Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Collections:
Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
Stats:
Published:
2020-11-05
Completed:
2007-10-14
Words:
12,174
Chapters:
3/3
Kudos:
9
Hits:
1,645

Creature Of The Night

Summary:

The X-Men journey to Florida to contact a rather unusual mutant named Kurt Wagner, who finds himself the target of an anti-mutant militia. Action

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Notes:

SUMMARY: The X-Men journey to Florida to contact a rather unusual mutant named Kurt Wagner, who finds himself the target of an anti-mutant militia. Action.
RATING: PG
UNIVERSE: Ultimate X-Men
WARNINGS: The Nightcrawler introduced here is more like the mainstream Marvel
version than what Mark Millar introdued in Ultimate X-Men #7. The idea for this story formed before Millar had ever revealed his intentions to bring Nightcrawler into the Ultimate Universe. As such, this Kurt is not to be confused with the obsidian teleporter who tried to escape from Weapon X.
Consider this AU.
PAIRINGS: None in this chapter, though Jean/Logan is hinted at in Part 2.
DISCLAIMER: All these characters belong to Marvel. I'm just borrowing them for this story, and I hope nobody gets mad. After all, Millar enjoyed this story, so there may be hope for me yet. I simply want to introduce Nightcrawler into the Ultimate Marvel Universe. I realize that Mark Millar has already done so in Ultimate X-Men #7, but this story was first conceived around #3, long before Millar announced any intention of bringing Kurt in.
Based on Ultimate X-Men
NOTE: This story takes place after the end of Ultimate X-Men #6, and starts its own continuity. No disrespect is intended to Millar's Ultimate Nightcrawler, who definitely rocked in all eight pages in which he's appeared. Besides, Millar has read this story, and thinks it kicks ass. Enjoy!]

Chapter Text

Creature Of The Night
by Wyzeguy


"His name is Kurt Wagner," Professor Charles Xavier stated as he pulled off his Cerebro helmet and let it retract up toward the ceiling. "Unlike most the mutants we know of, his particular genetic mutation has been obvious from birth." He pressed a button on the Cerebro computer and brought up an image of the subject.

Scott "Cyclops" Summers gaped at what he saw: Kurt Wagner had blue skin, full-yellow eyes devoid of pupils, two fingers and a thumb on each hand, matching digits on his toes, and a long, prehensile tail with a triangular point like a demon. Cyclops watched as the image of Kurt performed acrobatic techniques with supreme skill. "I also believe he is capable of short-range teleportation," Xavier continued.

"What...is he?" Scott finally asked, "I mean...besides a mutant?"

"Until recently, a former circus performer," Xavier replied, petting his cat that had just jumped in his lap. "He hails from Germany, and was raised in a travelling circus that cultivated his extrahuman agility. He was their star performer."

"'Was'?" Jean "Marvel Girl" Grey asked, quirking an eyebrow and running a hand through her short red hair. "What happened?"

Xavier let out a slow breath. "The circus toured the States recently...but their timing couldn't have been worse. The Sentinels decimated them in one of their sweeps, even though there were only two mutants in the circus. Kurt was the only survivor."

"Damn..." Scott mumbled, eyes narrowing behind his gold visor, its ruby quartz lens the only barrier holding back his optic energy beams. "Where is he now?"

"An abandoned church in Tallahassee, Florida, of all places."

Scott turned to Jean, smiling slightly. "So this means you get to go on another cross-country recruiting drive, then."

"I've done the last several," Jean replied. "I'd like to see you do it for once. It could improve your people skills."

"What's that supposed to--?"

"I will talk to him," Xavier announced. To his pupils' confused expressions, he added, "I have my reasons. But you two, and the rest of the team, can join me if you like."

_X_

"Are you sure we cannot talk this over?" Kurt Wagner asked the man holding the pistol to Kurt's forehead. He struggled against the handcuffs which pinned his arms behind his back, as he knelt in front of his captor, waiting for the man to pull the trigger.

The man, Sam Boswell, was the leader of Florida's chapter of the Friends of Humanity, an anti-mutant militia that had surfaced in almost every state in response to the rising nationwide mutant hysteria. "I'm sure," he replied. "We've had enough of yer lip, mutie. You put up a good fight 'fore we caught ya, but The Friends of Humanity? We're tired of mutant freaks terrorizin' us decent folk, an' attractin' Sentinels."

"So you're saying it's MY fault that those robots keep showing up?"

Sam nodded, as did the other members of the FOH, who gathered around the backwoods bonfire, with rifles, baseball bats, and broken bottles.

"Pardon a fellow for asking," Kurt muttered in a barely-noticeable German accent.

"A 'fellow', huh?" Sam quoted, mimicking and bastardizing Kurt's dialect. "You call yourself a fellow, like you're a human or somethin'? Look in the mirror, pal. You're a demon." Sam reached down with his free hand and took hold of the small silver Catholic cross on Kurt's necklace. "You're a demon who's got no business wearin' this." He ripped off the necklace, causing Kurt to sneer.

"Bastard..." Kurt seethed. "You think you can actually judge me, just because you look human and I don't? You act like being human is something to aspire to...and that I should be ashamed because I'm not." Kurt's featureless yellow eyes narrowed. "You are right that there are demons present in these woods. However, mein freund...I am not one of them."

"Can we get on with this?" one of the other FOHers asked. "My buzz is wearin' off."

"All right, all right, calm down," Sam told him, returning his attention to the gun at Kurt's blue-skinned forehead. He clicked the pistol. "Any last words?"

"Are you interested in hearing them?" Kurt returned, fairly annoyed by the proceedings.

"Not really," Sam stated, pulling the trigger and firing the gun.

Needless to say, it came as a great surprise to all but Kurt that Sam's shot went wide by three feet, hitting a tree. Sam gaped dumfounded at his wrist, tightly wrapped in a blue prehensil tail with an arrowlike point at the end. He'd been so distracted that he didn't notice the mutant's tail snaking around his wrist until it was too late.

"And people think the tail is for decoration," Kurt mused as he leapt straight up from his crouched position, sending a forward kick at Sam's chest. The bigot flew backward off his feet, and his buddies advanced on Kurt to retaliate.

They were much too slow, as Kurt leapt ten feet upward a second time, bringing both knees up to his chest, and passed the chain of the handcuffs under him to bring his hands in front of him. On his way down, he let go of Sam with his tail, and drop-kicked the nearest FOH member, striking him in the jaw.

The men with the rifles opened fire, and Nightcrawler dashed into a cluster of bushes, bullets whizzing by him.

The Friends of Humanity surrounded the bushes, guns drawn. They saw a shadowy underbrush, but no mutant.

"Up here," Kurt announced as he leaped from a nearby tree into their midst, and sent a flurry of kicks into their midst before they could react. In no time at all, six men sprawled face-down on the ground, out cold.

Sam caught up with the group, and threw a punch at Kurt. Big mistake. Kurt brought up his hands and wrapped the chain of his handcuffs around Sam's wrist in a fluid motion.

Sam howled in pain as Kurt leaped straight upward to a tree branch over head, and hung from it with his legs and tail wrapped around it. Sam screamed as he was lifted off his feet, and the men left standing advanced on Kurt and Sam.

"Keep your distance, gentlemen," Kurt warned as he swung Sam forcefully toward the nearest Friend, causing the two men to collide. He then repeated this trick with another of them. His dark blue lips curled into a savage grin, exposing yellow fangs.

The three remaining men wised up and kept their distance, pointing their rifles at Kurt and opening fire. Kurt's reflexes saved him once again, as he unwrapped his legs and tail from the branch and dropped under the gunfire, landing on the ground behind Sam with catlike grace. He then unwrapped the chain from Sam's pained wrist.

Sam didn't appear to be exactly grateful, as Kurt wrapped the chain around the man's neck, and glared menacingly at the Friends of Humanity. "Back off," he hissed, "or I break his neck."

The humans kept their guns trained on a spot between Kurt's eyes.

"You think I'm joking? I have nothing left to lose."

The gunmen held their positions.

"All right, if that's the way you want it to be..." He squeezed Sam's neck even tighter, about to twist the man's head off.

~Stop.~

Kurt's eyebrows raised in response to a commanding voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. The Friends of Humanity suddenly dropped their rifles, and fell to the ground unconscious.

Kurt relaxed his hold on Sam, who seemed to be similarly unresponsive. "Who's there?" Kurt asked, panic more evident in his voice than he'd have liked it to be.

~Let the man go, Kurt. You don't want to kill him.~

"Of course I don't want to kill him," Kurt responded, removing the chain from Sam's neck (which now had a chain-shaped bruise engraved in it), letting the human drop to the ground. "I just wanted to get those verdammt humans to back off and leave me alone." He collected his thoughts. "And just who are you? And how do you know my name?"

A small figure wheeled himself into the flickering campfire light. "You should know who I am, Kurt Wagner," Charles Xavier announced. "I saved you from that racist mob in Bavaria a few years ago. You were younger then."

Kurt stepped forward, recognition coloring his dark features. "Xavier? Yeah, I remember you. You made those people forget they were beating me to a pulp, and just...walk away. You then asked if I was okay, complimented my acrobatic prowess in the circus show earlier that night...and left."

Charles smiled enigmatically. "You DO remember. I have been meaning to contact you sooner, since your arrival in the States, and subsequent loss of your family. Sadly, various events have gotten in the way. But now I am here, and I offer you a home, a purpose, and a group of people much like yourself, to serve as your peers."

Kurt's eyebrow raised skeptically. "I sincerely doubt there is ANYONE like me, much less a group."

Xavier shrugged. "Fair enough. I suppose, then, that you wouldn't be interested in meeting my companions...the X-Men."

Seven figures in form-fitting black leather uniforms with gold accessories emerged from the shadows, much like Xavier had. Kurt took a step back, defensively.

"Relax, Mr. Wagner," Xavier informed him, his voice calm and soothing. "They will not hurt you. From left to right, we have Scott Summers, called Cyclops; Jean Grey, known as Marvel Girl; Peter Rasputin, our human Colossus; Ororo Monroe, codenamed Storm; Bobby Drake, or Iceman; Wolverine; and Hank McCoy..."

"Who is now much less the 'Beast' of this team than he was two minutes ago," Hank McCoy finished, sizing up Kurt curiously from behind his gold-colored prescription glasses.

Kurt twitched his tail in faint annoyance.

"Let me get those cuffs for you," Cyclops offered, walking to him and adjusting the setting dial on his visor to a thin beam.

Kurt took one look at the crimson energy flaring from the visor and backed up. "That is not necessary," he answered, slipping his thin, tri-fingered hands out of the handcuffs, and handing them to Cyclops. The expression on the X-Men leader's face could only be described as "priceless."

"Now then," Xavier announces. "Let's get Mr. Wagner settled in his new home, shall we?"

"One moment." Kurt disappeared in a flash of light, cloud of brimstone, and loud noise that sounded something like "Bamf!", causing the X-Men to do a collective double-take. He reappeared near the campfire, searching around for a moment, then teleported once more, reappearing in front of the X-Men, holding his cross medallion, broken chain and all. "Now I am ready."

 

TO BE CONTINUED