Apparently, Logan did na' have the time to tell Laura to leave me alone, but you know, I do na' mind much. Do na' get me wrong, I love Pan (and I really ought to tell her sometime), but being around Laura has made it easier to live with certain things I've done.

"You did it for your girlfriend." she said once, "If any bad guy threatens to kill me, you have my full permission to rip him a good one."

"That makes two people I am willing to kill for. More than two, actually... I'd do it for any of the Parkers as well."

"And I wouldna' think any less of ya." she said, imitating my accent.

We laughed.

Later, Peter called, and I had the idea to celebrate the end of the Civil War by inviting everyone involved, hero or villain, pro reg, or anti, to celebrate with us. So far, people seem to think it be a great idea, as long as no one decides to ruin the party by fighting.

Elixir said he wants to go, but I haveta' protect him from Aunt May he says. Heh. 'Twill be fun.

******

"Now Scott," said the Professor, "Laura is doing a very fine job as hostess to our young friend, Angus. However, I feel it would be beneficial for him to spend time with one of our most famous and respected X-Men."

The Professor looked at me, but he didna' have to. He had said exactly what we had agreed on.

Scott whined, "But Professor, the others here don't really res..."

"Now Scott, don't worry about a thing. Angus is a quite friendly young man, and I'm quite sure the two of you will get along well. Show him what we, the X-Men, are all about."

Scott wasna' fully assured yet, so I pitched in, "Is it true that ya were the first student here?"

He immediately went from being discouraged, to arrogant. "Yeah, it is. You've been studying, huh?"

I looked at the Professor. He winked. That meant that he had already made a few mental changes to Scott. I started on the emotional changes.

"So... they say that ya be the best of the X-Men..." I lied. This was the first test.

"Well, actually, I don't know if you could say that. I may have been the first at the school, but if you want to judge by successful missions, or even just body count for that matter, Wolverine's the best. And then there's Storm, she's powerful, and a natural leader. She's a little tetchy, but I respect her abilities."

"I see."

As I kept working on him, he stopped swaggering so much. He was calmer, more confident. Now for the second test: Storm.

She was in the hallway, waiting for one of her students. What she didna' know, was that the Professor had ordered that student to be late.

"Worm." she said as we walked by.

Scott stopped. He looked her straight in the eye. "Look, Ororo, I know we have our differences, but when we can't even walk past each other without throwing insults, that's just ridiculous. Out in the field, we need to watch each others backs and to be honest, I don't think we can do that very well if we're like this all the time."

Storm was livid. I could have calmed her down with me powers, but that wasna' the plan.

"You chauvinistic pig! I don't like you because you're just a sniveling coward who can't hold his own in a decent fight. You curl up in a fetal position and weep. Is that what you call watching my back?"

Scott didna' move. He thought for a moment before replying. "I'm kind of busy right now," he motioned to me, "but I'll be happy to discuss this later. Meet you in the Danger Room tonight."

He walked away and I followed. Storm was left in shock.

******

I didna' spend all day with Scott, but I kept track of his emotions. Late that night, Kodiak went on a rampage and all the X-Men ran to the Professor's office. I ran down too, just in time to see Scott fly out of the office and hit the wall behind him.

"He dented my car!" he said. I have the feeling that he would have been sobbing if I hadna' changed him. As it was, he was almost sobbing then. I got to work immediately.

"I mean," said Scott as I helped him up, "I guess it can be fixed. Plenty of money around this place. I needed to repaint it anyway."

"What be the car's color now?" I asked.

He looked at me, embarrassed. "Pink."

I made a few more emotional changes.

******

It was time for the final test. I went with Scott to the Danger Room. Storm was already there.

"What is happening with Kodiak?" she asked.

"He's okay, I guess. Are we gonna finish this or what?"

"We will indeed."

Scott looked at me. "Angus, stay up in the control room. Things might get ugly down here."

I did as he said. Below, I saw nothing but a blur of lightning and optic blasts. Kind of boring.

Let's spice things up. I thought. I went through the list of Danger Room scenarios.

Magneto's brotherhood? No. Shadow King? No. Brood attack? No...

Insane, fifth level Vegeta? I like it.

Below, Scott and Ororo were fighting even. Then the scenery changed. They were in West City, and Vegeta hovered over them.

"You insignificant, pathetic excuses for life are no match for me! Prepare to die."

This fake Vegeta launched an enormous ki blast at Storm. Scott hit it with his strongest optic blast, which deflected it into the sky. Then he hit Vegeta.

Vegaeta just laughed... until he was hit by ten successive bolts of lightning as well. In the end, Scott and Ororo were beaten, but they had enjoyed themselves.

"Well, Scott, I'm afraid I may have made an assumption or two, but you're not in the clear yet." Then she left. I went to bed, and Scott went to look for Carol.

I'd had a bloody long day. Pan had started off fine, joking, laughing... very friendly. Laura was not so friendly. She didna' like being near Pan at all, but denied wantin' to leave. Josh wasna' so bad, but having Ororo for a chaperon only made things worse. She kept getting off on all this "men are all sniveling chauvinistic worms" speech.

Pan's energy eventually lessened, and the tension between her and Laura grew. I finally got everyone to sit down for a movie, 'cause talking was gettin' nowhere, and gettin' there fast.

Finally, in the evening, Pan said she had to go. I was both sad and happy to see her off, and that made me feel guilty. I went to talk with Logan about it.

******

I knocked on the door of Logan's room. There were sounds of scuffling.

"Yeah?" Logan called from inside.

"It be Angus. I need to talk to ya."

I could feel the emotions of two people inside, and they were na' to happy. Oops.

Logan opened the door, "What d'ya want, Kid?"

"It be about Laura..."

Logan's eyebrows went up. He was amused. Great.

"Come on in, Bub." he said as he swung the door wide open. A pretty Japanese lady covered herself with the sheets.

"Logan!" she scolded.

"Don't get all tetchy, Ana. If he ain't seen the like before, then it's about time he got an education anyway."

Ana wrapped the sheet around her, and made her way to the bathroom with as much dignity as she could. I turned to Logan.

"If her emotions be any indication, ya be going to pay for that later."

Logan just chuckled. "Sit down. Don't touch anything, ya hear?"

I walked into the room, and took a chair. It was hard to ignore the smell. Logan already had boxers on, and he pulled a pair of pants over them. Thank God Almighty.

"So what's this about Laura, kid? And why are ya talkin' ta me?"

"Well, the Professor be busy, and I do na' really know anyone here. I came to ya 'cause ya happen to be Laura's father. As for what this be about, well, I be pretty sure ya know that Laura seems to like me."

He snorted, "Pretty damn obvious."

"I also be sure ya know that I already have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, a Saiyan like Veg head, only not half as annoyin'. Let me guess now, you want ta tell Laura ta back off without gettin' sliced, is that it?"

"Close." I replied.

"Okay, ya want me ta tell Laura ta back off."

"And keep this whole conversation quiet, of course. What else can I do?"

"Nothin'."

******

Finally, I was heading off to bed. I had thought about leaving, but Peter told me by email that he and the rest of the Parkers had gone to Hawaii. Well, they do deserve it. It's more or less a vacation here for me too.

Just before I got to the room that I shared with Josh, a tall blond woman stopped me. "Hi, I'm Carol Danvers, also known as Warbird... I heard that you can read... and adjust people's emotions?"

I nodded.

She wrung her hands. "Please, I need your help."

The professor's ethics class went considerably well, as did me next few days in the X-Mansion. I had already recovered, but Aunt May told me on the phone that, while she missed me, Peter and MJ were glad to have some time to themselves. And that was fine, I didna' want to disturb them. Besides, even with the X-Men in town, there were enough criminals in Westchester to keep me happy.

The only thing that bothered me though, was Laura. She herself is na' the bothersome type, in fact she be very friendly. Me problem is that I am bloody crazy about Pan, I do na' want to hurt her. Also, I do na' want her to hurt Laura or me. So I had to do the only sensible thing I could think of.

She was na' being so obvious about her feelings. In fact, I only know her intentions because I could feel the same emotions from her, as I felt from Pan: adoration, and lust. Thus, I couldna' just sit her down and tell her to bugger off. I had to be somewhat subtle.

I invited Pan over for the day.

Worst. Idea. Ever. Laura didna' say anything, but she felt despair the moment I told her Pan would be coming. When Pan arrived, it turned to anger.

Pan didna' simply appear, like usual. The last time, she apparently set off the alarms. Instead, Ororo, Laura, Josh, and I watched while Pan flew in from above.

"Hey!" she laughed, and flew straight into me. We both flew back a few feet, thanks to the impact, and rolled on the ground. I groaned as I got up, and she laughed again.

"You still sick or what?"

I looked at her. "I no be ill, but I no be accustomed to having my girlfriend fly into me either."

Laura's jealousy went up a notch when I said "girlfriend".

"Well, you'd better just get used to it then, no? C'mon, who are all the rest of these people?"

"Some friends here at the mansion." I replied.

Ororo took the lead, "I am Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm. This Laura, and Josh, also called Elixir."

Elixir shook her hand. "You're a Saiyan like Vegeta? That is so cool..."

This is gonna be a long day.

After Peter left, Hank came to see me. I was sick of being in the infirmary.

"Doctor, do ya think I could walk around for a while or something? Peter said I had to stay here, but not in bed, right?"

"That's true," said Hank, "let me see if I can arrange a tour of the mansion for you.

For a few minutes I was left alone, but the Beast was back before I expected. There was someone with him.

Laura shrieked, "Oh my God, it's you. Ummm, what was your name again?"

"Angus, you be Laura, right?"

"Awesome, how did you know?"

"I heard your father talking to you on that rooftop..." I stopped. She wouldna' remember that, thanks to the Professor.

"Oh yeah! I remember that! You... saved my life..."

Hanks cut in, "So you two know each other already?"

"Yah," I replied, "We have met before."

"Right," Laura said, "so I'm supposed to give you a tour?"

******

Laura and I walked down the halls, and between each stop, we talked about the first time we met.

"It's all really hazy for me," she was saying, "I remember these demon things. One pushed me off the rooftop and... you caught me." She didna' blush, but she was embarrassed.

"Ya do na' have to be embarrassed. The same could have happened to me."

She stopped. "Are you reading my mind?"

"No. I be an empath. Just the fact that ya be anywhere near me means I can feel your emotions. And if ya were far away, I could concentrate, and find you."

"Oh."

I didna' feel it was the best time to tell her that I could control her emotions too. Actually, I havna' even told Pan about that yet. We walked in silence for a little longer.

"So... how did you come here, anyways? Don't you work with Spiderman or something?"

I told her me story, about going to find Doctor Strange, the story of me ancestors, and finally, the fight.

"So Pan, your girlfriend (?), teleported you here for medical care. Where is she now?"

"Yes, I suppose she be me girlfriend. As for where she is, I do na' know. Do ya think I could make a phone call? It be kinda long distance..."

"I'm sure it'd be fine," she answered somewhat reservedly, "who are you gonna call?"

"Pan."

Laura was disappointed.

Me "tagline" was na' appreciated, I think. The druids, at least, that be what they claimed they were, attacked. The first thing I noticed, is that the older ones launched magic attacks of various kinds. The younger ones used guns.

The man who looked like the leader launched another fire blast. I rolled, and ran up a tree. I silently jumped to another tree just before another blast set the first one on fire. Then I dropped. Pan appeared beside me.

"Do you think we should just leave now?"

"Did ya no hear what Strange said? These people are here because I exist. I'm staying to fight."

I expected Pan to resist at least a little, though I knew she was no coward. Instead, she smiled, then launched herself at the largest group of druids, who were busy looking for us. I followed.

This group was entirely composed of younger druids with automatic rifles. Pan and I plowed through them easily. I think I fell in love with her all over again as I saw her blasting right and left. As for me, I didna' find it hard to fight these people when I knew they were going to fire.

There were only two gunmen left, when I felt another buildup. One of the older druids shouted, and the whole island shook. Pan flew up quickly, but I was caught off balance before I could jump. When the shaking stopped, I got up, but one of the gunmen was right in front of me with his finger on the trigger.

"Don't you move."

"I smirked. "I will na' have to."

Pan came down on him hard, and he fell. The last gunman pointed his gun at Pan, but I was already on top of him. Just before he went under, he pulled the trigger, and I felt several bullets hit. I grunted... it didna' seem to hurt much.

Pan screamed. I turned, and there were three druids reciting some incantation. Whatever their spell was, it was holding Pan down. A fourth druid was holding a blade to her throat. Before I could do anything I was hit by four magic blasts at once.

"Surrender, or your girlfriend dies."

That pissed me off.

"You bloody idiots!" I yelled, "You surrender, or I'll send you to Hades. And what's worse, you'll live through it."

They laughed. I cut them short, by connecting with them emotionally, and releasing all their pain. They screamed, and they all fell. Pan got up and walked over to me.

"Let's go, we're finished."

I growled. "No. They were gonna kill ya, Pan. I'll no let them off now."

I added my pain to theirs, and they howled louder. I walked over to the four that had caught Pan.

Pan herself tried to stop me, "Come on! They're as good as dead already."

I shook her off. I used my claw-like fingers to rip the first three apart in seconds. When I came at the fourth, she jerked in fear. Before I knew what happened, the blade she had held at Pan's neck slipped into me. I fell to my knees.

Pan grabbed me, and pulled me away. "Are you CRAZY?!?! You killed them." she screamed.

"I be sorry. I be a bloody idiot..." I gasped.

She kissed me. "We have to get you to Capsule Corp."

"No. Someplace closer to me family."

"Okay."

******

I woke up slowly. I couldna' feel anything. It reminded me of the time I met Pan.

"Good morning, my young friend."

I looked to where the voice had come from. It was a large blue man covered in fur? Why not Pan?

"I am Doctor Hank McCoy. You gave us quite a scare, young man. By the way, you're in the X-Mansion."

"It shouldna' take more than a few minutes." Pan mimiced.

"Look, I didna' know that he would hide himself beyond the bloody mountains of Doom, protected by lava and dragons, okay?"

That wasna' a completely accurate. There were na' any dragons, mountains, or lava. Pan and I had traveled for two days, hitch-hiking across the Irish countryside, 'cause Pan couldna' teleport there without going there the normal way at least once. She had, however, gone back to get some extra clothes, food, and my uniform.

At the moment, we were standing on Inchagoill (an island), in the middle of Lough Corrib (a lake). We had swum across the lake in the dark, and were resting ourselves on the shore.

Pan just shook her head. We waited a while longer then I got up. "Well, we might as well go in."

There it was, the remains of a Romanesque church. Once inside, we looked around for any sign of Doctor Strange. After a while of looking at cobwebs, we sat down on the floor.

"So let's get this straight." said Pan, "The note told us to walk through the portal, and we did. Once we were through, we both heard a voice, Doctor Strange's, we think, which told us to come here. We're here, and..."

Before she could finish, the whole floor began to shake. Then we saw it was moving slowly downward, with us on it.

Pan shrieked in surprise and began to fly. I called her back. "Come back, Pan. This be what we be looking for."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, no. But if it not be Doctor Strange, you can always teleport us out, right?"

Pan flew down and joined me on the now steadily lowering floor. It went down, for what seemed like hours. Just as I was starting to drift off, our "elevator" hit the bottom. And just off to the side, was Doctor Strange.

"Welcome, children."

We just stared. Finally, we stepped off the piece of flooring, which immediately began to rise again.

"Don't worry," said Strange, looking at me, "I will call it back down when you need to leave, if you like, but I suspect your friend here knows how to teleport."

Pan looked shocked. "How'd you know that?"

"I'm a wizard, my girl. Now if you'll kindly follow me, both of you."

He strode through the underground hallways as if they were his own. "Then again," I thought, "they probably are."

As if in answer to my thought, Strange said, "The place isn't mine. It was created by your forefathers, Angus. Through careful study of the place, and the books in it, I believe I have the answer to your question."

Just then, I realised, I hadn't even greeted him properly. "I be sorry, sir. I do na' know half of what be happening..."

"It's perfectly alright, Angus."

******

We were in a sort of sitting room, which was comfortably furnished. I sank into one of the old sofas, and Pan sat beside me. Strange found himself an armchair, and sat in it heavily. The fact that we were underground and using torchlight to see added to the mystique of the whole situation.

"Now, children, I am sure your quite eager to find out what this is all about."

Not needing to say anything, Pan and I nodded.

"Very well, I will tell you the story, without all the small details. Then I will give you some documents I translated, if you are interested in hearing the rest.

"The story begins over three milleniums ago. According to the annals I have found, the progenitor of your line was an angel. I do not know what his name was, at the time, but he was apparently quite powerful. Only the archangles were between those of his class, and God.

"This angel fell in love with an Irish woman, whose name is also unknown to history. He gave up his immortality for her. Unfortunately, while she appeared to love him when he was an angel, she could not bear his presence as a human. She ultimately spurned him in favor of the son of her clann's chief.

"Angels are not much given to thoughts of anger or revenge, but they do know sorrow. Your ancestor roamed Ireland, bemoaning his fate. He took on the name 'Angus', which means 'one choice', to reflect the one choice that had taken him from the heavens, to being a broken man.

"In his roaming, he came across an order of Druids, called Fallen Sun. They thought Angus was a being of great power, but what they saw was only the shadow of his former power. They sought to convert him to their cause, but Angus was horrified at the things they did. Human sacrifice, and the like...

"Anyways, instead of joinging, he fought them. The Druids he first encountered were unarmed, and he finished them quite easily. But then they came after thim in the hundreds. Instead of letting him die, God took pity on Angus. He gave him a very small measure of his former power. Small in relation to what he had before, that is.

"For years he fought and when he finally died, he had all but extinguished the Fallen Sun. Since then, his power has been given to one individual in your family every fourth generation."

We were silent for a few minutes after Strange finished his narration.

"Did me father know about this?" I wondered aloud.

"Probably not," replied Strange, "Fallen Sun seems to have left Ireland six centuries ago. There hasn't been one of your kind since, until now that is."

Pan stood up. "So then there's nothing to do now, except go home."

I sighed. "It seems like it. Thank you, Doctor."

He smiled, "It was my pleasure, boy."

******

Outside, on the island, Pan and I said goodbye to Strange. Strange cast a spell, which opened a portal, and he was gone. Pan and I took each other's hand, and she prepared to teleport us home. Just then, I felt someone's emothions. There was the pre-strike build up, and I pushed Pan away from me.

I dropped to the ground, and a firy blast nearly singed my head. I turned Fade, and got up. pan and I were surrounded by men and women in dark robes.

"Angus, spawn of the Devine, surrender to Fallen Sun, or die."

I felt their emotions. There was nothing in them except hatred. I made my reply.

"I be Fade. Die, or I'll make you die."

Hey, that could be me tagline!

Doctor Strange... That be a strange name, pardon me pun. The morning after the power dampener test, Peter and I prepared to go see Strange. As usual, something got in the way.

"PETER!" MJ came running in, breathless. "There's, like, total chaos out there. A bunch of supervillians think that all the heroes have taken Vegeta's offer of asylum. They're, like, trashing the place."

Peter ran into the living room. A few minutes later, he returned. "The Kingpin's let all my old friends out to play."

"Strange will have to wait, then."

Peter looked at me. "No. I think you should find out what you are before I drag you into any more of this. Go to Strange... this isn't anything I haven't handled before."

If his emotions hadna' gone wild at the last part, I might have believed him. He knew that I didn't.

"Just go." he continued, "I'll find other help. I'll sic Aunt May on them if I have to."

I laughed. "For your sake, me friend, I hope she didna' hear that."

******

I called Pan, to find out if I could get some transportation faster than wall-running. Besides, I hadna' seen her since we left West City. It took some time to convince her to stop fooling around and actually take me to Strange's place, but we got there.

"Pan," I said, "it might have been better if you had landed us outside the mansion..."

"Oops..."

We were in the main sitting room, at least, and not in the Doctor's potion room, or something.

"Well, what be done, be done."

Pan looked around and called out, "Hello?"

Wong came out of the shadows. "Do not worry about having arrived here uninvited. My master was expecting you."

Pan made a face. "Creepy."

******

Wong led us through door after door, hallway after hallway. I started countin' doors, just for the heck of it. Finally, we stopped.

Wong nodded toward a door, and stood back. I walked up to it and knocked. Wong chuckled.

"Do not knock. Enter."

"Whatever ya say, Wong."

Pan and I entered the room. "It's kinda like a movie, she said."

It was. The lights were dim, with a single shaft of light coming through a window. It stopped on a desktop where, big surprise, was an open book, with a note on it. The note read:

Welcome, Angus. I do not know what you are, but I will be more than glad to help you. In the book is a spell which, spoken correctly, will take you to Ireland, where you will find me.

Sincerely, Doctor Strange

Pan snorted, "Great, so now we have to go to Ireland. Should I go home to pack?"

"It shouldna' more than a few minutes," I said, "and ya do na' have to come if you don't wanna."

"Look, of course I'm coming. You think I want to stay back, while you have all the fun? No way."

Wong just smiled a slightly disturbing smile. I picked up the book, and said the spell. Nothing happened. Wong walked over, took the book and said the spell, but the pronunciation was different.

A portal opened. Pan smirked, "I guess ya have to know the language, huh?"

I just shrugged. I took her hand in mine, and we walked through the portal.

Ireland.