A Nightmare Before Easter Part II of II
Disclaimer: I guess, if I did own X-Men: Evolution, I wouldn't be writing fanfictions, but a script to a next season. So, I don't own it and I never will. All of the characters belong to Marvel.
The following morning in the Mansion began quite early. Kitty was silently sleeping, while her cell phone started vibrating, and then followed with a sound of the most recent pop song. Miss Pryde haven't awakened to her fullest yet, but already was sure, that there was no way it is time to get up, not now… in about eight or ten hours – that's more likely. She was right, in a way, because the cell phone started ringing about thirty minutes earlier than her usual time of getting up.
She clumsily took her phone and looked at the display. Her brain, slowly and unwillingly, registered three facts: first – the alarm shouldn't go off until half and hour later; second – the alarm shouldn't go off today at all, since it was the first day of the spring break; third – Lance was calling.
Pressing a receiving button, she slowly brought the phone to her ear, ready to express every little thought she had about this rude awakening:
«Lance, what the…»
«Kitty! I have to warn you!», his voice was quite worried, so all the traces of Shadowcat's sleepiness were gone momentarily, «Magneto is planning on going on to the Mansion today!»
«What? Hu… How do you know this?»
«Mystique, for a while now, she was suspiscious of the Acolytes, and yesturday she came all glad, that she finally found out, that Magneto is planning on going on to the Mansion today!»
… A brief moment of silence…
«And so you're telling me all this now?!?! Could you, like, call me yeaturday, or someth…»
«No! Mistique would kill me, if I would let any info slip»
«Oh, okay. Thank you», Kitty's mind was as clear as ever, «I'll go wake everyone up then. I'll call you later, okay? Hugs and kisses, bye»
She put the phone down. After getting up, she walked to the door, with so much resolve, that she barely could glance in the mirror in her room. However, this little glance was all that it took for her to stop and slowly come closer, in order to get a better look. What she saw there, put her in shock. Then, when the shock was gone, she couldn't see, what else she was supposed to do, other than:
«AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!»
Rogue, who lived in the room, next to Kitty's, was the very first one, whom the soul-raping scream reached (of course, the difference in time of sound reaching between her an all others was neglectable, however Rogue still was the prime receiver on the way of those soundwaves).
Jumping out of her bed, she dashed out of her room, and barged into Kitty's. There were sounds of other doors opening up, and the Mansion's residents started to pile in the hollway, before Kitty's door.
«No, no, don't look at me! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!»
Let us assume, that the first scream didn't wake absolutely everyone; in any case, those lucky ones, who were granted a few more moments of sleep, ran out of their luck very quickly, since the second scream was a contral strike.
For about ten minutes, all of the students were coming to the mirror and looking at themselves. The entire student body have had their hair coloured in the most opposite (to them) way possible. Kitty's hair were coloured in swampy green, Jean's were black, Roberto's were white, Jamie's were brigh chicken yellow, Scott's were electric-blue, Ray's were bright raspberry red. However, the black hole of rage and upsetting became Rogue, who's hair were coloured girly-pink.
In another ten minutes, it became clear that all toilets, except single one, were clogged up with coloured cotton, and alas, there was not a single plunger in the entire Mansion. More than that, all the shampoos were changed into some cheap soap, that only seemed to give more shine to the new hair colours.
Ten more minutes revealed, that more than half of present towels were mercilessly burned in the kitchen sink.
And so, in about thirty minutes total, just as the usual school/work day's time of waking and getting up came, the Mansion was drowned in a total and complete chaos.
«Well, my dear students, tiday's main goal is to find an answer to one single question: Who is guilty?»
Everybody just stared at Professor, without saying anything, and no one knew, who would be the guilty one. Naturally, all the charges would go to Bobby, Alex and Jamie, however their heads too, were of deep-purple, flouriscent-green and bright chiken yellow colours. They fell victims of the crime as well, therefore, all the suspiscion was dropped, until further investigation.
Kitty has already stopped panicking, probably because she grew tired of it. She didn't remember anything, or rather, did not feel anything, while the prankster was doing his thing. Then, it struck her:
«Magneto…»
«What?»
«Lance called me today, in the morning, and told me that…», now everybody's eyes were on her, which gave her voice more volume, «he told me that Magneto is goint to, like… go on to the Mansion»
Silence…
«But is it» said Scott, «really Magneto's doing? I would say, it's hooliganism of pure kind, and that is just way too low for Magneto to do».
Everybody was feeling like agreeing, when, as if on cue, Logan entered the living room, and threw an object in front of himself. The object turned out to be a young Australian redhead, dressed up in jeans, shirt and a jacket; the most interesting fact about him was a bag in his hand, out of which rolled out a…
«Can with a pink hair colourer! I'll kill ya, ya sunava…»
It was a good thing that Kurt (with bright orange coloured hair), was fast enough to hold his sister, otherwise Pyro wouldn't even notice his own death.
Wolverine, who alredy had a chance to look over and get what kind of situation everybody was in, said:
«Well, why dontcha tell me, what the heck happened here»
Four hours later, everybody calmed down. In that time, all the burned towels were utilized, plungers were bought, as well as new shampoos (too bad, that the hair colourer was way to persistent to stay on; that made justice to the text on colourers' packs «twenty-four hour guarantee»), toilets were unclugged (to a great relief of the Mansion's residents – a line up, made out of fifteen people, a bladder of each and everyone ready to explode was quite an unforgettable experience).
Also, the Brotherhood made came in. Since Kitty had to express all her worries to someone, who's been victimized, she called Lance and complained about the situation; Lance then felt an extreme urge to come and console his girlfriend in her misery. The rest of the Brotherhood – Mystique included – just tagged along, since everybody wanted to see for themselves, what would have happened, if the main artist of the series decided to get high right before designing character's hair.
Logan and Raven started barking at each other right away – Wolverine was certain, that she knew something, but was hiding it; Mystique, on the other hand, was saying that she didn't know what exactly Magneto planned, but this foolish child's prank definately was not something that he would do. Not until he developed an elderly marasm anyways.
«Then how do you explain this?»
Logan pointed on the couch, where the main suspect layed.
«How would I know, what happens in that screwed-up head of his?»
«Pardon me, my head is not screwed up, it is right in it's place…»
As if in a well-practiced move, absolutely everybody's heads turned towards the couch on one instant.
«Hmmm… what am I doing here?»
Unexpectedly, the first one to loose her temer was Amara, who had bright colour of green grass:
«I'll tell you, what you are doing here…»
It would be an unfortunate end for John, if he wasn't saved by a bell. Literally.
The door suddenly ringed, and now, as if in a well-practiced move, absolutely everybody's heads turned towards the door. Ororo, being very calm (courtesy of a compassion on her hair, that weren't turned into any colour), and by a chance being the closest one to the door, went and opened it. Then, she immediately closed it, which was very unlike her, blinked a vouple of times, and opened it again.
The picture behind the door didn't change from the first time, aside from the fact that facial expressions of incomers now were perplexed.
Storm slowly turned her head:
«Professor… you have… visitors»
Professor Xavier whelled to the doorstep, which was the target of everybosy's eyes. There stood Eric Lansherr, and not in his ususal Master-of-Manetism attire, but in a, rather, classy, casual suit; in his hands could be spotted a basket of quite an impressive size; filled with eastern eggs, painted in all sorts of colourful designs, and chocolate bunnies. His lackeys, Remy, Piotr and Mastermind, stood there as well, in civil clothes, each holding similar baskets. Magneto cleared his throat and said:
«You see, we planned to come and pay you a friendly visit, and so, with such a great occasion as Easter Holidays, we thought that today it would be a perfect timing. At first, we thought of coming in the evening, but since one of my Acolytes disappeared somwhere, the evening now is booked with a searching duty»
«So, you are saying, that you decided to first come and enjoy a few cups of tea, and only then look for one of yours?»
«Absolutely right. Business takes priority time»
Professor X had a brief thought that his friend has had confused something. He wanted to express his opinions, but then changed his mind and just replied:
«Well, in any other case, I would have said that it is unethical; however, in this particular case, you did the right thing. Your friend is here»
Eric placed the basket in Charles's lap, and silently came to the couch. His shadow sinisterly hung upon the most unfortunate, while the Master of Magnetism himself asked:
«Where have you been?»
«I- »
«He coloured us!»
«Just as if we were those easter eggs!»
«Bring the justice to the criminal!»
Only then Acolytes, along with their leader as well as John, have noticed that all of the student's sported absolutely new haircolours.
And silence came…
And a moment hasn't passed, as an unruly chaos endured: half of the student body tried to attack the main suspect; Wolverine tried to find out, why exactly the Acolytes came, and what was their real purpose; Mystique joined Woverine, because she felt left out and forgotten; Professor wanted to resolve everything in a peaceful way, and tried to ask everybody to come to an order; Acolytes, still, not quite understanding what was going on, tried to protect their comrade; Todd, having lots of experience in thieving and being very practical, started silently sneaking the chocolate bunnies out of the baskets; Rogue, at first wanting to take the very action of tearing Pyro apart, changed her mind – the whole mass of people was just too crowdy, loud and unwelcoming; instead, she just grumped up, and sat in an armchair, waiting for the conflict to be resolved; Scott, Ororo and Jean joined Professor in a peaseful persuasion; Fred was standing aside from the main action, thinking what he should do, since his massive participation could have an unpredictavle impact on the situation; Lance wanted to calm Kitty down, who didn't look like herself (and you shouldn't even consider blaming the different hair colour, she just had unbearable thurst for revenge); Kurt happened to be in the very center of the active student body, and wasn't sure, if he should teleport out; Pietro, not wishing to miss any moment of the action, ran around , adding some wind and noise; Wanda, unlike her twin brother, just stood aside, weighing her options: like Fred, she could have a big impact on the outcome (considering, that it was her speciality), but also wasn't sure if she should interfere, so she just waited for whatever was coming next; Bobby, Alex and Jamie took out their cell phones, and started recording every last bit on cameras – which was extremely logical, since they were the very cause of this balagam, and it would be just plain stupid not to document the achieved.
The voice of calmness was Beast's raw roar. Wanda, Rogue and Fred were somehow amazed by it: everything that was moving and producing noice so far, sotpped and silenced at once, as if somebody hit the pause button. Hank cleared his throat (it was quite a while, since he last raored like this), and proposed:
«Why don't we sort everything out in order?»
Everybody's heads went down in realisation of their own lack of clear mind. In that time, Hank came to the main suspect:
«Let us begin with the main problem, meaning the hair. And, consequently, with our main scape goat, St. John Allerdyce»
At that point, Wanda, Rogue and Fred came closer and listened carefully with the rest of the bunch, how the investiation was developing.
«So», Hank continued, «what were you doing last night?»
«Just as ususal, mate: I had an author's block, and I decided to take a walk»
«Where to?»
«Where my eyes were looking…»
«And how could you possibly see, not to mention to walk, all the way from New York to Bayville?»
At this point Magneto took a part in the conversation:
«Doctor MacCoy, I want you to know, that we were preparing for the visit ahead of time, and not as rival group, but just as a group of friends and fellow mutants»
«Oh, really…»
«Believe it or not, Logan, really. I'm telling the truth. And, in a strategical matter, we were living for the past two days here, in Bayville. But oh my, Charles should have noticed our presence, should you not? And the fact that you don't know disturbs me a little… Charles, are you, yet again, hidin the truth from your own students?»
«Let us not start this old song over again, Eric, I was just avoiding unnneccessary conflicts»
While everyone was in a little stupor, Hank took the chance to avoid another chaos and unneccessary questions, and continued his inerrogation:
«Good then, so, Mister Allerdyce, let au assume that you somehow wandered close to the Institution; but how it came to be, that you are the main suspect?»
«How in the bloody hell should I know, the last thing I remember was Remy's bloody phone call, that's it»
«And what did Monseour LeBeau call you for?»
Here, Gambit decided to say for himself:
«I was just telling him to hurry up and return to the base, since Magneto wanted to be sure that everybody was ready for our visit»
Doctor MacCoy nodded, but Ray, being the closest one to the bag, kicked it and demanded:
«Then explain this!»
John looked at the bag, blinked a couple of times, and sincerely asked:
«And what the bloody hell is that supposed to be?»
«Whaaat? You…», but the murdering crime, that Kurt was about to comit, was stopped with Jean's telekenesis; also, she decided to put teleporter into a telekinetic bubble, just in case.
Hank weighed the answers, and asked:
«So you, Mister Allerdyce, are telling us that you were framed?»
«Well… I think yeah»
A couple of seconds passed in silence, until Rayne asked:
«Then who burned all of the towels in the kitchen sink?»
«Yeah! Who burned the towels?»
«Don't deny it!»
Pyro had to muffle a laugh, as well, as the rest of the Acolytes; even Magneto, it seemed, had a brief grin on his face. Piotr took freedom to clear one thing about his comrade:
«I think, that everybody who knows John, can say for sure, that that wasn't him. You see, it is not his style – to burn just a half of towels. Now, all the towels, socks and stockings would be more likely. And then, to do it all in kitchen sink? That's too much trouble, he would just burn it all on the spot. And the idea of colouring hair would never even come to his mind»
Magneto also put his own piece of mind:
«He would just burn. There is no point in spending money on useless things, when the desired effect could be achieved with something as simple (for him) as flames»
After a few moments of quiet, spent in thinking and rethinking their awful mistake, the X-Men decided that indeed, John was framed. The rest of the Acolyted also had a solid alibi, as well as the Brotherhood. So the only logical theory, that also was most likely the truth, was voiced by Logan's low growl*:
- Popsicle…
Now, as if in a well-practiced move, absolutely everybody's heads turned towards Robert Drake. Jean just decided to disregard all the ethics, and read his mind. (Not that she couldn't do that in the beginning, but well, it was like a code of proper living to her)
«That is him all right, and Alex and Jamie as well», she confirmed, «and Multiple used one of his clones to find and hit Pyro down in order to frame him… they knew that Acolytes were in Bayville… since Piotr was seen by Bobby in the mall… buyng chocolates… anyways, that's them for sure»
The room was filled with shock. Mastermind pondered on how the X-Men made their life harder with all the ethics – they could have read their thoughts right away, and avoid the whole chaos. He read. He knew all the time. He just didn't tell, but silently stood aside, while observing the developments. Seriously, beats all TV shows.
The first one to regain voice, was Scott:
«Punish those little…», he was interrupted only due to the fact, that those three words were more than enough to set off the action.
Yet again, chaos took over the setting. However, unlike earlier, this time the proportions of threats, motivations to kill and thurst for revenge reached such epicness, which not even the three hundret of Spartans, fending off multi-thousand army of Persian conqueror with questionable sexuality, could ever have the chance to compare to. Really.
All the students wanted their own little piece. Some members of the Brotherhood, as well as some of the Acolytes, circled the center of chaotic struggle, and served as very motivational cheerleaders; others just watched. Like Mastermind, they thought it was way better that TV. The adults, including Raven and Eric, discussed the events and came to a conclusion, that the burned towels, вантузы and the toilets were only a distraction from seeing the real hooligans.
«Well, Chuck, you think it's enough? Should we stop them?», asked Logan, who was smirking shamelessly.
«I think they should do it a while longer – builds up a character», said Mystique.
«Charles, I think Raven is right; after all, she had a pedagogical experience», noted Eric.
«Hm, I think I'll agree with you», responded the Professor, «what do you think about it, Hank? Ororo?»
Doctor MacCoy looked at the bundle of kicks, hits, ice, electricity and fire, and simply proposed:
«Why don't we just go, and drink some tea»
«Wonderful idea», Storm smiled, «I'll go prepare it»
And so, the adults went into the kitchen, not even giving a glance to the whole mess; Magneto took a basket, and noticed loudly:
«There were definetely more chocolates. Somebody stole them!»
In the bundle of chaos, there was a unison whine, and then all the blame fell upon the three pranksters, without any further investigation. Toad just signed with relief, knowing for sure that he won't be punished for his thievery.
After about fourty minutes later, the kitchen strated slowly filling up with teenagers, who pleasantly found that the table was set for everyone. And so, the three rivaling fractions of mutants were sitting and drinking tea, while munching on chocolate bunnies, as if nothing at all has happened. All happily talked and were glad to rest after paniking so much. All, but the three unfortunate bodies, who were limply slithering in medical wing's general direction, while trying not to think about the total number of bruises they had.
Later in the evening, when the Brotherhood and Acolytes were already gone, X-Men, having forgotten about the misery they felt in the morning, decided to put their hopes on the colouring's official text, which said that it would last only 24 hours, and were making fun and laughing about the it was considered good, since the no one of the outsiders saw them (ah, the irony).
Magneto and the Acolytes came to their base. The first thing Eric done, was turning around and looking at Gambit with question. Remy smirked, and pulled out a disk:
«Here is everything Xavier has – all the data on every mutant in the world that he ever found», his smirked became even bigger, and he looked at John, «the whole mess and commotion made it way too easy. No one noticed when I sneaked out»
Magneto took the data disk, and said:
«Well, that would certainly make a search for new members easier. Gentlemen, plan 'Easter Eggs' was successful. Tomorrow we head back for New York»
Glad about the well-masked mission, Acolytes went to their own rooms, to get some sleep. Except for John, who's muse took mercy on him, while he was unconscious, and gave him a wonderful dream with continuation to his novel. Now he had to write it down, while he remebered all of the detales.
At night, with already tended wounds, the trio still wasn't sleeping. Beast, who came after the tea-party, said that, despite the wounds and terrible pain, they will start on their added punishment chores the day after tomorrow – the entire spring break they will be cleaning, washind, and polishing.
Jamie, who barely held himself from instantly falling asleep, mumbled:
«If I get under Rayne's wrath one more time…»
«Tell me about it, Amara didn't even use her powers at first, and it still was a burning pain», whined Alex.
«Was it even worth it?»
Iceman and Havok remebered the faces of confusion, panic and hysterics. Then, they also knew the most important thing – no one even noticed, how they were recording most of the stuff on cameras, and that meant that they could indulge in the fruits of their struggle at any moment, not to mention the most perfect black-mailing material imaginable. Both, with reassurance in their voices, said:
«Oh yeah, it definetely was worth it»
The End
*Seriously, I just have to be out with it: Steve Blum is something else! And now, when I think about Wolverine's voice, it just has to be him. Not to mention, it is as if I'm melting every time I hear his lower-voice works, such as voices of Spike, Vincent, Darcia… mmmmm…
A/N: As promised, part two. Well, that's the end of it, hope you liked it.
As far as any other stories for the future – that will be a pretty distant future. I do have a few wonderful ideas, that could be put together into something new, but, as I said before, University is very time-consuming, so don't expect anything before summer-break.
So, farewell, for now.
