Chapter Three – Indigo Blue
"There are many curious things about Longshot." The professor continued, "His psychometric powers are largely undeveloped, I don't know if that is because he is unaware of them or if that is a defense. Handling things that belong to other people and feeling their emotions could be very upsetting for him on a constant basis."
"What about the protectiveness everyone feels for him, it that a mutant power too?"
"Possibly. He is a rather frail creature, were someone to want to kill or injure him, it wouldn't take much for them to do so. I believe Longshot is a constructed being, not born somewhere, but made, perhaps by a geneticist."
"But why would someone create a being like him? Of what use would he be?" Kurt draped an arm over the other man's shoulders, "No offense, Longshot."
Distracted from examining the contents of his bag, Longshot looked confused. "Huh?"
"I mean, he's not dangerous or of any apparent military value."
"I am entertaining." Longshot looked from Xavier to Storm, "That is what Logan said."
"Well," Storm said, trying to hide a smile, "One cannot argue with that."
Longshot had taken several items from his messenger's bag and was juggling them. It was odd mix; consisting of a plastic kewpie doll keychain, a bottle opener, a pie server and the paperweight Xavier had given him.
"You would have fit in well at the circus with me." said Kurt. "I can juggle too."
Longshot tossed the items to Kurt and added a silk rose, a teacup and a half empty bottle of soda pop to the mix.
Kurt didn't miss a beat as he tossed them back to Longshot.
Storm and Xavier watched them juggle the array, smiling and laughing.
"PROFESSOR!"
There was a thump as the bottle and the rock landed on the carpet. Kurt stood frozen by the door staring wide-eyed at the pie server wedged in the wood of the door frame, mere inches from his head. The keychain, bottle opener and tea cup were swinging from the handle. The rose in his hand was crumpled from his clenched fingers.
Kitty Pride phased through the door, looking angry. "Professor, Illanya took my …"
"FriendKurt! Are you alright?" Longshot asked.
Kurt blinked several times, and then answered, "I'm really glad you didn't have an axe in there."
"What just happened?" Kitty demanded.
"I am not entirely certain." The professor replied.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" Longshot exclaimed.
"It's alright, Longshot." Storm smiled at him, "No harm done."
"Except to the doorframe." Kurt laughed, handing the dangling items back to the other man. He had trouble trying to pull the pie server out of the wood. "You've got quite an arm on you."
"I do?" Longshot held his hand up, staring at his arm curiously.
"He means that you can throw really well." Kitty explained.
"You, young lady, know better than to charge into my office when the door is closed."
"But Illanya won't give me back my …"
"You are both mature young ladies," Xavier interrupted, "I'm certain that what ever it is, the two of you can work it out on your own."
"But she …"
"Kitty." Storm cautioned, "Do not argue."
The teen rolled her eyes and huffed, "Fine, I'm going." She phased back through the door.
"Perhaps we should give Longshot a workout in the danger room, see what other abilities he may possess."
"That sounds like fun."
"Only until you do it." said Kurt ruefully. "Then it's painful and embarrassing."
"It's not so bad, really." Storm reassured him, "We can set your session up for tomorrow morning, okay?"
Longshot saluted with the pie server, "Yes, sir!"
"Dead, burned animal flesh and unborn baby birds –Yum!"
"Don't be gross, Longshot," Rogue complained, "Those are ham and eggs."
"Breakfast with Longshot, not just an adventure, it's an education." Said Kurt.
"Ick." said Kitty, filling her plate with fruit, "Now I know why we don't eat pork."
"Can I have more, please?"
"You really like my scrambled eggs and ham, huh?"
"Very good, I like it much."
Storm laughed, spooning more onto his plate. "A chief always appreciates a compliment."
"We're going to start with a basic agility test. All you have to do is get from here, Storm pointed, to there as quickly as you can. Do you understand?
"Run to the other side of the room?"
"Basically, yes."
"Okay." He took off before she could further instruct him.
Longshot was back, smiling, not even breathing hard. "Did I do it right?"
Arching a delicate eyebrow, Storm replied, "You are very quick."
"Is that wrong, should I do it again slower this time?" He was poised to take off.
"No, no, you're fine Longshot. Just give me a minute to reprogram the simulation. Storm typed commands into the palmputer and the holographic obstacle course changed.
Longshot smiled as the cold equipment flowed into a forest tangle.
"Same thing, as quick as you can from here to there."
"This is fun." He was off again, Storm watched as he raced through the tangle of vegetation. He was moving so quickly that she was certain she'd missed something as he appeared to run across the surface of the water.
"Did you see that?" Asked Kurt, "How did he do that?"
Longshot was laughing as he leaped over the deadfall and landed beside them. "This is not painful and embarrassing, does that part come later?"
"We will see." Said Storm, glancing up at the observation room. "Professor, are you recording this?"
"Yes Storm, it has used very little space on the DVD so far but we do have our young friend on video. How about we try a more challenging scenario. I'm going to load one of Scott's workouts."
"Are you certain that will be safe?"
"You and Kurt can keep an eye on him, if he gets into trouble, pull him out and I will shut it down."
"Okay Longshot, new scenario. In this one, you will need to avoid various objects that will try to hit you. If you get scared, all you have to do is tell me and the professor will stop it, okay?"
"This will be fun?"
"I don't know. Are you ready?"
"Ready!"
A/N: Yes, there is an occasional quote from the comic in there. Sorry it stops and starts in such weird places. This was supposed to be a one shot deal but people keep prodding the (very stubborn) muse and sometimes it works.
Thanks for the encouragement and reviews:
Karri
Green Witch 2
and to Fortune and Fate at LiveJournal
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oh and I don't have a beta for this so all the bad punctuation and other errors are my fault.