"What do you mean I'm crazy? I'm not crazy!"
"Yes you are, why else would I be here?!?"
Just because I have a voice in my head does not mean I'm crazy! It just means- Oh no, we, I mean I have visitors. I wasn't expecting them for a story like this!"
"I'm surprised too."
"Shut up! Oh, not you reader."
"Oh, you're cheeks are turning red. I can feel it because I'm inside your head!"
"No, you are not! Shut up and let the reader read this story, or else I'll punch your lights out!"
"Oh really? Just try!"
WHAM!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, except for those I invent. I invented a character named Marie. I realize that is the real name of Rogue, but I will always refer to Rogue/Marie as Rogue, and Marie/Marie as Marie. No infringement is intended.
For details on Marie and her friend Jean-Pierre, please read "An American Ka-Boom! in Paris." chapter one through eight.
D.C. is also a character I invented. For details, see "D.C. and the CN Tower." chapters one through five.
D.C. sat up, still a little groggy from the sedatives. How did they find a sedative that worked on me? He wondered. Since D.C. wasn't a normal human being, medicines, sedatives, etc., didn't work on him. It might be that he had pure mercury for blood. It might be the 500 trillion watts going through his bloodstream. Whatever the reason, a sedative hadn't worked on D.C. his entire life. Until now that is.
He shook himself awake, and the first thing he noticed was that his hair had been cut. Before the doctors or the army or whoever had knocked him out, D.C. had had shoulder length electric blue hair that matched his eyes.
He had gotten his eye and hair color from microwaves. When he had been traveling the US, he stopped at a convenience store in Las Vegas. It had had a microwave oven, so D.C. bought a mini-pizza and put it in the oven. However, it hadn't closed completely. So when D.C. had pressed START, the microwaves leaked out and hit D.C. He became so energized he had a hard time walking casually out the door. When he was out of view, he sped off at a terrific speed, running several times around Las Vegas. When he stopped he happened to look at his reflection in a store window. It had been a shock to suddenly have blue shoulder length hair and bright blue eyes. His hair had been brown and his eyes hazel before the transformation, so he rather liked the new colors.
He had eventually become fond of his hair, and now to have it cut was a personal insult. It was now in a buzz, a hairstyle D.C. didn't like at all. The possibility to take some energy from a power source and use it to get his hairstyle back. He quickly looked around and found that he was in a very large underground room. It about the size of a football stadium, and it was comprised of cold gray concrete. D.C. was in the center of the huge room, which was in the shape of a rectangle. The ceiling high above had florescent lights in it, all of which were tiny pinpricks. D.C. sighed, then slowly started drawing electricity from it. The energy was just barely visible as a faint blue thread that looked like a string of silk that a spider trails behind as it descends from the ceiling. D.C.'s hand was extended above his head, as if he were straining for the sky. After a few minutes, the thread connected with his hand, and his hair started to grow. It was like watching speeded up video documentaries of plants growing. When his hair reached his shoulders, D.C. lowered his hand, and the remaining energy in the thread dispersed to the surrounding air with a faint crackling. D.C. arranged his hair follicles the way he like, then he set off toward on of the walls.
Meanwhile, a camera in the ceiling was watching him. It sent the images up to the control room, straight into the conference room where the doctor and general sat watching. The general shook his head, amazed at what he just saw.
"This is a heat scam of the same sequence."
The video started playing again, this time with the floor generally black and D.C. red. Then a thin white line descended and made contact with D.C., who also turned white.
"This kid is amazing. He can heal himself and change his appearance simply by gathering energy in himself and converting it to matter. We are now going to send in a new weapon we just developed. We call them "sentinels", and if we can find a way to mass produce them, we could track down every mutant in the world without the local authorities and people ever noticing."
D.C. was almost to the wall where he could see the outline of a huge door when it suddenly opened. And out walked the most enormous thing D.C. had ever seen, except skyscrapers.
It was a giant robot in the shape of a man, about 60 feet tall. It looked around, saw D.C., and said in a mechanical voice, "Target sighted. Proceed with operation." With that it started to walk toward D.C., its footsteps thudding on the gray concrete.
OK, this could be a problem. D.C. backed up. The robot covered the distance between them quickly. When it stood right in front of him, the robot raised its hand, and metal cords came shooting out of its palm. They snaked down toward D.C., trying to wrap him up like a Christmas package. D.C. let loose several blasts of energy while he ran from the robot. The blasts knocked the cords away, but they kept coming back. D.C. aimed a blast at the robot's legs. It hit, knocking the robot's legs from under him. He landed flat on his face with a resounding clang that echoed loudly in the enormous room.
The robot tried to get up, which distracted the metal cords a bit. D.C. kept running until he got to the opposite wall. The giant robot had shrunk to the size of a normal man. D.C. pressed himself against the wall, hoping he was far enough away that he couldn't be seen. He watched the robot right itself, and then flames appeared from the robot's feet and it started to fly toward him.
This could present a problem. D.C. looked wildly around and spotted the florescent lights high above. That's how he could escape! He was preparing to go up into them, when the lights were suddenly extinguished. He could hear mechanical groaning coming from the ceiling, and he flew up to the ceiling and felt his way along in the darkness trying to find the glass or plastic that separated him from freedom. All he felt however was a smooth surface. He felt along for a while before he realized what it was. Rubber. A giant sheet of thick rubber. The lights had gone out because a rubber sheet had been pulled across the ceiling to prevent his escape! Geez, these guys didn't miss a thing!
D.C. became aware of the roar of the rockets on the robot's feet. They kept getting louder then quieter. D.C. realized that the huge thing was sweeping back and forth across the ceiling trying to find him. Well, I'll fix him.
Out of D.C. burst blue flame. It expanded throughout the room, eventually filling it completely.
"What the- How hot is it in there?" The doctor asked the question through an intercom, and a woman's voice answered.
"We don't know sir. The thermometer isn't registering anymore. We think it's been destroyed. Its last reading was at plasma temperatures. It sent that information for a fraction of a second then it stopped transmitting."
"What about the sentinel?"
"It has stopped transmitting too. We think it has also been destroyed."
"Doctor, what did she mean by "plasma temperatures?"
The general's eyes were glued to the screen, which showed only static after the blue flame had engulfed it.
"People only learn about the three states of matter, solid, liquid, and gas. But there is another state of matter, called plasma. It is a form of super heated gas. It usually only exists at the cores of stars. That room right now is about as hot as the hottest star in the known universe!"
"Does that pose a danger?"
Meanwhile, the French guy with the exploding cards stared at the adamantium door. He had been trying to work his cards into the gap between the door and the frame but they fit so snugly not even the thin cards could go between them. That is until the shaking started.
A dull roar had begun and the ground started shaking. The door had started to vibrate, clanging against the frame. By holding one of the cards against the thin line which was the divide, he was slowly able to get it in. When it was stuck about three-quarters of the way in, the card glowed a bright red in the man's hand. He quickly ran to the other side of the room and took shelter underneth his bed. His red eyes darted toward the door.
"Gambit thinks he gonna escape in just a minute."
The card exploded.
The concrete surrounding the door was designed to withstand a nuclear blast. What the designer didn't count on was an explosion coming from within the doorframe itself. Concrete cracked. Rubble flew everywhere. And an alarm somewhere sounded. But even as Gambit ran down the dust filled hall, not a single soldier was seen.
He ran and hide through an intricate network of sub hallways. These gradually led to a sort of main hallway. And hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers were pouring down it, heading toward a giant staircase that led into the bowels of the underground prison complex. Gambit hid in the tunnel he was in. After about an hour the river of soldiers slowed to a trickle, and then none at all. Gambit stole across the hall, looking for an exit, when he noticed an important looking door. It had the words, "SECURITY HEADQUARTERS" written on it.
Gambit quietly opened the door and peered in. It was obviously supposed to be filled with soldiers, but at the moment there was only one guard. He had probably been left to supervise the whole complex, and that hadn't been a smart thing to do.
Gambit creeped toward him. The soldier was standing at a console, leaning over and looking at something. With a swift punch he knocked out the guard. Then he gave his attention to the room itself.
It was full of beeping monitors, consoles, and super computers. He quickly turned to the console the soldier had been so interested in. What he saw was two computer screens, one with a diagram of a large room. It was completely blue. It said, "Thermographics" in one corner. This made no sense to Gambit, so he turned he attention to the other screen. It showed the revolving figure of a boy, probably 18 or 19, with long blue hair. His favorite color was obviously blue, because he was wearing blue jeans, a blue shirt, blue shoes, and blue socks. Next to the figure there was scrolling words. It gave his name, age, weight, and then a lengthy description of his powers.
As Gambit started to read, his mouth hung open. He learned all about this kid, and his potential. The army was very nervous about this kid, so they took him to some sort of a testing room to see if he would reveal his true powers. It seemed that he was defending himself with some sort of a plasma shield. He was directing the plasma at the wall. The concrete was melting fast, so the army sent all it had to contain him. Soldiers were stationed all around the room, ready to fight.
Hmm. If this kid is fighting like this just to get out of that room, he'll wipe out the whole complex if they open fire on him. I have to distract the guards.
Gambit looked around the room. But a sign saying "MAIN" drew his attention. It was the master control console. And it had a little button on it protected by a glass shield, that said "ALL DOOR RELEASE" Gambit broke the glass and pushed the button.
At that moment every door to every cell in the whole prison slid open. And several thousand mutants were released.