Chicago was alive but none of it mattered to the sixteen-year-old sprinting through the crowd like his life depended on it.
Virgil Hawkins was a skinny black kid with dreads and way too much confidence for his own good, shoved past people as a pack of furious teenage jocks barreled after him in their bright varsity jackets.
"We're gonna KILL you, Virgil!" one of them roared.
Virgil didn't dare look back. "Bro, it was ONE prank!" he shouted over his shoulder, nearly tripping over a newspaper stand.
He skidded into a side alley, hoping for an exit but hit a dead end.
"Aw, come on…" he groaned, turning around just in time to see the jocks closing in.
They surrounded him, cracking their knuckles like they practiced it in the mirror.
"So," Virgil said, trying to smile, "I think you're overreacting. All I did was a small prank."
"SMALL?!" the biggest jock barked, face red with rage. "You turned our school jerseys pink!"
Virgil shrugged. "I mean… I think pink looks good on you. Really brings out your….."
He never finished.
They rushed him.
Fists, knees, and elbows slammed into him all at once, forcing him to the concrete. Virgil tried to cover up, but every kick rattled his ribs. Pain blurred his vision.
Then he felt it.
A pressure inside his chest. Heat crawling along his arms. A low hum rising in his ears.
Something building.
Something breaking.
Virgil sucked in a breath and the world exploded.
A shockwave of pure electricity blasted outward, bright and violent, hurling the jocks off their feet and slamming them into the alley walls. Sparks skittered across the puddles. The air smelled like ozone.
Virgil stared at his hands, still crackling with blue light.
"What the…?"
He bolted out of the alleyway, heart pounding, electricity dancing beneath his skin. But he didn't know his whole life is about to change forever.
New York, Xavier Mansion
Charles Xavier paused woth the pen slipping from his hand. A sudden surge hit him like a lightning bolt of psychic static blasting across his mind. His eyes widened.
A mutant… powerful… uncontrolled…
He reached for his head sending a mental message.
"Scott. Ororo. My office. Immediately."
Moments later, the office door slid open with a soft hiss.
Scott Summers stepped inside first, adjusting his visor. "Professor? What's wrong?"
Storm entered behind him, her white hair catching the faint breeze that always seemed to follow her. "I felt a disturbance in the atmosphere. Electricity but it was unnatural." She frowned. "It wasn't weather."
Xavier nodded once. "Then you sensed it too."
Scott folded his arms. "Another mutant?"
"Not just a mutant," Xavier said quietly. "A new one and it was very strong."
The Professor turned his chair and led them into the hall, moving with urgency.
"You felt that from here?" Scott asked.
"It was like thunder inside my mind," Xavier replied. "Raw, uncontrolled power. Someone awakened tonight."
Storm's expression hardened. "Untrained mutants with that level of power can cause disasters and accidents."
"That," Xavier said grimly, "is precisely what I fear."
They reached the staircase that spiraled down into the lower levels of the mansion. Lights flickered on automatically as they descended, the air growing cool and metallic.
Cerebro waited below.
Scott stepped closer to the massive spherical chamber. "If it was that strong, Cerebro should pick it up easily."
Xavier placed his hand on the biometric panel, and the door slid open with a low hum.
Cerebro's vast interior glowed with white-blue light.
Storm whispered, "Heavens…"
Xavier rolled into the center platform, the room responding like a heartbeat. The helmet lowered.
The moment he put it on there is crackle of blue-white lightning.
A boy's scream.
Pain. Fear. Electric fury bursting outward.
Civilians running.
Jocks thrown across an alley.
A storm raging inside a young mind that had just awakened.
Cerebro's holographic display lit up with a pulsing red beacon.
Scott stepped closer. "Where is it?"
Xavier took a breath.
"Chicago."
Storm narrowed her eyes. "Distance?"
"Not far enough to wait," Xavier answered.
The pulsing light on the map flickered violently like a heartbeat struggling to stay steady.
"This young man is in danger," Xavier said softly. "From others… and from himself."
He removed the Cerebro helmet.
"Prepare the Blackbird. We leave immediately."
Timeskip
Virgil sprinted down the sidewalk, shoes slapping against wet concrete. Every breath burned in his chest, but that wasn't what scared him.
The sparks were back.
Blue-white electricity crawled up his arms like frantic serpents, snapping between his fingers, lighting up the night with every step.
"Come on, come on… stay off," he muttered, shaking his hands, trying to force the power down.
It didn't listen.
Neon signs flickered as he passed them. Streetlamp bulbs popped overhead. A passing car's radio shrieked with static.
A woman gasped and dropped her phone when the screen went black.
"Sorry! Sorry my bad!" Virgil yelled as he ran by, though he knew she couldn't hear him over the electric hum growing louder around his body.
His heartbeat and the buzzing inside him grew in sync, rising, climbing then a burst of lightning exploded off him and took out a trash can behind him, sending the lid spinning into the street.
Virgil stumbled, clutching his head.
"What is happening to me?!"
He ducked into another alley and leaned against a wall, breathing hard. His reflection in a puddle stared back with his eyes glowing faint blue, lightning dancing across his shoulders like a living aura.
He looked terrifying.
He looked like a mutant.
"No, no, no…" he whispered, pushing off the wall again. "Just get home. Just get home."
He broke into a run.
But high above the city, slicing through the night clouds, the Blackbird roared toward Chicago like a silent blade.
Inside the cockpit, Scott gripped the controls.
"Entering Chicago airspace," he said. "Cloaking engaged."
Storm stood behind him, hands clasped behind her back, eyes locked on the flashing map of mutant signatures. One pulsed brighter than the rest and it was wild and unstable and crackling with energy even on the screen.
She frowned. "His power is fluctuating. If he loses control again, someone could be hurt."
"Which is why we find him fast," Scott replied.
From behind them, Xavier's voice came calm but urgent. "I can sense him more clearly now. He's frightened… confused… and he's trying to run from his own power."
Scott angled the jet downward, clouds parting to reveal Chicago's glowing skyline.
Lights flickered across the northern district with entire blocks dimming and sparking back to life.
"Look," Storm said softly. "The electricity."
Street lamps were flashing in sequence, like dominos of failing light.
Scott narrowed his eyes. "He's down there."
Xavier closed his eyes. "Not far now. He's very close to panic."
Storm placed a hand on Scott's seat. "We land. Now."
Scott nodded. "Already descending."
The X-Jet dipped lower, engines whisper-quiet, gliding over rooftops as the mutant signal grew stronger.
A blue flash erupted between buildings below.
Storm's eyes widened. "Scott there!"
Another blast.
Scott swung the jet in that direction.
Xavier's voice tightened. "We must reach him before anyone else does."
Virgil is running but he saw a Chicago PD officer stepping off the curb, reaching out.
"Hey, son, slow down…."
Virgil didn't even touch him.
A surge of electricity exploded outward the moment the officer's fingers grazed Virgil's arm. A sharp crack split the air. The officer was thrown back, skidding across the pavement before collapsing against a parked car. People screamed.
Virgil stared, horrified.
"I didn't… I didn't mean to!"
But fear drowned out his words. Someone shouted for help. Someone else reached for their phone. Virgil backed up, sparks flying off him in panicked waves.
He turned and ran.
Timeskip
Storm and Scott moved through the streets, the X-Jet cloaked on a rooftop above them. Civilians clustered around the area where Virgil's accidental discharge had blown an officer off his feet. Scott scanned the scorch patterns on the pavement, adjusting the dial on his visor.
"He's emitting EM pulses everywhere he goes," Scott murmured. "The trail is fresh."
Storm knelt, touching the ground lightly. A faint current crawled across her palm.
"He's frightened," she said. "The energy is wild, unfocused. Whoever this young man is… he has no control."
Scott nodded. "His output's strong. Xavier's right. This kid is a Omega-level waiting to happen."
Storm looked down the dim street. Several streetlights flickered, buzzing like angry insects.
"Follow the lights," she whispered.
And they did.
They saw a car alarm screaming, fried by a short burst and a row of neon signs flickering violently and finally a shattered transformer box sparking on a corner.
Scott tapped his earpiece. "He's heading residential. Power grid's destabilizing from the surges."
Storm closed her eyes, breathing in. The air tasted metallic and charged.
"He's close. Very close."
Moments Earlier
Virgil slammed the front door shut and stumbled inside, chest heaving. The lights in the living room brightened, dimmed, then flared dangerously as if reacting to his heartbeat.
"No, no, no please don't," he begged the universe. Sparks danced across his arms, flashing through his dreadlocks.
He grabbed a blanket and tried wrapping it around himself to smother the electricity. It crackled, burned away at the edges, and fell to the floor in smoking pieces.
His hands shook uncontrollably. Blue arcs shot between his fingertips.
"Stop just STOP!" he yelled.
The room exploded in light.
The TV blew out with a loud pop, sending glass scattering. The refrigerator motor whined, overloaded. Every bulb in the house flashed white-hot and burst, plunging everything into darkness except for the glow radiating from Virgil's skin.
His heart thumped and the house responded.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as electricity spiraled off him in frantic loops. His dreadlocks lifted slightly into the air, weightless.
"I'm gonna hurt someone… I'm gonna…."
The floor lamp beside him bent but not broken, not melted but bend and it was drawn magnetically toward him.
Virgil stared, horrified.
"What's… happening to me?"
Outside, Storm and Scott turned onto his street just in time to see the entire house crackle with blue lightning from the inside, the windows flashing like a storm trapped in a box.
Scott narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah. Found him."
Scott stepped toward the front porch, visor glowing faintly as he scanned the overloaded energy swirling inside the house.
"Careful," he warned quietly. "The EM levels are spiking. One wrong move and..."
A sharp crack rattled the windows again.
Storm moved ahead of him, eyes soft but resolute. "He is a child in pain, Scott. Pain makes storms… and storms can be guided."
Scott didn't argue. He trusted her instincts.
Storm placed her palm on the front door. Sparks snapped across the wood, reacting to her presence. She exhaled, calming her own elemental aura, then pushed the door open.
Inside the house the living room looked like a war zone of static. Electronics flickered in and out. The air hummed and stung. Furniture vibrated subtly, pulled by unseen magnetic currents.
And in the center was Virgil crouched on the floor, glowing faintly, electricity spiraling around him in frantic arcs.
Storm stepped inside slowly. "Virgil Hawkins?"
He jerked, startled. A surge jumped off him, frying a nearby lamp.
"Stay back!" Virgil shouted. "Please I can't control this!"
Storm didn't flinch. She approached with her hands visible and open, her voice calm and warm.
"Virgil… I know you're frightened. But you're not alone. You're a mutant, and your powers…."
"I don't WANT powers!" Virgil cried. Another pulse blasted outward, shaking the floorboards. Scott took a step forward, visor glowing.
Storm raised a hand to stop him. "No. He reacts to fear. Let me."
She knelt a few feet from Virgil.
"Listen to me," she continued softly. "Your energy isn't your enemy. It is part of you, part of your heartbeat, part of your emotion. Right now it is wild because you are hurting. But you can learn to guide it."
Virgil clenched his fists. Electricity crawled up his arms. "I shocked a cop… I hurt people. I don't know what's happening to me!"
Storm's voice softened even further.
"Breathe with me, Virgil. Slowly. In… and out."
For a moment, the crackling eased. His shoulders dropped a little. The lightning around him dimmed to a faint aura.
Scott kept his stance steady but lowered his voice. "You're not in trouble, kid. We're here to help. Professor Xavier sent us."
Virgil blinked. "Who?"
Storm offered her hand, gentle but firm.
"A man who can teach you to live without fear of your own gifts."
For a heartbeat… it worked. Virgil's trembling slowed. The sparks receded, sinking back into his skin.
He reached for Storm's hand but a loud pop sounded from the hallway and it was just a blown outlet, but enough to startle him.
Virgil flinched and electricity erupted in a violent wave.
"GET DOWN!" Scott yelled.
Storm threw up a hand, summoning a gust of air to divert the blast. The lightning slammed into the wall instead, carving a crater into the plaster.
Virgil staggered backward, horrified.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"
His aura exploded again.
Scott gritted his teeth. "We're out of time. He's going to bring the whole block down!"
Storm's eyes glowed white.
"Virgil… look at me!"
He did.
"Your storm is not stronger than you," she said. "Let us help you ride it."
But Virgil shook his head, backing toward the far wall as lightning spiraled around him like a tornado of sparks.
"I-I can't!"
Lightning screamed around Virgil in a spiraling vortex, cracking against walls and ceiling beams like living chains. The furniture shook, drawn toward him by magnetic pull. The whole house buzzed like a generator seconds before meltdown.
Storm stepped forward, unafraid.
"Ororo!" Scott warned.
But Storm's eyes were already going white.
Wind curled around her ankles. Her hair lifted as if weightless. The temperature in the room dropped, a sudden sharp coolness replacing the burning sting of static.
"I feel your storm, Virgil Hawkins," she said, voice layered with power. "Let me show you how to quiet it."
Virgil shook his head desperately. "I can't… I can't stop it!"
"You don't need to stop it," she whispered. "Just breathe."
Storm closed her eyes and reached out not with her hands, but with her weather sense.
She could feel him: a living lightning rod, electricity surging through his body faster than his nerves could contain. His fear made the storm spiral, violent and directionless.
So she did the only thing she could.
She synchronized with him.
Wind lifted around him, soft but firm, like hands calming a trembling animal. The lightning lashes flying off his body bent, curved, then joined the gentle current she created. The wild blue sparks softened into slower arcs.
Virgil gasped as the pressure inside him eased just an inch.
"What… what are you doing…?"
Storm's voice echoed with thunder.
"I am teaching your lightning to breathe with mine."
She raised both palms. A faint halo of controlled electricity wrapped her fingertips.
She let her aura meet his, guiding the frantic current into a stable rhythm.
Virgil felt his feet touch the ground again. The magnetic pull lessened. His dreadlocks fell from their weightless flare.
"It's working…" he whispered.
But Storm's expression tightened.
"No. It's only buying us time."
His glow flickered and his knees buckled.
Scott dashed forward, catching him under the arms as Virgil collapsed, the remaining sparks dying out in weak crackles across his skin.
Storm stepped closer, her eyes returning to normal as the wind dissipated.
Virgil's chest rose and fell in shallow, exhausted breaths.
He looked at her through half-lidded eyes.
"I'm… sorry," he mumbled.
Storm knelt beside him, brushing a hand gently against his cheek and her touch was cool and grounding.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," she said.
Scott adjusted Virgil's weight against him. "He's burned out. If he let out even a second more of that energy….."
"The house would have gone with it," Storm finished. She rested a hand over Virgil's heart. "He pushed himself past his limit. His body cannot sustain this output without training."
"Then let's get him home," Scott said. "To Xavier."
Lightning flickered weakly between Virgil's fingers one last time… then vanished completely as unconsciousness took him.
Scott lifted Virgil carefully, cradling the unconscious teen against his chest. The last static sparks faded from Virgil's skin, leaving only faint scorch marks up his sleeves. Storm guided the way out, scanning for any civilians or police drawn by the explosion of energy.
The night air outside hit cool against their faces. Sirens wailed several blocks away and closing fast.
Scott tightened his grip. "We need to move. Now."
Storm nodded, eyes glowing faintly as she summoned a gentle wind to sweep away lingering static trails and mask their escape. With every step, the distant hum of the hidden X-Jet grew louder.
They reached the shadowed alley where the sleek, stealth-cloaked jet waited atop a low rooftop, its engines humming like a living thing. A ramp lowered silently as they approached.
"Go," Storm whispered.
Scott carried Virgil up the ramp, Storm close behind.
The moment they stepped inside Xavier was waiting.
He sat calmly in his hoverchair, hands folded, face illuminated by the soft blue lights of the cabin. Even without speaking, the air around him felt steady, composed as if gravity itself obeyed him.
His eyes drifted to Virgil's limp form.
"So," he said gently, "this is the young man who shook half of Chicago."
Scott exhaled sharply. "He wasn't trying to. His powers exploded on instinct."
Storm bowed her head slightly. "He is terrified. And untrained. His ability is connected to emotion more intensely than most."
Xavier wheeled closer, eyes full of empathy.
He touched two fingers to Virgil's temple never intrusive but just enough to feel the boy's pain brushing the edge of his telepathy.
"His mind is lightning," Xavier whispered. "Raw, brilliant… and afraid."
Scott secured Virgil onto a medical seat, strapping him in gently.
Xavier continued, "This child possesses extraordinary potential. But power like this left untrained will endanger both himself and those around him."
Storm placed a hand over Virgil's, her voice soft.
"Then we will guide him."
Xavier smiled faintly. "Yes. And help him see that his gift is not a curse… but a future."
The ramp began to rise and Scott moved to the cockpit. "Taking off."
The engines roared softly as the X-Jet lifted from the rooftop, cloaking itself in the night sky.