"Sheila! Sheila!" Kurt called out as he ran up looking quite normal and 'human.' "You vwon't believe vwhat I found!" It was during the middle of school lunch and the students from Xavier's were sitting around a table with the only notable absence being Jean who was sitting next to Duncan. Across the way, the Brotherhood was watching them with angry glares from the fight over a week ago.
"Oh? What did you find out?" she asked as she looked up from her college level medical book.
"It's a laboratory in the basement that tried to blow itself up!" the holograph-covered mutant exclaimed.
"You have got to be kidding? Why would our school have something like that?" Evan said in surprise. He then went back to munching on his sandwich but watching Kurt closely.
Sheila slipped her thick book into her backpack. "Well, I'm up for looking at it."
Rogue, Kitty and Evan all followed Kurt and Sheila down to a locked and sealed off sub-lab even below the normal section. There was a bit of smoke, but it was exiting out the cracked open window.
The supernatural girl frowned as she had the sensation that she was being watched. She stopped in the middle of the room as the other kids started rummaging around in the crates.
"Wow, these are vintage computers," Kitty called out as she poked around a smoking computer case.
"Yeah, it was the one with a recorded message that told me the self-destruct was activating," the teleporting mutant said with a nervous laugh.
"This did that? These computers look like they are from the 70's. I wouldn't have thought they could do that," the brunette said in confusion.
"What'cha doin', Sugah?" Rogue asked as she looked up from where she was poking at a strange device about the size of a breadbox.
"I sense someone here. So I'm trying to meditate and open my inner eye like Dr. Strange has been training me to access my astral self. Ah, there is a person there," the young demigoddess said, then opened her eye and looked over.
The dimensionally trapped Native-American snorted at that. 'And my eyes are blue,' he said in his trapped space as he leaned up against the wall. At least she was slightly more visible than most of the 'ghosts' that people became as they walked around the school.
"No, your eyes look brown, actually," Sheila replied directly as she looked at him. She had achieved the level where here astral self could detect him.
'Holy crap, you can see me?' the young-looking man asked.
"It's a little hard, but yes I can see you. My name is Sheila," she offered as she seemed to talk to the air, not noting that Roque was doing the same meditation exercise that she had.
'Call me Forge. I was a student here and accidentally trapped myself in an N-Dimension that I created with that device your Goth friend was poking around with.' Forge seemed quite shocked.
"How come ah can only hear him?" Rogue complained.
"What?" Evan said as he pulled his head out of a crate. "You can hear that weird, spooky ghost shit?" The African-American seemed quite shocked.
"Whoa, seeing and hearing ghosts. That's really cool!" Kitty called out as she walked over.
'So if you can reset that device, I might be able to escape the artificial N-Space and go home,' the inventor explained.
"This created an entire spacial dimension that your are trapped in? How do we collapse the space-time and get you out?" the demigoddess asked him as he turned the device over and around while making sure not to hit any buttons.
'Just reset it first. I'd rather not find out what it is like being the first person collapsed through 5-dimensional space.' Forge actually looked over at Rogue in confusion. Meditation could allow someone to see him?
"Ah do believe ah got it. He looks pretty young, like he's in school still," Rogue said as she studied the figure.
"Great, the X-Men are insane," Pietro said as he led the Brotherhood down into the basement lab. "What is this place?"
'This is my lab. They blocked it off after I disappeared into N-Space thirty years ago. Who are these guys?' Forge asked the two girls.
"Just a lab that got blocked off thirty years ago. You guys must be bored if you are following us down here," Sheila replied as she kept an ear out for the Native-American and the Brotherhood. It was harder than it looked.
"We just want to make sure you aren't planning an ambush," Regan said with narrowed eyes.
"I thought that was more your speed?" Kitty sniped back nastily. "After all, you were the ones that led us into a trap so that your leader could try and kill one of us."
"Naw, Mystique explained that she was really just trying to test all of yous," Todd explained from where he was crouched down. "She had heard from Fred how tough Sheila was."
"That was awfully lethal though. Mah memories from Mystique don't match up with what you are saying," the striped-haired girl said as she leaned against the wall.
Julia looked a bit concerned at that, while Regan just smiled.
"We were just showing up to pound some sense into you flat-scan apolo- apologists," Lance said, smacking his fist into the palm of his other hand.
"Yeah, how can you back humans over mutants?" Pietro in between flickering from area to area of the room.
'He has powers like me?' Forge asked in surprise.
"What are you talking about?" Evan asked aggressively. "Heck, what is a flat-scan?"
"Sounds like a derogatory term for non-mutants," Kurt replied, looking quite angry. "You know, not all non-mutants are bad. My foster parents accepted me even with the vway I truly look."
"What about the ones that do? What would you do against the ones that experiment on mutants?" the Brotherhood red-head asked in an angry tone.
"Like the ones-?" Sheila drawled out.
"Yeah, like the ones that experimented on me," she snapped out.
"I guess you could tell us who they were and see what we do?" the demigoddess suggested right back.
That caused the Brotherhood to look among themselves.
"Sounds like she's saying show 'em or fold," Fred finally said, looking at the much shorter girl on his team.
"Fine." Julia looked nearly murderous. "It was the Brand Corporation. Project Ascendancy ran by Glen Barker."
"So, uh, you guys want to help us rescue this ghost from being trapped in some other dimension?" Kitty asked.
'Because I'd really like to be rescued,' the lost teen said with a laugh.
"How do we know he even exists?" the blonde-haired Regan asked imperiously. "He could just be a prank you are trying to pull."
"You are the telepath, right? The one that can do mental illusions?" Rogue asked with a glare as she lost her concentration. "So read Sheila's or mah mind and project what we are seeing."
"What, you trust me to do that?" Regan asked with a sneer on her pouty lips.
"We are asking you to trust us, after all," Sheila noted. "Or don't you guys want to rescue a trapped mutant?"
Forge blinked as he took in the term mutant. 'Mutant?'
"Fine." Regan closed her eyes and probed the two girl's minds. After a moment, a ghostly figure appeared in the center of the room. "Well, you at least think he's there."
"Um, does that mean you guys can all see me now?" Forge asked, looking around. To him, everyone but Rogue and Sheila were fading in and out of existence.
"Yo," Todd called out, giving the Native-American a wave. "You are really lost, kemo sabe."
"Oh, great. I'm able to talk to someone and the first thing I get was racist injun jokes," he said while mock-waving his fist at Todd, then started laughing. "I'll take even that. Man, it's great to be visible."
"So about this dimensional projector? I don't think it has enough power curve to shunt you back to reality. Can it handle an external power source to stabilize the dimensional interface?" Sheila asked carefully as she continued to examine the odd device.
"What'd she say?" Fred asked while looking flummoxed.
"I don't know," the toad-like Todd replied looking really weirded out.
Julia and Regan shared a strained look. The red-head looked over at Kitty. "I thought she was the bruiser of your team?"
"Um, she's some sort or genius. She won't let me slack off," the brunette groused as she pouted.
"Ah don't get to neither," Rogue acknowledged as she folded her arms around her torso and leaned against the wall.
"Say, that thing run on AC or DC?" Lance asked curiously.
"Looks DC," Sheila said while poking her finger at it.
"How much power are we talking about," the mechanically inclined earth-shaker asked. "I could run some cable down here from my jeep for DC easy."
"Should only need about 500 watts," Forge explained with a gesture.
It was only a half an hour to cobble the adaptors and a small amplifier. With a last adjustment, Sheila hit the big button on the dome-like device and with a crackle of unearthly energies, opened a port into Forge's artificial dimension. The illusion stepped through the portal, which closed right behind him.
"Thanks guys! It's been a long thirty years," the Native American admitted. He carefully moved over to the young Kurt and took his right hand to shake it profusely. "You saved my life."
Sheila finished powering down the device. "And you don't appear to be rapidly gaining all those years of lost age. Now we have our alibi for why we missed the first part of the fourth period."
Regan narrowed her gray eyes, then looked over to Rogue. "So she always thinks three steps ahead?"
"Usually, Sugah. She even rubs off on mah thanks to mah power to drain mah target. It's a a real rush. Ah think it even helps with mah grades after the powers wear off," the 'skunk-head' replied.
"That is so not fair!" Kitty exclaimed as she tensed up and clenched her fist at her thighs.
Regan then sent an illusionary shock into Sheila's hand from the device, causing her hand to twitch from the pain. She just mockingly smiled at the younger blonde's heated glare. "Come on, guys. Let's catch up to Pietro. We've done our good deed for the decade."
"That's going to be a problem," Sheila said after they left. "She's figured out that I'm not immune to psychic attacks."
"Was, wirklich?" Kurt exclaimed in shock.
"Yes, really. So I can expect another attack from them and another accident from Mystique."
"Are you sure about this, Chuck?" Logan asked as he walked towards his motorcycle in the garage. "I should be around in case the Brotherhood attack again." He was all suited up and ready for action of a covert sort, so in leathers and carrying his helmet.
"We need you to investigate the Brand Corporation, Logan. If Julia is correct, they are experimenting on mutants. And that's not something we can ignore," the bald mutant said from his wheel chair. "I want you to stay in touch every day. The project is in Queens, so very close indeed. It must be shielded somehow."
"Don't you worry. I'm going to figure this out and if need be rescue them," he said with a growl.
"If we can, Logan, we need to break this so that the people behind this atrocity can't hide in the shadows." Xavier looked like he was concentrating very heavily on the issue. "If you need us, the X-Men are ready to assist."
"You should get back to that special training you are doing with Sheila. I'm not sure she's right about Mystique, but if she is she needs all the tricks in her bag she can use." He kick-started his motorcycle and spun out.
Xavier nodded as he started to wheel back to the main house. "Good luck, old friend."
"Ooh! Get away, stink-bomb! I thought you smelled better, so I was thinking of even going out with you. My mistake, I can still smell you when I get close," one of the girl's at Bayville High said after school a week later. "Why don't you just go back to the garbage heap you roll in?"
That got a laugh out of her friends as they crushed Todd's illusion that they might have been interested. In the shadows behind him, Regan Wyngarde snickered quietly as she released the illusionary smell that drove off the girls after making them think that the Toad was desirable. She loved her illusionary powers.
Ten minutes later, Todd was sniffing at his shirt. "I don't really smell bad anymore, do I?" he asked Fred.
The gigantically fat boy with a blond Mohawk looked at Todd and sniffed very carefully. "Man, you reek today. I thought you showered this morning?"
"Yeah, Todd? I thought you were becoming Mr. Suave? I was figuring that you and your tongue were going to be very popular. Though you might want to bath more often than twice a week," Lance said as he backed up from the illusionary smell.
Todd shook his head and really wondered if these guys really were the best friends he could get. "Whatever, dudes. I'm outta here." He hopped over to the 'X-Men' table. "Yo, Sheila? Got a moment?"
"Sure, Todd. What is up?" She looked at him, but out of her peripheral vision saw Regan duck around the corner.
The hunched over mutant almost felt he could hear laughter in the background. "Uh, can we talk after school privately? I don't wanna talk about it here." In his eyes, he could see Scott, Evans and Kurt actually hiding the urge to laugh at him while Kitty and Sheila were wrinkling their noses. He cringed and took a step back, even as the scent grew stronger to the people.
Thinking quickly, Sheila asked, "How about at Valiant Grove?"
"Sure. See ya." With that, he hopped off quickly.
Sheila waited until she saw Regan wander off. "Well, it looks like Mystique is having Lady Mastermind be her cats paw."
"So what are you going to?" Scott asked.
"Spring their trap, of course."
Sheila ran up to where Todd was waiting in 'civilian' garb, even if she did have the light-weight armor cloth X-Men uniform underneath the long-sleeve shirt and jeans. She had a short jacket on with a few things that might help her just in case. The trees of Valiant Grove Park made it an ideal place for privacy... just in case. "Hey, Todd? What's up?" she called out casually.
"You gotta help me! I thought I was finally getting somewhere with Kimberly but then my, uh, B.O. problem got worse today," the sandy-haired mutant said as he hopped over to her.
"You are washing daily, right?"
"Well, every other day. Those soaps are expensive, man. And it itches a bit." He actually scratched himself under his arms.
"Might have to look at getting a creme or lotion that will soothe that." Sheila heard the creak of the Blob's tendons and bent to the side slightly. When the fist brushed past her ear, she turned it into a super-powered throw. "Gee, Mystique, a second sneak attack? This is getting repetitive."
"Huh? What?" Todd asked as he looked around frantically.
Quicksilver blurred forward under the illusionary invisibility, rapid fire punches into her face. "You can't see me, but I can pound you!'
Sheila was sent skidding backwards. "Why are you doing this? It's not like I attack you guys 'just because' you know!" Even after being punched dozens of times and being flung fifty feet, she was still on her feet. She focused and tried to push out the alien, telepathic influence like she had been practicing with Xavier and Strange. All of the Brotherhood became slightly visible to her.
The Blob jumped into the air to do a super-body-slam, which Sheila rolled underneath. "X-Men... Now!" She suddenly charged towards Lady Mastermind, but Archane leaped at her with her own super-agility.
"I thought she couldn't see us?" the red-headed mutant called out as she grappled with the girl.
"She's fighting the illusion already?" the illusionist asked worried.
That was when Nightcrawler appeared with Cyclops and Rogue, then the teleporter disappeared again. An abrupt wind kicked up as Storm made her presence known overhead.
Mystique frowned from behind a tree. This was really not working half as effectively as she had expected. It appeared the blonde X-Men was quite tricky and had planned accordingly.
Nightcrawler reappeared with Shadowcat and Jean, both of them charging at other targets. Nightcrawler then went of after the civilian dressed Toad.
"Hey! Why are you attacking me? I didn't know nothing," the hygiene impaired mutant asked as he leaped away.
"Likely story," the German mutant declared as he teleported and then leaped at the Toad from behind.
"No, Nightcrawler, he really didn't," Sheila called out as she weathered a furious storm of super-speed punches from Quicksilver.
"Beam-boy! You don't have Mr. Claw around to protect your back," Arachne called out as she dodged around Cyclop's blasts to kick him in the chest.
"You'll find out the X-Men don't have to have Wolverine around to do our fighting," he replied as he tucked and rolled, sending out another crimson beam the moment he was back on his feet.
The ground rumbled as Avalanche concentrated on shaking everyone off their feet, but the telekinetic punches from Jean knocked him for a loop. The Blob was throwing a large boulder into the air to try and hit Storm, but she was just a bit too quick.
Mystique ran out of the bushes, throwing several grenades at the blonde X-Men. "Quicksilver, contain this gas around her!" she ordered as they exploded in purple smoke.
"Right!" the silver-haired mutant called out, blurring off around the area to encircle Sheila in the gas. It was thick enough you could barely see the young girl.
"Leave her alone!" Rogue shouted as she tried to grab the speedster, but he was too fast for her. "Sheila!"
The shapeshifter frowned as she realized that she wasn't hearing any coughing. "Damn it, she's immune to gas too?"
"Don't you ignore me," Shadowcat called out as she dove through a tree to tackle Mystique to the ground, knocking the wind from the older woman.
That was when Sheila reappeared as she leaped out of the gas while palming her gas mask into her jacket, gaining over fifty feet in an instant and then... hovering! "Oh, now I finally figure out how to fly," the girl groused.
"Whoa?" Todd called out as he bounced off three trees. "How come she has so many powers?"
"That is a good question, Toad. Get off me, girl," Mystique snarled as she kicked the smaller Shadowcat off of her. She then flipped to her feet and charged over to leap at Jean Gray. "Lady Mastermind... Now!"
The young illusionist smirked as she finished sinking her mental claws into Sheila, suddenly unleashing deadly trick images of being pecked and clawed at by monstrous birds.
"Ack!" Sheila tried to fly away, even as she tried to fight off the illusion. She bounced off two trees and the Blob before she skidded into the ground. Psychic sympathetic wounds appeared with each scratch. It was literally a death of a thousand cuts from her own mind. "Glamorbreak," she hissed out, activating the hypnotic trap within her mind that she had Professor X place there.
Lady Mastermind screamed as she was violently thrown out for a second, then just smirked at her target. "That only slowed me down for a second."
"But now I know where you are." Sheila raised her fist, then snapped it open as if she were pushing her away. She unleashed the perverse reversal of her healing power, causing bruising wounds to appear all over the psychic member of the Brotherhood. "You aren't the only one that can hurt without touching a person."
"This isn't an illusion. How?" her blonde opponent said in shock. Then she just smiled through her bruises. "But you didn't take me out. Now it's my-"
"Stay away from her! Ah'm warning you!" Rogue shouted, suddenly streaking across the ground and then kicking Lady Mastermind with super-human strength that sent her flying into the bushes.
"No! She's learned to harness the powers she has stolen!" Mystique declared in a horrified voice. "This is too early." It was time to beat a hasty retreat. She ducked around a tree and turned into a cat that ducked under the roots.
"Hey, Quicksilver? Take a tahme out," the power-absorbing mutant called out, suddenly blasting with Cyclop's optic blasts... with super-accuracy.
"Ooph," the blue and silver clad mutant called out as he was sent pinwheeling across the ground.
"Are you all right, Aegis?" Cyclops asked.
"I'm fine, the gas wasn't able to affect me." Thank to using a gas-mask, but she would let them assume she was actually invulnerable to poisons with her trick. "I think I've figured out why Mystique wanted me stopped. Rogue was able to use my super-intellect to advance her understanding of her own powers so she can use her borrowed powers at will," Aegis called out.
"That witch didn't want me controlling my powers?" Rogue said, sounding betrayed and angry.
"You being able to use any power you've ever absorbed is scary, Rogue. And you mentioned that your old guardian was working for Mystique, so it sounds like you were important to her nefarious plans." Sheila was glaring at the Blob as she tried to ignore the pain from her mentally inflected wounds.
"Guys, this ain't right," Todd called out. "I didn't sign up with the Brotherhood to attack friends."
"She ain't my friend," the gigantically fat Blob snapped out. "I still owe her for breaking my pinky. I've been practicing hard to get ready for this fight."
"No, Toad's right, Blob. We signed up to protect ourselves from humans, not to attack mutants just because someone said so." Arachne was looking around carefully. "Looks like Mystique has taken off anyways." She had a sinking sensation that they had been used.
"We can take them," Quicksilver said as he reappeared again in a blur.
"Then you can do it on your own. I'm outta here," Todd Tolansky called out, hopping away.
"I'm not in for this sort of thing either. A good rumble, that's cool. Trying to kill someone for figuring out their powers? That's uncool." Avalanche turned and walked off himself.
"I'm with them," Arachne called out. "Good luck fighting them when you are outnumbered."
Quicksilver and the Blob both realized they were right. It was just the two of them and the unconscious Lady Mastermind. In a blur, Quicksilver picked up the heavily beaten girl and disappeared.
"Gangway!" the Blob yelled out in a panic, rushing off while knocking over a tree.
"Sheila, are you okay, sugah?" Rogue asked worriedly.
"I should heal quickly," she said in assurance. "Can you remember what Mystique wanted you for?"
The other X-Men had gathered around her. Storm put her hand on Rogue's shoulder.
"Ah do. Ah'm was suppsed to be her ace in the hole against Xavier and Magneto." Using Sheila's super-human recollection ability on Mystique's memories was tricky, but doable. "She's got some weird feelings hooked up to me. She's even my legal mother by adoption." Rogue looked furious and confused all at once.
"So Rogue Darkholme? Good grief, that's like out of some fantasy novel," Shadowcat asked.
"I'm just Rogue," the power-absorbing X-Men declared. "She's just the woman that is trying to use me."
"Rogue, I think you need to be careful with how many people you absorb. If you are remembering all their memories and emotions, you are going to have to build up your self-identity to be much stronger to ward them off," Sheila said suddenly.
"Ah see what you mean. That means more meditation. Ah hate meditation," she grumped and shook off Storm's hand on her shoulder.
"Better than going nuts, fräulein," Nightcrawler said with a laugh. "At least Wolverine can't just say 'more Danger Room exercise to force you to control your power!'"
"Ah'd almost rather be forced to do that, elf."
Chapter 6: Experiments
Inside a top-secret research lab, a ceiling air-vent cover popped open to let an orange-brown and black wearing mutant drop to the ground in a crouch. He started sniffing even as he disappeared into a shadow only moments before two security guards walked around a corridor in the high-tech hallway.
Wolverine followed them cautiously, listening in.
"Did you ever hear what they are doing in Lab C?" the first guard asked, his stun rifle slung across his shoulder casually.
"You don't want to stick your nose in there. Your security clearance isn't high enough. It's hush-hush stuff."
"And that Doctor Zabu give the creeps too?" the first guard mused.
"If he doesn't give you the creeps, something is wrong." The second guard had what he thought of as a very masculine mustache, but it barely helped his slight build.
"Gangway! Move it!" shouted a group of medics trundling a medical crash gurney. "One of the subject in Lab C is going into cardiac rest."
The two guards ducked to the side as the gurney screamed past on wheels with bearings that could use some oil.
"Zabu is really pushing those genetic activation treatments," an orderly complained bitterly.
"Did... did that guy have golden skin?" the first guard gasped. It wasn't a golden tan but his skin looked to be made of shiny, polished gold.
Wolverine had seen enough. This place had to be shut down and hard. Now it was time to call in the heavy calvary.
Two hours later, a dark figure crept across a ceiling in ways that contravene of normal rules of physics. That was when he heard the sound of a beast roaring in anger.
"You bastards killed them! RAUGH!" Wolverine shouted as he leaped at two of three guards for Brand Corp., slicing their way through guns and with a reverse swipe, sliced the tendons on the back of the hands.
One of the guards screamed like a wounded pig.
Then Wolverine saw a blur of a man in a red and blue costume with a spider theme... boot first. With a twip of web spinnerets, he suddenly found himself stuck to a wall. "What the hell!" He was lucky one of his arms was not fully stuck to the wall.
"No filleting people! It's an unwritten rule in Queens!" Spidey quipped as he bounced over to punch Wolverine in the head, bouncing his metal-skulled head off the wall with a clang that seemed to stun Wolverine and left his own knuckles hurting. "Oh? You must be a robot or something then."
"Wolverine!" Nightcrawler called out. Just like he was trained though, he hit a button on his headphone. "Wolverine is down, taken out by a guy in red and blue. I am engaging!" With a bamf of brimstone and smoke, he appeared right behind Spider-Man, only to get punched as if he knew where he was going to appear.
"Deodorant is your friend," Spider-Man quipped as he theatrically waved his hand..." And cutting back on the beans might help too." Then he suddenly darted away from the wall he had been standing by.
He had been expecting to see someone like the Rhino come through the wall, so when a petite young girl came through it like she was some ghost, he was a bit surprised.
"Wolverine! Nightcrawler!" the girl shouted out, even as she tried to punch the already moving Spider-Man.
"How many of you are there?" the wall crawler asked as he landed on a wall. He tried to web her up, but she just let it pass through her as if she were just an illusion. Just a second later and he dodged again, leaping towards a figure that was blasting out at him with red beams of concussive force. "Whoa! Watch the property damage dude! What do they call you? The Blasternator? Eye-Beam? Oh! I know... the Red Zapper!"
"It's Cyclops," the uptight teen snapped back. "This must be another one like Arachne! Take him down, X-Men!"
"Like who? Is someone infringing on my Trademark?" Spidey quipped even as he dodged two blasts.
One of the blasts hit the wall next to Wolverine and Shadowcat, sending fragments that she barely phased through. "Oh no!" She phased to start pulling a few fragments from him, seeing the wounds heal as she watched.
Spider-Man dodged between the really too accurate attacks from Cyclops, having to hop, spin and crouch (on the floor and roof at times) while moving closer. Finally he got close enough and punched the skinny teen to knock him out. "Sheesh, we should call him Demolition-Man. Or maybe D Man."
"Get away from Cyclops!" Jean Grey called out as she flew around the corner, Storm at her side and followed on the ground by Spyke. With a wave of her hand she tried to knock him back, only to blink as he somehow dodged the invisible wave and a set of bone spikes from Spyke.
"You must be Mind Maid!" Spidey said in his too-funny manner that could infuriate someone into a blind rage. "You must be the sidekick of Cape-girl. Though Spine Boy has the tough-guy punk look that most thugs sport." His spider-sense was screaming that they were incredibly dangerous, when it blared twice as strong out from the other way.
In a double-blur, Rogue and Aegis zipped around from the backside.
"Super-speedster... well, not twins, anyways." Spidey had bounced to the ceiling and tried to web them both up, only to see them both dodge and duck between the webs. "Hey! That's my shtick you are infringing on! Only I'm allowed to dodge my foes attacks like they are standing still."
"Spider-Man was created by this mutant experimentation project?" the demigoddess asked in consternation.
"Ah thought he was a good guy?" Rogue asked even as she blasted out with Cyclop's optics beams.
"Whoa? What are you? Copy Girl?" the red and blue garbed hero asked as his spider-sense went into over drive. "And I am too a good guy! I'm even here to rescue some random guy named Paul that kidnapped." Not one of his classmates. Nope, couldn't say that.
"You have no idea what you are neck deep into, do you?" Aegis asked as she bounced off two walls and then the ceiling. Then she saw Spider-Man dodge out of the way of an attack that she had just thought of and then implemented. "Precognitive? That really would make it much easier to dodge, wouldn't it?"
That actually startled Spidey. "How did you figure that out? Most people just think I'm very quick." Actually, no one was trying to beat him up this moment so he stayed stuck to a wall. "Um, can we talk about this for a second?"
"Yes. Spider-Man is known to be a hero, even if the Daily Bugle makes him out to be a villain," Storm called out. "We are here to rescue the latent mutants from evil experimentation."
"That means saving them from people that think their lives are worth less than a humans', kid," Wolverine said from where he was being phased through Spider-Man's webs by Shadowcat. "I've already found two bodies."
"Two what!" Peter Parker was a moral person, for the most part. He had come here after finding out that one of his fellow students had disappeared. It had actually taken two weeks of tracking him down.
"Up and at 'em, you two," Sheila said as she healed Cyclops and Nightcrawler.
"Vat hit me?" Nightcrawler asked as Shadowcat phased him through his webbing bonds.
"Me, actually. Sorry about that. I thought you were some villains." Spider-Man was actually quite tense. "So really, I'm sorry about knocking some of you guys out."
"Just means we all need more training," Wolverine grated out. "Rescue first."
They all moved into the locked lab, as the rest of the level had already been cleared out. Wolverine sliced the locking mechanism of the four foot wide door even as Rogue kicked open the door.
It was a large central room with locked rooms behind armored glass. Several doctors were at computers when Aegis ran up and grabbed the leader's wrist. "It's too late to hide your evil actions. I hope you rot in prison," she hissed at them angrily.
The lead doctor looked amused. "Fascinating, more enhanced humans. And you brought Spider-Man. I always have wondered what circumstances gave him his powers and set him on the path he travels."
"Ahn't you a mutant, sugar?" Rogue asked the young teen that was not on their team.
"Um, no? That's like not bad, is it?" Spider-Man said quickly. "And wait... you mean all your powers are genetic mutations? Okay... not sure how shooting laser beams out of your eyes fits as an adaptation to your environment."
With his free hand Doctor Zabu pulled out an inhaler and breathed in a dark purple mist. Suddenly his body started to change and taken on a Herculean shape. His face also distorted and became more savage. A twisted smile formed on his face and forced his way out of Sheila's grip.
"Still think you can put me in prison?" the bulked up scientist sneered.
Aegis punched him in the face. The force of the blow knocked Zabu back.
"Talk about your Mr. Hyde," Spider-Man remarked as he started webbing up the other scientists before they could start wiping their computers.
"As good a name as any," the newly named alter ego admitted. He then lashed out with a punch at Sheila that she blocked.
"It tickles," Aegis noted to Hyde's great surprise.
"Rogue! Double team," Cyclops called out just like in training. "One... Two!"
Double red beams of concussive force lashed out at the huge man, sending him caroming into an armored cell. That did not seem to do a lot other than anger the brutish looking super-villain.
"His body is purging the chemical he pumped into him. If we just keep beating on him for ten more minutes, it will wear off," Aegis called out as she punched him hard in the back right where his left kidney was.
Storm nodded, even as she unleashed a lightning bolt that the big man ducked. With brutish cunning, Hyde realized that he was severely outnumbered and needed... leverage. Dashing forward, he snatched at Jean and Shadowcat. The red-head floated overhead, but Shadowcat was caught by her neck.
"I've got this girl! Make any sudden moves and I snap her neck like a twig!" he bellowed to them all.
"Bub, you shouldn't have done that," Wolverine snarled even as Shadowcat phased through his hand.
"Oh, crud," Hyde said succinctly as the berserker charged at him and slashed at him. He barely raised his arms, but the cuts were very bad even in spite of that. In desperation, he punched Wolverine so hard that he dented a wall. "I'll just kill you all!"
Aegis could feel the ichor sing within her blood as she suddenly realized the perfect way to neutralize the mutate. "I'm an idiot! Of course!" She then purged the drug from his body, suddenly reverting him to just Zabu. "Remove all poisons and drugs from his system and he's helpless."
"What sort of mutation was that?" Spidey asked as he quickly webbed up the scientist.
"I'm not a mutant," the blonde girl replied in a suddenly shy manner, surprising him.
Rogue frowned as she realized she did not have that power. "That's new, ahn't it?"
"Ja! I'm sure she is still allowed to improve her powers!" Nightcrawler called out from where he and Spyke had been helping free the prisoners.
"Let's finish up here before the police arrive," Storm called out.
The X-Men and Spider-Man were watching the police, FBI and other various officials raid the building.
Shadowcat was studying the masked teen. "So are you are not a mutant, but you have mutant-like powers?"
Storm actually looked over, then nodded. "He might be what Professor X considers to be mutates. Artificially activated latents. He's been wanting to talk to one for a long time."
"Still doesn't quite make sense with classic Darwinian biology," Spidey muttered to himself where he was crouched on a wall. "But what you are talking about sort of makes sense with what happened to me. I was bitten by a radioactive spider. The next day I woke up super-strong, able to cling to walls and shoot webs from my wrists (which is way much better than where spiders really have their spinnerets, by the way.) So being a mutate actually is reasonable." He looked over at the other 'non-mutant'. "Wait a second. If she's not a mutant or a mutate like me, what is she?"
"Oh, I'm a demigoddess," Aegis replied with a totally straight face while trying to keep a blush from her face.
"No, really, you can tell me," the spider-themed hero remarked. "Though if you did find your powers at the bottom of a box of cereal I'd like to know what brand it was."
"Sugah, she's not joking. Ah've seen her ignore tons of metal and let it bounce off her head like it was a ping-pong ball," Rogue said with a smile on her face.
"Really? And so the name Aegis is about-?" Spidey asked.
"Being invulnerable. Just like that Classical hero. I suspect that I gained my invulnerability from nearly the same method."
"That is so unfair," the intrepid hero muttered.
Spyke just chuckled. "We're a team though."
"Spyke is right. I was attacked by the Brotherhood recently and they could have easily defeated me. I might be physically invulnerable, but psychic attacks hurt. But enough about me. Would you mind talking to the Professor? If there are people that have activated their mutant gene improperly, they may need help. And you may be able to help us find them," Aegis said earnestly.
Spidey hesitated. Finally, it came down to the fact that they were doing this just to rescue innocents. "Sure. Do you have a business card?" he quipped.
Storm chuckled as she reached into her belt and pulled out a single card. "In fact, I do."
"Auntie-O, I can't believe you sometimes." Spyke just slapped his head.
Several buildings away and upwind, a figure glared as one of his plans fell apart from the shadows of a rooftop. The white haired man frowned as he realized that he would have to divert funds to a different scientist. Zabu would not be able to help with his own. He clenched his hand and with a massive effort of will, caused a very powerful and localized electromagnetic pulse to fry all of the computers within the building.
Chapter 7: Beasts of War
Julie Carpenter frowned as she saw Jean Gray down the hallway, talking to that jock Duncan. He was a royal jerk and she had no idea what the other red-head saw in him. But she owed the X-Men an apology. "Hey, Gray."
"I'll see you around, Duncan?" Jean said quickly to her boyfriend.
"Sure, babe," the blond jock said with a cocky grin. "Gotta head to gym anyways." He walked down the hall, meeting up with some of his friends from the football team.
"Hello, Julie," the telekinetic then said, turning to the female member of the brotherhood.
"You guys did what you said you would. I have to admit, I thought you were just pacifist idiots," Julie said as she controlled her anger.
"That's not what the X-Men are about. We are trying to bridge the gulf between human, mutant and even others." Jean's green eyes studied the other girl.
"I got that. I still think you guys are way to idealistic, but maybe we need someone like that around. Even if it isn't me. So while we aren't friends, I don't think we are enemies either. I'll see you around, Red," Julie said with a grin.
"See you around, 'Red'," Jean replied with her own grin.
"Yo! Sheila!" Todd called out. He was hopping across the quad to her just after the bell rang.
"Hey Todd. What are you up to?" she asked.
"Just hanging. I saw Julie watching the news about that Brand Corporation bust. She seemed really pissed at them over the genetic experiments and stuff," the hunchbacked mutant said. "That was you guys, right?"
"The X-Men crashed that party and then called the police and FBI," she admitted.
"You don't think humans and mutants can live together, do you?" the reviled, deformed mutant asked.
"Why not? We are supposed to be living in a modern, more enlightened age. "
"People don't like things that are different," Toad remarked as he shook his head. "And I speak from experience on that." He started to hop away, even as he was zipped by Evan Daniels on his skateboard with a swing sound of the wheels.
"Hey Todd! It's all about being eclectic and knowing how to market yourself," she called out to him. At his confused look, she rephrased it. "Making it look like you are just quirky and being cool about it."
"Yeah, right!" He continued to hop off.
The blonde girl frowned at that. That was an angry young man that was not seeing any escape. She shook her head, looking around and realized that Scott's car and the X-Van were not in the parking lot. "I guess they took me at my word about not waiting for me." With a shrug, she started to jog down the street. Once she was out of sight from the school and friends, she would...
...spot a certain misanthropic mutant that wanted Wolverine's head on a platter. Oh, great. Time to lose him, then.
Half an hour later, she realized that she was going to have just as much luck losing Sabertooth as she was Wolverine. Basically close to none. Their noses were still quite a bit more sensitive than her own super-human sniffer. And he could probably follow her trail if she runs fast, it just might take him a while. She cornered and slipped her hand into her pocket and had her cell phone out, sending a message to Kitty with one hand in less than ten seconds.
She continued to try and evade things for ten more minutes, goading him into making a mistake near the edge of a small copse of trees and abandoned buildings. Sheila almost ducked fast enough to avoid a swipe of Sabertooth's claws. Her favorite shirt got five rips up the back.
"You know, if that could have hurt me, I would be a lot more upset," she noted as dodged backwards and then kicked him hard in the face.
Sabertooth looked at his claws to verify that he really had failed to cut her. "Huh, I guess it makes sense why you didn't run right to the runt when you spotted me. I thought I remembered you being invulnerable." So with that, he then went and charged at her. It took five separate attacks, but he finally kicked her right through a tree. "How's that working out, kid?"
"Perfectly fine, duh. You know, having super-strength should be really cool, but you outclass me in that department," she complained as she kicked him in the head.
"Which means I can probably capture you, even if I can't hurt you. Man, I'll bet that will chap your hide, being a damsel in distress," Sabertooth said as he switched to trying to catch the lithe girl.
"And it's quite interesting how your healing factor works," Sheila noted as she leaped off a tree. "Have any problems remembering anything due your healing factor regenerating new brain cells?"
"My memory is fine, unlike the runt's. Beneficial mutation, brat," Sabertooth snarled out. "Besides, I know why his brains all messed up."
"Did you hear that, Wolverine?" Sheila asked.
"I did, kid. Appreciate you letting me know he was here and keeping him distracted long enough to catch up," the berserker yelled out as he tackled Sabertooth to the ground. "So, let's talk about my memories, Sabertooth."
"Dr. Cornelius would be annoyed if I did, after all the work he did on your brain." Sabertooth casually remarked. "Hell, I'd be surprised if you even remembered Captain America." He booted his pint-sized foe off of him and into a wall.
Wolverine hacked at Sabertooth. "Cap, I remember. It's after that things turn into a blur."
"At least you don't remember that lunatic Wade." The huge mutant lunged forward, his clawed hands stabbing into the ground with deadly force as he just missed the smaller mutant.
Sheila slipped away to where several X-Men were watching the fight. "Just in case?"
Storm nodded. "Exactly."
"You wouldn't believe how hard it was to like convince him," Shadowcat said, looking very cutely frustrated.
"Ja! He vwas all 'It's my fight, don't butt in,' and everything," Nightcrawler said from where he was hanging from a branch.
Rogue and Jean were both studying the fight with an analytical eye.
"Ahm impressed with how he can fight someone that is bigger and stronger than him," the skunk-striped girl noted. "And it doesn't look that skilled either."
Sabertooth snarled in anger. "They got your back? Well, now that I know you are in the area, I'll look you up later. Runt." He bounded off into the woods with surprising speed for a huge guy.
"Looks like we'll have to upgrade our defenses to deal with someone that can take lethal force defenses and get back up," Sheila mused as she watched Creed leave. "I bet his healing factor deals with most drugs, too."
"Shouldn't we go after him?" Cyclops asked.
"Kid he's way out of your league," Wolverine remarked a touch harsher then usual.
Sheila was so very tempted to make a comment about all the machismo being displayed. If Sabertooth were a danger and a threat, it really should have been something the team dealt with. Putting him in some prison somewhere had to be better than just doing these random fights.
Everyone piled into the X-Van except Wolverine, who got on his motorcycle and drove off in seeming anger. Storm narrowed her eyes as she saw a figure walking up to the gate of the school as they approached. She pulled up next to and rolled down the window just enough to show her face (but not her X-Men uniform.)
"Oh, um, Storm right?" the brown-haired boy said in greeting. "You guys had mentioned that you might be able to tell me more about mutants and mutates."
"I'm sorry, I don't recall meeting you. Perhaps you could jog my memory?" the teacher asked.
"Oh, ah, I'm not used to meeting people afterwards. On a brighter note, I guess the mask really works," Peter Parker said in a half-nervous voice.
Sheila sniffed from the back seat at the cracked window. "From that lab at Brand Corporation, right?" she asked casually.
"Right, right. Um, can I come in?" the teen asked.
"Sure," Scott said across the front seat. He looked in the back at Jean, Kurt, Kitty and Sheila with Evan in the back trunk area. "Um, we're kinda full." Evan waved from the very back.
Kitty and Sheila slid out of the X-Van. "We'll walk with him," Kitty said. "I'm Kitty and this is Sheila."
"Hi. I'm Peter. You look like you've been running around," he said nervously to the blonde.
"I've been being hunted for about an hour or two," Sheila said with a shrug. "So what were you doing there?"
"Well, I was trying to decide if I should enter or not. I scoped out the place and found out you have much better security than I've ever seen. I was actually about to go and get into costume to try and sneak in," he said with a nervous twitter.
"Why?" Kitty asked the (in her mind) cute boy.
"Um, well, I wear a mask to protect my family. But it seemed a bit stupid to come to this school in costume. Especially when I heard from some of the kids around here how this is a school for the gifted." He seemed quite conflicted.
They trooped up the main front steps and into the large foyer of the academy.
"Welcome to Xavier's Institute of Higher Learning for the Gifted," Kitty said with a wide smile.
"And I am Professor Xavier. Welcome. Sabertooth didn't hurt you, did he, Sheila?" the professor asked as his wheelchair rolled up from the right wing.
"No, though he might kidnap one of us to try and get Wolverine to a trap," she said brightly.
"Uh, hi. I'm Peter. I guess I'm what you would call a mutate?" the nervous teen asked.
"Yes, a latent mutant that has been activated and changed due to the environment in unforeseen ways. I've been wanting to get some long term information for a medical study. I'm a professor of genetics, specializing in mutations."
"I read some of your work with Erik Lenhsherr on the subject, " Peter mused aloud. "I wonder if we could contact him for assistance?"
"I'm afraid I've lost contact with him after a small falling out," Professor X replied blandly.
The blonde demigoddess frowned for a second, as her overly acute hearing had picked up a catch in the professor's voice. She raised an eyebrow at him at the lie.
'I think it would be best not to go into that matter in depth,' the professor telepathed to her. "So you read The Paradigm of Genetics? I have to say, that its a bit outdated but mostly beyond a student in high school."
"Oh, ah, well I was trying to figure out what was going on with me and it was the only thing at the public library that even seemed to remotely match. I'm glad I'm taking AP Biology, otherwise I would have been totally lost," Peter explained.
"Yes, I can see that. Well, why don't we go down to the medical bay and take a few samples and run a few tests," the professor said as they started to move towards the elevator. "I'd like to make sure your genetic structure is stable. I'd rather not find out that you will keep mutating."
"Oh, wow. My aunt would totally freak if I suddenly grew four extra arms like a real arachnid," the mutate said in sudden worry.
"I doubt that will happen, but I'd like to make sure. I've been researching a bit about a syndrome I've named after one mutant that suffered a very extreme and deadly secondary mutation. Secondary Mutation Syndrome can be a life threatening situation."
Sheila frowned at that, actually picking up a very hidden hint of sadness from the professor. "So this could be a natural extension of your mutation that might cause a detriment to your health?" She started to very closely examine everyone who was following along. "You might be right to worry, professor. I do think Peter here might have a mutation fluctuation problem. Evans might also have a small instability in his structure."
The professor's wheelchair stopped as he looked at her. "You can detect that?" he said in shock.
"Now that I know what to look for, yes. It's not life threatening, but they both have some instability already," she replied.
"Um, wow. If that's the case, I'm really happy that I came here," Peter said as he gulped.
"Auntie-O?" Evans asked Ororo in a worried voice.
"Let's go get you tested before we start worrying. This could be why you have some control issues, as your mutation may not be as stable as we thought," the older woman said. She put her hand on her nephew's shoulder. "I'll need to let my sister know too."
"I know, I know," the skater-dude said in long suffering.
The rest of the evening was set taking samples. Peter had to leave by about six, but he had been fascinated by Professor Xavier's and Sheila's conversation about genetics and what sort of things could be done to stabilize the two mutations.
Sheila could probably cure it mystically, but that wouldn't help anyone if she wasn't always around.