The Illuminati
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel Comics. And here's a quote: "Bottom line, platforming does not belong in a shooter." - Lazy Game Reviews
I got this idea from reading about Marvel's Illuminati, and I thought I'd have some fun with it. Basically, "what if they really were just six guys who just wanted to hang out and 'talk shop' for a while?" Enjoy!
Location Unknown
A bald man, clad in a nice green suit, sat in front of a table. He was sitting in what appeared to be a futuristic yellow hovering wheelchair. Charles Xavier frowned and looked at his watch.
"I do hope they arrive." He mumbled to himself in concern. "There are pressing concerns we must discuss."
"I am with you on this, Professor." Xavier heard a voice mutter impatiently. It belonged to a tall muscular man with pointed ears, and black hair in a flattop. He wore a black costume that showed his chest, and left his arms bare. The costume had a golden belt with a buckle that had a trident on it, and the black pants ended at the knees, revealing bare feet with small white wings at the ankles. His wrists were covered by a pair of golden bands. He sat in his seat with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face. "My time is precious. The King of Atlantis will not be left waiting like some surface man wanting to cross the street."
"I'm sure the others are on their way, Namor." Xavier reassured. "I hope nothing has kept them too much." Namor, the Sub-Mariner, snorted.
"I would not be surprised if Richards or Stark are late." Namor grunted. "Richards, I get. He's a busy man with his experiments. And Stark...is Stark."
"Sorry I'm late, gentlemen!" A man walked up, an apologetic smile on his face. His brown hair had white at the temples, an odd contrast to his smiling youthful face. He wore a dark blue costume with white boots and gloves. The costume had a chest emblem of a blue "4" in a white circle. Reed Richards, the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic, took a seat. "I did call Tony, he said he was on his way."
"He had better be." Namor grumbled. "How is Susan, by the way?"
"She is fine." Reed answered. He then smirked. "You wouldn't have been behind us receiving a certain coral statue last week, have you?"
"My intentions behind that gift were pure." Namor sniffed. "It was Susan's birthday, after all. What kind of friend would I have been if I did not give her a gift?" The three then heard one of the chairs get pulled.
The fourth arrival was here. It was another man, this one wearing black pants and a jacket with what looked like silver lightning bolt-like designs on it. His face was uncovered, revealing neatly-cut grey-black hair, and his head was adorned by a silver headband with a small tuning fork on the front. His hands were covered by black gloves. Around his neck was a silver collar with a small speaker on the front, and a pair of unlit circular lights on the sides of it.
"Ah, it's good to see you, Mr. Boltagon. How have you been?" Xavier asked. Blackagar Boltagon, aka, Black Bolt, signed in response.
Very well, thank you. The King of the Inhumans signed.
"I saw that one of your relatives is with the West Coast Avengers in San Diego." Xavier told him.
Crystal is acting as a cultural envoy. Black Bolt 'explained'. She's been enjoying it so far. Although she talks a lot about some silver-haired boy. What is his name, Peter?
Oh, Lord... Xavier facepalmed. Black Bolt winced.
I take it you know who this 'Peter' is?
"I'll explain later, Black Bolt." Xavier sighed. He then noticed the metal collar around Black Bolt's neck. "What is that? Some Inhuman fashion accessory?" Black Bolt smiled and pressed a button, making the lights glow blue.
"A new invention that was developed for me." Black Bole explained, his voice coming from the speaker with an electronic lilt. "It's designed to allow me to speak without causing damage with my hypersonic powers."
"Ah, I see." Xavier nodded. "One of my students has issues with controlling her own powers. Maybe I could speak to the developer about that." With a FWASH, a dark-haired handsome man appeared in the room. He had a neatly-trimmed mustache and beard, and his hair had gray at the temples. He was wearing blue robes and a high-collared red cape magically appeared in a flash of multicolored light and smoke. His hands were covered by yellow gloves.
"Gentlemen." Dr. Stephen Strange took a seat.
"Doctor." The others all greeted.
"I take it that there some...important matters to discuss." Strange said.
"I am hoping the final member of our group finally shows up." Namor grumbled. "I have no intention of sitting here all day and waiting around."
"I'm sure he's on his way, Your Majesty." Reed reassured. He heard a clanging. "And that would be him now."
"Sorry I'm late!" Anthony "Tony" Stark, the Iron Man, waved as he ran up to the table. He was wearing his read-and-gold armor, holding his helmet in his hand.
"About time, Stark." Namor grumbled. "What took you?"
"Melter, Whiplash, and Blizzard tried to kick my ass." Tony shrugged. "But it didn't work out for them."
"A regular hazard of our chosen occupation." Reed chuckled.
"So, what'd I miss?" Tony grinned as he put his helmet on the table and took a seat.
"Nothing. We could not get started without you." Namor grumbled.
"Hey, didn't you get deaged for a bit?" Tony asked. (1) Reed raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, he got deaged a while back thanks to some sorcerer, wasn't it, Strange?" Tony asked.
"Indeed." Strange recalled, making a cup of tea appear in his hand.
I'll never get over seeing stuff like that with him. It is creepy. Tony thought with a shudder.
"I am just grateful that damned spell wore off." Namor grumbled.
"As I said it would." Strange smiled.
"Can we get down to business?" Namor demanded. "I take it we have something important to discuss?"
"Indeed, we do." Strange took one last sip of his tea. "As it is my turn tonight..." A translucent green dealer's visor appeared on his head, and he started shuffling a deck of cards. "I am the dealer." The six men then started to play a nice game of cards. A coupe of hours later, the six had some small piles of chips in front of them, and a larger pile laid in the center. Tony had a glass of orange juice next to him. Namor had some water. Black Bolt had nothing. Xavier had a cup of tea.
"Mm, this tea is delightful, Doctor." Xavier complimented as he sipped the tea. "Where did you get this?"
"Kamar-Taj, the place I learned my craft." Strange explained. "I'll ask Wong to send you some."
"I take it he'd know my address." Xavier said. Strange nodded.
"So, anyone had any fun adventures lately?" Tony grinned. "The Avengers and I recently battled Kang in the year 2099. You guys know they got another Iron Man there? He's not as awesome as me, but he's pretty neat."
"If he lacks your ego, I'd actually be happy to meet him." Namor rolled his eyes.
"They got a Spider-Man there, too." Tony continued on. "Nice to see the kid left some kind of legacy. And Chuck, they got X-Men there, too!"
Xavier blinked. "...aren't you potentially damaging the space-time continuum when you talk about this?"
"You'd be surprised how resilient the space-time continuum is, Professor." Strange sipped his tea. "I should know. I battled a sorcerer once, and ended up witnessing the Big Bang."
"He has a point, Professor." Reed added. "Kang alone is proof of it. Although I would not be surprised if Doom found a way to stick around at that time."
"Doom? Guy's a jackass." Tony grumbled. "And my armors are always cooler than his."
"You know what would be funny, Tony?" Strange smiled. "If you fought Doom in the Middle Ages."
"Like, in Camelot?" Tony blinked, then smirked. "I'd kick his ass in any time period." (2)
"I'm sure you could, my friend."
"I had to deal with the Fathom Five recently." Namor said.
"The Fathom Five?" Xavier asked.
"A group of Atlantean terrorists." Namor explained. "They despise humans, and they are not fond of me because of my heritage. Which is ironic as one of their members is basically a...clone of me. It's complicated." Damned Llyron...
"You should discuss that with one of my staff." Xavier told the Atlantean king. "He has a clone running around, too."
"I take it he doesn't try to kill him, too?"
"She did, but they cleared things up." Xavier explained. Black Bolt smiled.
"Well, that's good. There's already plenty of crazy family dysfunction as it is." The Inhuman king noted amusedly.
"She now lives in California." Xavier recalled. "By the way, I heard about Attilan having to move to Hawaii."
"Blame Maximus for that." Black Bolt answered. "Hawaii is quite nice. Medusa loves the beaches."
"I bet she does." Tony chuckled. "And I'm sure you cannot complain either, huh Bolty?" He grinned. "I always wanted to see Medusa in a bikini. I bet she can really rock one." Black Bolt frowned.
"I do not think that Pepper would approve of you speaking about my queen like that."
"Especially if she gets her hands on a weapon." Strange smiled amusedly. "Like that time that one armored mercenary in Japan was bothering your company there, what was his name?"
"Samurai Steel." Tony answered. "That's what it translated to."
"Did she not send one of his goons flying with a hammer?" Strange chuckled.
"I actually wish to witness that." Xavier chuckled.
"Yeah, she did." Tony grinned. "It was hilarious!"
"I think the Fantastic Four have encountered the Fathom Five last week." Reed recalled. "Ben nearly got eaten by one of Dragonrider's monsters."
"Yes, she certainly is one of the more annoying members of that group with that ability." Namor grumbled. He frowned at his cards. I have got a worthless hand. I need to exchange these for better cards... "What were they up to?"
"I believe they wanted to pick a fight with us because they knew we were allies of yours."
"Ah." Namor nodded. "My apologies for any destruction they have incurred."
"I certainly do enjoy these meetings." Xavier smiled, looking at his cards.
"I imagine those kids of yours must be a number on you sometimes." Tony shrugged, looking at his own hand. "What is it about superpowered teenagers? Put a bunch together, crazy things happen."
"I do admit, it is nie to come here and have a break from them once in a while."
"This does seem to be a regular phenomenon." Reed thought, putting a finger to his chin. "Perhaps it is something worth studying..."
Black Bolt shook his head."I get the feeling that human, mutant, or Inhuman is meant to access that knowledge, Dr. Richards."
"I take it that young Inhumans bring their fair share of headaches, your majesty." Xavier chuckled.
"You'd be surprised." Black Bolt answered.
"Indeed." Namor nodded. "I've heard stories of my cousin with the New Warriors." The monarch of Atlantis frowned as he looked at his hand. "I worry about their influence on her. Especially that one called Speedball. He seems...chaotic."
"I've met the New Warriors, Namor." Reed said. "They seem like a good bunch of kids, despite their...quirks."
"I think you guys will love my hand." Iron Man grinned. "Straight flush."
"I fold." Strange said.
"Me, too." Reed agreed, putting down his cards.
"Same here." Xavier agreed. Namor sighed.
"I fold too."
"Come to papa!" Tony grinned, grabbing the pile of chips and bringing it closer to him.
"I think Stark cheated." Namor grumbled.
"Don't be a sore loser, Fishstick." Tony chuckled. "I got skills."
"This game is about luck, Stark!" Namor retorted.
"Poker requires just as much strategy and skill as luck, old friend." Reed reassured, putting a calming hand on the Atlantean's shoulder.
"Yup, and I got it in spades!" Tony jerked his armored thumb at Xavier. "I even managed to fool Chucky here."
"I wasn't even using my powers." Xavier answered. "It would be a violation of my ethics." He then noticed his watch. "Ah, I believe it's time to go."
"Indeed." Namor got up. "I have to get back to Atlantis, anyway. Being King isn't just sitting on a throne."
"Indeed." Black Bolt agreed.
"Same time, next week, gentlemen?" Strange asked. The other men all answered with a unanimous "yes". "Very well. May the Vishanti protect you all. And Xavier, I'll have Wong send you that tea." He vanished in a flash of light.
"Got a company to run and villains to beat up." Tony put on his helmet and walked away, leaving Reed and Xavier.
"Looking forward to next week, Professor." Reed shook Xavier's hand.
"You too." The two left, leaving an empty table.
Thanks for Reading!
1 - In one of Persiana13's stories
2 – A nod to Doomquest