The triumph of their unauthorized mission was quickly wiped away as Caleb tuned into Alec’s thoughts, hearing the conclusion he made a second after the fact. Alec tackled him to the ground and Caleb collided hard, not having enough time to brace himself for the impact. The concrete shredded the skin that it touched like a razor. Trained for disasters, the smoke and debris weren’t what left Caleb feeling incapacitated.
HELP
What the hell was that?
Was that a bomb?
Everything is on fire!
I’m going to die.
Thoughts from the people inside the building as well as those on the street began flooding into the telepath’s mind. The fear and panic was overwhelming. He allowed Alec to help him up, his head absolutely throbbing from the shear amount of loud, uncontrollable thoughts streaming into his brain. “Fuck,” he swore. He felt feverish, like his skin was white hot. Caleb steadied himself, squinting his eyes from the headache the commotion was causing him. Alec’s thoughts were right. If someone saw them and recognized them, they would be blamed for this. They couldn’t bring anymore attention to mutants, especially the ones at Xavier’s.
Caleb followed Alec to the car, quickly getting in shutting the door. Once inside, he closed his eyes, his hand moving to rub his temples. His head still felt like it was about to explode. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
Alec hit the gas as soon as the car was in drive, peeling out of the parking spot along the street and past the stopped traffic. Using what focus he had he cloaked the car to look like an ambulance so that traffic might move out of his way. It was working better than he had hoped, although he was praying no one questioned why the ambulance was going in the wrong direction.
"I know you are overloaded right now. I’ve been there myself,” Alec thoughts, forcing his internal thoughts to keep calm and quiet. Caleb’s mind must have been racing between hundreds of people and if he didn’t calm he’d just remain overloaded, “but just focus on my voice. It shouldn’t be that difficult even for you.” He humored slightly, keeping it mild to distract.
They had moved out of the traffic, so the cloaking the car was pointless now. Instead he focused on Caleb’s mind. On drowning out the noise. Caleb once described Alec’s illusion as wading through mud; slowing the telepathy down as it tried to process through the illusions. Alec assumed it might also try and help the guy focus when his power was out of his control. Slowing it just enough for him to regain control.
Caleb knew Alec wasn’t in perfect condition, but they didn’t have time to waste waiting for him to completely recover from the over exertion. It was critical that they got out of there without being noticed as odd, especially since they now had the hard drive that Albert had given to who he thought was a homeland security agent. “Backstairs, it’s the way I left last time. We just have to get out the hallway then we’ll be home free. With the upped security I doubt anyone is using them.”
He gave Alec another minute to recover before he started toward the bathroom door. Caleb listened for any close thoughts, but heard nothing significant and pushed the door open. Using his mind to keep a look out for anyone coming their way, Caleb led them toward the back staircase. It was important to listen to make sure there was no security posted up in the back stairwell. He paused for half a minute, listening as closely as possible. Deciding it was clear, he pulled the stairwell door open and started down the stairs. Only once did he stop, hearing the thoughts of a few people who were having a low conversation a few feet away from the second floor’s door. They were consumed in their conversation, though, and Caleb felt it was alright to keep going.
Once back outside and clear, Caleb let out a small, relieved sigh. The exit was more stressful than anything else. “You good to drive?” Caleb asked, finally speaking now that they were in the clear.
Alec slide down the stairs with Caleb, staying quiet as he was mainly focused on not passing out. While the world was no longer spinning, he did feel like he needed to take a long nap. He also desperately hated relying on others for his own well being. Giving Caleb the lead made the most logical choice considering the circumstances, but he couldn’t help but worry that it was some form of weakness on his part.
“Yeah I’ll be...” Alec trailed off, seeing a familiar face in the crowd across the street. His stomach dropped at the man’s wicked grin as they made eye contact.
“DOWN!” He tackled Caleb down as the explosion rocked the street, the floor they had been on shattering from the inside as flames shot out. Debris rained down from above as smoke billowed into the sky. Screams coming from around the street only interrupted by the blare of sirens and car alarms. Alec darted his head up to try and find the face he had seen before but there were too many people running for him to find anyone.
“We have to get to the car, now.” He was pulling Caleb off the ground, seeing if he could walk on his own. They’d be framed in a heartbeat if caught.
“To be fair, I was training, which is why I left the training room sweaty,” Caleb said, rolling his eyes at Alec’s smirk. Just a month ago Caleb had literally zero romantic interests, and now he had two. He’d never really let himself even think about that at the mansion until he started getting close to Gen.
Once again, Caleb shut his mouth, letting Alec take the lead. His partner’s illusion was the perfect mutation for this job. All Caleb had to do listen closely, and make sure that he didn’t make any noise. The idea of Alec pretending to be a government agent was amusing in itself, considering the fact that the government hated mutants at the moment, especially the ones that they couldn’t control.
It was eerily easy to get back to Albert’s office for a building that had recently been broken into. But then again, Alec’s illusion was very complete. As the conversation between Alec and Albert started, Caleb listened closely. Albert’s thoughts were about as dry as his conversational skills, but they were more telling than what he was saying out loud. Albert’s mind gave way to the passwords, despite the fact that he wasn’t as forthcoming with the hard drive that he passed over to Alec.
Caleb was relieved when Alec wrapped up the conversation. This was pushing Alec’s limits, he knew that before his partner’s nose even started to bleed. As they left the office and headed for the bathroom, Caleb stayed right behind Alec, making sure to stay close in case the illusion fell. Once they were safely in the bathroom, Caleb watched Alec carefully, listening to his thoughts to make sure he was alright. “Well, boring Al gave you a rather innocent hard drive. It’s not a copy of the files we have. His boss made damn sure he wouldn’t hand those over, even if it’s the feds asking for it. But I got the passwords, our dear friend holds no secrets in his mind.”
Alec gave a dry chuckle as he eyed Caleb in the mirror, steadying himself on the counter for a moment as he washed his face of the rest of the blood. “I figured as much. He seemed the incompetent type.”
Alec exhaled sharply, the focused pain over over-exhaustion dulling in the back of his mind made his early morning hangover seem like nothing. Once his reflection quit bobbling in the mirror he turned back to Caleb. “There. Right as rain.” It was an unconvincing lie which he knew Caleb would see through but it was going to have to work.
“Exit strategy?” Alec queried. “That doesn’t involve us alerting security or me passing out.”
Caleb smirked at Alec’s thought. He had never been a criminal on the level that he suspected Alec had been, but Caleb had done a handful of less than legal things in his day. He had been on his own from the day he graduated high school until the day he showed up at the mansion. There had been numerous times he had to trick people or steal to survive.
Following close behind, Caleb slipped through the gates, grateful for the agility training that Flux constantly insisted on. Once in the elevator, Caleb pressed the button to go the familiar office floor. He gave his partner a less than amused look. “Don’t believe everything you read,” Caleb said coolly, definitely not wanting to disclose any more information about his current romantic (or lack of romantic) situation back at home. It seemed like the entire mansion was aware of the issues, which Caleb was sure wasn’t helped by that wretched gossip blog. “I also hear that you, JD, and I are the three mysterious amigos.”
His blue eyes flickered over the the floor light. Two more floors until the offices. “What we really need is a way to get someone to ask whosoever office that is subtle, but direct questions. If their thoughts get moving in the direction of their computer or their files, the more likely I’m going to be able to hear what the password is or what they pertain to.”
“Another steamy training session? Those seem to be your forte.” Alec smirked at his partner, mulling the thought over himself. Neither of them were unattractive, Alec just hadn’t allowed himself to think much of it.
“Simple enough.” Alec answered, rolling his shoulders as the illusions change. His outfit changed to resemble a suit and tie. A gun and badge appeared on his belt and a guest pass hung from his tie. Just as the illusion was complete the elevator doors opened to a reception desk. Alec strolled out, his entire posture and demeanor changing within a few moments. The red headed receptionist looked up to him with eager eyes.
“Hello my name is James Scott, Homeland Security. I’m here to discus a recent break in and attack on this facility. I’ll need to speak with the supervisor of this floor. Can you point me in their direction?” He spoke, a southern drawl accenting his words. The woman seemed to be slightly surprised, but guided him into a familiar bank of offices with the hidden Caleb in tow. The large office in the back came into view, a balding man staring at them as they approached.
“Mr. Scott.” The man greeted. “My name is Albert Swinson. Pardon the mess, we are still pulling our office back together from the recent invasion.”
“Call me James.” Alec responded, looking around at the few destroyed cubicles in the office. Arachnea must have taken them down when she was running from the wasps. “And I fully am aware of the extent of the damages.”
“What can I do for you?” Albert asked, taking a seat and gesturing for Alec to do the same.
“I am here to inquire about the attack. We believe it is related to a chain of terror attacks a radical mutant group. However we are struggling to discover a link between their targets. Do you know of any reason why they might target your facility Mr. Swinson?” He questioned.
Albert answered vaguely, sharing about how the work they do with the organization here was important to securing the future of humanity. Alec find his speech entirely too boring, but hoped Caleb was getting something from it.
“Was anything taken from your facility during the attack?” He inquired, fully knowing the state in which he had left the man’s computer when he extracted the files. If he lied Caleb would know, and if he didn’t then Caleb would see through to the man’s thoughts.”
“Our servers were bugged and we lost a great deal of extremely valuable data.”
“That must be it. I hope for your sake you had some security measure installed within it?”
“Yes. We triple encode all our files for security.” Now that was just excessive. They were lucky that the files hadn’t deleted themselves when they tried to break into them so many times.
“Mr. Swinson, due to the nature of this case I am going to have to request a copy of those files and the cipher as evidence for our case.” Alec asserted. He could see the man get flustered rather rapidly, fully knowing that the files were not meant for others eyes.
“I am sorry James, but I will need a-” He started, but Alec quickly cut him off as he pulled a piece of paper from his jacket.
“A court order.” He finished the man’s sentence, as he handed him the envelope. Albert slowly began to get more frustrated.
“You knew about these the entire time?”
“Lucky guess.” Alec chimed up. “Now, the files please.”
Albert opened the safe under his desk, and pulled a mini-hard drive and handed it to the detective. Alec bagged it and eyed the man for a moment more.
“These are the original files, uncoded. A copy that had been given to me. I entrust I shall be getting them back.”
“Yes sir. Just as soon as we close this case.” Alec responded, standing up and hoping Caleb got what he had needed or that these files were the legitimate forms.
“Is there anything else I can...”Albert paused looking to Alec, a slight concern coming over his face.” Your nose.”
Alec could feel it the moment Albert said it. A trickle of blood had started from his nose.
“Damn allergies.” He quickly gripped his nose, noticing how dizzy he was feeling. “Where are your restrooms?” Alec questioned. Albert pointed him in the direction towards the entrance. “Thank you kindly. I’ll see myself out after. Have a wonderful day Mr. Swinson.”
Alec hurried out of Albert’s office hoping Caleb was in tow. He pushed the bathroom door open quick enough for Caleb to slip in. The illusion dissipated as soon as the door was open and Alec moved himself to the sink, using paper towels to wipe up the blood.
It sounded like more fun than Nari’s powers. She’d plateaued some time ago when it came to her skills, but with powers like Alec’s, she imagined one could try new things all the time. “That sounds nice.” Her powers never felt like an adventure to her. They’d felt like a burden, and then simply a fact of her existence.
The question surprised her. “None of your business,” she said at first, creating more patterns in the snow. Sighing, she cast her eyes on the ground. “I was sixteen. I’d been…asked to leave my home and my country when my powers surfaced. I hid in Alaska. Nobody there would be the wiser if there were a few extra ice storms. But I was discovered there by a few different parties. I decided Xavier’s most suited my needs in that moment, and so here I am.” She looked over at Alec. “What about you?”
“My story is rather....to the point I guess.” Alec responded, staring into the cloudy sky. “It was either join the X-Men or be locked in a maximum security facility in a drug induced coma. Since orange really isn’t my ideal color, I chose the former.” He explained with a slight shrug. While not the full story, it was what lead him to leave the Brotherhood.
Caleb rolled his eyes, but obliged, keeping his mouth shut as they entered into the lobby. It was very clear what Alec was doing, creating an illusion that would keep Caleb out of sight. It was relatively clear from the thoughts of the people near them in the lobby that Alec was also misconstruing his own appearance, which was obviously for the best.
It made sense that security had been upped since the last time that they were there. Despite their own success in the mission, they had created a mess in the offices and their teammates had created other messes around the building. Even taking away the civilian and the official that had been terrorized outside of the headquarters, it was obvious that people who weren’t supposed to be there had infiltrated.
He nodded ever so slightly in agreement that getting past the security was going to be relatively annoying. “We just need one of those cards,” he said quietly enough that his voice would get lost in the crowd unless someone was listening for it. Caleb’s blue eyes scanned everyone in the lobby, spotting an older man a few feet away who had just put his coffee cup, wallet, and scan card down on a table while he bent over to tie his shoe. Hoping to whatever god there might be that the illusion covered him adequately, Caleb acted quickly taking the card off the table and casually moved back toward his teammate. He handed the card over, and the nodded for them to head toward security.
“Smooth. You might make a convincing criminal just yet.” Alec thought with a sly smile as they headed towards the scan station. With a quick slip of his hand the station gave a chime and the gates opened. Alec rushed through and prayed internally that Caleb was close behind. When they reached the elevators Alec slide in alongside Caleb and gestured towards the panel.
“Going up.” He explained as his partner pressed the button. The office spaces would not be abandoned today like they were before, and a swarm of wasps would not be the best method to clear the room. The elevator gave a ding as it passed floor after floor. “So...I hear you have been having some lady trouble back home.” Alec started, eyeing Caleb from the side with a slight grin.
The fake Logan swung at his side, but since Logan was nothing but a shadow, it went from one side of him to the other without any real harm. He stepped out of his shadow form a moment later, taking a second to catch his breath. “But it’s not there for everyone else,” he grumbled. If he threw a dagger at the illusion it could fly off and accidentally stab someone.
He ducked away from the illusion, side stepping around him and summoning a knife to stab it in the back. It was strange to stab something that looked exactly like him, but it was better than it looking like his twin. But fighting the illusion wouldn’t stop Alec from continuing his attack. Logan had to start attacking the source. He turned to where he had heard Alec earlier and threw a dark knife in his general direction.
The knife struck Alec in the chest, the blade hilting itself with a sickening thump. With a look of shock the illusion faded away as Alec fell to his knees, blood already running down the front of his shirt from the wound. A look of pain and shock overtook his face as he looked from the dagger to Logan.
“Wh-y...”He trailed off, staring into the boys eyes, his breaths getting shallower. Alec looked for some kind of emotion there as the collapsing illusion reached him and his face began to change. The person now bleeding on the ground changed to resemble Logan’s twin, tears streaking down their face as they fell over into the sand.
Nari was slightly relieved to know he couldn’t hear her thoughts the way Caleb could. She’d grown used to Caleb in some ways, but Alec was mostly a stranger to her. “Good. You’re the last person I want in my head.” She was equally as glad to know that she wouldn’t look completely bizarre if someone were to look in their direction from the mansion.
“I have no skates,” she said with a shrug. Nari watched him fall back and wondered how much effort this all took. “Are you tired? Is it too much? You don’t have to continue to entertain me.” She walked easily off of the ice and back onto the snow. Sitting down next to him, Nari picked up some of the snow that had begun to accumulate and created different shapes and sculptures with it.
Alec shrugged at her question. “It comes naturally really. I relate it to reading a book really. You are constantly focused on the details, but are equally as surprised by what you see.” He explained, watching her play with the snow. “It’s just as much an adventure for me as it is you.”
“Speaking of you.” Alec turned his stare towards Nari. “How did you come to join this lowly band of misfits?”
“Last time we were in an office building where my only weapon was a desk plant,” she pointed out, not making excuses, only stating the facts. “But here–this is my element. My home.” It was more than just making up for a bad performance last time. This was a sanctuary for many mutants, herself included, and it was her job to make sure it remained so. By whatever means necessary.
“Besides, we have most of the staff to back us up this time as well. Watts would die before she let things get out of hand.” She glanced at him. “You’re not throwing in the towel already are you?”
Sybil had a point. The sheer amount of nature on the mansions grounds put her at a significant advantage over most of her enemies. And several of the faculty were quite powerful mutants. They could hold out against the rouge bunch of mutants they fought at the Friends of Humanity building, but if some of The Brotherhoods leaders came. Well Alec wondered how much of the mansion would be left to even live in.
“Me? Back down from a fight?” Alec quipped, looking towards the girl with a knowing gaze. “Not by a long shot. I am just refusing to be overly optimistic. Arachnea, Morphis, Shock, and Ethereal are pawns. If we are faced with their superiors we won’t be having the easiest of fights.” Alec explained, looking towards the horizon.
The user can create illusions that are so realistic and powerful they can cause physical effects (cuts, bruises, burns, etc) to appear on the target and affect surroundings as they were real.
Imagine waking up from a dream, except you can’t really remember what you were dreaming about. As you stretch and look around yourself you begin to feel a rush of emotion that seems out of place. That whispers of danger and desire right around the corner. After a few moments you start to question yourself and what you are seeing. Had you ever woken up at all?
Alec’s ability is an interaction with the somatic systems of other beings, preying upon their consciousness to create realistic illusions. The illusion can be as grand or as small as he wants to make it, although the larger or longer lasting an illusion is the more energy it drains from Alec.
Due to his time in The Brotherhood, Alec has been forced to learn how to use his ability in ways he has never before. The Brotherhood believes in mutant dominance and uses their powers to subjugate humans. Mutants in The Brotherhood that cannot control their powers or do not push themselves to their max are often considered weak and tormented for it. Alec endured long days of training, countless bloody noses and dizzy spells from over exertion, and restless nights as he fought for control of a power that had once consumed his life. Through this training he became cold and callous, like those he worked with, but had learned how to use his powers with a proficiency like no other. Alec has learned how to use his power to make duplicates of himself, hide himself or others from being sensed, induce emotions in others, and create realistic training scenarios.
While quite fool proof, Alec’s powers do have their limitations. His ability cannot harm or fool most technologies, such as cameras or scanners of any sort. The illusions are limited to a certain distance within his range of sight. Although once you are trapped in an illusion, Alec can keep you in it until he is out of range to do so. This is because of a lasting effect it causes in the neurology of the brain. Other abilities can see through or penetrate his illusions, such as Caleb’s telepathy. Alec can see his own illusions but can decide if he is effected by them or not. Due to the focus Alec must keep on his victims in order to keep the illusion in place, if he becomes incapacitated while casting an illusion it will be interrupted.
Alec’s long term plan with his power is to ensure his survival in the end. He struggles with trusting and getting close to others, so often he uses his illusions to prank and torment others. However, now and again you might find him using them to help someone...just maybe.
Alec’s parents were all Alec had growing up. They taught him right from wrong, how to bake a killer pie, and to embrace those who were different from him. They both worked demanding jobs, but always made time for him. They were his world. Losing them like he had drove Alec to the edge of his own misery. The many foster families that came after them paled in comparison, and made Alec miss them even more.
Logan followed Alec’s eyes and jumped back just before the copy could attack him. He muttered a couple curse words under his breath before summoning a dagger and throwing it at the copy. Wait. That isn’t real, he reminded himself. He made the dagger disappear and slid into the dark dimension to become a shadow.
The shade of Logan smirked as it darted forward at him, swinging again and connecting with his side. “Don’t hesitate.” Alec chided from his place behind Logan. “To you that illusion is as real as me. I’d recommend giving it your all.” Alec added. “Because I can promise you that he will.”
The copy darted towards Logan again, this time aiming for the man’s face. People often assumed Alec’s illusions to be nothing but hallucinations or delusions. Unable to cause harm and simply a show to be put on. But truly they played off ones consciousness. They were as real as ones subconscious believed them to be, which meant the damage they caused would be real as well.
Fear struck her immediately like a kick to the gut at the mere sigh of rising water. Old childhood memories of bathtubs and pastors bombarded her, easily pushing out the trivial anxieties of the dance and school and instead, replaced them with a deep-seated terror. Man, he was really making her work for it.
Exhaling shakily, Charlotte closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, taking great care not to succumb to the sound of water rushing around her or the feeling of wetness at her feet. She pumped her fists at the thought of drowning when she was ten years old. It had been frightening at that time, but if the last few years had taught her anything, it was that Charlotte had a distinct disregard for survival.
The blast of psionic power burst from her like a nuclear bomb, expanding rapidly and powerfully in a radius that rippled out in waves that pummeled back her surroundings and anything that happened to be caught in it.
Alec sensed something amiss from the moment his illusion had taken hold. It was working as intended, but Charlotte was panicking more that expected. He cocked his head unsure of what was going on, until the wave of energy blew outward and threw Alec backwards onto the grass. With the wind knocked out of him he could no longer focus on his ability, and could feel the illusions slip away as quickly as it had set in.
“Good job.” He wheezed out as he pulled himself up on an elbow to look at the girl. The fact that she could even focus enough to emit such a blast while in his illusion was remarkable. Normally mutants founds themselves so overwhelmed that the focus to do so was unreachable. Perhaps her theory on the similarity of their powers was correct. Caleb could see through his illusions with his power, and perhaps Charlotte did in fact get stronger when there was more energy in the air. Alec stood up and dusted off his training sweats, noting that piece of information for later.
“I think you may have proved your theory Bookworm.” Alec congratulated, stretching his now sore shoulder.
“I hope you know how uncomfortable it makes me to know you are manipulating my mind right now.” Nari had always considered herself quite mentally strong, but for Alec to be able to create all of this and then change it depending on her own imagination was quite startling. “You basically facilitate people tricking themselves with their own minds…”
She continued to make the ice thicker and thicker until she knew it was safe to walk on top of it. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t surround me in flames. I like where we are now much more than the last illusion you showed me. Wouldn’t want to ruin it.” This was sort of how she wished life could be all the time. Quiet, cold, snow falling, a lake covered in ice that she could skate upon should she choose to.
“That is exactly it.” Alec replied, looking back towards the girl. “Except it is not quite as invasive as telepathy. I don’t know your thoughts, nor would I want to know them. However, if I focus on showing you something you desire then your mind fills in the rest.”He gestured to the quiet and cold landscape. “This is as much my doing as it is yours. Although from a distance like the manor, people only see you on the frozen surface of the lake. Nothing more. My powers have limits to how far they can stretch.”
Alec watched the girl walk on the ice, a part of him feeling uncomfortable here. They had gone a total of 5 minutes without saying anything remotely sarcastic, which was entirely new for them. But she was right. This place was beautiful and Alec loved to experience the winter without the feeling of being cold.
“Skate away. I’ll just sit here” Alec fell back on the snow covered ground. Keeping up such an illusion required a good deal of his focus, so really it was more a training for him than her.
Sometimes Caleb forgot the extent of Alec’s power. It was almost unsettling for someone to have a power that could warp reality so much. Caleb’s power dealt with getting to the bottom of things, hearing people’s real truths, while Alec’s actively worked to conceal the truth and create lies.
They were a strange team.
Caleb focused on ignoring the thoughts of the pedestrians near by and zeroing in on those who were close to the building or right inside the doors. With Alec’s power, Caleb supposed going in the front door wouldn’t be detrimental to their plan. They needed to find the owner of that computer and those files - if that person was even there. Caleb supposed that if anyone had realized the files had been copied, that person easily could have been let go.
“Might as well give it a go,” he said in agreement. “Got a good reason for us to be here if anyone asks?” Caleb asked before they got close enough to the building for anyone to hear. “New members maybe, here to train for recruitment events.”
“Just leave it all to me.” Alec said, gesturing over his shoulder as they approached the front doors. “And although it may be difficult for you, I urge you to stay quiet.” Alec quipped, focusing his ability to cover him and Caleb. The illusion was simple enough, he only needed to cover up Caleb from the sight of those around him, while making himself appear different to others.
Alec entered the lobby with Caleb in tow, examining the bustling crowds of people. Last time the building had been relatively empty, but that had been in the evening. Now it was loud with dozens of people moving about, which made their task all the more difficult. Alec spied the security card swipe stations that hadn’t been here the last time they had been in the building.
“That is going to be annoying.” Alec thought towards his partner, approaching the stations as slowly as possible. His powers were deceptive, but technology was not something they could fool. The towering security guards behind the gates would be another issue all together. “I am open to any suggestions.”
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