Wilson stared at the redhead who looked at him and refused to look away.
Currently they were inside their X-Jet or their Quinjet heading straight for their school of the 'gifted'.
He didn't know why she had been staring at him for so long, they were currently at the back of the Quinjet strapped to the sides.
To his opposite was Jean, still staring, unblinking.
He almost felt like grabbing the biker helmet to his right and launching at her. It would be a futile endeavour due to the fact that she had telekinesis but he was oh so tempted.
He didn't know why she was staring at him, maybe she was still trying to enter his mind but he quickly refuted that thought due to the fact that everytime they had tried reading his mind back in his apartment his Trait-[Gamer's Mind] would give him a notice.
Now he didn't know whether she was trying to read his expression or not, heck he didn't even know whether she had the skills to do that but he wouldn't underestimate them.
But now that he felt just a semblance of safety he could think.
He needed strength, he needed more power.
That was what had been plaguing his mind for the past week.
Which had been why he had even attempted his stupid plan back then, robbing a shop near his old wreck of a home.
He didn't just come into a shop armed and stole their cash just for giggles after all.
He had been desperate.
His [System] awarded him for achievements he did. This could be from simply surving a robbing to beating someone close to death to something as absurb as saving the world or destroying it.
The former two he had done just a day into his life by the way, that had been where he obtained the gun to even attempt the robbery.
Said gun was currently at the ready in his inventory.
So seeing the trend in his system and even getting confirmation from it that his assumptions had been correct, he concocted a plan to rob a store in order to obtain 'rolls'.
As for what were rolls, they were the main feature of his system aside from the Exp Accumulation it apparently had that he still hasn't figured out yet.
The main feature of the system was that with a single roll he could roll in a pool of 100 items, depending on the number and what it held he'd then obtain that 'thing'.
It was simple really.
This was his lifeline in this world, he only hoped that he'd soon acquire something that would assure his life in this world.
So the decision to leave with the X-Men wasn't just for protection alone.
He understood that his system grew with conflict, he'd need to be in the midst of things in order to obtain rolls.
So which better place to farm them than a school where almost everyone was a mutant?
Plus, his ability.
His X-Gene would get him targetted by everyone who sought power, it was just that ridiculous.
[— X-Gene ~ Edit - Edit, a mutant ability that allows the user at the cost of a great deal of energy to edit any one thing as he likes. The more extensive the edit, the more it'll take out of the user.]
Simple, brief but ultimately filled with potential.
Just think, if he had the energy requirements met then couldn't he edit a normal humans DNA and make them mutants?
He knew that doing so would probably fuck him over, he didn't know how much energy he had, or what energy his ability even took so he wouldn't be trying that out until he was proficient in his ability.
" Stop staring at me." His words came before his mind could even process them, his annoyance palpable in them.
" Huh?" Jean muttered, confused before her eyes popped up in realisation.
" Oh uhmm I...i-i'm sorry." She muttered, her gaze falling to his feet." It's just that I don't normally get to be with people that I can't read their minds or hear their thoughts often."
He stared at her, a smile gracing her face as he too now studied her.
" It....it feels kind of nice, not being able to know everything about a person down to how they think of you."
He felt like rolling his eyes at that statement, but he understood how she felt.
If he could read minds and know everything about a person, he too would feel the same, that he could understand.
So her finding someone that she couldn't read, a person that made her feel normal, he could understand how she'd feel.
Especially with how he knew her power stemmed from, alongside with how vast it was.
" It's fine, just don't make it weird." He told her, he didn't need someone stalking him which he could feel that she'd probably do given enough reason." We are gonna be living in the same building, probably, so just talk to me if you have something to say and stop looking at me like a lost puppy."
" I...uhhmm, i-it's that bad huh?" She muttered, a self degrading smile on her face.
" I could lie and tell you it isn't, but yeah, it is that bad." He said scoffing at the end but he made sure to smile just so she didn't get the wrong idea.
" Well, it's hard having been able to hear what everyone around you thought about you to being unable to hear anything from someone so excuse me." She said, a smile gracing her features.
" *scoff* well, atleast you won't have to worry about getting backstabbed with an ability like that." He told her, he would have liked to have an ability like that.
It would grant him the capability to know about all those he was around, know their history and paths so he could better.... manipulate them into whatever he wanted.
" Hah! You'd be surprised about how many people have slipped through us even with my powers." She told him, a hint of regret in her eyes.
" And how did they do that?" He asked, genuinely asking.
He wanted to know whatever weaknesses she had, it would do him good to know as knowing from her history in the random comics he read with her, she would be a worthy foe.
He paused that thought immediately though.
When did he see her as a foe?
He afterall was someone that steered clear of trouble unless truly needed, his survival being one that he never compromised on.
He let that go for now, to be better assessed when he was alone and he could better understand his changes better.
" Mindshields? Mutants and even some humans have developed this skill to shield their thoughts and memories, it's a bit disorientating actually but if they are skilled enough they can pass through our 'readings'." She said with a sigh.
" So you can't just, you know? break through their defences and just do it anyway?" He asked, he wanted to know of her current capabilities.
" I mean, I can do that, I've already done it with a shape shifter but I can't just do that with anyone, especially if they are innocent." She told him.
He simply scoffed and rolled his eyes at that.
" So it was fine when I was the one at the end of the stick huh?"
" What? No! That was...that was just safety measures I swear!" She shouted." We had already gotten a lead from another mutant that you had been part...or solely responsible for a stealing from a sh-"
She immediately shut her mouth up after saying that, probably having realised that she was saying too much.
" Uh, something you can't share huh?" He asked letting a hint of amusement deep through.
Hearing that she looked straight in his eyes, a pout on her face.
" You tricked me." She said, matter of factly.
" And you caught on quick, you might be saved yet." He said rolling his eyes.
" What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, confused but now he could see that she was on guard.
" It means that you need some practice with people that can trick your telepathy." He said deflecting and lying at the same time.
" Is that an admittance that you'll be lying to us then?" She asked.
And before he could continue their sparking 'banter', he felt it.
Psionic energy seeping from the control deck.
He understood what was happening immediately, meta-knowledge and his own factored in by his new instincts kicking in that she was communication with the bald one.
So, immediately he put his guard up, the slight bond he felt for the girl infront of him immensely dissipating.
" No, just holding on to the truth until I can trust you." He told her, them, even if it were the truth he wanted to see what they would do with the knowledge.
" Oh? Really now?" She said, leaning towards me, bringing her elbow to her knee.
Just the right position that I could see her cleavage.
' Smart, really smart charles.' He thought.
He knew that this was Charles machinations, now they would wait to see whether he was sustainable to seduction and they would go from that.
He understood that they may have been heroes, but they too could play dirty sometimes.
Especially Charles, if he thought that his actions were justifiable for the greater good, then it was fine.
So seeing him using Jean for his own interests surprised for a moment, but not by much.
Now he understood that he was nowhere near the original timeline.
Just some offshoot that he knew nothing about.
That brought him some anxiety, not knowing what to expect.
But if he were anything, it was that he was adaptable.
So he saw this as an opportunity than it was a trap, he'd use them, lead them by the nose and when he was done, he'd immediately leave.
He was afterall a survivor amongst all his traits, he would poke a nest full of mutants who were fully loyal to Charles just yet.
So he 'fell' for their trap.
His eyes immediately falling to Jean's cleavage, he took a long while just staring at it before he answered her question.
It didn't hurt that he actually liked what he saw, those feelings though were secondary, being accustomed to being seduced and led on by the woman's body.
" You haven't given me a reason to trust you all, aside from the protection which I will in turn reciprocate." He told her, and he was being truthful for the most part.
He would pay them back for their protection, even if he only needed that protection because they outed him as a mutant.
Though he could understand that it would've been let out even without Charles.
At worst he would have been given a visit by Magneto, as much as he liked the man he didn't want to be at the end of his wrath just because he refused his 'good graces'.
" Reciprocate? " She asked, curious.
" Reciprocate." He told her matter of factly." I hate owing people above all else, so I make it a habit of mine to pay back whatever the institute you all are taking me will offer."
" You don't need to do that, the school is meant to nurture mutants after all." She said and for a moment he didn't know whether that was Charles speaking or Jean.
So he simply shook his head and laid back on his chair, arguing with the bald one or Jean would be a lost cause knowing how stubborn they both were.