Chapter 11 - Blueprints and Teaching

As a certain group of people were scrambling to make sense of the night's abnormal weather phenomena Mikael was brushing his teeth while listing all of the technological blueprints he knew onto a sheet of paper. He didn't have many but he'd did remember a few he saw and memorized when he attacked imperial factories. Power cells, repulsorlifts, holograms, droids and cybernetics. He also wrote down other items like weapons, force fields, reactors and artificial intelligence but quickly crossed those out after deciding to keep those to himself. Then he crossed out a couple more items on the list due to resources and manpower currently available to him.

By the time he was finished with his morning hygiene he was left with three maybe four items that he believed he would be capable of making use of with minimal complications. He had narrowed it down to power cells, repulsor lifts, holograms and with some effort he could also probably reach partially into cybernetics and make prosthetics. It seemed like all of the things he learned would finally pay off, literally in this case. Plans laid out he incinerated the papers before he headed off to school.

That day passed rather uneventfully while Mikael began looking into what he needed to graduate early. Fortunately it seemed he could make up for missing credits by taking an exam. As Mikael was leaving the counselor's office he sense the familiar presence of Jean walking down the hallway towards him. Her aura was no longer nearly as chaotic as it was the day before.

"You seem better that yesterday. I assume you're doing better than you were yesterday." Mikael said as he put away the papers he received before turning to face her as she walked up to him with her brown haired friend in tow.

"Yea I am, thank you. It was difficult but I think I've managed to get at least part of it. It's helped a lot things aren't nearly as overwhelming as it was." Jean said with a smile.

"Hi! I'm Katherine Pryde! You can just call me Kitty though, everyone else does. Hey, is it true you can do the same things as Jean?" The young brown haired girl jumped in front him before she immediately started to bombard him with an introduction and a series of questions before leaning in close.

"Does that mean you're a mutant too?" She whispered softly before pulling back.

"If so that'd be so cool but if not that's fine too, I guess. But if not then how can you-" She started to rattle off again before Mikael raised raised his hand and interrupted.

"It would probably be wise to continue this somewhere less…crowded." He said with a smile although the corner of his eyebrow was visibly twitching.

"Oh right. OK! Let's go!" Kitty pouted briefly before she immediately erupted into a smile girl before skipping out of the building. Mikael looked over to Jean with a brow raised as she returned a apologetic smile before she quickly walked after her younger friend with Mikael falling in step alongside her. The group made their way off school grounds before heading to a small park a couple blocks away before settling at a picnic table.

"So what can you do? Can you show me? Can you read minds like Jean? What am I thinking right now?" No sooner had they seated themselves did Kitty erupt into a series of questions. Mikael just closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he raised his hand with a slight turn. Kitty tilted her head in confusion before she noticed her body getting lighter. She looked around before her eyes widen when she found herself floating a foot over the table.

"Oh my God! Jean look I'm floating. Can you do this too?" Kitty yelled out before Mikael lowered his hand bringing her gently back into the seat.

"I don't think so." Jean answered hesitantly.

"Give it a try. You might surprise yourself. Let's start with something small." Mikael told her before he held out his hand to the side as a group of small rocks flew into his hands. He then turned his hand towards her as the pebbles and stones rested in his palm. Jean raised her hand as her eyes squinted slightly before she let out a breath and lowered it.

"I don't think I can." She said dejectedly.

"Close your eyes Jean." Mikael instructed. Jean hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding to do as he told her.

"Good, now focus. Don't think about anything else just listen to my voice. Imagine the stones in my hand. Got it?"

"Yeah I think so."

"Now imagine my hand is no longer there. What happens?"

"They fall."

"Don't let them. Imagine them staying were they are. Will it to happen." Mikael instructed her as he watched her brows knit together. He felt the stones in his hand tremble and a smile formed on his face as he began to lower his hand. He saw Kitty's eyes widen as her mouth open but he motioned for her to be quiet.

"Now maintain that focus. Open your eyes." He told her. He watched as Jean slowly opened her eyes and stare in shock at the stones floating shakily in the air in front of her. She reached out and grasped one in her fingers just as the rest fell through the gaps in the table. She stared at the single stone in her grasp as Kitty threw her arms around her shoulders.

"Oh my God! You did it! I knew you could do it!" Kitty cried out with a wide smile on her face.

"Focus Jean and have confidence in yourself. Once you do you'll find you can do a lot more than you thought you were capable of." Mikael told her as he smiled.

"Now that you've done it once it should be easy to do it again. Give it another go when you get home. The more you do it the easier it'll become and the better you'll become at it." Mikael said as he started to stand up from the table.

"Wait you're going already?" Jean asked as she quickly stood up.

"Well I have business to take care of while you and Kitty should start to go home before it gets late. Things have been getting rather strange at night lately." Mikael answered as he pulled out his phone.

"If it makes you feel better, I have a new phone now so we can exchange numbers if you want to talk." He offered as he held it out to her.

"Oh. Right. Of course, sorry I got carried away." Jean responded before taking his phone and putting in her number just in time for Kitty to quickly take it and do the same before handing in back. Mikael took it with a brow raised as Kitty just flashed him a wide smile before he sent them a message with his name.

"No worries. But I said I have some things to take care of and you should head home before it gets dark. Do you need me to walk you home before I go?" Mikael asked as he stepped away from the table.

"No, I think we'll be alright. We don't want to keep you." Jean answered ignoring the tug on her jacket from her friend.

"Well alright but feel free to call me if you need anything." Mikael told her before he started walking towards the street disappearing from view as he blended into the crowd.

"Come on Kitty, we should go home before everyone gets worried." Jean told her friend as she started to walk away.

"Oh now you're worried about that. A moment ago it sounded like you wanted to stay here a bit longer." Kitty teased her as she skipped behind.

"No I didn't!" Jean retorted as the pair continued to bicker as they made their way home.

Over in Manhattan Mikael was leaping across rooftops searching for signs of criminal activity. He had decided that it was time he put some of his plans into motion and for that to be possible he needed resources and funds. And as it so happens he knew of a certain type of people would have funds that they could not report to authorities should it go missing. As Mikael was searching for a target he happened to see something that caught his eye. A group of men and women walking out of a single side alley, all wearing a backpack on their chest, all at a glance oriental and most interestingly enough they all seemed to be blind.