AN: Research said that Cabrini Green, Chicago, was a bad neighborhood. If this is incorrect, and you happen to live there, please don't get offended. Assume that it's like Hell's Kitchen, NYC, which is still a bad neighborhood in the comics, but not in real life.

Indomitable X-Men

To Me, My X-Men!

Chapter Ten

Mine! No, Mine!

...

The Avenging Angel landed gracefully in front of a moldering apartment building in Cabrini Green, Chicago. The area had always been poor, but once, a long time ago, there had been schools and humanitarian aid. Now, it was just another inner city area, destroyed by street gangs and thugs. Still, the building with the graffito reading "die Mutante" (German for "the mutant") was one of the safest buildings in the area, simply for the reason that no one would dare to attack it, or any of the inhabitants.

Angel walked up to the young, dark-skinned, blond-haired man skateboarding on the sidewalk and high-fived him. "Wasabi?" he said, continuing their inside joke.

"Not muchi," the other guy answered. "How's it going, Angel?"

"Pretty good, Spyke," Angel said, throwing an arm around his friend's shoulders. "So, I sent a kid over here earlier. Did she actually get here?"

"If you mean Torpid, then yeah," said Spyke. "She accidentally paralyzed Refrax for a few minutes, but he's all right now. No harm, no foul, right, man?"

"Right," agreed Angel. Then he did a double-take. "Wait. Paralyzed? How'd she do that?"

"It's in her hands," Spyke explained. "Whenever she makes skin-to-skin contact with anyone, she paralyzes them. It's pretty cool, but she has to wear gloves most of the time."

Angel nodded thoughtfully, as he walked towards the building. He was jolted out of his thoughts by Spyke's voice.

"Oh, dude, I almost forgot to tell you something."

Angel turned to where Spyke was picking his skateboard up off the sidewalk. "Yeah?" he asked. "What is it?"

"Past couple of days, this weird, little, green guy's been asking for you," Spyke explained. "He says his name's…Frog? Toad? Anyway, he represents some kind of mutant freedom fighter's group. Wants you to join."

"Yeah, not happening," Angel said, shaking his head and chuckling. "I join a mutant group, and my Dad finds out that I'm a mutant. That happens, and 'die Mutante Haus' goes away."

"Well, you can explain that to him, man," said Spyke, pointing down the street. "He's heading this way now."

"Gah!" Angel slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. "This is not what I need right now," he muttered. "I just wanted to get the weekly progress report from Velocidad, hang out with Spyke for a while, and go home."

"Hey, bro!" said Toad as he drew even with Spyke and Angel. "Glad I caught you! Is this, like, a bad time?"

Angel pasted a fixed smile on his face and shook Toad's webbed hand. "It's never a bad time to help out a fellow mutant in need!" he said, a bit too enthusiastically. Behind Toad, Spyke shook his head.

"Roll it back about a thousand notches, dude," he mouthed. Angel made a face, and Toad glanced behind himself.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing!" said Angel. "Spyke over there was just being a joker, weren't you, Spyke?"

"Nope," said Spyke.

"Jerk," Angel tossed back before turning back to Toad. "So, what is it you want?"

"Uh, right…" Toad's voice became tight, as though he were trying to remember a speech he had memorized. "I represent an elite group of mutants, known as the Brotherhood of Mutants. We fight for justice and freedom for all mutantkind against the tyranny of Homo sapiens. I'm here to extend an invitation to you to join us."

"And how many members does your 'elite group of mutants' have?" Angel asked. "Can you guarantee me that the people here," he gestured to 'die Mutante Haus,' "would be safe? What kind of benefits does joining your group have?"

"Uh…"Toad looked worried and confused. "The first answer's classified, I think. I'll give a probably to the second one? And when I asked that last question, I got told that the benefits were 'the satisfaction of fighting for the future of my race.'"

"You're not even getting paid or anything?" said Angel, raising an eyebrow.

"Dude, I was living under a bridge in Liverpool before I joined the Brotherhood!" Toad said, crossing his arms. "I get three meals a day, warm clothes, and a roof over my head. That's good enough for me!"

"Whoa. Sorry, man," Angel said, holding up his hands. "Look, I didn't mean to offend you, but I can't accept your offer. All of the people who live here depend on me, and I can't be running around causing trouble. So, thanks, but no thanks." Putting his helmet back on, the Avenging Angel spread his wings and leapt into the sky, leaving Toad on the ground yelling something that was lost to the wind.

…

The Angel winged his way across the city, mulling over Toad's words in his head. Yeah, he was doing good for the mutants in the Windy City, but what if he could help all of America? If only he didn't have to worry about his father finding out about his little secret…

The sounds of thundering footsteps roused Warren from his thoughts. Glancing down and around, he saw the familiar sight of a Sentinel Tracker menacing several teens. These seemed different, though, from the usual frightened new mutants. Three of them behaved as a unit, protecting the fourth, who was younger. Still, time to help.

"Let vengeance be done!" the Angel shouted his battle-cry, throwing his sword at the robot. Unfortunately, he missed vital parts, and the blade merely stuck in some armor plating on its shoulder. While it was distracted, Angel landed near the group. "You guys okay?"

"We're fine," said one of them, a tall, young man wearing a gray duster, a cowl covering his head, and an odd visor over his eyes. "We were looking for you, actually."

"You and everybody else," the Angel muttered, thinking back to his conversation with Toad. "Anyway, we've gotta finish this before we can talk."

"Most indubitably," said another boy with ape-like proportions, wearing what looked like a letter jacket in blue and yellow. "Marvel, if you would be so kind?"

"Sure, Beast," said the red-headed girl, whom Angel assumed must be Marvel. She stepped forward and spread her hands. Surrounded in a pink glow, the Tracker lifted a few feet in the air. Marvel clapped her hands together, and the Sentinel collapsed in on itself, folding into a ball of purple scrap metal.

"Now, we can talk," the trench-coated young man said. "We're the X-Men."

"Ex-men?" asked Warren, narrowing his eyes. He gestured to Marvel. "She looks like a real girl to me."

The blond boy who hadn't spoken yet doubled over laughing as Marvel's eyes bugged out of her skull and Trench-coat rushed to do damage control. "Geez, I said X-Men!" he said hurriedly. "X! As in the mutant X-gene, not… Geez!"

Angel held up his hands. "Sorry, man," he said. "You got to admit, though, it sounds like—"

"We're done discussing this," Marvel interrupted, fixing Angel with a steely look. "Can we just introduce ourselves and be done with this?"

"Sure," said Trench-coat. He turned back to the Angel. "Okay, I'm Cyclops," he gestured to Letter-jacket, "that's Beast," blond boy, "Iceman, and you're already best friends with Marvel Girl, here."

"Don't push it," Marvel said, wagging a finger at Cyclops. "You're in enough trouble as it is."

"I'm the Avenging Angel," interrupted Warren. "What are you looking for me for? Are you with that Toad guy? I already told him, forget it." He turned and spread his wings to take off.

"Actually, we represent a school for mutants," said Beast.

Angel turned and looked at him. "A school for mutants? Isn't gathering a lot of mutants in one place a little…dangerous?"

"Is that not what you have done here?" Beast asked. "Your efforts are commendable, Angel, but it's only a matter of time until a Sentinel finds you. Our school, on the other hand, is set in the middle of its own large property, away from prying eyes and the probes of Sentinels."

"Plus, we have cookies," Iceman tossed in, "and ice cream."

"The point," said Cyclops, glancing at Iceman and probably tossing him a glare under the visor, "is that we can help the mutants you're caring for here, probably better than you can."

"Yeah, well, I don't know if that'll work," Angel scoffed, removing his helmet. "My dad doesn't know I'm a mutant. If he found out, he would toss me in a mardie cell, not happily send me off to a school."

"That's the best part," said Marvel, giving a smile. "The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters is a known, and very exclusive, private school. Warren, the headmaster is having a meeting with your father about you going there right now."

Warren was instantly on the defensive. "How did you find out who I am?"

"We've got mutant-tracking tech," Iceman explained. "Us X-Men, we go around ripping helpless mutants from the jaws of death! It's our favorite hobby."

Marvel glanced at Iceman in amusement. "This is your first mission, Bobby," she said. "Anyway," she turned back to Warren, "let's head to your place so that you're around when your dad makes his decision, okay?"

"I, um, I guess," Warren said. "I just need to stop someplace and get my spare wing restraints."

…

Toad was walking down the street when he heard the roar of engines. Looking up, he saw a familiar heavily modified SR-71 Blackbird tear through the sky on its way eastward.

"Aw, man," he groaned in disappointment. "Missed it again! Magneto's gonna kill me!"

…

This is the end, true believers. It's been a good ride. However, this is only the tale of how our Indomitable X-Men got together. Be back in two weeks to read about their first real battle in 'Indomitable X-Men: Band of Brothers'!