"Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town. Hey, c'mon honey give us a little.." The man made wing flapping motions with his hands, staring at Angel. For a government agent he was incredibly immature Sage thought, glaring at the man for his rudeness. The others looked just as irritated.
"C'mon," the man continued, "let's see the foot." He taunted, grabbing his foot. Hank stood up and headed over to close the curtains. "There it is, c'mon Bigfoot let's go!" Before Hank could close the curtain Sage focused on the agent and snapped. The seat of his pants suddenly caught flame causing him to let out a startled yell. She let him feel some pain before distinguishing the flames. He turned back to the window looking furious. Sage gave him a smirk and a wink before the curtains closed in his face. Sean chuckled from beside her and held out his fist, Sage tapped hers to it. Celebratory fist bump.
"They're just guys being stupid." Raven told an annoyed looking Angel.
"Guys being stupid I can handle. I've handled that my whole life, but I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me." Angel responded, looking very matter of fact.
"At us." Raven corrected.
Suddenly, a loud boom sounded from outside. Followed by multiple other bangs.
"What was that?" Darwin asked. "I don't know, something doesn't feel right." He added. He and Alex joined us by the couch and everyone stood up, moving to the window. Darwin opened the window and Sage squinted up at the sky, spotting an odd shape.
"What is that?" Darwin questioned.
Half of the shape vanished, leaving the other to plummet towards the ground. Letting out a gasp of horror, Sage recognized what it was moments before it hit the ground. It was the agent in charge of the facility. Everyone jumped back from the window, Raven and Angel let out screams. Of fear or horror Sage did not know. Bodies began falling from the sky, the thuds of them hitting the ground rang echoed throughout the site. Sage could hear them yelling in fear. Another agent smashed into a glass overhang in the courtyard causing more screams from Raven.
A group of agents appeared in the courtyard armed with heavy duty weapons. One reached out and banged on the glass.
"Get back! Get back! Do not leave that room, we are under attack!" He commanded. A red mutant with a tail and wearing a suit appeared behind them in a puff of smoke. We yelled and pointed at him. He vanished as the agents began shooting at him. We ducked behind the furniture in an attempt to avoid being hit by stray bullets.
The mutant appeared beside a man before grabbing his arm and forcing him to shoot out the window of the common area. A loud noise caused Sage to whip around just in time to see a tornado rip apart Cerebro on the opposite lawn. The red mutant re-appeared but this time he was armed with two swords. He began slashing at the remaining agents, killing them with ease.
"Stay here my ass, let's go!" Darwin yelled before running towards the exit with all of us following behind him. At the end of a hallway we encountered more armed agents who began to yell at us to get back.
"We can help!" Darwin argued. Before flashes, waves of heat and the ground shook. Raven let out yelp and everyone flinched back from the blast. We ran back to the common area to see another tornado headed our way. Turning around, Sage watched as the teleporter continued to kill the remaining agents with finese. The tornado picked up a stray agent and threw him throught the remaining window. Another mutant with brown hair wearing a gray suit, evidently the one behind the tornado, stepped through one window while the teleport stepped through the other. They were caged in.
"You want the mutants? They're right through that door. Just let us normal people go." A man pleaded from behind the door before the thud of a body hitting the floor was heard. The door opened to reveal a middle aged man in a suit and some sort of helmet.
"Where's the telepath?" He asked.
"Not here." The teleporter answered.
"To bad. Well at least I can take this silly thing off." The man pulled the helmet off before giving us a smile that was likely meant to be charming but seemed all to predatory.
"Good evening. My name, is Sebastian Shaw. And I am not here to hurt you." Shaw walked closer to us, causing Sage to stiffen reflexively.
"Freeze!" A man commanded from the court room. Sage closed her eyes in defeat. Had he stayed quiet and hidden he likely would have survived this massacre.
"Azazel." Shaw spoke without sparing the man a glance. The teleporter vanished before appearing being the agent, killing him instantly.
"My friends, there is a revolution coming. When man discovers who we are, what we can do. Each of us will face a choice. Be inslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely but know that if you are not with us than by definition you are against us. So, you can stay and fight for the people that hate and fear you or you can join me. And live like kings and queens." Shaw held out a hand in offering and Angel took it. Joining him and his people.
"Angel." Raven said, sounding shocked
"You kiddin me?" Sean asked.
"C'mon, we don't belong here and thats nothing to be ashamed of." She and Shaw climbed over the window and stood in the courtyard.
"We have to do something." Raven piped up. Darwin looked thoughtful for a moment before turning and giving Alex a pointed look.
"Stop. I'm coming with you." Darwin declared before moving to join Shaws group. Shaw gave him a smile that almost seemed like that of a proud parent.
"Good choice, so tell me about your mutation" Shaw inquired.
"Well I adapt to survive. So I guess I'm coming with you." Darwin informed him.
"I like that." Shaw told him, looking pleased with the ego boost.
"Alex!" Darwin yelled before grabbing Angel and forming a hardened shell to cover them both.
"Get out!" Alex shouted, causing the rest of us to duck and cover.
"Do it!" Darwin yelled back. Alex began to shoot his rings of red energy at Shaw and his men. Shaw caught one and seemingly absorbed it into his skin.
"Protecting you fellow mutants, thats a noble gesture. Feels good." Shaw informed a stunned looking Alex before turning to Darwin who went to punch him. Darwin's fist collided with his arm but Shaw appeared to vibrate for a moment, the punch had no effect. He was absorbing the energy Sage realized, causing her eyes to widen in horror.
"Darwin get out of there!" Sage screamed in desperation.
Shaw grabbed him by the jaw. "Adapt to this." He told him before placing a glowing red ball in Darwin's mouth. Shaw's group vanished in a puff of smoke. Darwin began changing forms in an effort to adapt to the energy but Sage knew he wouldn't be able to. Darwin reached out a hand before disintegrating in a flash of light.
After that everyone began screaming, Raven burst into tears and Alex looked destroyed. The remaining agents ushered them into any remaining shelter they could find in the destroyed building for the night. Sage didn't sleep that night, she stared at a flickering candle until the sun rose over the sky before joining the others outside to wait for Charles and Erik.
A car pulled up and Charles ran over followed by Erik and Moira.
"Raven!" He called out before pulling his sister into a hug.
"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately." Charles informed the rest of us.
"What home?" Sage scoffed.
"We're not going home," Sean spoke up.
"What?" Charles began to question.
"and he's not going back to prison." Sean finished.
"He killed Darwin." Alex added, agreeing with Sean's plan of not going home.
"All the more reason for you to leave. This is over." Charles stated with authority.
"Darwin is dead Charles, and we can't even bury him." Raven spoke from beside her brother.
"We can avenge him." Erik said seriously. Sean and Alex turned to him, looking like they agreed with his plan.
"Erik, a word please." Charles requested before leading him away. Sage let out a sigh, she knew Erik would convince Charles.
"We'll have to train. All of us, yes?" Charles caved.
"Ya." Alex answered and everybody nodded in agreement.
"Well we can't stay here. Even if they re-opened the department its not safe. We've got nowhere to go." Hank spoke up.
"Yes we do." Charles informed us. We all packed up our belonings and piled into a truck before heading off to god knows where. After a few hours on the road the truck finally stopped. Everybody jumped out and stared at the massive mansion infront of us in shock.
"This is yours." Alex said in disbelief.
"No, its ours." Charles responded.
"Honestly Charles, I don't know how you survived living in such hardship." Erik quipped in a voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Well, it was a hardship softened by me." Raven responded, curling under Charles' arm, earning a kiss to the head.
"C'mon, time for the tour." Raven started, leading the way towards the mansion.
