Through The Gate

Posted on Mon Apr 1st, 2024 @ 6:32am by Maeve MacKenna & Charles Xavier & Hank McCoy & Mara Ricci

2,443 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters
Timeline: August 1990

She honestly felt like her feet would fall off. That the soles of her shoes must be worn thinner than a slice of ham at any of New York's delis. Maeve just felt sore, she felt tired and anxious that everyone around her was looking at her. Truth be told being a dirty looking rundown kid in the city wasn't something new, or at least that's the impression she got. When she asked for directions to the school she was met with looks of contempt from some as she was chased away, dismissal from others as they wanted nothing to do with her or in fact just plain ignored by some.

Luckily she had found her own way to a rather large looking mansion. She was sure this couldn't be the right place. It looked like someone rich and powerful lived here and not the place of a school for people like her. Maeve was about to leave before she noticed the sign on the pillar next to the gate.

XAVIER'S SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS

And nearby a small intercom looking device. With a shrug and sigh she thought she had nothing to lose and pushed a button. A small light lit up the panel, "Eh hello?" she spoke with a slight crackle to her voice. It had been a day or so since she'd had a proper drink and the battle with the sentinels had taken a lot out of her.

With nothing else to do, Mara had busied herself with updating and repairing the computers in the mansion’s security center. There wasn’t a lot that needed doing, but running the reports took time and she had to babysit the computer in case anything went wrong. And so, as luck would have it, she was there when the intercom buzzed to life. She frowned at the speaker in the corner of the room and glanced at the monitor next to it. A quick command and it sprung to life with the security camera feed.

By the gate stood a young girl, looking as if she’d been through hell and back. Carefully, she schooled her thoughts and sent a message that any telepath in the mansion would pick up. She wasn’t concerned about any of them other than the professor, though. The younger telepaths had enough sense to not blab what they’d overheard and stayed out of the way in an emergency. ~Professor!~ she thought as she crossed to the intercom. ~There is a girl by the gates. I think she needs help!~ In the meantime, she pressed the button on the intercom to receive the call. “State your name and business,” she said officiously. After all, they did not know the girl and with everything that had happened recently, they didn’t know who to trust. The professor, however, would know what to do; he always did.

There was long pause and for a time Maeve didn't think it was working. Tapping the screen a couple of times she was beginning to lose hope and actually had taken a step back. Looking at the walls she was judging to see if she could climb it but they were too high. Then it flashed across her mind that maybe if the ground and the top of the wall were too far apart that she could change that... or even dismantle the wall.

Broken from those thoughts though a voice sprang from the lifeless box, all business and to the point. "Eh Maeve? Maeve MacKenna?" she asked with the Irish lilt in her voice lifting the ends of her sentences to sound more like questions. In fact that is what they were as if she'd be told 'no, that's not who you are. Goodbye!'. "I don't really have any business..." she paused for a moment to think what to say and ended up just going with what had happened recently. "I don't really know what to tell you... its a long story..." that was no lie. From being promised a better life by men who turned out to be people traffickers, who she later panicked and killed. To being shunned in the city as a whole and being attacked by large robots she just felt done. She wasn't sure if she should mention the robots just yet, she might if welcomed inside. "I heard this was a place for people who are different to get help? I don't mean to be a bother. If I could just get one meal and a bed for the night I'll be outta your hair tomorrow, promise." her tone almost a plead but still trying to maintain some sense of dignity and strength.

Mara chewed her lip. She wasn’t sure of the protocol for this sort of situation. She wasn’t comfortable letting the girl in herself and she wished the Professor were here to tell her what to do.

The professor may not have been nearby, but Hank had been. There were, of course, many intercom units throughout the mansion and he had been near another one. He’d been about to answer it himself when someone else had taken it. So he headed at once to the security center to see what was happening.

There he found Mara looking at the monitor which showed a young girl standing at the gate. Without saying a word, he pressed the button to open the gates, then crossed to the intercom. “Please come in,” he said. “We will meet you at the main entrance.” Then he switched off the intercom.

“I’m sorry,” said Mara, wringing her hands. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“Mara,” said Hank, exasperated and mildly amused. “Help is always given at Xavier’s to those who need it.”

“I’m sorry,” Mara said again.

“Stop apologizing,” he told her. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Now come on, let’s go meet our guest.”

“I tried to call the professor,” she said as they walked towards the main entrance, which wasn’t far away. “Telepathically. I don’t know if he heard me, though. I’ve only done that once before.”

“If you thought clearly, he heard you,” replied Hank, opening the door for Mara to step through. “He will be along shortly, I’m sure.”

Once they were both outside, Mara looked towards the gate for the girl.

Two figures approached Maeve as the gates swung inward opening up to let her in. The two in the distance got closer and closer and could not be more different in appearance. The female looked as fairly normal as but as the distance closed down the large blue furry person gave her a moments pause.

They both stopped in front of her and Maeve's eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight of the blue man. In comparison to her he was as huge as he was wide and covered in blue fur. He smiled and she was sure she saw fangs. Hesitantly she took one step back and her hands tightened around the two straps of her backpack. For a second she looked behind her in case she had to run.

“It’s okay,” Mara assured the girl as Hank’s smile faltered. “He’s the kindest, gentlest guy you’ll ever meet. And he gives the best hugs.”

Hank shot Mara a grateful look. “My name is Hank and this is Mara,” he introduced them both. “Do you require medical assistance?”

"I've just never seen anything like that before." Maeve responded. "I'm sure your hugs are amazing." she gave a small smile and relaxed a bit. "I'm Maeve... oh wait I told you that already..." she felt she was being silly by repeating herself. She had scrapes on her faces, a nasty laceration across her stomach that had bled through her top. and looking down at how she looked her clothes were ragged and dirty. "I guess if you guys have a plaster... oh wait you call it a Band-Aid here don't you?" She asked rhetorically. "I heard someone say that a few days ago when I got here, to the United States."

“How about if we get you cleaned up first?” suggested Mara. “Then we can see if you need more than a few bandaides. I’ll let you use my shower for privacy. Do you have any other clothes? If not, I’m sure I have something that would fit.”

"I would love a shower!" Maeve almost squealed at Mara. It had felt like so long but she didn't want to add to a sob story that seemed to be growing in stature by the minute, even if she hadn't told it yet. "I have some clothes but I wouldn't exactly call them clean either. The men that brought me over didn't exactly let us use stuff on their boat." she shrugged as a flash of them being impaled by shards of earth entered her mind. "So are you Hank Xavier?" Maeve asked. "Is this your place?"

Hank grinned again as they walked towards the mansion. “No,” he replied. “I just work here.”

“It’s not mine, either, before you ask,” added Mara. “We tried to get in touch with Professor Xavier, but I’m not entirely sure I did it right,” she added, her expression turning slightly puzzled.

“He’ll come as soon as he can,” Hank assured her.

“Anyway, you’ll meet him sooner or later,” Mara continued.

"Oh okay." Maeve said softly.

The path up to the building felt long and winding but in truth it wasn't that at all. Maeve felt daunted by the large building and felt eyes from the windows peer at her. However when she looked there wasn't anyone there. A trick of the light maybe, or possibly that she had just been keeping on eye behind her for a while now it had became a habit.

"It's not like I'd want to meet him looking and smelling like I do." Maeve used her arms to gesture at herself. "Not that I need to meet him, I mean I'm sure he's super busy." For a moment Maeve got caught up in looking at Hanks fur. She wanted to ask all sorts of questions. Did he shed? Why was he blue? Who files his claws? But that could wait, if she ever asked at all.

Hank was used to stares, and so he barely noticed. Mara, however, didn’t like it. She had actually never encountered anybody who didn’t already know her friend and to be confronted with his reality annoyed her on his behalf. She tried to ignore it, though, for Hank. “True,” she said. “But he always tries to meet everyone who comes to the mansion.”

Maeve nodded as her attention turned to Mara. "That's nice of him." she replied. "It's been a while since I've had a nice welcome. The last 2 years have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I lived a quite sheltered life, a self sustaining island, no televisions. I'm still getting used to things even now."

“Well, there are lots of televisions here,” Mara replied with a grin as they approached the mansion and Hank opened the door for them. “Plus a lot of very kind people.”

"Great... although I'm more of a book person." Maeve whispered for some reason. She was used to books, televisions were just bright noisy boxes.

“That makes two of us,” replied Mara with a grin.

“Three,” added Hank.

“Three,” Mara agreed. “Hey, we could have a book club!”

"That would be nice. As long as its by an open fire with some hot chocolate I'm a happy lass." Maeve said sounding positive for the first time in a while.

As they approached the large doors underneath the large white canopy it hit Maeve just how large this place seemed to be but she was sure she was in for a much larger shock once she got inside. Even just the prospect of a shower was enough to put a little skip in her step.

When the trio made their entrance inside the main hall of the mansion, the elevator doors parted to reveal a kindly bald man with kind eyes to match his smile. "Hello, Hank, Mara. It appears we're entertaining a guest today. My name is Charles Xavier. I assume you already know of this place by reputation if nothing else, so allow me to say welcome." His wheelchair hovered as much as rolled toward Maeve. Dirty vagabond or not, his hand extended outward to Maeve's in greeting. "We can save more formal introductions until after you've had occasion to refresh yourself after your journey, but I would be delighted to know your name."

It was the man who's name was on the gate, and whom she had been told would have welcomed her into his home, or school, or both. Maeve just hadn't expected to meet him as soon as she entered the main hall. "Eh, it's Maeve sir. Maeve MacKenna." she replied as she took his hand and marvelled at the hovering wheelchair he sat in. She had always been taught to give elders respect and courtesy no matter who they were and this was no different. She was used to a world where women led, being leaders of her community, but she knew the world was much bigger than Achill Island and certainly much more complicated after her 2 years on her own.

There was a small shake of hands and hers quickly retreated feeling a bit self conscious about how she looked and had presented herself to their gate. "Thank you." she paused, "For the welcome I mean. I don't need to be here long. I can get outta your hair..." she then noticed he was bald. Running through thoughts she was going to say out from under your feet but again realised that may be a faux pas so she decided just to be quite and try to control the rush of blood to her now embarrassed face as it turned a nice shade of red.

The Professor started chuckling. "As you can see, Maeve, that will not be a problem. You are welcome to stay for just as long as you wish. Mara and Hank can see to your accommodations. After you're refreshed, come see me again. I'm sure we'll have to much to discuss."

"Okay." Maeve replied and quickly added. "Thank you sir." as he began to move off. Her mother had always tried to instil good manners in her. "I think I'll take that shower now..."

 

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