Rampaging students have trampled the disclaimer telling everyone that I don't own X-Men Evolution characters. This bit of insanity was inspired by "Retreat" and one of my other stories, "Principal Kelly on the Edge."
Fear and Loathing At Bayville High
Bayville High was not a typical school for many reasons. One of them was it seemed to be a favorite meeting place of monsters. Before there had been blue demon sightings, then Mr. McCoy, a chemistry teacher, had gotten blue and furry and attacked the principal for no reason. Then more monsters appeared at the Sadie Hawkins Dance and disappeared as mysteriously as they came.
For a while, (about a week or so) talk of monsters had died down after the dance. Then the chemistry lab window was wrecked. Principal Kelly learned that the mutated Mr. McCoy had done it. The memory of their last encounter was still fresh in his mind, after all one did not forget nearly being mauled by a 300 pound blue hairy monster so easily. Kelly was understandably very nervous for obvious reasons, but he didn't want his students to succumb to this fear. So he told a few teachers that did know about the latest appearance of McCoy to keep it to themselves and not let the students know about it for fear of widespread panic. He convinced himself that it was the right thing to do.
Unfortunately for him, he did not realize that the school's intercom was on at the time.
The students reacted accordingly. Some were terrified. Others were bored claiming it was all a hoax perpetrated by a rival school or by some people that were bored and had nothing better to do. A group was convinced the monsters were really alien life forms trying to communicate with humankind. Another group was convinced that the final days of judgement were at hand and any day now the Heavenly Father would return to earth to take his faithful with him to the Promised Land. Another group was convinced that it was really a sign that the other deity was coming and was quite looking forward to it. Still another group who had been watching way too many episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" were convinced that a portal to the other realm had been opened and were debating ways of getting the Vampire Slayer herself to come to the school and deal with the problem. These students were confronted by still another group of students who said that they were idiots for putting their faith in a television show and that they should handle the problem themselves, becoming self-made slayers. This resulted into a serious slap fight in the hallways and the combatants ended up having many serious boo-boos.
However nearly all groups no matter what they believed were unanimous in one course of action. Close the school down. This way they could get out of class. Some of them had parents on the School Board, which was how Principal Kelly ended up having several calls from some very irate parents before lunchtime.
But there was another, more secret group of teenagers that were the most worried of all. Well actually it was two groups of teenagers and one group was slightly more worried than the other for obvious reasons. They were the ones who knew what was really going on and they were not about to tell anyone.
"I can't believe all this hysteria that's going around," Kitty sighed as she sat next to Lance in chemistry. "I mean I never thought it could get this nuts! When we got back from our camping trip last weekend, I never thought something like this would happen!"
"What's the matter with…" Lance looked around. "You know who? You would think he'd be a little more careful with the heat still on! And people think we take risks! If he's gonna wander around like that why doesn't he at least wear one of those hologram watches like Blue Boy has?"
"I dunno," Kitty shrugged. "How's the Brotherhood handling it?"
"Well the gang sees this as an opportunity to close the school down," Lance sighed. "Can't say I blame them. How about your group?"
"Well Scott's ultra paranoid," Kitty explained. "And so is Kurt."
"Obviously," Lance nodded.
"But the others are kinda okay. Maybe a bit nervous. I hope he doesn't decide to go out again. I keep worrying what would happen if he got caught."
"Kitty don't worry," Lance comforted her. "As long as nobody does anything stupid nothing's going to happen. In a week or so the heat will die down and most people will forget about it. Trust me, it'll blow over."
"Hey where's our teacher?" One student asked aloud.
"Who cares?" Another said.
Then the teacher came in. His clothes were torn and he looked like he was in shock. "This place is cursed!" He yelped. "I went to get a soda and the vending machine exploded! Then this twister came out of nowhere! Right in the middle of the teacher's lounge!"
"It's the doings of the Hellmouth!" One student shouted.
"Oh for crying out loud, not another "Buffy" theory," Another groaned.
"I am telling you there is a portal to the gates of the netherworld somewhere on this school!" The student sniffed.
"Josh I am telling you that your brains are totally turned to cream cheese," The other student snapped. "I mean basing your idea on a television show."
"This from Steve the "Star Trek" King," Josh snapped.
"Well intelligent life from outer space makes much more sense than a mystical portal to an evil dimension," Steve snapped.
"It does not!"
"Does too!'
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"You're both wrong!" A girl spoke up. "It's the government's fault!"
"Well this is a new one," Lance spoke up. "I can't wait to hear this one!"
"I think the government is running secret experiments in our school!" The girl said.
"And I think somebody's been watching one too many episodes of the "X-Files," Steve quipped.
"People who live in glass starships shouldn't throw stones!" The girl snapped.
"Oh shut up!" Steve snapped.
"You shut up!" The girl snapped back.
"All of you shut up!" Another girl snapped. "Will you listen to yourselves? Aliens, government conspiracies, demon portals? Give me a break! It's so obvious! It's the Second Coming!" This was met with collective groans. "Okay fine, laugh at me! Go ahead, but I can hardly wait to see your faces when the Savior comes down from heaven and says "Hello everybody, I'm back!" Then we'll see who's crazy."
"Faith," One girl told her. "If it is the Second Coming, why is it only happening at Bayville? I mean wouldn't this stuff be happening all over the world if it was?"
"Yeah!" Steve said. "Why Bayville? Why not Washington D.C., or Jerusalem, or Rome or one of those places? I mean why would you pick a place where nothing happens to be the site of the great comeback of a new golden age? I mean what kind of choice is that? A great city filled with thousands of people, or a dinky little town where there's hardly anyone? It doesn't make sense!"
"I don't know," Faith snapped. "Maybe he's sending a scouting party or something! How should I know? Hey what about that angel that was seen in New York huh?"
"That guy's a fake!" Another student groaned.
"He is not!" Faith snapped.
"Of course he isn't," Steve told him. "He's obviously a representative of an alien race."
"He is not!" Faith snapped. "He's a real angel!"
"Ghosts," The teacher said. "It's ghosts! This school is cursed!"
"Ghosts?" Steve shouted. "Give me a break!"
"Shut up Klingon Breath," Josh snapped.
"You shut up!" Suddenly the entire class was telling each other to shut up. The rest of the period was spent with the most of the students arguing, some singing gospel songs, and the teacher hiding under the desk working on his resume.
"Blow over huh?" Kitty glared at Lance.
"Okay, maybe not," Lance groaned.
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Lunchtime Lance found himself with his usual crowd, the Brotherhood. Hysteria and gossip was still in full swing, as the cafeteria buzzed with conspiracy theories, arguments, and complaints.
"This is so much fun," Pietro giggled. "Think of all the pranks I can pull with this!"
"That one we did in the teacher's lounge was great!" Tabitha high fived Pietro.
"I knew that was the two of you!" Lance groaned. "Will you guys cut it out? You want to bring the whole school down on us?"
"What's your problem?" Pietro snapped. "As I recall it was your idea to come out and reveal ourselves to the student population at Bayville not that long ago."
"Yeah well, maybe that wasn't the smartest idea I ever had," Lance muttered.
"Ya think?" Todd looked at him.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Pietro sniffed. "Personally it's much more fun if we keep our identities a secret, but if we were found out it's no big whoop. We're smarter, faster, better than any of these goons here!"
"Unfortunately there are a lot more of them than there are of us!" Todd said. "Strength in numbers yo!"
"Toad's got a point," Fred nodded.
"Yeah well all I know if we are found out I'm taking the Geek Squad down with us!" Tabitha snapped. "Especially a certain blue turncoat!"
"Uh oh," Todd sighed.
"So what happened this time?" Pietro asked.
"He was giving me a lecture about goofing off with my powers in the halls," She snapped. "Found out about the little prank we pulled. He's like, we have to be careful and stuff and I tell him he's not the boss of me. Besides it's the Geeks' own fault the school is so tense and everything so butt out. So then I tell him to go crawling like the worm he's named after to his little girlfriend. And then he tries to put the fault of the break up on me! But I told him I'm not the one who ran off with some little dimwit the second we broke up!"
"Well it's good to see you're taking the breakup well," Pietro said.
"Speaking of which," Todd looked over and saw that members of the X-Men were giving them death glares from their table. "Geeze why are they putting on such an act? They're the ones that cause more attention than we do!"
"Uh oh," Fred grumbled. "Here they come. The morality police." Scott, Jean, and Kurt started to walk over. "Anybody have some extra food so we can toss some at them."
"Alvers," Scott snapped.
"Very good Summers," Lance quipped. "You know my name. Now let's see what else you know, who is this?" He pointed to Pietro.
"A troublemaker that's who," Scott snapped. "You jerks cool it and stop causing trouble around school! It's your actions that will get us all in trouble!"
"US?" Lance snapped. "We're not the ones running around in the open without thinking! Or experimenting with dimensions and letting demons out!"
"No you guys are just causing earthquakes and tornadoes," Scott spat.
"Hey at least we ain't stealing a bunch of antiques," Todd snapped. "Or using our powers to send cop cars into the trees!"
"No you're just using your powers to vandalize everything and steal petty cash!" Jean snapped.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Tabitha sniffed.
"Listen Alvers…"Scott started.
"No you listen!" Lance snapped. "Before you start shoving your advice down our throats maybe you'd better listen to it yourself first! We're not the ones who were fooling around with dimensions and caused those things to appear! And we're not the ones stupid enough to keep coming back to the school after we trashed the chemistry lab!"
"Well actually we did trash the gym and the soccer field," Fred began.
"Shut up Fred!" Lance snapped. "You guys do just as much damage as we do, maybe even more. So why don't you start cleaning up the messes you make before complaining about ours? Now if you'll excuse us we'd like to finish our lunch in peace, or would you like to blast me with your eyes and give the student body something new to talk about?"
Scott said nothing. "Come on, it's a waste of time talking to them." They left.
"Yeah just crawl away like the worms you are!" Tabitha stuck her tongue out. "Especially you Worm-Boy!"
"The nerve of those geeks," Pietro sniffed. "I have half a mind to write a nasty letter. And the other half to attach it to a stick of dynamite!"
"You know I was going to be nice," Lance snapped. "But no more!"
"Yeah we gotta get those geeks!" Todd nodded.
"I think it's time the school had something new to talk about," Lance grinned.
"Something the X-Geeks are gonna hate?" Tabitha grinned.
"Oh yes," Lance smiled. "I have an idea…Just give me a few periods to work on it."
Later on that day, Scott and Jean were walking in the halls. "I can't believe all the panic that's in the air," Jean muttered.
"Yeah people are still a little spooked from what happened at the dance," Scott said. "And McCoy trashing the window didn't help. I thought it would all blow over after the weekend. I guess I was wrong."
"Scott I don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep our secret the way things are going," Jean sighed. "I'm really starting to get worried. And you know the Brotherhood is going to cause trouble with this."
"Great that's all we need," Scott groaned. "We gotta keep an eye on them as well. Who knows what they're up to?"
Suddenly something shoved them hard. Jean fell on top of Scott right to the floor. "What the?" Jean gasped.
"What's going on here?"
They looked up and saw Taryn with Tabitha. "Shame on you Red," Tabitha clucked her tongue. "You could at least wait until you guys were in a room or something. See Taryn, I told you she was after your guy!"
"Wait a minute…" Scott started to say. Then Todd ran by with Duncan right behind him. He was soaking wet.
"What the?" Duncan looked at the two of them on the floor together. Todd was instantly forgotten judging by the look on his face. "What are you doing Summers?"
"Duncan it's not what it looks like," Jean said as they stood up.
"That's what they all say," Tabitha smiled.
"Taryn I didn't…" Scott gulped.
"I know you didn't do anything!" Taryn glared at Jean.
"Hey Summers, stay away from my girl," Duncan snapped.
"Your girl?" Jean shouted at him.
"Look I can explain," Scott said.
"Let me explain this," Duncan snapped. "Jean's off limits!"
Duncan shoved Scott. Scott shoved back. Duncan shoved Scott again. Scott shoved Duncan back. By now teachers came and broke them up and sent them to the principal's office.
"This is all your fault Jean!" Taryn snapped. "You have to always be the center of attention don't you?"
"I didn't do anything!" Jean snapped.
"Yeah right!" By now neither girl was noticing that they had attracted a large crowd. "You're just jealous because I have Scott and all you have is Duncan. But not for much longer."
"What do you mean by that?" Jean snapped.
"Oh I guess you haven't noticed that Duncan's been spending quite a lot of time at cheerleading practice," Taryn purred not so sweetly.
"She's got you there Red," Tabitha chuckled.
"You keep out of this!" Jean snapped at her.
"Hey don't mind me," Tabitha held up her hands and backed off. "All I did was inform Taryn here of the truth!"
"Yes, the truth is that you are a selfish little brat who wants to be Ms. Popularity by taking all the guys for herself!" Taryn snapped. "You had plenty of chances at Scott but you ignored him. The only reason you're interested in him is because someone else is interested in him."
"That's not true!"
"It is true and you know it!"
"I thought you were my friend Taryn," Jean said coldly. "I guess I was wrong."
"Yeah you were wrong for thinking you could treat people like dirt and get away with it!" Taryn shot back. "You always were a stuck up princess who thought she was better than everyone else! You are the biggest phony I ever met!"
"I don't have to listen to this!" Jean snapped. "I have to get to class!"
"Go then!" Taryn shouted as Jean walked away. "Go ahead and leave Princess Perfect! Who needs you anyway?"
"Forget you!" Jean snapped as she stormed off. Several students applauded.
"I can't believe how Jean's acting," One student said.
"She thinks she can get away with anything just because of the way she looks," One girl said to another.
"I always said that perfect act was so phony!" Another girl said.
"Who does she think she is, the Queen of the School or something?" Still another girl asked.
"That was very entertaining," Pietro snickered. "Look at all the kids talking! Hey I got some great shots with my camera! How much do you think I should sell them for? A dollar apiece or two dollars?"
"Make it two dollars," Todd snickered. "We need the cash."
"Hey at least they're not gonna be talking about monsters for a while," Lance grinned.
"Yes I'm glad we decided to do something good for the community," Pietro smirked.
"Who says the Brotherhood isn't civic minded?" Tabitha chuckled.