It's the moment you've all been waiting for: the Brotherhood vs. some guys! Oh, and excuse the grammar.
Modern Villainy, Chapter 02
Toad hopped into the passenger's seat of the Brotherhood's SHIELD-designed humvee, and after moving the driver's seat as far back as possible, Fred was able to squeeze in front of the wheel. They carried with them a few bags from a quick shopping trip. The added cupholder held several drink cups, two of which were fresh. Fred took a sip of his drink while Toad dug through his bag.
"Alright, let's divvy up today's haul. The new Incredible Hulk," Toad began, pulling out a bagged comic book.
"Give it here," Fred told him. Toad kept for himself the newest issue of The Amazing Spider-man. Fred took his copy of Avengers, and Toad took a copy of Teen Titans (not the animated ones, mind you). And so on, they divided up the comics, most of them being, for the sake of our own odd continuity, not quite identical to the familiar comics you and I read. But the Hulk, Spider-man, and the Avengers do exist in the Evolution universe, only in comic book form. It probably goes without saying that DC heroes exist only in comic books here. It's not like they can read X-Men comics, and not that they'd want to, given how terrible those have been lately.
Hmm. My ramblings seem to have blurred the line between 'in-continuity' and 'out-of-continuity' yet again. To avoid further confusion, let me go back to narrating in the usual objective style.
The last of the comics belonged to Toad. It was a special mini-series made to tie-in with a subject Bayville was familiar with.
"No way, you bought it?" Fred asked, with his Hulk issue already opened.
"I gotta see if we're in it," Toad explained. He held in his hands a copy of The Astounding X-Men, a comic book published by an independent label, with permission from the Xavier Institute. It was ostensibly a promotional gimmick designed as pro-mutant educational material (or propaganda), but the publisher hoped it would also spawn an on-going series. The cover boasted muscular versions of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Iceman, along with scantily-clad versions of Jean Grey and Rogue. Shadowcat apparently didn't make the cut. After leafing through it, Toad found an interesting page. "Whoa, there we are. This is insane. You gotta see this, man!"
Toad showed Fred the offending page. A villain team was shown crashing through a brick wall. Striking exaggerated action poses were Quicksilver (who looked fairly accurate), an overly muscular Avalanche (along with a strange, face-concealing helmet), a very inhuman-looking Blob (who apparently was a giant humanoid bag of ooze), the Scarlet Witch dressed like a red-leathered dominatrix with ridiculous proportions, and a gangly, scary depiction of Toad with a wide grin and apparently more teeth than most humans have, with his tongue hanging out... somehow, despite his teeth grinding against each other. 'Foolish X-Men,' the drawn Quicksilver taunted, 'Surely you didn't think you could escape the wrath of...' (the following is printed in big bold red lettering) '...THE BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL MUTANTS?'
"What's this all about?" Fred asked, taking the comic for better inspection. "I'm not literally a blob! Why are we 'evil?'"
"You know somethin', we should sue," Toad said. "We oughta go to Xavier and tell him we don't appreciate our good names being dragged through th' mud. I was his damn employee!"
"Yeah, but then we gotta hire lawyers," Fred realized. Both slumped their shoulders and sighed, realizing that they'd rather be victims of character assassination. "Alright, let's get out of here." As Fred turned the ignition key, there was a knock at the window. It was Ramrod, tapping with his baseball bat, along with Slab. At Toad's window, Gorgeous George and Hairbag peered in. Fred rolled down the window.
"Hey, jellyroll, you're in our parking lot!" Ramrod shouted. "You want to fuck with the Nasty Boys?" In response, Fred opened his door, shoving Ramrod to the ground. Slab looked on, apparently not expecting such an action. Fred then closed the door and began to pull out.
"What's wrong with you, do something!" Hairbag yelled.
"Like what?" Slab asked, still stunned that Fred somehow fought back.
"George, stop them!" Ramrod commanded, getting back on his feet.
"-The FUCK you think you're going?!" George yelled. He shot out his gooey arms to grab the front grille of the humvee, which he soon learned was not such a wise idea. Fred just drove the humvee out, dragging the stretched George, who rolled under the tires and was forced to let go, leaving a gooey messed smeared on the pavement. Hairbag slapped his forehead as George started pulling himself back together.
"What the hell was that?!" Hairbag yelled. "We just let them get away!"
"Not our fault George's only power is that he fails at everything he tries!" Ramrod yelled.
"Fuck you," George said, pointing a wobbly finger at Ramrod. "Fuck you," he said in turn to Hairbag, and finally to Slab, an additional "and fuck you."
"Dude, what did I do?" Slab asked, scratching his head.
"This is all a waste of time," Hairbag said. "If they don't give a shit, why should we?"
"Street cred!" Ramrod yelled. "We fuck up the second biggest mutant team in Mutant Town and we'll be legends!"
"Okay, fearless leader, what's your next plan?" Hairbag asked sarcastically.
"We take the fight to them," Ramrod announced. "We come to their house and we rock their shit."
"We already tried that!" Hairbag reminded him. "What are we gonna do, leaving a fucking note on the door this time? You play too much!"
"Fuck you, I've got a plan," Ramrod defended. He quietly added, "I think."
--
"Yeah, classes are all okay here, I guess," Ellie Harsaw spoke over the phone, sitting on her bed in the girls' dormitory and trying to mask her gloomy mood, followed the training session. She shared her bedroom with four other girls, though only her roommate Rita, a white-haired girl with six arms, was presently there, reading a style magazine on her own bed. Ellie kept a small collage of pictures on the wall over her small nightstand, among them a photograph of the Brotherhood. She was often teased for her admiration of the team, who among the Xavier students were seen as the losers of the mutant hero world, and this was mostly due to the X-Men's biased, sometimes exaggerated stories about their old rivals. "Just the usual high school stuff."
"High school, who needs it," Fred declared on the other end. "I didn't even finish it."
"Tell me about it," Ellie said. "It's like, even when we're all mutants, there's still cliques and popularity contests and all of that. Everyone's so petty. What's the point of having a separate school for mutants if it's just the same?"
"I've never understood the X-Men or anything they're trying to do," Fred admitted. "But I mean, I guess it's better than Bayville High. That place is such a dump now."
"I guess... but it's a little weird," Ellie continued, changing the subject. "They say Nightcrawler's in Germany with his parents, and Rogue's on vacation in Mississippi, but it doesn't make sense that they'd leave while school was still in session. There's a lot of rumors going around about what happened to them."
"Well, we wouldn't know about that," Fred explained on the other end. "But it's nothing to worry about. Those X-Men are weird like that."
"If you say so," Ellie replied, not entirely convinced. "Everyone here idolizes them. I think that's why those rumors are scaring everyone. Nobody here would believe that anything could happen to the X-Men."
"There's a lotta ups and downs to that," Fred told her. "Once in a while one of 'em will go fight some bad guy on their own, and then the rest of the team comes in and saves the day. If there was a real problem, they'd have it solved in thirty minutes. They got a knack for that."
"Everyone here wants to be on the team one day. I mean, they're great and all, but I'd rather join another team. Or start my own."
"So, you want to go into the whole hero business, too?"
"I think so," Ellie replied. "I'm not really sure yet. I still have to work on my powers. But it seems like fun."
"It is, sometimes," Fred said to her, "But it's hard work, too. The X-Men are dorks, but if anyone can give you the training, it's them. But... I dunno, Ellie. It can get pretty rough."
"I know, but I still want to give a try someday," she told him. "I mean, weren't you like my age when you started, Fred?"
"I was a little older, I think. But it's easy for me, people can't do nothing to me."
"Are you saying I can't defend myself?" Ellie asked.
"It's not that, Ellie, it's just..." Fred sighed. "Look, I don't want to see you put on a costume and go fight some thugs, and then get yourself hurt. It's a tough thing to do. Me and the guys make it look easy, yeah, but it's tough. Besides, you got a choice. We really didn't. Breaking stuff is pretty much all I know how to do. You got a chance to finish school."
"Just a minute ago you said 'oh who needs school," Ellie reminded him.
"Well... I mean, school's boring... but it's important, too," Fred recovered.
"I've heard the 'stay in school' speech before," Ellie said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, well you better start listening to it. I mean it. Don't just think about your powers. Find something else to do with your life."
"Oh, alright," Ellie whined. "Listen, I really need to get started on this biology report. I'll call you later, okay? Bye!"
"Yeah, later kid." Seated next to Fred on the couch in the rec room, Toad was busy playing a fighting game on the big screen, with a sucker in his mouth. Fred had also been playing throughout his phone conversation, with the phone on his shoulder. Fred pulled the phone down and set it aside- just long enough for Toad to defeat him. "Hey!"
"You flinched. I win again!"
"Rematch. Rematch!" They reset the match and began again, selecting their fighters. Halfway into the match, Fred asked, "Toad, you ever wonder if we've wasted our lives?"
"Not once," Toad replied, his eyes practically glued to the screen.
--
"We already told you everything we know," Lance said into the phone, wandering around the living area. Pietro was watching a basketball game with some bottled water. The fancy kind. It was the same as the regular kind, only with a flashier label that claimed it had more electrolytes. He turned up the volume to drown out Lance's argument. "Yes, everything! Just once, I'd like to know you trust me at least a little bit! Oh yeah? Fine!" Lance turned off the phone and slammed it onto the charger.
"Trouble with Kitty again?"
"Same old shit," Lance complained. "Somehow Xavier found out about Omega Red. He must've read our minds at some point."
"Well, duh," Pietro droned.
"Now Kitty's accusing us of covering for whoever took Kurt and Rogue. Like we're involved with this asshole." Fred threw the rec room door open and Toad jumped out, a self-satisfied look of victory on his face. "Hey, Toad, does that machine of yours track Gambit yet?"
"Nope," Toad responded. "Right now, all I got is like ten names and a thousand nameless blips. Until we can make sure which one of those is Gambit, there's no way we can track him."
"Your machine's fucking useless," Lance groaned.
"I already told him," Pietro added.
"And I already told YOU motherfucker!" Gorgeous George announced, oozing under the doorway and reshaping himself into his humanoid form. "Don't FUCK with the Nasty Boys!"
"How'd he get in?!" Lance asked. "The front doors are airtight!"
"Must've snuck in while the garage was open," Pietro deduced. "I don't feel like getting up, someone throw him out."
"I got in your secret base!" George argued. "These guys aren't taking me seriously!" Fred grabbed George by the head and began to roll him up into a ball of putty. "Oh hey! Blob's trying to steal my show!" Fred carried the squirming glob down the stairs and to the front door, then threw him outside before he could fight back. A good thick rope of putty was still stuck to his hand, so he wiped it against the sidewalk and closed the door.
"So, are they still trying to get us to fight them?" Pietro asked once Fred returned.
"I'm tempted to just go ahead and kick their asses so they'll fuck off," Lance said.
"You know what? Let's do that," Pietro said. "Let's just get it over with. They're going to keep coming until we finally give in. Alright, Lance is driving."
--
Avalanche, Quicksilver, Toad and Blob had piled into Lance's jeep, following the team's decision to find the Nasty Boys and kick their asses so they would stop bothering them. When asked if she wanted to come, Wanda only rolled her eyes and closed her door. They hadn't asked Pyro to come, but he was still sleeping off his hangover anyway. They were driving through one of the backstreets just south of Bayville's proper downtown area, a neighborhood that showed its age and wear. The sun was beginning to set, and already there were few people to be found on the streets.
"I got a question," Toad asked from the back seat. "Where exactly are we goin'?"
"I... uh..." Avalanche paused. "Pietro, where ARE we going?"
"Why are you asking me?" Quicksilver answered. "You're the one driving."
"It was your idea to go look for those punks. I assumed you had some idea where they were."
"Maybe they're still outside the building, waiting for us," Quicksilver replied. "I don't know. Maybe they saw us leave and decided to tail us. If that's the case, let's find a decent spot to have our little brawl. Any suggestions?"
"Car garage?" Blob suggested.
"Construction site!" Toad shouted.
"Abandoned warehouse," Avalanche stated.
"No, come on, something good. How about the docks?"
"Every time we go to the docks, one of you always knocks me into the water," Toad complained. "By 'accident!' Every damn time!"
"Ease up, boys, I think we're going to fight right here," Quicksilver said. Glancing up, Avalanche saw a 2004 tan Ford Explorer (with a trumpet sticker on the rear window and the name 'Kristina') suddenly skidding to a stop in the middle of the street, with Ramrod at the wheel and Hairbag riding shotgun. Avalanche quickly hit the brakes, just as the Nasty Boys climbed out of their badass ride.
"What the fuck is this shit?" Gorgeous George shouted. "You think you can play with us? Fuck that, we're the fucking Nasty Boys! We own this town!"
Circling in the sky above, the nearly ubiquitous News 22 helicopter caught a glimpse of the standoff. Immediately, their camera was pointed down, while the pilot called the station for additional coverage.
"That's right, bitches," Ramrod declared, pointing his baseball bat at the Brotherhood. "Get out of our town or we'll throw you out."
"Look," Quicksilver said, stepping out of the jeep, along with the others. "We don't want to have to humiliate you in 'your town,' so we're giving you a chance to back off. We're so out of your league that there's only one possible outcome to this little duel: you going home and crying to mommy. So what's it going to be? You want to make the smart choice and walk away? Or you want to mess with the big boys?" As if to demonstrate, Blob stepped out of the buckling jeep, showing the opposing team just how big he was in comparison. As Avalanche stepped out, he made sure to set off a small tremor as his foot hit the pavement. Toad bounded out of his seat several feet into the air, onto the hood of the jeep, and then onto the ground below in a matter of seconds, hitting his marks with enough harshness to rock the jeep (and eliciting a sneer from Lance). Quicksilver had already stepped out, so instead he ran right up to Ramrod's face, startling him. "What's it gonna be?"
"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" Slab yelled, lunging at Quicksilver. Darting out of the way, Quicksilver returned to his team, sighing and giving them the signal to go ahead and fight. Blob was the first one out, eager to show off against the much shorter (but still muscular) Slab.
"So what's your name? Short Stack?" Blob laughed.
"You can't beat me, I'm Slab!" Slab yelled. "It says so on my bling, a'ight?" Slab pointed to his chain, which read 'STAB.'
"That says stab, idiot."
"It was the closest thing I could find." Slab threw his fist into Blob's stomach, but it felt like he had punched a giant cushion. Blob laughed and threw his belly forward, knocking Slab onto his back. "That's no fair! You're bigger than me!"
"Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?" Slab responded by tensing his muscles and growing two whole feet, making him the same height as Blob. Now, he swung his much larger fist right into Blob's face... but again, this did nothing. Blob took hold of Slab's arm and picked him up, then threw him into a nearby mailbox, denting it with Slab's face.
--
At the Xavier Institute's dormitory common room, several students had gathered to watch the live news coverage of the fight. Among them were Ellie and the conceited Monet. Scott was also present, holding a coffee cup, turned away from his conversation with Jean.
"As far as we can tell, this is a turf dispute," said the sky reporter, while the television showed images of the fight from the chopper's point of view. As soon as Blob threw Slab into the mailbox, Ellie cheered, gathering odd looks from everyone- particularly Scott and Jean.
"Mr. Summers, what do you think this is about?" one of the younger students asked.
"My guess is that the Nasty Boys decided to pick a fight with the Brotherhood," Scott explained, correctly assessing the situation. "If experience says anything, this could really go either way."
"The Brotherhood's more skilled," Ellie elaborated. "They've been around a lot longer than those punks."
"If the X-Men were there, neither of these little gangs would stand a chance," Monet surmised. Flattered, Scott and Jean exchanged looks, but quickly decided that they needed to set an example.
"If the X-Men were there, we'd find a diplomatic solution," Jean said, "Instead of resorting to our fists." On the screen, Slab charged at Blob again, who caught the younger mutant and hurled him into the street, skidding on the pavement. Jean looked down at the excited Ellie and wondered how strange it was to see someone- anyone- inside the Xavier mansion cheering for the Brotherhood.
"But if we did have to fight, then yeah, we'd cream them both," Scott said. Jean sighed in dismay.
--
"So what's your deal, you're the hairy weird guy?" Quicksilver asked, facing a crouched Hairbag. "You know what? I feel sorry for you. I don't even feel like kicking your ass."
"That works out just fine for me," Hairbag said, jumping at Quicksilver and striking with his claws... but Quicksilver had moved several feet. Hairbag jumped at him, but Quicksilver only moved, faking a yawn. "Stand still queer eye!"
"Queer eye?! Could your references be any more dated?" Pietro had paused long enough for Hairbag to pounce on him, pinning him to the ground. Hairbag snarled and showed his fangs, which only grew larger while he let out a guttural, inhuman growl. Quicksilver flinched when he caught a whiff of his breath, and kicked him off. Quicksilver flipped back and landed on his feet, while Hairbag rolled on the ground unceremoniously, rising up on all fours with a posture resembling a shamed dog. It didn't last long, however, and Hairbag once again lunged at Quicksilver... and once again, the more experienced mutant dashed out of the way.
"Game time's over, bitch!" Gorgeous George shouted, extending his arms and waving them about menacingly (or rather, like a stereotypical ghost) over the hunched, crouched Toad. George brought one of his arms crashing to the ground with a loud slap, which Toad jumped over, and then the other. After the fourth ground-slap, Toad jumped onto George's arm, then hopped onto his shoulders. George brought his arms over him, flailing them. Grinning, Toad showed George a finger, and then pushed it into his putty-like forehead, leaving a wide indention. "What the fuck is this shit? Motherfucker's trying to finger my forehead! I don't play that, bitch! Get your kicks at the saloon, Gorgeous George is nobody's hooker!"
"Yo, you ever had a wet willy?" Toad asked.
"What the fuck, he better not be doing what I think he's doing," George remarked, trying to pry Toad off his shoulders, but Toad's legs were wrapped around his neck, forcing George to stretch it out. George pulled again, but now Toad wrapped his arms around George's chin, compressing his gooey head like wet clay. "Get the fuck off me, I ain't playing around, you gonna pay for my chiropractor motherfucker? Fifty dollars an hour, rippin' me off. Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"Let me ask you again, you ever had a wet willy?"
"No, and you ain't gonna give me one, 'cuz you got both hands tied up and-" George was horrified to discover Toad's slime-covered tongue tickling his ear, forcing its way in. "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCK?!" As soon as he loosened his grip, Toad jumped away, leaving George to paw frantically at his ear in disgust. "Oh, motherfucker violated me! That's the second fucking time! Don't nobody fuck with the frog-man, he's for real!"
Ramrod swung his bat in the air a few times in an attempt to intimidate Avalanche. Unimpressed, Avalanche threw out his hand and created a wave of cement, though Ramrod managed to hold his footing.
"I've heard of you Avalanche," Ramrod said. "You and your boys used to own Bayville High. Now me and my gang do that. You use to vandalize your neighborhood. Now I do that. And you use to be this town's hellraiser. But now you've moved on, and guess what? I'm taking your place now. I'm the new badass in Bayville, and no one's getting in my way. Not the X-Men, not your pussified Brotherhood, nobody!"
"That's great kid, but you're all talk. If you're such tough shit, show me." Ramrod held up his bat and tightened his grip on it, and it began to grow longer, twisting and gnarling as if its wood were alive. With the much larger bat, Ramrod swung furiously, but Avalanche only backed away, avoiding the attack, before stepping in and grabbing it in mid-swing. Avalanche pulled the bat away and tossed it behind him. "Is that it?"
"I ain't done yet," Ramrod growled. He ran to a telephone pole and put both hands against it. Within seconds, wooden vines began to grow out of it, reaching outward for anything in their way. A few near the top cut through the wires. The vines froze, becoming gnarled wooden spikes, and Ramrod moved behind the pole, pushing against it. The telephone pole bent forward without even cracking, and fell down onto the street under its own weight. Avalanche ran out of the way as it hit the street, heavy and sharp enough to chip the asphalt. Ramrod jumped onto it and crouched, again putting his hands on it and increasing the length of the wooden spikes. Unfortunately, he did so at a slower rate than he hoped, giving Avalanche plenty of time to jump onto the pole, run along its length, and kick Ramrod off. The shaken Ramrod tried to reach for his fallen bat, which was slowly reverting to its normal shape, but Avalanche kicked that away as well.
Standing over the unarmed and frightened Ramrod, Avalanche looked at him with contempt. "You want to be me? You have no clue who I am. You're a joke. Your team's a joke. You guys want to be the next Brotherhood? You better get your shit together. Now quit bothering us and get out of here before we really fuck you up."
"This isn't over!" Ramrod yelled, picking up his bat and running back to the Explorer, along with Slab and Hairbag. George didn't seem to understand that they'd been beaten, but climbed in when he saw that everyone else was. The street hadn't suffered too much damage; the bent telephone pole was the worst of it, and the spikes were begin to recede. Even the bent angle was beginning to crack, as without Ramrod the wood couldn't retain such a shape.
"Did he get the message?" Quicksilver asked.
"Doubt it," Avalanche replied. "The wood kid's got attitude, but that's one sorry ass team. Even we weren't that bad."
"Did you mention that we were pretty big losers back then?" Blob asked.
"No, I wanted to look tough."
"It'll probably be a while before they pester us again," Quicksilver remarked. "Maybe they'll go bug the X-Men for a while. One thing, though... Toad, did you have to do that?"
"His ear tasted like sesame chicken," Toad said. "Weirdest thing in the world."
"Now I want some," Blob said, rubbing his stomach. "Let's go get some Chinese." Piling back into the jeep, the government-trained team set off to celebrate their victory over a group of unskilled high schoolers.
--
Once the commotion was over, channel 22 went back to its normal, network-sponsored programming, with promises of a complete story at eleven. Scott and Jean returned to their conversation, which came close to veering into the subject of their missing teammates, but had to be kept in check while they were in the presence of their students. The others were either watching the dull sitcom on television, having their own conversations, or playing board games.
Ellie sat in a bean bag chair at the corner of the room, ostensibly sitting with a group that included her six-armed roommate Rita, a blue-skinned boy carrying two oversized maggots, and a lanky, awkward looking boy with an enlarged, rock-covered torso and two protruding tusks on his shoulders. While the other three were discussing something else, Ellie kept her focus on her class notebook. Along with several academic notes, the book also contained doodles and sketches Ellie often created in class out of boredom.
Now, she was sketching a teenage girl wearing a cape and a mask. She had sketched several variations, refining the design each time. The latest incarnation included a mask that covered most of the head, but left the mouth and nose free, with no obvious holes for the eyes. She liked this design. She circled it and wrote a note next to it.
"Ellie? Ellie!"
"Hmm? What?" Ellie said, looking up in surprise.
"Do you remember how long ago Nightcrawler disappeared?" Rita asked.
"Oh... two weeks?" Ellie said. It was a stab in the dark. Rita and the others shrugged and nodded, finding that it was accurate enough, and continued their discussion.
Ellie began drawing a logo on the costume's chest. She wondered if maybe there was a less attention-drawing place to put it. She erased it, and decided to get rid of the utility belt...
--
Returning to the Nasty Boys hideout, Ramrod arrived alone. The others had all gone home, but Ramrod had some thinking to do. There was an old Bayville High yearbook at the counter, five years old and covered in scratch marks and notes made by the Nasty Boys. Ramrod flipped through it, looking through the photographs that had been circled.
He knew the names of the mutants circled. All of them were mutants, and all of them had gone on to bigger things after high school. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Iceman had become the famous X-Men. Magma, Cannonball, Berzerker, Sunspot and Jubilee were part of the less famous but still noteworthy west coast team. Former X-Man Spyke had become a minor legend among the city's mutant underground, both figurative and literal. Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver and Toad were part of Bayville's newest mutant team, in addition to their older reputation as criminals. Boom Boom was now a radio personality. Even Edward Kelly, principal of Bayville for a single semester, was now the nationally-known mayor.
Ramrod was determined to stand with them. When people recalled the famous names that had been at Bayville, Ramrod would be one of them. His battle with Avalanche had showed him that he wasn't as strong as he thought. Now he had to sharpen his skills. He had to make sure his team sharpened theirs. They would go after the Brotherhood again and again until they beat them, and then move on to the X-Men. From there, the sky was the limit. Who was next? The Juggernaut? Magneto? Ramrod would beat them all.
He closed the book and threw it aside. He had no time to wonder about his future. He had to train.
Ramrod means business. The Nasty Boys will be back in just a few installments. Also, watch out for: Phantazia Begins, the continuity-resetting Phantazia story that doesn't exist.
And here are this week's profiles: Ellie Harsaw, Ramrod, and Cyclops. Wait, no Brotherhood members? Come back next week.
Ellie Harsaw
Age: 15
Sex: Female
Hair Color: Grayish-purple
Eye Color: Purple
Place of Birth: Dallas, Texas
Occupation/Status: Student at Xavier Institute
Affiliation: The Xavier Institute, but admires the Brotherhood
Mutant Stance: Believes in equality between mutants and humans
Known Mutant Abilities:
-Electric Disruption: The full extent of her electricity-based powers are not yet known. However, she has been known to disrupt brainwave patterns, causing ill effects and blurred vision for several days. In addition, appliances that use large amounts of electricity tend to cause electricity to jump at her when she approaches them. She has also been known to disrupt mutant powers for limited periods of time.
-Electric Discharge: Recently, Ellie has started to develop the ability to discharge electrical bolts. Predictably, she has no real control over it yet.
Non-mutant Abilities: None that we've seen.
Personality Profile: Ellie is a young girl who's going through some changes. Yes, I know, those are a dime a dozen now. Anyway, Ellie is still dealing with insecurity issues as a result of her mutation (and the fact that she still doesn't completely understand what her powers are), which are only magnified by the fact that she's a bit of an outcast among outcast. Ellie wants to be unique and stand out, but at the same time does not want to be singled out or alienated. As a result, Ellie identifies more closely with the Brotherhood, and though she's aware of their shortcomings, she still prefers them to the X-Men- if only because everybody around her seems to worship the home team. Hopefully, it's not just a phase.
Oddly enough, Ellie is one of the few people who think Fred Dukes is pretty cool. This may be because he's actually a half-decent guy when he's not being loud and angry. It might be because Ellie was somewhat impressed by his slightly exaggerated stories of greatness. Mostly likely, however, it's because Fred was the first person to befriend her after she ran away from home. In that sense, she sees him as something of a big brother- well, not exactly, but close enough.
Author Notes: Ellie really only made it in here because I needed to give Fred some kind of sub-plot back during the first Brotherhood Five story, and I couldn't think of much else. So, Ellie's here. At this point, she's a good excuse to showcase the Xavier Institute from a student's perspective, and she she gives Fred some added depth. Granted it's not much, mostly because Ellie's not an especially developed character yet, but I'm getting there.
Ramrod (Patrick Mahoney)
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Place of Birth: Bayville, New York
Occupation/Status: Student at Bayville High
Affiliation: The Nasty Boys
Mutant Stance: Views mutants as inherently superior, but has no official stance
Known Mutant Abilities:
-Wood Manipulation: The ability to alter the shape and density of any wooden material, so long as he is in physical contact with it. When in contact, Ramrod stimulates growth of organic plant material, momentarily reviving dead cells. However, even though the wood grows at an accelerate rate, it's still relatively slow, especially with larger works. Whenever the wooden object breaks contact with Ramrod, it will slowly begin to shift back into its original shape.
Non-mutant Abilities: None, apparently.
Personality Profile: Ramrod regards the world with a degree of bitterness that seems out of place with his background- for all his talk, he actually comes from a well-adjusted, loving home and has experienced little serious trauma in his life. Unlike his friends, who put on an act because they think it makes them cool, Ramrod is motivated by an inferiority complex and a need to be acknowledged and respected. Why he feels this way is unclear, but what is clear is that Bayville High's large number of famous attendees just makes Ramrod push himself even harder. However, Ramrod doesn't have the skill, patience, or discipline to truly improve himself. Time will tell if he can ever make a name for himself, or if he's stuck where he is.
Author Notes: One minute I'm writing Gorgeous George in for a quick and stupid cameo, then I'm adding his whole team, and then suddenly I'm setting Ramrod up for actual development. I can't for the life of me remember how the hell that came about. Anyway, as you can probably tell, Ramrod's something of a proto-Lance, only with more ambition. Well, as for the rest of the Nasty Boys (who aren't getting their own profiles), I wanted a team that mirrored the original Brotherhood and how the now-mature (sort of) guys would deal with a gang of incompetent nobodies. So... yeah. Ramrod gets a space here because he's pretty much the only one I'm going to bother developing. For now, anyway.
Also, as I mentioned, they have no connection to Dr. Nathan. Some of you probably didn't even consider the possibility because the Nasty Boys are pretty obscure. Actually, I was halfway through writing one of the later chapters featuring the Nasty Boys (yes, they'll be back) and I suddenly went "oh yeah! They worked for him in the comics!" Immediately afterward, I shuddered, slapped myself, and resolved that I would not let this happen here.
Cyclops (Scott Summers)
Age: 24
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Red
Place of Birth: Anchorage, Alaska
Occupation/Status: Leader of the X-Men/Instructor at Xavier Institute
Affiliation: The X-Men
Mutant Stance: Believes in equality between humans and mutants
Known Mutant Abilities:
-Optic Blasts: The ability to generate concussive beams from his eyes; however, though he is able to control the strength of the beams to a degree, even at the lowest strength his blasts remain powerful, and he cannot maintain steady control of his output for long. His greatest weakness in this regard is that he is unable to completely stop the optic blasts, and requires eyewear made of or coated with ruby-quartz to safely contain them.
Non-mutant Abilities: Efficient tactician
Personality Profile: A natural leader, Cyclops excels as a commander and tactician. Unfortunately, he's also just a bit humorless. Scott's natural instincts are to take charge and plan ahead. As the most responsible among the X-Men, Cyclops takes failure a little personally. He views his team as both a commando unit and a surrogate family, and quickly blames himself if anything happens to them during a mission. Anyway, maybe it's not fair to call Scott humorless, but he's less likely to smile at a joke than the others, and doesn't put up with goof-offs. The fact that he can't take off his ruby-quartz lenses without destroying something has made him slightly aloof, distant, and brooding; but it's also taught him the greatest lesson in personal responsibility, especially as a mutant. More than anyone else, Cyclops understands that although humans and mutants should be equals, it's also up to mutants to keep themselves in check. He takes his job rather seriously, so he's sometimes accused of having a stick up his ass. However, out of all of Xavier's students, Scott is the most morally sound, and the most devoted to the dream.
Author Notes: Since the Brotherhood are the protagonists in this series, the point-of-view will be skewed a bit. Cyclops is an all-around good guy, but he's a dick to the Brotherhood. Naturally, he's going to come across as a dick in these stories, especially since he has the burden of being the mouthpiece for the X-Men.
However, I didn't want to portray Cyclops as actually BEING a dick- he just comes across that way to the Brotherhood. Sometimes authors will ignore Scott's more positive qualities when writing from a Brotherhood perspective. It's important to remember that Scott is a good person with strong morals and a firm believer in Xavier's dream. He'd gladly risk his life for his teammates, or to save innocent lives. He's there for his friends when they need him, and their safety and well-being is a top priority to him. It's also important to remember that Scott's (not unwarranted) mistrust of the Brotherhood is partially out of concern for the public. I write Scott as someone who would love to believe he could trust the Brotherhood, but is realistic and knows that their potential for good is outweighed by their selfishness, recklessness and general amorality. Even when the Brotherhood and X-Men are allied, Scott remains uneasy about them.
NEXT EPISODE:
A former Morlock's extreme views have driven him to extreme actions. Lance and the Brotherhood have been ordered to capture him, but Spyke feels its his responsibility to stop him from committing murder- after all, the Morlocks take care of their own. But are his twisted methods too much for them to handle?
Next: ABYSS
Thanks for the reviews guys, I appreciate them! New installments every Friday. The next one will be three chapters, so we're back on track.