The Guardians

Chapter 2


Kylie Hollis, often known by the alias Red, was not pleased. Not with anything. Her team was whining about never getting a night after she had given them almost a week off. Jason Delek, also known as Yellow, was particularly getting on her nerves. When he wasn't complaining about how he never had time to practice his violin, he was hitting on her. She wasn't sure which she wanted to break more; Yellow's neck or his violin's. Cranky Red was not some to be trifled with, especially by her teammates.

They had all gathered on top of a five story apartment building on the edge of downtown Bayville, with everyone wearing their uniforms. It was to Red's annoyance that some of them, violating her orders, were starting to customize their customs. A silver metal choker sat around Kota's neck, matching her codename of Silver. Her tail swished behind her and there was a smile stretching her lips when she noticed Red looking at the collar. It seemed to say "whatcha gonna do about it?"

"At least they all showed up," Red grumbled under her breath as she paced in front of the nine. Sometimes they were like family and other times she wanted to hurt them, usually following rather vulgar jokes. As Yellow had learned, she didn't take jokes well.

"Who showed up?" Rose, a.k.a. Green, piped up with her usual curiosity. She was a fast runner and on the track team with Red as a sprinter. Although they hardly talked at school, she and Red got along well enough. Green's parents had been killed and Red's sister had been murdered, giving them grief to bond over.

"Us," Jade Madara, a human member of the team known as Purple, snapped. "Moron."

"Easy, Purples," Danny McCain, called Orange, urged and slung an arm around Purple's shoulder. His crush on the spunky girl was obvious, despite all of Red's rules about no dating among the group. Purple was obeying this choice rule and shrugged his arm off, moving away with a mock look of disgust. When she was sure Red wasn't looking, she allowed a small, secret smile to flicker across her lips for a fraction of a second.

Hugo, codenamed Cyan, cleared his throat for attention then whispered; "Please ease up on the yelling, my mutant ability is super hearing and you're all giving me a monster headache."

"Yeah, let's be quiet," Ben, called Blue, practically yelled at everyone, making Cyan wince in pain and cover his ears. Blue usually stood up for his best swimming buddy because of Cyan's shyness and the fact that he was almost always quiet. Even his own voice, when raised too much, hurt his incredibly sensitive ears. In school, he had taken up wearing earplugs. Now, he was considering bringing them to Guardian functions.

Red rolled her eyes, facing away from the group for a moment before she spun around with a dramatic turn. In the cool autumn wind, her blonde ponytail waved wildly like Silver's black tail. Her eyes fixed on Camry Loudoi, nicknamed White for Guardian work, and Evangeline Thanos, called Gray. They were still talking after everyone else had fallen silent. Something that Gray rarely did. She was the most obedient and innocent of all of them, always assigned to the joke missions. Never going where blood might be shed.

"Blue said quiet, didn't he?" Red asked, walking up to Gray and White who looked up at her. White would normally have been a little scared, if she was with anyone but Gray. Red had a soft spot for Gray. That much was obvious. Kind of like she was trying to become Chelsea and replacing herself with a pseudo-little sister.

"Yes, I believe he did." White replied and Red stepped away with an irked sigh.

"As you all know, there have been reports of mutant activity in town recently. An unnamed group of them has been wreaking havoc at both day and night. This would not be much of an issue if it were not for the Presidential elections at this time. New York Senator Carlotta van der Blink is running for office this year and has been a target for many mutant attacks. We are responsible for making the city safe for her visit in two weeks." Red explained to them, beginning again to pace in front of the small group. "Is that clear?"

"Why is this our problem?" Yellow asked, smiling. He just wanted to antagonize her, get a reaction. Any reaction.

"We are the Guardians. We protect people who can't protect themselves and make this city a better place to live for everyone. We help humans and mutants." Red repeated the mantra that she had spoken at least a thousand times.

Gray raised her hand and Red nodded to her, allowing the fourteen-year-old to speak. "So how many villains are we talking about in the city?"

"So far, five have been spotted. Four girls and one boy, but I have reason to suspect that they are not acting alone. And something is going on with this election. If the X-Men don't get to the bottom of it, then we will for sure." Red told them and Gray raised her hand yet again.

"Yes?"

"So, who are these villains? If they've been causing trouble then they have to have some kind of name? Are they a group like us?" Gray asked, looking around like she expected the new villains to pop up on the rooftop.

"There's someone called Zero G, which I think is short for either Zero Gravity or Zero Girl. She's able to manipulate gravity. Nemesis has weak abilities over controlling darkness and can predict the futures of those she touches. Don't let a girl with different colored eyes touch you. Another person you shouldn't let touch you is Panic, who secretes toxins that induce powerful hallucinations. Puppeteer is a telekinetic, who can only move herself and others. Mirror can mimic your physical abilities and powers as you perform them, so we'll be wearing goggles from here on out to prevent further problems." Red told the rest of her team, starting to make them look uncomfortable.

"How old are these people?" White piped up, tilting her head slightly to the side in a birdlike fashion.

"Teenagers. Puppeteer seems to be the youngest and is close to Gray's age, but all of them are dangerous. Age doesn't really matter." Red clarified, she had stopped pacing and was standing in front of White and Gray.

"That's right! Age is just a number!" Yellow yelled, making the rest of the team break down into giggles. Red threw him a murderous glare. "You're sixteen and I'm eighteen, but that doesn't matter, babe."

"Don't call me babe, ever again." Red said without even bothering to look at Yellow. The fury in her voice conveyed her meaning well enough without her even having to look. "And age does matter."

"Why shouldn't he be calling you babe?" A new voice asked, two light footsteps accompanied it, clicking like high heels. The Guardians all turned in wide eyed shock to stare at the newcomer who was intruding on their meeting, something that had never happened before. They had always before found the villains, making this an entirely new experience.

A female of about seventeen years old, with a well-muscled build that stood at 5'7" with obvious tone in her arms and legs. From behind her black mask, dark brown eyes fixed them a cold stare that did not seem to fit her warm looks at all. Olive colored skin and wavy black hair filled with streaks; mint green, red, purple, and blue. Piercings ran up and down her ears, making her look all the more intimidating. A fitted red shirt with ¾ length sleeves exposed part of her midriff and a pair of black jeans rested low on her hips, completing the home made superhero look.

The black ZG that had been embroidered on the middle of her shirt made her identity obvious. This was Zero G.

"Code 1, assume positions!" Red yelled, staring at Zero G in shock as the others lined up behind her. More physical members hurried to stand behind her; Silver, Purple, and White. White's knives were out in a second, pulled from the sheaths in her belt were they were kept at her hips. Purple bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. Silver transformed to an enormous black wolf, her tail lashing from side to side. Red cracked her knuckles and smiled.

Green pulled out the seeds she kept in her pocket, a couple of her special purple roses begin to grow and her eyes glowed purple, the sign she was using her abilities. Sparks traveled up and down Gray's arms. A gust of wind surged around Blue, lifting him a little bit off the ground, approximately four inches.

Orange, Cyan, and Yellow fell back. Yellow's sound manipulation was not used when no one else had earplugs in. Orange was there tech whiz, the one who had fixed Cerebro to keep it from detecting them when they'd broken in months ago. Cyan's sensitive hearing often made him a liability and he was usually surveillance.

Code #1 was a full attack with Silver and Red taking on her left side, White and Purple taking her right side. They distracted her for long enough to Gray to charge up enough electricity or for Rose's plants to be ready to release their toxins. It was one of the ten "plays" that they had practiced to perfection. Something that generally worked perfectly.

Silver snarled and rushed at Zero G, who seemed taken off guard by a giant dog charging at her, teeth bared. Red swiftly followed suit, barreling straight at Zero G without even worrying what got in her way. The knife was out of White's hand within a second and flew straight towards Zero G and suddenly everything stopped.

Everyone on the roof, with the exception of Zero, was pinned to the roof by the force of gravity. The knife clattered uselessly at Zero G's feet and she kicked it away. Each of the Guardians was helplessly pinned to the gravel of the roof, almost painfully.

"I'm not here to fight," Zero said as she dug the heel of her boot in-between Red's shoulder blades. "I just want you to consider our offer. All of you. Join us and then there will be no more of this silly fighting. And if you decline, we'll have to put an end to you. You're a constant nuisance. We will find out your true identities, we will come after your families, and then when we think you've suffered enough, we'll kill you."

"Okay, great psycho villain rant. But why not just kill us now and get it over with? Doesn't that make more sense?" Yellow asked, seeming a little puzzled.

"Don't give her ideas!" White yelled and Silver growled her agreement.

"Because there's no fun in that," Zero sighed, taking her foot off Red's back. "And I wasn't ordered to kill you just yet. And she wants that privilege to be hers. Good-bye, little Guardians. Unless any of you want to come with me."

A resounding chorus of "no's" and "never's" immediately followed and Zero glided off the roof, disappearing from sight. A moment after she left, gravity returned to normal and the Guardians were no longer pinned down against the roof of the building. Upon Red's insistence, they searched the area for an hour but there was no trace of Zero G. No evidence that she had ever even been there.

Finally, after midnight, Red allowed them all to go home.


Professor Xavier sat behind his desk, looking at the two new recruits that were seated in the chairs across from him. Adal Kauffman and Emery O'Reilly had been assigned to the task of watching the students of Bayville High over the past few weeks. Masquerading as exchange students—Adal from Germany, Emery from Ireland—had not been hard. Because no one knew they attended Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, they were not known mutants and were trusted at school.

"Have you noticed any unusual things going on around school in the past week? In our last meeting, you said there were several groups of students that you had been keeping an eye on?" The Professor asked finally, breaking the semi-awkward silence.

"Yes," Adal spoke first, her German accent tinting her word. "There are a few students we're watching. There's a group of students who sit together at lunch; Grace Oberlin, Rita Carmichael, and Anita Benson. Grace has obvious knowledge of military combat training, Rita appears to possess a vast knowledge of medicine, and Anita is a child prodigy. Exactly the type of people of would make up the Guardians."

"Of course, we aren't sure yet about them. And there are others," Emery added, her Irish accent only slightly in her words.

"Is there any proof any of them are mutants or what colors they are?" The Professor inquired.

"None of them are Red, that's obvious. Rita's skin is too dark and her hair is black. Anita's too young, she's only thirteen. And Grace has too dark hair, it's brown, not blonde." Emery replied. "And there are far too many blondes with blue eyes for us just to narrow down who Red is based on her physical description. If you could give us any more description of her."

"Once we find Red, we'll find the others. They're bound to be her friends." Adal added.

"Have you tried looking into groups of ten at your school? Six girls, four boys. Maybe instead of trying to find one person, you should look for the whole group." The Professor suggested. There was a chance that the Guardians weren't always so careful.

"We'll try, Professor," Adal said, glancing over at Emery, who nodded.

"Thank you for your help," The Professor said and the two girls departed, Adal sharing more theories with Emery.

Professor Xavier let out a sigh after the office door shut behind the two girls. He'd been working for a great deal of time to find the Guardians. Cerebro couldn't detect them, someone had broken into the mansion several months ago, and the Guardians were starting to cause property damage and injuries. At first, it had been assumed they were nothing more than a vigilante group that would disappear within a matter of weeks. Then they had started to cause problems as more joined until there was ten of them. Some people were angry, others were celebrating the Guardians. Perhaps the most dangerous was the imitators.

There had been a mutant called Amaranth who set fires in the name of the Guardians, trying to smoke out villains. Army Green had just been a lunatic with a giant automatic weapon. Emerald had been a pair of twins who could only control earth when they were holding hands. Some had gotten violent.


A man of forty-five and a girl of fifteen, who looked enough like him that it was obvious she was his daughter, were sitting out on a large back porch and gazing out over an enormous backyard. Dressed in an expensive black suit, the man was all darkness. Mediterranean olive skin, short black hair, and piercing eyes black as ink. His daughter was the same darkness as him, wearing a black Alexander McQueen dress with long sleeves. Her eyes were covered by a pair of Gucci wrap sunglasses, leaving nothing visible.

"Has there been any message from Cobalt?" the girl asked as a maid dressed all in black appeared and set down two cocktails on the table between their chairs. She hurried away as quickly as possible, not even looking back at the two who were sitting on the deck.

"Yes," the man told her after a moment. "She set Zero on them last night, trying to scare some of those punks into joining her side. She's going to probably have a few others try hunting them down. When they don't join of their own accord—and mark my words they won't, they're worthless brats and they know they won't survive on Cobalt's side—she'll make them join. Something about them being powerful, I think she said. Bunch of crap."

"Papa, I think they probably have some worth if it's taken so long for—"

"Shut up, they're just brats. Soon they'll no longer be a nuisance." He snapped.


I'd like to thank , MysteryAgain, TheWritingGirl23, ninaninagrrr, meli31295, ShadowMaster77, and LemonLemma for reviewing the first chapter! You guys are great! Check out the poll on my profile for favorite Guardian, the Guardian with the most votes will get a chapter about them.