Ben Torres

Firestar nodded, “Promise I won’t do it if it causes me stress. Baking usually does the opposite for me.” she admitted, happily. As she watched him hesitate, she nodded and slowly turned back to the other cakes in a hope to make him more at home. Someone watching over you while making a decision was never a comfortable feeling, but she could still talk and ice some cupcakes. “Put down whatever you want. If I don’t know how to do it now, I can certainly learn how, and a challenge is beyond worth it.”

Ben offered her a genuine smile. He was unsure of exactly why, but his comfort was slowly settling in and he began to feel the nerves inch away. He gave one last longing look at the sheet in front of him before speaking up. “Freezer cakes? Uh, I mean, have you ever made one of those?” 

While Kate’s mutations weren’t aggressive in any aspect she wasn’t gonna let that stop her from helping in the fight. There was a reason she had Clint teach her how to use a bow like he could, and her mutation helped with that. The brunette had been rushing through the crowd of students rushing inside, her eyes locking onto one of the attackers. One of the attackers who just so happened to be grabbing one of the stragglers in the back. Letting out a low growl the brunette rushed through the crowd faster, notching one of the arrows she had hidden away for emergencies like this. 

Keep reading

Douglass just wanted to get back inside. He knew what he was capable of and the battlefield wasn’t exactly the place for linguists. His hand-to-hand combat skills were still coming along, but Douglass wasn’t about to try that right now. Instead, he tried to force his way through the throng to go indoors. He noticed there was someone else attempting to do the same so he gripped onto their shoulder, like a child attached to their mom in a crowd.

Not that Douglass was weak like a child.

Anyway, his plan was foiled as a slimy tail/tentacle wrapped around his ankle and dragged him backwards, causing Douglass to yank the other boy to the ground with him. He screamed and beat the slimy appendage which he now saw attached to an equally slimy, blue mutant. It released but wasn’t deterred as it stalked towards him. He picked up a thick fallen tree branch to do who-knows-what and tried doing one of the few things he could, which was yelling “You better not kill me” in several different languages. Douglass turned to the boy he’d literally dragged into the situation. “Hey, new friend,” he said, frantically but trying to maintain him air of chillness, “I hope you got something to take care of this dude because I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Piecing together what was happening was not an easy task for Ben, but between the throbbing pain in his side, the frantic gibberish in his ear, and the oozing, blue mutant creeping towards the new pair, he knew that this was bad. Although, the boy heard what the other had said, he couldn’t find the strength to throw together a response. Ben’s eyes were locked on their attacker and he made no effort to hide the look of sheer panic that crossed his face. This guy came looking in the wrong place for a hero. 

Ben wished he could’ve just done nothing, but with the eminent fear of death ‘nothing’ wasn’t going to cut it. He had tired to convince himself he was useless before, but the immediate threat didn’t leave room for thinking, much the boy’s dismay. But he knew he was a mutant now, and with so many of them surrounding him, it was clear what he had to do. 

The figure finally loomed close enough to the boys that Ben’s adrenaline pushed him into action. His hand shot up and he directed it at the slimy mutant in front of them. It was more of a reflex action, having never done this purposefully before, but it seemed familiar enough. It was easy for his power to take affect, it acted so quickly as if it had been desperate to be let free. Having been terrified himself, Ben never took into account the level of fear he was projecting onto his target. His only goal was to make sure it was strong enough that it worked. 

He quickly got his proof when the mutant doubled back with a look of horror, tripping slightly over the frantic steps they took. Ben stared in awe at the scene, unsure of what to make of it. “Should we run now?” he finally forced out. He wasn’t sure how long the effects would last on their opponent, and since Ben had ditched the metaphorical hold he had, the two didn’t have much time. 

David was maybe one of the few mutants who genuinely had no attacking ability, so when the cry came out for people to fight, they were well aware of how useless they were. Not strong, not overly tough, and not the outright sort of brave, the curly haired mutant was surprised to find themselves struggling to get somewhere safe and risking themselves to get there. 

They were even more surprised when spotting another student that had been knocked down, they diverted their path and shot toward the two just in time to ram their shoulder into the attacker to knock him back. Spotting the man’s fumble and knowing that they didn’t have a lot of time, the small mutant looked down at the boy in panic. “COME ON! GET UP!” they commanded, holding out a hand to hopefully drag him away from the battlefield.

The body landing at Ben’s feet brought him back to reality. He tried to distance himself as quickly as he could, but he only ended up looking like a fool who was frantically fumbling around in place. The newcomer’s voice froze his efforts at escape. His panic had set in so quickly he hadn’t even noticed they were there in the first place. He wasted no time reaching for their hand, the groans coming from the man on the ground made the boy move faster than he had thought possible. With the other student’s support, Ben pulled himself to his feet. He backed up quickly without letting go of David’s hand. “We’re running, right?” he said, looking for some sort of confirmation, while eyeing the enemy on the ground who was quickly making his way back up. 

Jubilation saw a mutant ready to attack the boy laying on the ground and she charged forward.  Using all her might, she tackled the mutant back, tossing a ball of sparkling energy at the mutant’s face until they were unconscious.  She stepped off, panting, and made her way back to the boy.  “You okay?” she asked, extending a hand out to him.

With all the commotion concentrated in the area, Ben was hardly aware of which noises belonged to which battles. So when it was a girl that interrupted his cowering, and not another blow from his attacker, he stared at her for a moment before hesitantly accepting her hand. He pulled himself up, though he was still a little shaky. “I’m fine,” he breathed out. “What happened?” he stuttered, his mind still too jumbled to fill in the blanks.

Aliya could feel anger and fear stirring within herself as she saw the other side’s numbers. Who knew there were so many mutants capable of filling the field, let alone the world. She couldn’t help but feel dawned at the quantity of mutants there could be outside of campus. At this moment however, she couldn’t believe that mutants were fighting their own kind. Now, the girl had no place in the war of mutants v humans; it was all relative to her but she stopped to ask herself, why would the opposite side fight the ones that’d understand them the most? Her hands clenched into fists, frustrated with the situation at hand. Just as she’d glanced to her side, she noticed a classmate thrown left and right by an outsider and for the first time, she felt a sense of duty to help fight.

The first step towards the troubled classmate was apprehensive, a part of her still hesitant that her, above anyone else, was the most useless and powerless mutant. What could you possibly provide? You’re weak and you don’t even understand your capabilities. Fend for yourself. Stay still in the face of fear like last time. Soon, Aliya had cast those thoughts aside as confidence grew with each step.  “HEY!” she hollered, grabbing the attention of the student’s attacker. They’d pause just before landing another blow at the student on the ground, grunting at the abrupt interruption. To their surprise, it seemed a short young woman, harmless at first glance. But just as they’d make eye contact with Aliya’s, her eyes had begun their magic, placing the attacker in a trance controlled solely by the short young woman. “I think it’s time for you to switch sides. Go find your friends and pacify them.” Their facial expression had relaxed all at once, letting their arms fall naturally by their sides before they’d run off towards the opposite side of the field.

A sigh of massive relief had washed over Aliya with a slight bit of adrenaline still taking over her subconscious state. I did it. I helped somebody with my eyes. She glanced over at the boy on the ground once again, joining them by their side before offering a hand. “Hey, kid. Are you okay?? That was one hell of a mutant! Massive too!” she cackled out in her usual bubbly nature.

The sudden sound of someone’s words made Ben jump from his spot on the ground. He reflexively looked up at the source with big peering eyes, before quickly checking left and right for his attacker. When they were nowhere to be seen, his eyes flicked back over to the girl as he searched for any sort of guidance. “Where did it go?” he asked carefully as he brought his own hand up to meet hers, grabbing it and slowly pulling himself up. 

This was Warren’s first week at being at the school, and while he expected people to gawk at his wings, he didn’t really think it was going to be in this setting. What a welcoming. 

As Ben explained his powers, Warren watched the mutant get to his feet and he got a better look at him. He appeared a bit reptilian and something told Angel that he had enhanced strength and speed. “Fear? What do you mean? Can you target a specific person?” He asked, taking a few steps back, reading himself to fight again. He definitely wasn’t going to take on someone with magical abilities, but the more animal-like ones he felt confident with. If anything, he could just pick up Ben and fly away if it got too hard. 

“Perhaps we can work together. If you distract him I will try to get a solid hit and take him out. I think it’s our best option, then we can try to find one of the professors.”

“I think so,” Ben answered, his eyes fixed on the the enemy mutant. He watched as their opponent struggled back onto his feet, still looking as big and menacing as before even after being tossed like a rag doll. Ben let out a shaky breath. He wished he could go back a to month ago, back to when he was normal. He already knew he wasn’t cut out for this. 

After listening to Warren’s proposition, Ben nodded slowly. “Yeah, yeah, I can do that,” it may have contradicted his previous feelings, but the boy was a follower and far from a leader. He was still scared out of his mind, but he couldn’t disappoint now. Besides, all he had to do was distract the guy and he didn’t need to be a professional to do that.

He stood his ground, waiting for the reptilian mutant to come to him. This had less to do with confidence and more to do with knowing how to play defense on the field. Though the athlete was trying to tire his opponent out, he was gaining on him quick, switching the boy into panic mode once again. He latched his eyes onto the other mutant and tried to focus all of his energy onto him and prayed this was how he was supposed to do it.   

Ben’s heart skipped a beat when he had seen that it had actually worked. 

His attacker stopped mid sprint, tripping a little over his own feet. The other man now held himself with hesitation, knitting his eyebrows and stiffening his shoulders. This lasted for a short moment as Ben only sent a jolt of his power instead of concentrating it, giving his target a window to snap out of his stupor. He could only hope that he gave Warren enough time.  

The only real fighting experience that Warren had were the many years he spent fencing and practicing martial arts. While in theory, he knew what he was doing, actual hostile situations were different. The mass panic made the mutant want to fly away from it all, but seeing innocent people being struck down didn’t sit right with him. He was a hero before he came to the school, and it was time to revisit that.

Taking to the air, the winged mutant searched the ground for those who needed help, rather than those who could handle themselves. When he noticed a boy being struck down by a large mutant, Warren dived down and grabbed the man by his armpits, using the momentum to send the man hurdling forward and away from the student. Then, he quickly circled back, landing in front of Ben and holding his hand out to help him up, “Quickly, he’s recovering! What are your powers? Can you defend yourself?”

A bit of wind breezed by his face, but it was enough to bring him back to reality. Now, being aware of the situation, a small bit of curiosity prompted Ben to lower his arm, simply to check out why this was taking so long. But as his line of sight cleared, it revealed... nothing? He had little time to remain confused as something rushed passed his head and the boy turned just in time to his attacker hit the ground. However, he couldn’t stare for long, as his head reflexively turned again when he heard a second gust.

When his eyes finally focused, Ben couldn’t help but gawk at the sight before him. When his rescuer offered a hand, the boy on the ground accepted it in his stupor and allowed himself to be pulled up by a literal angel. He let out a shaky breath before answering the question. “I can... fear? All I can do is cause fear and I think we have enough of that here already,” he said solemnly. “I’ll think of something though,” he added in quickly, not wanting Warren to worry about him too much. Though Ben never had combat or power training, thanks to his many years playing football, if it came down to it, he sure knew how to run. 

“Run, you dumbass!” Lorna reached out, using her power to rip a basketball hoop out of the ground and throw it into the attacking mutant. She ran to the boy, eyes darting around to make sure the guy wasn’t coming back. “Don’t just sit there and let them attack,” she told him in a stern voice. “Never just cover your face. Fight.”

She offered her hand, giving hi a look that said she wasn’t offering help- she was going to give it. “Even if you don’t know how. Always fight.”

He stayed like that for a long while, convincing himself that time was moving slowly, making every second more painful then the first. In that moment, it was only Ben, the commotion around him being drowned out by the sound of his own thoughts. They were at odds, one side was telling him to move, while the louder one argued what could happen if he did. It wasn’t until the girl was beside him he realized that he wasn’t hit yet. He stared at her with wide eyes, trying to take in every word she said though it proved difficult.  

His gaze only flickered when he saw her hand move, understanding what she meant instantly and grabbed for it. He pulled himself up, taking a moment to survey the scene. He watched the battles, finding that even the best were struggling. And Ben was chopped liver compared to them. “How? I don’t- I can’t,” he managed out, though he missed her entire point.   

There were so many of them, other mutants, and they were able to barricade the academy with simply their numbers. Many of his allies had already made their way to meet the newcomers, wasting no time to defend themselves and their people. 

Ben was not prepared for this. He had no practice, he had no skill, he pretty much just learned what he was capable of and it wasn’t even something he was proud of. As the curly haired mutant stared out at the makeshift battlefield, he realized he was absolutely terrified. Turning around, Ben tried to back track into the school, but the chaos surrounding him made that very difficult. As he shuffled between the fighters, the boy felt a tight grip on his shoulder. He just had time to feel his heart stop before the stranger threw him onto the ground. He reflexively put up his arm, covering his face before he even got to look his attacker in the eye, and he waited for the next blow.   

Jackie moved over to her desk, looking over at the other with lifted brows. “Honey, that face may get other teachers fawnin over ya and tellin ya its ok, but as much as I like that puppy dog look ya got, sorry means shit to me.” The woman moved to organize some papers on her desk. “Ya got two other chances before ya get an F in my class.”

He jumped when he heard his teacher curse, becoming even more wary than before. He went to look at her with wide eyes, but remembered the ‘puppy dog’ comment and shifted his gaze once more. “That’s fair,” he said carefully, though he didn’t mean a word of it. In reality, it only caused the knot in his stomach to pull tighter. He thought for a moment before adding, “Is there anything I should catch up on? Any homework or anything?” He instantly regretted it.

“Ya didnt know what time my class was and now ya are expectin to have me excuse ya when ya cant provide any true proof as to why ya missed my class?” Jackie huffed, rolling her eyes to move around the boy. “I am very clear about my attendance policy, Ben. And I am not quiet about it either.”

Ben opened his mouth to reply but then quickly snapped it shut. He could technically prove why he wasn’t in class today, but there was no way he was going to tell his teacher it was because football practice ran late. He could already sense that wouldn’t go over well. “I’m really, really sorry. I promise it won’t happen again,” he stressed, pulling that apology for the second time that conversation. “Is there anything I could maybe do? To make up for it?”

Ben Torres Moodboard (1/?)