Chapter 35: Honor the Dead
The sun set slowly, dimly along the horizon. It made the sky looked emblazed with colors of deep red, violet, fiery orange and a dull yellow. Smoke still filled the air from the smoldering pile of rubble where the Xavier Institute for the Gifted once stood. Most of the members of the young X-team were around the tents; helping where they could. They all looked worse for wear as the body count increased by the minute. They each wore a visage of something different; sadness, exhaustion, depression, regret, and guilt. The last emotion, guilt, was an emotion felt by every X-man at one time or another. This was the worst type that every surviving member of the team felt time and time again; survivor's guilt. In one of the tents, Scott was standing with Emma in his arms. It was a sight to behold; tears falling from the eyes of a mother who had lost a child.
"Why Scott?" Emma sobbed. "Why would she go back into the building?"
"I don't know Emms… I just don't…" Scott said as his voice broke. "My little girl!!"
Scott and Emma cried in each others arms as Jennifer Guthrie walked passed the tent. She looked as though she had been crying for a while. She wandered aimlessly until she bumped into a blond haired boy that she quickly recognized to be her Uncle Sam. She looked up at him and immediately noticed that his face had been fixed into one of sorrow.
"What is it Unc?" Jennifer asked.
"Oh Jen… I don't… I just can't…" Sam began as new tears began to fall.
"What is it Sam?!" Jennifer asked frantically.
"It's Josh… your dad…" Sam said.
"What… What is it?" Jennifer asked as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"He's dead." Sam said before conceding to another wave of tears.
"No…no… it can't be!" Jennifer said as the news overwhelmed her. "Dad… Dad…"
"He's dead Jen… He's…" Sam said he brought his niece into a hug. "I am so sorry Jennifer."
Jennifer sobbed hysterically in Sam's arms as he cried quietly. In another tent, Amy and Charles are together. Amy looks as though she is exhausted. Charles has his arms around her; holding her close.
"Charles… we lost so many people today." Amy said quietly.
"Yea, we lost a lot of good people here." Charles replied.
"We almost lost you too." Amy said as a tear fell down her face.
"But you didn't…" Charles said as he pulled her face closer to his. "… I am pretty hard to get rid of."
"Charles… Honey..." Jean said as she appeared from an open flap of the tent.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Charles said as he blushed and moved away from Amy. "Where's dad?"
"That's the thing…" Jean said with her head down. "Charles… there was an accident…"
"What do you mean accident… Where is dad?!" Charles yelled frantically.
"Right here." Logan said as he wheeled himself in.
"Oh my god mom, you had me scared for a minute there." Charles said as a wave of relief spread through him. "Why are you in a wheelchair? My healing factor already fixed me up."
"There is no fixing me up son." Logan said as he wheeled himself closer.
"What do you mean dad?" Charles asked.
"During the explosion, one of the adamantium disks in my spine slipped and severed my spine." Logan explained. "When I regained my healing factor, the flesh couldn't reset the adamantium and I am now permanently bound to a wheelchair."
"No dad… you can't…" Charles said as he walked over to his father.
"Like I told you son… we aren't gods nor invincible." Logan said. "We are human and are bound by the same laws. Let this be a lesson that you hopefully will never have to learn personally."
Logan pulled his son close as Jean bent down and hugged her two "boys". Amy watched on and softly cried as she looked at the family pull themselves through this. In another tent, Tyler LeBeau and John Creed were talking about the recent events.
"I can't believe what happened here." Tyler said.
"Bound to happen..." John replied stoically. "Figured that somebody wanted us dead, they always do."
"But you would think that the X-men would've been prepared for this." Tyler said.
"How can they prepare for something which clearly was better planned than anything our team has ever done?" John said frankly.
"Whatever John; I think that this had to have come from someone who knows us." Tyler said.
"What are you talking about?" John asked.
"You know what I mean… Joshua." Tyler said.
"Tyler, don't be like Brent." John said angrily. "It's bad enough we got one self righteous paranoid team member, we don't need another one."
"It's just a thought." Tyler said quietly.
"I am gonna head down into town; this place is far too… dead for me if you know what I mean."
"I can't believe that you would say something like that." Tyler said angrily. "This is a horror and you still can't control your mouth."
"That's just the way it is." John said as he left.
"He has got a lot of fuckin' nerve." Tyler said bitterly as he lay back on a cot.
Tyler soon fell into a deep sleep. A few minutes pass and Tyler is seen rolling in his sleep. A dark figure entered his tent and looked down at the sleeping Tyler. The figure smiled sinisterly as it reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. Suddenly the object started to glow faintly as he tossed it onto the bed. The object glided through the air before it landed on Tyler.
"AHHH!!" Tyler screamed as he awoke from his sleep looking around his tent for anything suspicious. "What a nightmare…"
Tyler puts his hand to his head when he looks down at his lap. His eyes open in fright as he sees an object with a faint pink glow concentrated in the center.
"What the fu…"
He picked it up and examined it closely when to his surprise he recognizes it to be a card…the ace of spades. The concentration of light suddenly begins to form into words that read. "I'm watching over you"
Tyler's hands tremble before he tightens his grip causing more kinetic energy to pour into the card causing it to explode in his hand. Tyler quickly climbed out of bed and hobbled his way out of the tent ignoring the injuries he suffered. He frantically looked left and right for anyone or anything but all he saw was darkness. He fell on his hands and knees as he heard a man's voice while he was experiencing a flashback.
"Don't forget son, I'm watching over you…always"
Tears formed in Tyler's eyes as they dripped onto the soil when he whispered. "I'll kill him for this."
At a cliff over looking the lake, Brent sat out looking at the sunset. The orange and red colors blended beautifully as the sun began to retreat behind the horizon.
'I cannot believe I allowed this to happen.' Brent thought to himself. 'I am responsible for the safety of all of the mutants here and I failed. I knew that we should not have let Joshua in here. He sent us signals about this all along and I didn't pick up on this. I should have, I am their leader. Joshua needs to pay for this; he needs to be brought to a swift end.'
"Brent…" A female voice said.
Brent turned around and saw Jen standing behind him. She looked as though she had been crying for quite some time.
"Jen, what's wrong?" Brent asked.
"It's… It's… my father is dead." Jen wailed as she fell into Brent's arms.
"Jen…" Brent said as he held her in a tight embrace. "I'll make this right. I know who did this."
"What?" Jen said as she looked up from his shoulder.
"Josh did this. He was the one that brought this sorrow on us and I will make him pay." Brent said angrily.
"Brent… don't use this to get your own personal revenge." Jen said between tears. "Brent… promise me you will not let your personal feelings lead you down a path of destruction."
"Jen… I… I can't." Brent said as he held her close. "Please, I hope you will forgive me for this one day."
"What…" Jen replied.
Brent's eyes began to glow crimson red. He felt his mind merge with hers as he looked for every memory she had of him and erased it. Everything that had to do with Brent Monroe-Summers was completely wiped from her mind.
"Go back to X-24's tent and continue to grieve." Brent said telepathically as Jen's eyes looked glazed.
Jen began to walk off into the distance.
"This is all necessary in order to bring Joshua to justice." Brent said aloud trying to convince himself.
"Of course it is." A voice said.
The next day the sky was overcast with light gray clouds. The air was completely saturated with water and weighed heavily down on those who were outside breathing it. As the school continued to spurt forth smoke from the ashes of the dead, there was a sea of black which appeared behind the school at the gravesite. Many were in attendance but the most important were the young X-men sitting a row away from the front. At the end was Charles, sitting rather stoically with Amy sitting next to him; crying in his arms. Mary sat next to Amy, sobbing quietly in her hands. Tyler sat next to Mary with his arm around her trying to comfort her. John sat next to Tyler fidgeting with his fingers; his face expressing no real emotion. Jen and Karen sat next to him crying with each other. There was an empty seat next to Karen labeled Joshua. At the end, next to the aisle, was Brent. His face appeared to be devoid of emotion; however, his eyes seem to express a sadness which the entire team is feeling. As the ceremony began, Scott Summers and Emma Summers walked up to the podium. Emma seemed to glisten in the sunlight as light reflected off of her sleek organic diamond form. As they arrived, Emma seemed to shift back to her pale flesh form. Her eyes had darkness beneath them and her expression showed that of a woman who had cried for many hours.
"This is one of the worst disasters that has ever happened to mutant kind. The Institute is supposed to be a place of safety where you can live and learn about the world and integrate. This was destroyed when the bomb went off and destroyed the school. There were a lot of lives that were shaken to the core with this tragedy. There were also a lot of lives that were lost; one of the most prominent being Charles Xavier." Scott said with a note of sadness in his voice. "Charles was like a father to me, actually I feel like he was a father to me and to mutants who did not have a home. He has made plenty of mistakes and disappointed us greatly at times, but his dream still lives with all of us. Though he may be departed from this life, his spirit and dream still lives with us all. This is the most important thing we need to look to in the future. We still need to believe now more than ever that we can have a peaceful coexistence between mutant and human. That also means mutant and mutant. We are a race of people that know tragedy very well and now this is another time that we face unthinkable tragedy. We must take a leaf from Jean Gray Howlett and rise again from the ashes of destruction and live on."
Scott took a step back as his voice began to break. Emma grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. She stepped forward up to the podium.
"You all have seen me as many things before. I have been a villainess, an X-man, a betrayer and a heroine. However, I am here today as another role which I have filled… that is the role of a mother." Emma said with an expression of sorrow. "My daughter served admirably on the young X-team with bravery and courage beyond measure. I don't know why she went back in the building… I just… believe that she found something or someone that needed to be rescued. I come up here today, having lost the most precious thing in my life. I have exposed the deepest recesses of my soul and I know that none of it can bring her back. The only thing we can do now is honor her memory and rebuild anew. She… my baby… she's gone…"
Emma Summers lost her will and let the tears flow freshly once more. Scott pulled her back into his arms and held her tight. She immediately shifted back to her Organic Diamond form and regained a false composure. Scott frowned a bit and stepped back up to the podium.
"At this time the field leader of the Young X-men, Brent Monroe-Summers, will give a eulogy for Lucas Moonstar." Scott said as he and Emma left the stage.
Brent stood up and walked towards the podium. His muscles tightened as he made his way up to the podium. His nerves were on edge as the sky became bleaker. When Brent got to the podium, he looked out to the crowd. The faces blurred together as he surveyed the general audience.
"Being the leader of the Young X-men has afforded me a lot of different experiences. I have seen a lot in my short tenure. One of the best things that ever happened to me has been rooming with Luke." Brent said as he took a breath to steady his speech. "When I started this year, I did not really converse with Luke. However as year went on, he quickly became my best friend. He helped me and others through their problems and offered himself as an extra set of hands. He was entirely selfless and devoted to helping others which is a rarity to come across in this world. This kind hearted soul has given his life trying to stop the filth that brought this cloud of despair to our school. Him along with everyone that lost their lives during the incident need to be avenged and I will not stop until they are brought to justice. I know in my heart that Kelly and Luke and everyone else would want their murderer be brought to justice."
As Brent went on with his speech, a figure walked into the ceremony. He walked over to a seat close to the back. He looked up at Brent giving his speech and felt a wave of guilt wash over him.
'I didn't want this. I wanted to teach them a lesson about trusting Xavier and his flawed dream. I realized that this was wrong and I joined the X-men to redeem myself.' Joshua thought to himself. 'I came up with a variant plan but nothing that would cause this much destruction. I was too busy trying to fit in with the team to remember that this was something that I wanted to do. I know that I did not do this, but I still feel guilty enough and Brent clearly blames me for this. I need to show them all that this was not me, it was another; a clone.'
Brent finished his speech and began to walk off the podium. He stopped for a moment as the sheer weight of death sinks in as a reality. He feels his composure beginning to fade as he makes his way down the aisle. He walked passed his row as Scott comes back to the podium.
"And now, we will begin a prayer." Scott said as everyone bowed their heads.
Brent continued to walk down the aisle and made his way passed Joshua. As he passed, Joshua felt an intense wave of sorrow, guilt, and shame.
'He blames me… but more than that, he blames himself…' Joshua thought as he got up. 'We need to resolve this once and for all.'
As soon as Brent got to the front of the former building, his eyes glowed white as a gust of wind lifted him into the air. Josh, seeing this, begins to telekinetically pursue Brent.
"Brent!" Joshua yelled. "Brent, wait we need to talk!"
"YOU!" Brent said as he turned around.
The sky grew dark as turbulent winds picked up and threw Josh out of the sky. Lights flashed in the dark clouds and thunder rumbled furiously. Josh hit the ground rather roughly as Brent sped down towards him. Joshua put up a force field as Brent's electrified fist made contact. Brent put more electricity into his fist as the shield faltered and Brent's fist connected with Joshua's face. Joshua was thrown back several feet.
"Brent… I don't want to fight you." Josh said as he wiped the blood from his mouth.
"You did this Joshua. You killed them all." Brent said with deadly silence. "I should've seen it before with all of those cryptic messages you sent us. I will never make that mistake again."
"Brent, you're wrong…" Joshua said recovering from the blow. "I didn't want to kill anyone…"
"LIAR!" Brent said as six bolts of lightning erupted from the sky and scorched the forestry.
Meanwhile at the Ceremony…
"Now that we have finished the prayer, we will leave you all to lay flowers and wish a fond farewell to the ones who have departed us." Scott said.
Karen and Jen walked up to Joshua Guthrie's headstone.
"I am so sorry Jen." Karen said as she hugged her.
"It's funny, when I was a kid he used to fly me up to the clouds and let me play with them. Those were the best times I ever had." Jennifer said tearfully. "And now I can never tell him how much I missed that and loved it."
"I am sure he knows Jen." Karen said as she rubbed Jen's back.
"It's just the simple things, you know." Jen said. "He was always so cheerful and ready to help people. I was always so angry whenever I was in a bad mood and he tried to cheer me up. I would give anything to take it back."
"Jen, you can't go around thinking of things that you could've done differently." Karen said. "Think about the good times that you had, that is what he would've wanted."
"Thanks Karen." Jen said.
Back in the rows, John, Charles, Amy and Tyler were sitting together.
"So what do we do now?" Charles asked. "What happens to our team?"
"Don't know" Tyler responded.
"I heard that they were going to start rebuilding today." Amy said.
"So we'll have a school again, yippie." John said.
"Where did Mary go?" Amy said quickly changing the subject.
"I tink she went wit' one of them Shield people after the prayer." Tyler said.
"I wonder what she is doing with them." Charles pondered. "Man, I just got a wicked headache."
"Do you smell that?" John said.
"Yea, it smells like smoke." Charles said sniffing the air.
"Hey guys, look there." Amy said as she pointed out to the horizon.
Fires were blazing around Brent and John.
"You manipulated everyone here into believing that you changed." Brent said coldly. "You let them give you a second chance, even against my own wishes. And how do you repay them? You mercilessly slaughter them."
"I did not kill anyone!" Joshua yelled.
"I saw you do it!" Brent yelled as more lightning scorched the ground. "You killed Luke as he tried to stop you! He died to make sure you were brought to justice and now you're going to pay."
Suddenly a tornado came down and began pulling everything into its destructive path. Fierce winds blow around and made it difficult to breathe as well as the temperature rapidly dropped. Lightning came down in multiple strikes, ravaging the land in attempts to strike its target. Joshua put up a personal telekinetic field that was only inches away from his skin.
'I should not be able to withstand this, but I am.' Joshua thought to himself. 'His attacks are completely unfocused and savage. I think he is losing control. I have to do something.'
Joshua's eyes glowed red once more as his mind left the maelstrom surrounding him. The astral plane was like the eye of a hurricane, chaos everywhere and a silent peace around one mind.
'I have only one chance to do this and I hope it doesn't kill me.' Joshua said as he put forth the utmost concentration.
Joshua gathered as much Psionic energy as he could and launched a power telepathic mind-link. The psychic energy pierced the electrostatic field surrounding Brent's mind and merged them for a second. In this moment, Brent felt overwhelmed with everything that had happened to Joshua during the past year; nothing was blocked from him. The intrusion only lasted a second, but felt like a lifetime. Soon, Brent's mental defenses kicked into overdrive and the electrostatic field traveled along the mind link which connected them and unleashed several hundred thousand volts of electricity directly to Joshua's brain. His head burned white with pain as he lost all sense being. He felt his brain beginning to shut down along with all of his bodily systems. He couldn't concentrate and he was going to die.
"I hope this proves it." Joshua said telepathically.
"He didn't do it." Brent said with shame. "By the goddess, what have I done?"
Joshua stopped breathing as Brent reacted quickly. Ignoring the worsening storm, Brent picked Joshua up with the wind current and quickly flew him back to the compound. He dropped him off with a thud outside of the medical tent which had elixir.
"Brent, what did you do?" Charles asked.
"I… I have to leave." Brent said quickly.
"You're not going anywhere until you explain what you have done." Karen said angrily.
"You don't understand." Brent said worriedly.
"Well then why don't you share?" John said as he pulled out his claws.
"You didn't do this Brent, right?" Amy said as her eyes watered. "You wouldn't do something like this."
"My powers are out of control and I am not in the right state of mind right now." Brent said hurriedly as he gathered a powerful wind. "I'm sorry."
The gale force gust knocked them back as Brent flew quickly away from the site of destruction.
"Stop!" Jennifer said as she was about to take flight.
"Let 'im go." Tyler said holding her shoulder. "He's got a lot to deal wit' right now."
"He has critically injured another member of his own team on a day of mourning and has resisted interrogation and arrest; he is a fugitive of mutant kind."
Everyone looked strangely at her as she said that. Soon Scott Summers approached.
"I was afraid something like this would happen." Scott said. "You kids go find your parents; they all want to speak with you." Scott said. "Jen, I need to discuss something with you… a summer project of sorts."
Jennifer walked with Scott as they walked across the compound. The rest of the students went back to their respective parents as construction vehicles started coming onto the campus. Emma Frost came out from behind a corner.
"Well, since Scott has his projects, I'll have mine." Emma said as she looked at Brent flying off in the distance.