Chapter 24: Angels and Demons
Christmas time had arrived, and the institute was in a very festive mood. Many of the students were exchanging gifts early, since most of them would be leaving to spend the holidays with their families. Ax had gotten into the holiday spirit, getting odd presents for everyone. They mostly consisted of various soap opera tapes and random items from infomercials, and people wondered who gave him the money to pay for them. While Ax's hearts were in the right place, it still showed how little he understood about human culture.
For the holiday only Xavier, McCoy, Tobias, Rogue, Ax, and the Mazas remained at the institute. For once Ax stayed indoors, since he didn't like the snow outside. How humans tolerated those conditions was beyond him. His scoop had been buried in the snow, so he had to enjoy his television inside the institute. On the news was a report of an angel sighting in New York City, which caught Xavier's attention.
Cerebro had been offline for security upgrades, and Xavier reasoned that the angel would have been detected if Cerebro was online. Rogue volunteered to go look for the angel, since she was bored in the institute. In Scott's convertible Rogue, Tobias, Cassie, and Ax in human morph drove to New York, which was about an hour away. When they arrived in the city they talked to everyone that had been saved by the angel recently, but didn't get any leads on where he might be.
After running from a crazy man with an 'Angels Are Among Us' sign, they stopped at a café for supper. Ax kept his taste under control, only complementing the food instead of freaking out over it. He still got strange looks from people, but they dismissed him as a tourist. From other tables they heard people talking about the angel, and some wondered if he was for real.
"That hit the spot" Tobias said.
"Now if only we could find the angel" Cassie said.
"At least we got out of the institute for a while" Rogue said.
"True" Ax said. "These people seem to truly believe this angel is really divine."
"I suppose you don't believe in them" Rogue asked.
"Well there's only three species of birds where I'm from" Ax said. "So the idea of winged beings never developed at my home."
"Do you believe in anything?" Tobias asked. "Any god or deity you worship?"
"I wouldn't use those terms, but we have something similar" Ax said. "We have The Ellimist, and the ancient legends suggest that he became a member of our race to learn humility. Modern scientists claim that he exists in dimensions we can't comprehend, and used our form to experience mortal life. The Ellimist is supposed to possess unfathomable power, but only interferes in lesser races when they are in danger of extinction."
"Is religion common out there?" Cassie asked.
Ax nodded. "The Leerans worship a god called Cha-Ma-Mib. The Hork-Bajir used to worship Father Deep and Mother Sky, before their race fell. The Kree refuse to accept the existence of any deity, claiming to have mathematically proven they don't exist. But since they haven't shared that proof no one accepts their claim. It's a common practice to respect the beliefs of other species, and some races like the Anati approve the idea that each world has its own god. The Skrit Na believe all the different gods and deities play Pai Sho together every other century."
"That sounds strange, yet kind of funny" Rogue said.
"Yea" Tobias said. "I wonder if they also play poker?"
"That would be fun to see" Cassie said. "I better pay the tab."
As Cassie paid the waitress two new people walked into the café. One was a boy with brown hair carrying a camera and the other was a red headed girl. They happened to be talking about the latest angel sighting at the Brooklyn Bridge.
"People actually saw him this time" the boy said.
"Then go get a picture of him Peter" the girl said.
"And let the Bugle ruin his reputation?" the boy said. "I'm not making that mistake again MJ."
"Excuse me" Cassie said. "Where was the angel seen?"
"He saved a family at the Brooklyn Bridge" the girl said. "We were going to try and find them after a cup of coffee here."
"Where would they be?" Cassie asked.
"Should be at the hospital" the boy said. "I suppose you're looking for the angel too?"
"Isn't everyone?" Cassie said.
"Point taken" the boy said.
With a new lead Cassie informed the others and they left for the hospital. The doctors informed them that the parents of the injured girl had left to pray at a church. While wondering which church to go to Rogue saw a blond man in a doctor's coat walk by. As the man walked down a hallway a feather fell out of the coat.
"It's him" Rogue said.
The man ran from Rogue, not wanting to be caught. Rogue and the others chased after the man, but he was just as fast as they were. The man ditched his coat, revealing his feathery wings. Then he opened a large window and jumped out, taking to the air. Cassie jumped out after him, turning off her holowatch and flying on her leathery wings. She followed the angel, relaying her position to the others with a communicator.
Tobias, Rogue, and Ax moved quickly, running out of the hospital towards the convertible. At the hospital's front doors Tobias bumped into the couple from the café. After a quick apology they got into the car and drove off.
"Hey MJ, you go on ahead" Peter said. "I'll catch up."
"You better come back this time" MJ said.
In the air Angel flew for the church. He didn't realize he was being followed, not expecting anyone else to be able to fly like he could. When he landed on the church's roof he was surprised to hear someone else land before he could get inside. He turned and saw Cassie standing there, surprised that he wasn't the only person with wings.
And people call me an angel he thought. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Cassie" she said. "And I just want to talk. What's your name?"
"Warren" he answered. "Are there others like us? With wings?"
"Well not with wings" Cassie said. "But there are plenty of people with gifts."
"What do you mean?" Warren asked.
"She is referring to mutants" a new voice said.
Cassie and Warren turned towards the voice, and saw Magneto hovering over the roof. He had been following Angel throughout the day, waiting for the right moment to approach him. But with the girl here the X-Men would not be far behind.
"What are you doing here?" Cassie asked.
"The same reason you are" Magneto said. "To help Warren, and you as well Cassie. My offer to you from before still stands."
"I'll pass" Cassie said.
"Very well, what about you Warren" Magneto said. "There are others like us that I want you to meet."
"Some sort of club for weirdoes and freaks?" Warren said. "I don't think so."
Warren was about to fly away when Magneto pulled up the metal from the roof. A sheet of metal folded around Warren, preventing the use of his wings. Cassie moved to free him, but Magneto repeated his move on her as well. When she started clawing through the metal Magneto summoned more to keep her restrained.
"What is this?" Warren demanded.
"This could have been easy" Magneto said. "Regrettably, you've chosen to make it hard."
With his prize secured Magneto lifted himself and both mutants into the air. But as he turned to leave a small ball of webbing hit his face. He quickly removed it and saw a man in a red and blue costume standing at the edge of the church's roof.
"I'm pretty sure kidnapping angels is a hell sentence" the newcomer said.
"Stay out of this meta-human" Magneto said.
"Hey, that's Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman to you" he said.
Magneto pulled more metal from the roof and threw it at Spiderman. He sensed it coming and jumped out of the way. Spiderman fired twin weblines at Magneto, who pulled up the metal roof to block it. Then Spiderman used the two weblines as a slingshot to propel himself at Magneto. The metal moved to intercept Spiderman, but he grabbed onto the moving metal, spun to the other side, and threw himself forward. With a lucky kick Spiderman hit Magneto's chest, knocking him off the roof and down to the church's parking lot.
Spiderman's momentum had taken him off the roof as well. He quickly fired a webline and swung back up to the roof. He found Warren and Cassie stuck inside the metal that now rested on the roof. He used his enhanced strength to pull apart the metal around Cassie, and together they freed Warren.
"Thank you" Warren said.
"Save the thanks for later, it's never over this quickly" Spiderman said.
Then everyone heard cars being thrown in the parking lot. They moved to the edge of the roof and saw Tobias, Rogue, and Ax evading Magneto's attacks on the ground. Cassie and Warren flew off the roof and tackled Magneto in the air, bringing him to the ground. Magneto forced them off him, but not fast enough to prevent Rogue from running in and grabbing Magneto's face with her bare hand. Rogue only got a small amount of power before being forced away by Magneto.
Weakened and outnumbered, Magneto decided to cut his losses. He flew away and over the city, but Rogue flew after him using Magneto's power. Warren and Cassie followed behind her. Tobias and Ax quickly morphed birds and took off. Spiderman followed on his weblines, with no idea what he was getting himself into.
Magneto knew he was being followed, and pulled radiators off roofs to block Rogue's path. She used magnetism to push them out of her way, but the effort slowed her down. Warren and Cassie flew ahead of Rogue, closing in on Magneto. He flew past the Chrysler Building and ripped off one of its eagles, throwing it at his pursuers. It struck Cassie and she fell, forcing Warren to fly down and catch her.
Rogue caught up with Magneto, who pushed her away, overpowering her magnetism with his own. She tumbled backward in the air until she hit a building with a large SE logo on it. Magneto pulled the logo off the building and threw it down, taking Rogue with it. As she fell Spiderman swung in and caught her, then webslinged to a roof where Warren took Cassie to recover.
Tobias and Ax landed behind a radiator on the roof and demorphed, with Ax quickly morphing human again. They were only able to follow and watch, since birds could have been easily killed by Magneto. With everyone safe and accounted for they walked towards Warren and Spiderman.
"Thanks for the help" Tobias said.
"No problem" Spiderman said. "So who was that guy?"
"Magneto believes mutants should replace regular mutants" Tobias explained. "Speaking of mutants, how in the world did we not notice you before? We should have noticed your X-Gene activating."
"X-Gene?" Spiderman wondered. "My powers come from a genetically altered spider bite."
"You're joking" Ax said.
"For once, nope" Spiderman said.
What have the Yeerks gotten us into? Ax wondered. "Well this certainly complicates matters" Ax said. "People with mutations but no X-Gene are going to be difficult to find."
"Why are you seeking out mutants anyway?" Warren asked.
"Well people aren't ready to know about us" Cassie said. "If one mutant draws too much attention it could reveal all of us."
"So you two should both stay under the radar for a while" Tobias said.
"I'm not giving up being Spiderman" he said. "Since I'm not a mutant I can just tell the truth about my powers being an accident."
"Just keep it low-key, please" Tobias asked.
"Ok" Spiderman said. Then he fired a webline and swung away.
"I suppose you want me to go with you" Warren asked.
"Only if you're ready" Cassie said.
"I'll think about it" Warren said. Then he flew away to check on the girl at the hospital.
"Do you think he'll join us?" Rogue asked.
"No" Tobias replied. "I think he just wants to be left alone right now."