AND I AM BACK! Now that Hurricane Irene has gone on her merry way, I can begin.
For Nick... When next we meet, I shall slap you, then hug you 'til you burst.
Kestrel
Prologue
The rising of the late August sun marked the start of many different events.
In Bayville, New York, last minute preparations were underway to welcome the stream of students returning to the Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. By week's end, the huge, respectable, red brick mansion would be brimming with veteran students – those who had a survived a year or more at the unpredictable school and chosen to return. Just in time to welcome several very new students.
For Professor Charles Xavier, it was shaping up to be a good year – even if they were losing some fine older students.
For his fellow instructors, however, things seemed to be going suspiciously well. Afterall, this was the Xavier Institute.
Nothing ever went according to plan.
Not so very far away, a tall businessman was quietly walking through a secret doorway in his plush office.
The stark, stone room was a sharp contrast to the rich opulent surroundings the man had just left.
He was quite handsome. Neatly trimmed dark hair framed a lean, clean shaven, face. His eyes were black as pitch, his nose straight and aristocratic, and his mouth tight and businesslike. His clothes were strictly formal attire, from his leather A. Testoni shoes to his slick Italian-cut suit.
All in all, quite impressive.
"Well?" he asked, in a cool, dry voice.
He spoke to a trio of slender, young women sitting on a number of cushions in a circle. The three were completely identical: blond haired and blue eyed, and dressed in matching pale blue track suits.
The man didn't flinch as a trio of telepathic voices whispered an answer in his head. All goes as planned.
"Are you certain?"
Yes.
"And Xavier's people?"
They suspect nothing.
"Xavier?"
We are blocking him.
He smirked. "Perfect."
Several states away, a large bulky figure was striding through dense woodland, heedless of the branches that were catching on his uniform. He cared nothing for the trees that stood in his way, merely bulling through and over them.
Behold the human tank.
And he was going to visit his baby brother.
Blood was thicker than water after all… and it was just as easy to spill.
Beyond the farthest star, past the most remote galaxy, a bright spot of light shown. Made all of brilliant tongues of fire, the thing was truly a marvelous thing to behold.
But there was something rather terrible about it.
Beautiful but frightening…
In some ways it made the universe better. In other ways, it made it that much more dangerous.
Whatever it was, it was being threatened.
Because there was something approaching it.
A black something was reaching towards it from the cracks of time.
The rising of the late August sun marked the start of many different events.
All of them marked the beginning of a highly interesting year.
An auspicious start, wouldn't you say? Reviews make life worth while!