Chapter 3: Plans and Consequences

The next morning…

In the large glass building located near a lake, Nigel Faust was looking at the morning news on a widescreen TV, in which Sharon Whittner was stating:

"In today's news, the alien menace known as the Skin-Ripper, that was responsible for ripping the skins off of innocent people, was found dead in the streets of Brooklyn. According to our sources, there were two men at the scene when the alien was defeated and one of the men was an African-American man named Jerome Brown whose background information is unidentified at this point. The other man, who seems to have a steel body and a red costume, is known as the new mysterious vigilante crime fighter, "Red Steel." These two men are now hailed as the heroes of New York City as they have defeated one of the constant threats that this city has suffered over the past few weeks. Citizens can now rest easy knowing that the Skin-Ripper is no longer threatening the city. This is Sharon Whittner reporting from the Morning News."

Suddenly, a remote control flew at the TV, smashing the glass to pieces. Nigel Faust then started panting in rage and then screamed, "HOW?! How is it possible that the plans that I had laid out so carefully are ruined by a vigilante and his partner in crime?!" Nigel banged his fists on his desk in anger and then he said to himself, "And that Jerome Brown, I cannot believe that he's still alive after all this time. What is he doing with this "Red Steel" character? I must find out more about this "threat" or else my plans will come unwinding before my very eyes."

Nigel then heard a beeping noise coming from his desk and a secret TV screen started rising up from the top of the desk as an alien face appeared on the screen.

"Nigel Faust," said the alien on the TV screen.

"Commander Zoid," said Nigel giving the alien a salute.

"What is happening over there? Why hasn't the shipment of the Earth's resources been delivered to the planet Gork yet?" Commander Zoid yelled angrily at Nigel.

Nigel stuttered a bit before saying, "I'm sorry commander. I was planning on shipping the Earth's resources to your planet, but it seems that we are having some problems on Earth at the moment."

Commander Zoid stared coldly at Nigel and said, "You better handle this problem right away or you will find yourself as a personal slave to the Gorkian Race! This is your last warning!" The TV screen then went blank and slid back into the desk.

Nigel then sat back down at his desk, looking defeated and then he said to himself, "Well, I may have to deal with this "Red Steel" character sooner than I thought. My plans will come to fruition, at any cost!"

Meanwhile…

Everything was quiet at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (except for the sounds of the students going to their classes) as all the staff members were recovering from their battle with the Phoenix Five. Even though they won the battle against the Phoenix Five, their spirits were low as they realized that they had to fight their closest friends to prevent the world from being destroyed.

Ororo Munroe, who had left Utopia after the Phoenix Five were defeated and came to the school to teach the students, was standing by a window and seeing the students coming from the field and going inside the school to get ready for their classes. Her thoughts were troubled as she remembered being on Cyclops' team after the Schism between him and Wolverine in order to prevent Cyclops' team from going overboard with their plans to protect the world. Little did she know, the Phoenix Force had come to Earth searching for a new host and it had affected her teammates, Colossus, Magik, Emma Frost, Namor and Cyclops. Even though she tried everything to stop the Phoenix Force from overtaking her teammates, she realized that it was a lost cause once they were lost to the destructive forces of the Phoenix Force. Now, her former teammates were on the run from the law while Cyclops was imprisoned, even though it was the Phoenix Force that ultimately took control of the others' good intentions to make the world a safer place.

Ororo continued looking out the window solemnly, until she heard a light female voice in the background, "Need some company Ororo?"

The voice belonged to Kitty Pryde, who was now the headmistress of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Even though she was at the school when the Avengers were fighting the Phoenix Five, the events that had happened with the Phoenix Five, had hurt her deeply especially since one of the members came to the school and… that was a memory that she did not want to think about.

"Why, hello Kitten! It is nice seeing you here. So, how was your day?" asked Ororo.

"Well, the students are acting up, as usual, and one of the students manages to blow up a tree during their power controlling lessons," said Kitty.

Ororo laughed quietly, but then she noticed Kitty's sad smile. She then asked Kitty, "Do you still miss him?"

Kitty looked down and sighed sadly, "It's so weird Ororo. I know that it was the Phoenix Force that possessed his body, but even then, the Peter I knew had changed so much. It's like he's much…darker now and I don't know if I could ever have that relationship I used to have with him when he was just a sweet and innocent man who would do anything to protect his friends."

Ororo looked at Kitty with sympathy on her face and said, "I know Kitten, I know. But, even though things are terrible right now, we cannot lose hope for Scott and the others. Let us just hope that they will see the errors of their ways and come back to us."

Kitty smiled and said, "Yeah, I hope so too."

Suddenly, Bobby Drake ran into the room and yelled out, "Hey! There's something on the news you got to see!"

Kitty and Ororo looked at each other and ran to the main room with the other X-Men members Logan and Hank.

"What's going on?" asked Kitty.

"There seems to be an alien invasion in downtown New York that occurred a few days ago. But, a new Representative of the Natural Resources Division named Nigel Faust, was actually taking care of the problem for the past few days," said Hank.

"How come we didn't know about this?" asked Bobby.

"Maybe the military whackos didn't want us mutants to interfere with their so-called alien problems," said Logan sipping on some beer.

Then, the news announcer came onscreen and stated:

"Hello ladies and gentlemen! This is Ronald Quest reporting live from the Morning News! In today's news, there are some rumors circulating around New York about a mysterious red costumed vigilante named Red Steel along with his partner, Jerome Brown, protecting New York City from the alien invasion. Last night, the two men were responsible for the death of one of the greatest alien threats that New York City has ever faced, the Skin-Ripper, and now, they have been hailed as true heroes for dealing with such a threat. We are now trying to find more information regarding these two men and how they came into the picture in the first place. This is Ronald Quest, reporting from the Morning News."

The X-Men then looked at each other in shock until Bobby said, "Red Steel? Is that who I think it is?"

The X-Men were speechless for a moment while Kitty looked at the television with a shocked expression on her face.

"Only one way to find out," growled Logan and then said, "Alright, we gonna go check this "Red Steel" guy out and see if he's all he's cracked up to be."

Later…

While Nigel Faust was busy plotting for Red Steel's demise and the X-Men were making preparations to locate Red Steel, Jerome was going back to his secret headquarters that was located in one of the abandoned buildings. Once he reached inside the den and was about to go to the large computer mainframe, a deep voice echoed across the room.

"Why hello, Jerome. It is a pleasure seeing you here."

Jerome looked around the room in shock as two knives came out of his hands and he was ready to throw the knives at the intruder when he saw the figure in his chair and recognized him immediately.

Red Steel was sitting in the large chair in front of the computer mainframe and as he turned the chair around, he started looking at Jerome with narrow silver eyes that were deeply unsettling.

"How…how did you find this place?" asked Jerome nervously.

"Simple, I just followed you across town after our fight with the Skin-Ripper." Red Steel then got up from the chair and started walking towards Jerome slowly while saying, "But, what I want to know is what do you know about Nigel and these aliens?"

Jerome stood his ground, but then he hung his head down and said, "I guess I got some explaining to do."