Chapter 3: Black Thunder
We got to Bayville's streets in about a few minutes from the hilltop Institute. As we got to the concrete jungle, I was blinded by the lights and deafened by the sounds of cars and vocal chattering from the meatbags. However, Tabitha only praised the night scene. "Don't you just love it!" she said. "It's so beautiful. Nothing like the nightlife, right?"
"Yeah, that's great." I said with no interest. I pulled my hood up and turned to the direction of the flames. "Come on," I said. "The sight of the accident was in this direction. If we hurry, we might get there before the others do."
"You really like to get a job finished." I didn't reply. Instead, I only continued on route. "Hey, wait up!" she said as she caught up. There were a few crowds of meatbags, but it didn't stop us from getting to our destination. Unfortunately, there was the infamous inner city road block. "So, what now?"
I looked around the area. On foot, it would take longer to get to the foe. If there was someway I could get there, it would need to be fast. Then, I saw it. Something that would be temporarily useful. "There," I said as I pointed to the target. It was a motorcycle (a Harley Davidson, I believe) with it's rider. The owner was a young male, possibly in his early twenties. He wore leather clothes and no helmet. "Let's go over there."
"A biker," Tabitha said. "Sexy." The two of us walked over to the rider and his vehicle.
"Who are you guys?" He asked in a gruff voice.
"Yeah, hey, how you doing," I replied. "Listen, we need your bike. It's of great importance."
"What? You gotta be kiddin', boy!" he said. "Why would I want to give it to some punk like you?"
"So you want a reason?" I said as a cloud of darkness engulfed my left hand I hid behind my back.
"Hey, hey, chill out," Tabitha told me. "I'll handle this." She then turned to the man and gave him a playful grin. "Hi, there. Please, excuse my friend. But you see, we really like your ride. All we want to do is borrow it. Just for a little while."
"No can do," the biker replied. "This baby cost me a fortune."
"You know, I really love a guy with a bike. Especially someone as tall and strong as you." She then started writing circles on his chest gently with the end of her finger.
"Oh, god," I thought to myself before putting a hand over my face.
"Well… I, uh…" The rider was now speechless.
"And the leather is really hot. Maybe you and I should go somewhere later. Somewhere private?" As she talked, a small glowing orb appeared in her hand. She placed it in his belt carefully so that he wouldn't notice as she continued flirting with him. "But we really need your motorcycle right now. Like I said, just for a little while."
"Well… sure. I guess you can take it for a spin..."
"Really? Thank you." Tabitha turned her attention to me and nudged her head toward the bike. I hopped onto the seat and got the two-wheeled vehicle up and running. She also sat rather close to me and wrapped her arms around my waist tightly. "Let's get out of here."
"Already doing that." I kicked the brake up and started the engine. Without any time to waste, I drove off. Just as I left, the biker's belt had broke and his pants were sliding down. Embarrassed, he continued to pull his pants up to make sure no one saw his undergarments. I heard the miniature explosion and couldn't help but smirk. "Do you do that often?"
"Only around the dumb ones. It never gets old."
"I've never met someone that willingly flaunts her body."
"Then you should get out more." I only smirked at her statement as we sped through the cars that were immobile. We also saw some of the fire engines that were stuck in this traffic jam. "Hey, can't you go any faster?" she asked me. "I wanna really feel the rush."
"Yeah, yeah," I replied. I headed toward the fire engine at full throttle. Tabitha was smiling and laughing as we went at high speeds. A few of the meatbags on the vehicle saw us coming and quickly moved out of the ladder's way (which was fine by me).
I pulled back on the motorcycle to make it rear up on its wheel before we landed on the engine's ladder. After driving up on it, we were in midair. "Whooohooo!" We then landed on the road and continued to the building site. I looked behind to see Tabitha still laughing and smiling. "That was great!"
I shot her a smile as I drove the motorcycle. The further we went, the louder it got from all the vehicles and drivers. The noise wasn't an inconvenience. In fact, Tabitha was the loudest of the menagerie of sounds (mainly because she was right behind me). As drivers were giving insults and what-not to us, Tabitha was returning the favor. After a while, the traffic was starting to clear and the sounds from the blocked intersections were dying down as I drove. I looked up and saw the smoke from the foundation. It was black and still floating, meaning that the flames were still burning. "We're close," I said. "It won't be long until we meet Pyro."
"Then speed this baby up!" We raced through the streets at high speeds. We passed other vehicles that were on the roads rode through the alleys to cut time. After about twenty minutes, we arrived at the unfinished location near a body of water behind it. The place was still on fire, and there was nobody else present in the vacinity. When we got off the motorcycle, I froze and held my head as I felt the presence of a nearby mutant. "Hey, are you okay?"
"It's nothing." I regained my composure and stared at the burning estate. "I can sense it, there's a mutant in there."
"It has to be Pyro."
"There's only one way to find out." The two of us walked inside the building and searched for the arsonist. The place looked unstable. I fear that this foundation might turn into rubble any minute.
When we arrived at the other side of the house, we saw him. It was a slender orange-haired man in an orange jumpsuit and thick black boots. On each arm, he was armed with a flamethrower. At the moment, he was standing on a beam with his back turned while firing his artillery. "Yeah, that's right!" he yelled in a thick Australian accent before cackling. "Burn, baby! Buuuuuurrrrrnnnn!" He launched another blast of flames upward.
"What did I tell ya?" Tabitha said.
"So, you're the one responsible for this onslaught," I said.
"What the-?" he turned around and stared at us. "Who are you?"
"He's the one that's going to kick your ass, Pyro!" Tabitha said.
"Who, this bloke? I'll turn you into ash in less than a few seconds."
"That's what you think," I replied. "I came here to see just how hot you really are. But I see that you're all smoke but no fire."
"You really don't know what you're getting into, do ya, mate?"
"I don't know. Why don't you show me."
"Yeah, unless you're scared?" Tabitha sneered.
"You little shits," Pyro cursed sharply. "I'll make you regret coming down here by burning you to a crisp!" He then shot a stream of fire at the both of us. We dodged the assault, but our entry was blocked by a wall of flames. I pulled out my katana and got myself ready to attack. Tabitha quickly threw small balls at the enemy. When they were in the air, the orbs exploded, causing Pyro to fall off the beam and onto the ground. She then proceeded to attack with a kick, but the foe caught it and grinned. "Say, Sheila," he said. "Aren't you one of those Brotherhood blokes?"
"You wish!" she snapped. "Now let me go!"
"Or what? You gonna toss another one of them firecrackers at me?"
"I think she said let her go," I replied. I wrapped Pyro's head in shadows and tossed him a few feet away. I then fired a barrage of dark balls at him. A few made contact, but most of them were destroyed by a stream of fire.
"You'll pay for that." He fired another blast at me, but I got out of it's path. However, the flame suddenly turned to my direction and became a shape of a dragon's jaws. I heard Pyro laughing rather loudly. "What's a matter, mate? To hot for ya?"
I quickly ran behind a few bricks and shielded my body. Just in the knick of time, the fire crashed into the wall and wrapped around my barrier. After he retracted his flames, he saw the dark dome surrounding my body. I smiled after I put down my defense and said, "Was that supposed to do damage?"
The fiery foe was ready to attack again, but Tabitha interrupted by throwing more of her time bombs at the pyromaniac. Pyro evaded as they exploded on the ground and kicked up smoke at the same time. "Where did he go?" Tabitha asked as we looked around the area.
I had an idea. I picked up a few items off the ground with my umbrakinesis and tossed them at the cloud of smoke. After a minute off tossing buckets and materials, a path of fire came right at us. I quickly countered by firing a stream of dark aura. The two powers met and we were locked in our places. It was a struggle between Pyro and myself to see who's will end this match. "Boom-Boom, a little interference would be helpful," I said.
"On it." Boom-Boom began firing her bombs near the origin of the flames.
I could see it was working as the fire started to recede and my power was pushing forward. "His concentration is wearing thin! Keep up the assault!" Tabitha continued to throw more of her explosives. With every explosion, Pyro's attack was weakening. Now I saw my opportunity and overpowered him with my umbrakinesis. The dust cleared up after it made impact with the enemy. He was now weakened and lying on the ground. I lifted his limp body a few feet off the ground with my power and smiled. "Who's on fire now?" I asked him.
"So what are you gonna do?" he asked.
"I have an idea," Tabitha said. "I think it's time for him to chill out." We both looked at the lake in front of us. I would finish him off with one slash from my katana, but this fool's not worth my time. Plus, what would be the point?
"Maybe she's right," I said in agreement. "How about a nice cold swim."
"Not that! Not the water!"
"Have fun, Pyro." I crushed his flamethrowers and tossed him out of the building. After being launched a few yards, he landed with a splash in the middle of the lake. The two of us saw him swimming away. I then sensed another presence near us. Unlike Pyro's, this one's felt stronger.
Another mutant, but where was it? I looked around me, but saw nothing. That was until I heard a voice call my name. "Darkstrike…" it called with a deep voice. I made a one-hundred eighty degree turn and saw a muscular man with purple skin and a wide smile. "Judgement day will soon be here. It is only a matter of time until the world will be under the new rule of darkness and our kind shall reign supreme. You shall help me make this vision a reality, as promised."
"Who the hell are you and how do you know my name? And what is this new rule you speak of?"
"I am the Shadow King. You will soon learn in time, Darkstrike." Just as he finished, the wooden frame fell and his form disappeared.
"Is this place falling apart?" Tabitha asked me.
"Come on!" I replied. I grabbed her wrist and the two of us ran to the exit. When we got out of the burning foundation, we saw a few people wearing uniforms and an 'X' symbol on their waist. I quickly got into a battle position, until I noticed who it was. "Well, look who we have here," I said.
"Darkstrike?" Kurt asked as he wore a red and black uniform. "Vhat are you and Tabitha doing here?"
"Oh, hey you guys," Tabitha said in a casual tone. "We were just taking care of business."
Suddenly, the clouds began to gather over us and thunder was heard. I looked up and saw a dark-skinned woman with white hair and dark blue clothes with a matching colored cape flowing behind her. In less than a few seconds, rain started to pour down upon the area, causing the flames to extinguish rather quickly. I was rather impressed. "The ability to control weather currents. Astounding."
"So, what happened?" Scott asked. Unlike back at the mansion where he wore casual clothes, now he adorned dark blue clothes with a yellow 'X' criss-crossed on his shirt and goggles with one long lens.
"Nothing much," I replied. "We were just here to see what the cause of the fire was. Just like you guys said, it was that Pyro character."
"You guys beat Pyro?" Bobby asked, wearing his dark blue outfit.
"Yeah, but he was nothing but a pushover."
"You should have seen how we took him out," Tabitha added. "Darkstrike tossed him out in the middle of the lake."
"I guess you missed out." Then I began to eye their clothing and smirked. "What's this supposed to be anyway? A commercial ad for spandex?"
"What are you talking about?" Scott said. "These are our uniforms. For when we're out on a mission."
"A mission? What do you guys do?"
"They're X-Men," Tabitha told me. "The X-Men is a goody-two-shoes group made by Professor X to stop other mutant groups like the Brotherhood and the Acolytes from making trouble."
"Alright then."
"Well, this was the best date I've ever been on. We should do this again sometime."
I was rather confused at what she said. I only wanted her to come for support. To tell you the truth, she's not my type. A little too loud for my taste, if you know what I'm getting at. "Well, I guess our job here is done. I gotta go back to the Mansion. Don't want to be late for school." Even I think school's overrated. Especially with my intellectual prowess. I got on the bike, with Tabitha smiling and wrapping her arms tightly around my waist, and drove off from the scene. The roads were now cleared and everything seemed to be back in the norm as far as traffic went. In about a half hour, we returned to the mansion. I went back to my room and was surprised to find who was in there. It was Rogue resting her arms on the back of my chair.
"So how did your date go?" she asked.
"I would call it a symbiotic venture. She wanted to have some 'fun'. I wanted to go for a challenge."
"Sounds almost modest of ya," she replied in a casual tone. "So, did ya stop Pyro?"
"Yeah, I did. But he was nothing but a hothead."
"It's almost funny. Your first day here and ya already caused trouble."
"Trouble follows me everywhere. I can't help it. But tell me, why are you here?"
Rogue got off the chair and walked up to me. I didn't realize it, but she and I are around the same size. She might be an inch or two shorter, but you wouldn't notice. Anyway, she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. "This is your schedule." I looked at it. It was the classes I would attend at Bayville High. They were subjects I've taken before (not that I care). "Not that it matters or anything, but you and I have the same English course third period."
"Alright. So what is this facility like?"
"Let me put it to you like this: the school principal's an ass like most of the student body. He's just waiting for us to mess up so he can get us expelled."
"I see. Luckily, they don't know I'm a mutant."
"But they will when they learn you live here."
"Yeah, whatever. If things get recalcitrant, I can always use unarmed combat." It sucked that I couldn't bring my sword nor use my powers.
"I would watch it," Rogue explained. "Principal Kelly has his eye on us. If he saw you beating up three guys at once, he'd use whatever trick in the book to throw you out. There was that one time he let the local jock Duncan try to beat up Scott. He even brought the Brotherhood back that same night to help him before kicking them out the next day."
"You said Kelly? Could you also be referring to the same person running for Senator?" Rogue nodded. "Scandalous," I gasped. "But it doesn't matter. No one tells me what to do, especially some high and mighty meatbag."
"That's the same attitude that got the Brotherhood thrown out in the first place."
"I don't know who this Brotherhood is. But from the sound of it, they're a bunch of ignorant tools that wouldn't know who's using them even if they had a 'Property Of' label on each of their chests."
"Look, just don't do anything dumb. It wouldn't look good if ya got expelled on your first day."
"I guess you're right. It would be rather embarrassing, to say the least."
"Well, good luck. You're gonna need it."
"I'm glad you care. But I told you, I'll adapt. Always have, always will."
"Sure, whatever," she said to me as she passed by. "Good night, Tical."
"Good night, Rogue." Rogue closed the door behind her as she walked to her room. Now I really can't wait until I go to school. Meet new people, learn old subjects say I'm one of those meatbags (Uhhhh… Even thinking that makes shivers run down my spine), possibly face an educational bureaucracy head-on along with beating up a jock or two that may be a couple feet larger than myself. But that's not important. What was really going through my mind was the Shadow King from earlier and his preach? What was this promise I supposedly made? I could still here his words echoing in my head. "Judgement day will soon be here. It is only a matter of time until the world will be under the new rule of darkness and our kind shall reign supreme. You shall help me make this vision a reality, as promised." He looks… just like that guy from my memories. It would appear that I have no choice. Like it or not, I have to believe him. Whatever's going on, I'm reluctantly involved. But why do I get the feeling that things are going to get more complicated than they already are?
