes studied everything. A new understanding flickered behind his eyes as he took everything in. As his eyes came to rest on Ezekiel, Leech smiled and said, “Thank you.”
Ezekiel returned the smile and said, “You're welcome. Now how about I introduce you to the other kids?”
Leech nodded as he said, “Leech like.”
Ezekiel stood up and led Leech out of the room. They headed towards the training room, where all of the kids should be. They should be just about finished with their physical training with Steve and the others for the day.
As they entered the massive training room, they saw a large group of people near the sparring arena. Only a handful of people noticed them as they approached. Almost everyone else was focused on the two people sparring.
In the arena Steve and Bucky were trading blows with each other. Both men were still adjusting to their new bodies and moved in what could only be considered a deadly dance. With each punch, a block, parry or dodge would answer. Followed shortly by a counter attack and the dance would continue.
Ezekiel could admit, he was a little jealous of how easily both men moved around the ring, trading blows that could easily injure or kill a normal person.
Practicing alone or with his clones most of the time just wasn't the same as sparring against another person. Oh he could spar with Tao, but she liked to add magic into the mix. While great, it just wasn't the same as what these two men were doing. Just using physical strength and skill to push them to their limits.
Leech watched the two men fighting with his eyes widened, as a concept he had never thought of before entered his mind. If he could learn to fight like that, people wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore. This was something he had to learn.
The spar lasted a few more minutes before Bucky was able to slip past Steve's guard. He landed a devastating blow to Steve's stomach that forced him to double over.
Everyone cheered as Steve stayed like that for a half a minute trying to catch his breath. Bucky smiled and waved at everyone before he patted Steve on the shoulder and helped raise him back up.
Both men smiled at each other as Bucky said, “That makes us even, thirty for thirty now.”
Steve nodded in response, still trying to fully catch his breath. As everyone settled down, Ezekiel whistled loudly. As everyone turned their attention towards Ezekiel, they noticed the strange person next to him.
Next to Ezekiel stood what could best be described as an alien with green skin, instead of the normal gray you would see on a TV show. The person was short and stood only a little taller than four feet. Their head was larger than normal and shaped like an upside down egg, with their chin ending in a point. Large oval shaped white eyes took in everyone as the person stepped back slightly at the sudden attention. Their three fingered hands clenched slightly and they seemed to cower as they tried to move behind Ezekiel.
Ezekiel placed a reassuring hand on Leech’s shoulder as he said, “Hey everyone, I wanted to introduce someone to all of you. This young man is named Leech, he’ll be joining us from now on.”
A girl appeared out of the air in front of Leech and looked at the boy for a moment before she said, “I’m Ava, it’s nice to meet you. Why is your skin green?”
Leech flinched back as the girl appeared, but Ezekiel’s hand kept the boy mostly in place. When he realized nothing happened Leech looked at the smiling girl and said, “Leech always green.”
Ezekiel smiled and said, “He’s a meta-human like Cessily.”
Ava nodded in understanding as Cessily walked out of the group, along with her main group of friends. Gabby was the second fastest and moved close to Leech as she said, “Hi! I’m Gabby, it’s nice to meet you. You're a meta-human? What’s your power? Is it cool? I have claws and can heal!”
Leech looked at Ezekiel for help as Laura came next to her sister and said, “Settle down Gab’s, he’s nervous.”
Ezekiel removed his hand from Leech’s back as he said, “Leech has never been to school, so take it slow with him Gabby. As for his powers, they are special and it’s why he’s named Leech. Which at some point we should probably change.”
Ezekiel glanced over to Cessily as he said, “Come over here for a moment Cessily.”
As Cessily stepped in front of Ezekiel and Leech, Ezekiel said, “Leech, this is Cessily. She is one of the people you are gonna help.”
Both Leech and Cessily turned to look at Ezekiel as he smiled at them both and said, “Shake hands.”
Cessily turned to regard Leech for a moment as Leech raised his hand. She took his hand in her’s and slowly from her fingertips her powers were sucked back into her body. Cessily stood in complete shock and everyone around them watched in silence as Cessily’s liquid metal body turned into pale white skin.
It took about a minute, but before long Cessily’s whole body was normal again. She looked down at herself as tears formed in the corners of her green eyes. Before she pulled Leech into a tight hug as she started to cry. Leech froze, his arms out to the side doing a t-pose as he looked up at Ezekiel in horror.
Ezekiel started to laugh and other people joined in, since the look on Leech’s face was just too much. It took about a minute but Cessily finally released Leech from her grip. The boy, finally free, scrambled to place himself behind Ezekiel.
Ezekiel couldn’t help himself and laughed a little harder. Once he calmed down he pulled Leech out from behind him as he said, “Cessily didn’t mean to scare you, she was just happy.”
Cessily her cheeks were flushed red as she said, “Sorry, it’s just been so long since I’ve felt anything. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you.”
Leech glanced at the girl for a few moments before he said, “You’re welcome.”
Cessily smiled and glanced at Ezekiel as she asked, “How long does this last for?”
“No clue. But with Leech’s help we should be able to figure out a way for you and others to turn off your powers.”
Cessily nodded and then asked, “Can I take Leech to the kitchen and the island? I really want to eat ice cream and sit in the sun.”
Leech perked up about the sun comment as Ezekiel glanced at him. Ezekiel smiled and said, “You would have to ask him, not me.”
Cessily turned to Leech as she asked, “Would you like to eat ice cream and sit on the beach for a while?”
Leech nodded and said, “Leech like sun.”
“Great! Come on, let's go.” Cessily grabbed Leech’s hand and pulled him out of the room as her friends followed behind.
Theo thought offering the Morlocks a safe place to live, decent food and the ability to walk in the sun without having to hide themselves would be easy. It turns out he was wrong. While some of them liked the idea and agreed, others hated the offer and thought they were fine where they were.
So while most of the people left to go live in Genosha, a handful stayed behind. Theo did offer to make their lives better, but the people who wanted to stay refused even that. Apparently you can't always help everyone, at least that was the lesson Theo learned.
As for Leech, he was brought back to the main base with Ezekiel. While Annalee would go to Genosha, after she had Inoichi take a look inside her head. When Annalee was younger her children were killed and that drove her crazy. Her powers mixed with her mental state was a bad combination, which is why Leech was forced to be around her and keep her powers in check with his own.
Hopefully Inoichi could sort her out and fix the damage. Or at least make her somewhat better. Otherwise Ezekiel planned to clone her a new body without her x-gene. As for Leech, well the boy made some new friends.
vvvvv
Ezekiel waited for Leech to pack his things, even though he told Leech he would get all new stuff. But Leech still wanted to bring his book and spare clothes. They were all wrapped up in his tattered blanket, which he carried over his shoulder.
Ezekiel shook his head as he created a portal for them to the main base. After they stepped through the portal, Leech looked around in awe as Ezekiel checked his tablet. He smiled slightly to himself as he said, “Alright Leech, this will be your home from now on. Follow me and I will introduce you to some people.”
Leech glanced at the room as he asked, “Home?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Yes. You can stay here while you help my friends. Once that's finished, you can either stay here or go wherever you like.”
Leech dropped his sack and quickly dug through it. He pulled out his book and opened it up to a random page as he asked, “Leech go here?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “I can take you there in a few weeks if you like, after you get settled in.”
Leech smiled and said, “Yes, Leech wants.”
Ezekiel patted the boy on the back as he said, “Come on, let's go get you a room and get you cleaned up.”
As Leech started to repack his bag he asked, “Clean?”
“Ya, you kinda smell and your clothes are filthy. We need to clean you up so you give off a good first impression to everyone else.”
Leech tilted his head and asked, “Smell?”
Ezekiel glanced at the boy and paused, he forgot Leech didn't have a nose. Ezekiel pointed at his own nose as he said, “Normally people have a nose like me. It allows you to smell things and helps increase the taste of things.”
Leech reached up to his own face and touched it a few times. When he didn't find a nose he glanced down at the ground and said, “Monster Leech. No nose.”
Ezekiel gently patted the boy’s shoulder as he said, “You're not a monster Leech. You're just a little different. But don't worry. Once you help my friends out, you'll be able to turn off your powers and look normal and boring. Just like everyone else.”
Leech glanced back up his pure white eyes glimmered a little as he asked, “Leech no monster?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Nope, just different.”
Leech smiled back as Ezekiel said, “Follow me and I will show you where you'll live.”
Leech followed along and looked at everything as they moved towards the dorm section. It didn't take them long till they came to the room Leech would use. Ezekiel tapped the lock on the door with his tablet, then opened the door. As they stepped inside Ezekiel turned on the light switch next to the door.
The interior of the room was plain. Only a bed, night stand, small work table and chair dotted the room. Off to one side was a closet along with a door to the bathroom.
Leech looked around the room in wonder for about a minute before he asked, “New Leech home?”
“Yes, you'll live here from now on. But first let's get you cleaned up.” Ezekiel said as he moved towards the bathroom.
He opened the door to show a standard bathroom, toilet, sink, shower/bath combo. He waved to the shower and said “Step inside there for a minute, with all of your stuff.”
Leech followed directions and stepped into the shower and then looked back at Ezekiel. Ezekiel pointed at some runes carved into the shower wall as he said, “This is a normal shower and a magic shower. You slide your finger down this rune here and the magic will clean everything in the shower area.”
Leech looked at the runes, then the faucet. He studied them each for a few seconds before he looked at Ezekiel and asked, “Shower?”
Ezekiel let out a sigh and said, “I'll need to give you a crash course on this stuff. For now just stand still inside here. I'll start the show for you.”
Leech nodded as Ezekiel swiped his finger over the rune. The shower hummed as golden spell lines formed around it. Leech glanced around, his mouth hung open as he watched the spell lines floating around him. The golden lines formed up a pattern, before it circled around Leech and moved up and down his body.
With each pass, Leech and his clothes became cleaner. It didn’t fix the damage to his clothes or the faded color. But once it was finished, Leech and his belongings were the cleanest they had ever been. Ezekiel flashed the boy a smile as Leech looked at his fresh clean clothes in wonder.
Ezekiel patted him on the shoulder and said, “Now that you're clean, let me give you a crash course on how all this stuff works. Follow me to your bed.”
Leech was still looking at his clothing in wonder as he followed Ezekiel to his bed. Ezekiel had him lay on his bed and put Leech under a genjutsu. The genjutsu was designed to explain common concepts and manners to Leech, like taking a shower, how to use the bathroom, proper way to use silverware, what a handshake was. It also helped him memorize the bases layout, where the cafeteria was, rec room, his room and other important areas.
Ezekiel could probably make a genjutsu to teach the boy how to speak properly. But he thought just putting the boy through school with the other kids would be better. He wasn't completely sure how old Leech was, but he couldn't be older than fourteen years old.
Caliban, before he left for Genosha. Told Ezekiel that he found Leech as a baby about twelve years ago. He was pretty sure Leech was abandoned because of his looks, so he took the boy to the catacombs and he was raised there ever since.
Ezekiel was pulled out of his thoughts as Leech sat up in bed. Leech looked around the room as his eyes studied everything. A new understanding flickered behind his eyes as he took everything in. As his eyes came to rest on Ezekiel, Leech smiled and said, “Thank you.”
Ezekiel returned the smile and said, “You're welcome. Now how about I introduce you to the other kids?”
Leech nodded as he said, “Leech like.”
Ezekiel stood up and led Leech out of the room. They headed towards the training room, where all of the kids should be. They should be just about finished with their physical training with Steve and the others for the day.
As they entered the massive training room, they saw a large group of people near the sparring arena. Only a handful of people noticed them as they approached. Almost everyone else was focused on the two people sparring.
In the arena Steve and Bucky were trading blows with each other. Both men were still adjusting to their new bodies and moved in what could only be considered a deadly dance. With each punch, a block, parry or dodge would answer. Followed shortly by a counter attack and the dance would continue.
Ezekiel could admit, he was a little jealous of how easily both men moved around the ring, trading blows that could easily injure or kill a normal person.
Practicing alone or with his clones most of the time just wasn't the same as sparring against another person. Oh he could spar with Tao, but she liked to add magic into the mix. While great, it just wasn't the same as what these two men were doing. Just using physical strength and skill to push them to their limits.
Leech watched the two men fighting with his eyes widened, as a concept he had never thought of before entered his mind. If he could learn to fight like that, people wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore. This was something he had to learn.
The spar lasted a few more minutes before Bucky was able to slip past Steve's guard. He landed a devastating blow to Steve's stomach that forced him to double over.
Everyone cheered as Steve stayed like that for a half a minute trying to catch his breath. Bucky smiled and waved at everyone before he patted Steve on the shoulder and helped raise him back up.
Both men smiled at each other as Bucky said, “That makes us even, thirty for thirty now.”
Steve nodded in response, still trying to fully catch his breath. As everyone settled down, Ezekiel whistled loudly. As everyone turned their attention towards Ezekiel, they noticed the strange person next to him.
Next to Ezekiel stood what could best be described as an alien with green skin, instead of the normal gray you would see on a TV show. The person was short and stood only a little taller than four feet. Their head was larger than normal and shaped like an upside down egg, with their chin ending in a point. Large oval shaped white eyes took in everyone as the person stepped back slightly at the sudden attention. Their three fingered hands clenched slightly and they seemed to cower as they tried to move behind Ezekiel.
Ezekiel placed a reassuring hand on Leech’s shoulder as he said, “Hey everyone, I wanted to introduce someone to all of you. This young man is named Leech, he’ll be joining us from now on.”
A girl appeared out of the air in front of Leech and looked at the boy for a moment before she said, “I’m Ava, it’s nice to meet you. Why is your skin green?”
Leech flinched back as the girl appeared, but Ezekiel’s hand kept the boy mostly in place. When he realized nothing happened Leech looked at the smiling girl and said, “Leech always green.”
Ezekiel smiled and said, “He’s a meta-human like Cessily.”
Ava nodded in understanding as Cessily walked out of the group, along with her main group of friends. Gabby was the second fastest and moved close to Leech as she said, “Hi! I’m Gabby, it’s nice to meet you. You're a meta-human? What’s your power? Is it cool? I have claws and can heal!”
Leech looked at Ezekiel for help as Laura came next to her sister and said, “Settle down Gab’s, he’s nervous.”
Ezekiel removed his hand from Leech’s back as he said, “Leech has never been to school, so take it slow with him Gabby. As for his powers, they are special and it’s why he’s named Leech. Which at some point we should probably change.”
Ezekiel glanced over to Cessily as he said, “Come over here for a moment Cessily.”
As Cessily stepped in front of Ezekiel and Leech, Ezekiel said, “Leech, this is Cessily. She is one of the people you are gonna help.”
Both Leech and Cessily turned to look at Ezekiel as he smiled at them both and said, “Shake hands.”
Cessily turned to regard Leech for a moment as Leech raised his hand. She took his hand in her’s and slowly from her fingertips her powers were sucked back into her body. Cessily stood in complete shock and everyone around them watched in silence as Cessily’s liquid metal body turned into pale white skin.
It took about a minute, but before long Cessily’s whole body was normal again. She looked down at herself as tears formed in the corners of her green eyes. Before she pulled Leech into a tight hug as she started to cry. Leech froze, his arms out to the side doing a t-pose as he looked up at Ezekiel in horror.
Ezekiel started to laugh and other people joined in, since the look on Leech’s face was just too much. It took about a minute but Cessily finally released Leech from her grip. The boy, finally free, scrambled to place himself behind Ezekiel.
Ezekiel couldn’t help himself and laughed a little harder. Once he calmed down he pulled Leech out from behind him as he said, “Cessily didn’t mean to scare you, she was just happy.”
Cessily her cheeks were flushed red as she said, “Sorry, it’s just been so long since I’ve felt anything. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you.”
Leech glanced at the girl for a few moments before he said, “You’re welcome.”
Cessily smiled and glanced at Ezekiel as she asked, “How long does this last for?”
“No clue. But with Leech’s help we should be able to figure out a way for you and others to turn off your powers.”
Cessily nodded and then asked, “Can I take Leech to the kitchen and the island? I really want to eat ice cream and sit in the sun.”
Leech perked up about the sun comment as Ezekiel glanced at him. Ezekiel smiled and said, “You would have to ask him, not me.”
Cessily turned to Leech as she asked, “Would you like to eat ice cream and sit on the beach for a while?”
Leech nodded and said, “Leech like sun.”
“Great! Come on, let's go.” Cessily grabbed Leech’s hand and pulled him out of the room as her friends followed behind.
