Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN THIS CARTOON! Marvel does. At least I think it does…..
Starr: Wow! We got to the first chapter!
Jessie: Why wouldn't we have gotten here!
Starr: 'Cuz I'm a lazy bum…
Jessie: Ugggh! Pulls out her cat-of-nine-tails whip
Starr: Ahhhhhh! No hurtie writer! Runs away from Jessie
Jessie: Just start the next chapter!
Starr: Here goes it…….
X-Men: Evolution: Picking up the Pieces
Chapter One
""
Celene groaned and looked at her digital clock. 2:45Am. Celene rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.
It is way too early to be non- comatose she groaned to herself.
Ms. Marigold. I will not ask you three times. Will you please meet Jean and X-1 in the flight hanger?
Celene cursed as she rolled out of the messy pile of sheets and pillows she called a bed. She momentarily forgot how much she owed the male voice that, flowing through her head a moment before, sounded very annoyed.
Celene dressed in her training outfit and grabbed some gel to run through her short red hair as she headed out the door.
At the elevator Celene met Jean. Celene scowled at Jean's smile. Just as the doors closed, Celene caught the tale end of Jean's thoughts.
"I do NOT look like Logan when I get up in the morning." Celene huffed. "I just want to know why I have to be up at 3 o'clock in the middle of 'Celene sleep time!'" Celene scowled as Jean's smile grew brighter.
The door opened to reveal the hanger of the X-Jet. Within minutes the X-Jet was prepped and X-1 was briefed. Then they were in the air headed toward Louisiana.
…………………………..
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jenna rolled over and went back to sleep. She was having a nice dream. Jenna was back home on her farm in California. She was riding her horse Biscuit. Everything was happy and good and her parents weren't fighting.
This was her first clue that what she was seeing wasn't real. The second was that a while later, Biscuit came up and started punching her in the arm. But, Biscuit doesn't even have hands. She thought to herself. "Jus lemme ssseep." Jenna murmured. When the punching persisted she asked "What?"
"I said we are being attacked!"
The blurry form in front of Jenna solidified into her friend Rhiana. The woman was strapping on a belt. "Here." Picking up a duffle bag and a bat she handed Jenna the bag.
"What do you think they want?" Jenna looked out the window at the very angry, very drunk mob. Ironically they were waving pitchforks and torches.
"Well they ain't here for a cup 'a Joe." Rhiana's morbid sense of humor kicked in as she smiled out the window. She was almost bouncing with the anticipation of a fight.
"Okay when I tell you. Run." Rhiana told Jenna. "Head down to the bayou and get the boat ready."
"What are you going to do?" Jenna asked.
"Oh, I'm just going to give them something more important than a couple of muties to fight."
The evil gleam in Rhiana's eyes made Jenna wish she hadn't asked.
"Ready?" Jenna nodded to Rhiana. "Now!"
Rhiana threw open the door and Jenna ran. Behind her Jenna heard her friend's maniacal laughter as she let her power loose and the forest responded to it. Jenna turned and saw Rhiana in the center of a circle of trees. Each tree aged ten years as Rhiana directed about forty vine wrapped bundles into them.
Jenna turned back around in time to run right into something solid and fuzzy, which promptly disappeared. Jenna fell flat on her butt in the swamp grass.
Just as Jenna landed she felt a familiar sensation that would have sent her stomach to her feet, if she still had feet. She lifted her hands and saw the fuzzy disfiguration that she recognized as her atoms separating.
"Was geschieht zu ihr?" Jenna looked up to see a fuzzy, blue demon hanging from the tree above her. And she lost it.
"Rhiana!" Jenna screamed as she stumbled over herself, trying to run. But her atoms were separating faster than she expected under her combined fear and adrenaline. The more she tried to run the more her atoms separated.
Jenna passed through a girl with short auburn hair. "Like ewww!" the girl screamed.
"Kitty! Don't let her get away!" a boy with some weird looking glasses shouted.
"Like, I wasn't the one who phasing." The girl shouted back.
Right about now Rhiana turned to notice the seven people surrounding her friend. Bad she thought. Then she noticed her friend was transparent. Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad! "Bad!" She said the last one aloud.
Rhiana ran toward the group, taking a split second to register the X's on their uniforms. Relief flooded Rhiana until she noticed Jenna was loosing control…
"Run!" Rhiana yelled grabbing a girl by the arm and tugging her away from Jenna. "For the love of God! Run if you don't want to die!"
Rhiana felt a tug at her power and looked into the face of the mutant she was holding. "Rogue." Rhiana recognized her.
Rogue's eyes got larger and her face lost all color as the memory of Jenna loosing control in front of Rhiana last time.
Rhiana's Memory
The outline of a small girl shines in front of a pitch black sky. People are running and screaming in every direction. The girl screams something unintelligible as the sky and surrounding area are engulfed in a blazing explosion…
Sometime later Rhiana awoke to see she was on the edge of a crater. A very big crater! In the center was an unconscious Jenna looking greatly worse for wear and the city wasn't anywhere to be seen.
End Memory
When the memory was over Rogue blanched and bellowed "Run!" which she did, grabbing one of the others by the arm and running for all she was worth.
Jean and Celene also ran, Jean grabbing the boy with the weird glasses, Celene grabbing Kitty.
"Kurt move!" Celene yelled back as she was dragging Kitty. Both she and Jean had seen what Rogue had through their telepathy.
"Do you think Rogue could get close and drain the girl?" the boy in glasses asked as they ran.
"Not unless she can drain atoms spreading out around a half mile radius." Rhiana replied.
Kurt bamphed to Jean and Scott and teleported them to the X-Jet. Jean sat in front of the flight controls as Scott tried to radio the professor.
Kurt came back and in a matter of seconds all the mutants were in the air in the X-Jet.
"Um, wait a sec. Will she be, like, okay?" Kitty asked as Jean and Scott barreled away from Jenna.
"Yah, but we have to get away fast. Right now she is trying to keep control until we get out of range. But the longer she does that the longer she'll be out and the bigger the fall out radius is gonna be." Rhiana explained.
Then just behind them the sky exploded and the X-Jet was thrown forward thanks to a shock wave.
…………………….
"Will someone just stop that damn beeping? I mean I'm not dead and I'm not dieing so why does the beeping have to continue?"
Rhiana looked up from the book she was reading. "And a very good morning to you, too." She said cheerfully as she walked over to the bed Jenna was in.
"Yah. Whatever. My head feels like I tried to level Manhattan. Or it tried to level me." Jenna put a hand to her throbbing head and looked around the room.
Jenna looked at the hospital clean room. On the walls were various cabinets and medical equipment. She noticed that, although hers was the only bed occupied there were four other beds all similarly gray and sanitary.
"More like New Orleans." Rhiana joked and handed Jenna a glass of water.
Jenna grimaced at the remark and drank the water. "How long was I out?" she asked when she was finished.
"Five days." Jenna turned to see a man in a wheel chair roll up to them. The bald guy held out a hand to Jenna and said as he shook her hand. "I am Professor Charles Xavier, and you are in the infirmary at my school for gifted children in upstate New York."
Jenna looked over at Rhiana. "What!"
"I was trying to get you here, Jenna. The professor will help you get control of your powers. Maybe even teach you how to use them for good…instead of destroying cities." Rhiana replied. "Of course you are already a demolition expert."
Just as Jenna went to reply, the door to the infirmary burst open. In strode a very tall and angry man, lugging a tall boy with spiky blonde hair by the front of his shirt. "Professor! The little spark plug blew up the chemistry lab…again!"
"This time it really was an accident! I Promise, Professor.! I swear I didn't mean to burn Scott's eyebrows off!" The boy squirmed in Logan's grip.
"Was any one hurt?"
"No" Logan said.
"Then, Damian, please clean up the mess and report to the Danger Room tonight at seven o' clock. I think you need to practice controlled electrical emissions." The Professor decreed.
Damian slumped out of the room, to the disappointment of one incapacitated teen. Then Logan notice Rhiana and Jenna.
"Logan, may I introduce Jenna Diaterra and Rhiana Moonshine? Jenna is going to be a student here and Rhiana is a former pupil of mine." The professor offered this information to Logan.
Logan chuckled to himself. "What?" Rhiana asked defensively.
"Your last name." Logan answered smiling a bit.
"What-of-it?" Rhiana said through clenched teeth, she was getting angry. Jenna was getting nervous.
"It's funny!"
Logan continued laughing, oblivious to the fact that Rhiana was edging closer or that Jenna was doing her best to calm her friend down.
Suddenly all hell broke loose. Rhiana delivered a high roundhouse kick that landed square on Logan's jaw. Jenna heard bones crack and screamed at Rhiana. Logan found himself flat on the floor looking up at the catlike frame of Rhiana as she poised herself to punch him.
"Stop it, Rhiana! Now!" Jenna had gotten out of bed and positioned herself in front of Rhiana's fist. "Sit down and calm down or I swear, Rhiana, you won't have hands to make fists!"
Jenna had no idea why Rhiana should not hit this man, but she thought it might have something to do with the delighted look Rhiana had given Logan when he had first entered. Jenna did not want her friend to loose her chances with this one.
"You need to sit down, kid" Rhiana replied, not phased by the teen's threat.
"Wha--?" Jenna was a bit confused at the sudden calmness of her usually hot- headed friend. Rhiana steered the flabbergasted Jenna back to her bead. "Besides, I doubt you have enough power to atomize my left pinky- nail, let alone my hands."
Logan watched the exchange between the two women, forgotten. Jenna growled indignantly and Rhiana teasing her with sisterly abandon.
Logan cracked his jaw back into place, I've heard of cupid's arrow, but never of cupid's roundhouse kick. Logan continued staring at Rhiana until she turned around…
"What you lookin' at, Wolfie?" Rhiana cocked her head and put a fist to her hip.
A bell sounded overhead and the Professor rolled forward, "Logan, I believe you have a class?"
Logan left the room with a lot to think about.
"Now, Miss Diaterra, you will start classes on Monday, tomorrow I will assign you a roommate who will show you around the Institute. I believe you will do well here." Xavier said to Jenna. To Rhiana he said, "Do you plan on staying here or continuing on your road trip?"
"What! You're not going to leave, are you?" Jenna asked Rhiana, shooting up from where she was settled in bed.
"I think I could find a few reasons to stay." Rhiana replied and cuffed Jenna on the shoulder. "Now go to sleep."
""
(a/n: it means: "What's happening to her?" I feel so clever!)
Starr: Whelp, that's the first chapter…
Jessie: Why do you pause?
Starr: 'Cuz I don't know what else to say?
Jessie: Why don't you say, "Thank you for taking time to read my story! Please review and check out Jessie-Jane 1's story: The Truth About Daniel's Past?"
Starr: Takes a big breath.
Jessie: I already said it idiot!
Starr: Really?
Jessie: Yes! I even said it in a really hyper voice to imitate you!
Starr: So that's why you sounded so happy!
Jessie: Goes to bang head against wall. I don't deserve this.
Starr: Than-x for reading! Chocolate Bunnies! Tosses a bunny to all the readers.
