Jean-Phillipe and Lex

[x-bevatron.livejournal.com]

After his troubles in Jailbreak, Lex gets assistance in learning more about his powers from an...unexpected source.



Jean-Phillipe leaned against the wall and took another drag on his cigarette as he waited for his 'student' to arrive. A wry smirk sat firmly on his face at the insanity of the situation.

Lex walked, head down in thought. After the most recent mission he'd realized two things: first, that he was ready to become a full member; and second, that he needed to figure out exactly how his power worked. He'd asked Storm if she knew anything more about his electrokinesis and she'd suggested he talk to one Jean-Phillipe. He didn't really like the sound of the man, but he was willing to give him a try. He had nothing to lose.

Looking up he realized the man he'd been asked to see was standing in front of him. "Oh, you must be Jean-Phillipe," he hadn't expected to be dealing with a kid.

Jean-Phillipe didn't care much for the look that crossed Lex's face. It was entirely too dismissive for his taste. He couldn't be sure what it was that Lex saw that he was dismissing, his appearance, his youth, his nationality, even something as simple as his smoking habit, but it did not matter to the prickly young man. "And you would be Lex," he said coolly, stubbing his cigarette out. "Someone has an incredible sense of irony. A former Brotherhood mole teaching an X-Man how to better use his power." The jab was something in the nature of testing the waters to see how the other man would react.

"As long as it works." Lex had read the reports, but he didn't have any reason to loathe the brotherhood on a personal level. If they got in his way he'd take them down, to be sure, but they were just another adversary. He sighed and shrugged, "You ready?"

"As I will ever be." Jean-Phillipe, oddly enough, was missing Scott just then. Not that he was the biggest fan of the man, and he more than occasionally had something of a stick up his nether regions, but he couldn't fault the man's skills as a teacher, especially when it came to mutant powers. He'd learned quite a few things from Scott, even considering his earlier tutelage under Magneto. "I thought that we should begin outside, in case of mishaps," he said, moving to a more open space on the lawn. "First, tell me about your power. Do you generate, store, or convert?"

"I guess you'd say I generate and convert energy... sort of." He looked at the younger man and shrugged. "I'm able to manipulate energy levels in a system, but I'm also able to generate electricity to power said systems or use as a weapon." When it came down to it his power didn't work anything like the only other electrokinetic he'd ever met. Noriko absorbed energy and stored it until it threatened to overload her. "That help," he asked, quirking an awkwardly baffled look.

"Ah, so somewhere in between Noriko and myself," Jean-Phillipe mused. "I am le bevetron. I solely generate, and cannot store very much charge for any amount of time." He cocked his head. "It is intriguing that all four of us who wield electricity are so very different. Mam'selle Munroe can call the lightning, but it is a part of her larger control of the weather, I generate, Noriko absorbs, and you are somewhere in the middle." He cocked his head the other way. "I am certainly willing to teach you what I know of generation, and we can see if it works for you, but the manipulation you may need to speak with others about, as I have no experience with it."

"It's more of a practice thing with the manipulation. I can do it, I just need to figure out how to anticipate the feedback loops and then what to do with them. Generation, however, seems to take a lot more out of me than it should. I am good for a few bursts and then I'm simply wasted. I think it's because I'm doing it wrong, if it can be done wrong." Lex stepped out onto the grass and stretched out his arms as he spoke. He wanted to get started, because the more he talked the more nervous he got about making an ass out of himself.

"Well. Perhaps we can begin by my demonstrating my own technique? I confess I am not precisely sure how to best go about teaching, but it seems that if you can observe and identify any differences between my habits and your own, that might be a good place to start?" Jean-Phillipe was flying blind in some ways, a new appreciation for how difficult teaching must be for the staff, given the vast disparity in mutant powers.

"Works for me. I'm going to see if I can sense you building energy. I remember being able to after I figured out Noriko was an electrokinetic." Lex moved away from the other man and watched him, wondering what he would see when an electrogenetic used his powers. "Anytime you're ready."

Jean-Phillipe didn't really have words for the things he did to access his powers, at this point it was deeply ingrained muscle memory and habit. He reached within, to the store of electricity that his body was always generating at a low level, and opened the circuit. With a twist of his wrist and a gesture, a bolt of electricity leapt from his outstretched hand to splash against a nearby tree and dissipate harmlessly down the trunk and into the ground, a small scorch mark the only evidence of his action.

Feeling the electricity flow from the other mutant, Lex could tell just how different their powers were. He did not fully understand the way it moved, but he recognized the purely generative mechanics, like a small engine that could be revved up, and knew his powers were more subtle. "Interesting, how much can you generate in one go?"

"I believe approximately enough to kill a person, though I have not tested that theory. For certain, enough to disable fairly large-scale electronics." Jean-Phillipe shrugged in Gallic fashion. "Did that give you any insight into your own powers?" Not that he imagined that a simple comparison would be enough to teach the other man, but he could hope.

"Not really, but it's interesting. Maybe if you were to use it against me I could try to reflect it, or shape it and tell exactly how it works. Maybe." He didn't know if he could actually affect a living system, but he was willing to try. It's not like the electricity could hurt him too much.

"You are sure that it will not hurt you?" Jean-Phillipe asked to be sure. The last thing he needed was to be taking an X-Man to the
medlab and try to explain the offensive use of his powers against the other man. At the confirming nod, he reached out again and directed a medium-strength bolt straight at Lex.

The bolt arced towards Lex's chest and he concentrated on deflecting its energy to the ground. He couldn't manipulate the other man's output, but as soon as it left his body it seemed to be fair game. As the last charge dissipated into the soil he smiled at the other man and said, "Not unless you've got the power of a city grid hidden away in you."

"Ah. Interessant," Jean-Phillipe said. He hadn't felt anything interfering with the internal part of his power, but he had felt the...twisting Lex had done to the bolt. ~Let us see how he handles more than one,~ he mused to himself, and sent out a trio of lower-powered bolts with quick left-right-left flicks of his hands.

Caught off guard, Lex could not control three bolts as well as the first, even at their weaker strength. He managed to deflect the first two, but the third struck him in the chest. It knocked him back a few feet as his passive electrokinetic abilities attempted to absorb its power. Falling on his ass, he looked up at the other man with an embarrassed expression. "I guess I didn't think you could launch them so rapidly. That'll teach me for being overconfident."

Standing, he realized how Jean-Phillipe might be able to help develop his abilities. "Now this might actually help me. I don't know how many bolts you can launch at any given time, but we could work up to more and more in an attempt to help me control multiple systems at once." He smiled, setting his feet. God, I hope this works.

"Bien," Jean-Phillipe agreed. "But you are buying me lunch after this."