Before the X-Mansion was rebuilt in May 2004, a bomb planted by Magneto/Xorn decimated it. How did the students survive? What happened before the bomb exploded? Imitating the perspective of the popular hit TV series "24" the students and teachers of the Xavier's Institute have 24 hours to survive Magneto/Xorn's attack.
5:00 AM
Nurse Annie Ghazikhanian couldn't sleep last night. She tossed and turned. Glimmering sunshine splattered across her face while the nightly shadows crept away. The leaves rustled outside. Birds chirped to announce that it was now morning. Annie was afraid to close her eyes. Images of bodies scattered all over the Genoshan Island replayed in her mind. It trickled her thoughts like blood from a fresh wound. The purple velvet sky shone through her window. Alex Summers snored beside her. She watched his chest rise and fall. Their relationship began when he was asleep. Through a psychic world they knew each other in everyway possible way. But he didn't see them.
He didn't see them die. He didn't see their bodies torn and blown to bits. He didn't see the men carry the bodies of their wives who carried the bodies of their children. But she had seen it all through the woman who tried to kill her. The woman who tried to claim the only man Annie had ever truly loved. When Professor Xavier and Annie entered the mind of Lorna Dane to investigate her recent psychotic behavior, neither knew the effects it would have on Annie. Images haunted her. Buildings collapsed and tumbled on the people below. Millions died. Annie shuddered.
She got up. Got dressed. And headed downstairs toward the kitchen. The mansion was large but it was large enough for a school that housed a couple hundred students. She tied her dark hair into a ponytail. Her blue eyes fluttered out the window. Bobby Drake was outside doing his morning jog. In his ice form he looked like a living sculpture. Annie thought it was funny. But she quickly averted her eyes from his moving body. She had kissed him before. Twice.
"We didn't even have to read your mind to know what you were thinking," Said three voices in unison.
Annie gasped as she opened the light in the kitchen. The three remaining Stepford Cuckoos sat around the kitchen table. Their eyes glowed, fixed on Nurse Annie Ghazikhanian. It took her a second to breathe and to straighten herself out.
"I have no inclination on what you girls are talking about." She walked across the room to prepare herself a cup of coffee. Double cream. Double sugar. Their eyes didn't move.
"What are the three of you doing this early in the morning anyway?"
They remained silent for several seconds. Annie stared at the floor.
"It's all very humorous," one of them answered. She couldn't tell which one. They sat in different chairs. Legs crossed. Arms folded. Their glowing pupil-less eyes were directly ahead of them, towards the window. Each was a perfect replica of the other.
"What is?" she asked them.
"Us," another one said.
The third one spoke last, "Ignorance is something we're not use to."
Annie took a large gulp into her coffee. She leaned back against the sink. Still staring at the floor.
"We couldn't sleep because our traumatized minds are very bothered," the three voices ringed together in unison.
"We've lost two sisters."
"One died trying to be a hero. The other betrayed us."
"What are we now?"
These children need a psychiatrist, Annie thought to herself, not a nurse.
"That's a rhetorical question right?" They turned to face her. Skepticism was written on their faces.
"I'm sorry girls, I'm not good at this. There's so much BS I can tell you about being strong and having faith, but you can probably see that in my head. I'm neither Oprah nor Dr. Phil. And it's just too early in the morning. My head is filled with death and angst and worry. All I can think about is how to prevent my child from suffering the same persecution all of you suffer..." Annie's voice trailed off. She was shaking.
"What are you doing to me?" She asked them as the room started to disappear.
"We're testing our telepathic abilities on you. Relax. We'll make your troubles go away. Pretend like you're starring in a Midsummer's Night Dream."
"Get out of my head!" She screeched. When Annie opened her eyes she was in a fetal position on the floor. The tiles smelled like bleach. Cold surface.
The girls' hands were on their ears.
"See? Even a baseline was able to block her thoughts," one of them told the other.
"What are we without Sophie and Esme?"
"Please don't do that again." Annie grabbed the edge of the kitchen sink. She got up and took a rag from one of the cupboards. The coffee soaked into it. Then released into the sink.
They were silent. Apologetic? Maybe.
"Don't worry about it. I'm getting use to being the victim of mutant aggression."
She walked toward the window. Bobby Drake was still outside. Stretching on the field.
Still staring out the window she said, "I think the problem is that you have always thought of yourselves as the 'five in one'. One Super Mind. None of you ever thought of yourselves as individuals. It's always 'IN' versus 'OUT'. And when Sophie started showing her individual ambition of being a hero, the rest of you seemingly followed. Conformity is your security blanket. Esme had her own individual agenda. She may have manipulated your beliefs but what really has you upset is that she thought on her own. She thought without you."
"You have no gifts. No powers whatsoever How did you know all this?" the three asked inquisitively.
"You told me yourselves."
The girls looked puzzled.
"Instead of taking my thoughts you girls gave me yours". She smiled, "I guess that's what telepathy feels like".
"Why ever would we ever let you read our minds?"
"Because it can help when you tell someone your problems".
"Do you think we'll be able to have all our full powers back?"
"Maybe."
Two minutes of silenced passed between them.
"Well I better get going girls. I kind of have a job to do."
"Before you go we have to tell you something," they said as they got up at the same time.
"Quentin Quire gave us an odd telepathic message before he died. He told us that we're all going to die." Something cold crept up Annie's spine.
"That's silly. We're all going to die one day", She replied, shaking her head.
"It felt like he meant sooner, like something cosmic is going to tip the earth and alter time. But maybe we were hallucinating. Trauma does that you know?" They turned around facing the door. Annie nodded.
"We have to get ready for class. Don't let Mr. Summers get to you. He actually has feelings for you. Oh and Miss Ghazikhanian, don't say one word or we'll know and it will be The Tempest that your lovely mind will star in." Annie knew it was their way of saying 'thank you', no matter how nonchalant it sounded.
5:59AM
Author's Notes: As you may be aware the plot is slow and there is very little plot in this chapter. Don't worry, I have about 23 chapters to go
