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Chapter 8: Confusion
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The X-Van screeched to a halt half a block from the Brotherhood pad, and a few minutes later, Amara, Tabby, Kurt, and Kitty jumped out in their combat uniforms, running down the road toward the Brotherhood Boarding House. Kurt looked a little more than relieved to finally be out of the car that Tabby had been driving.
"I wonder what Lance and the loser gang want with Alison," Tabby said as they moved in.
"Vhatever it is, you can be sure Magneto has a hand in it," Kurt replied.
They stopped on the corner across the street from the ramshackle building that the Brotherhood boys called home, seeing the boys and Alison standing on the front porch. In front of them stood a shadowy figure in a cape, a truly imposing character, and one frighteningly familiar to all of the X-Men.
"Magneto!" Amara cried out, "what's he doing here?"
"I don't know," Kitty said, "he usually lets the Brotherhood do his dirty work!"
"Shouldn't ve vait for back up before moving in against Magneto?" Kurt asked, his yellow eyes darting back and forth among the three girls.
"There's no time for that," Tabby said, a glowing orange ball appearing in her left hand, growing in size by the moment, "we've gotta rescue her... c'mon!" Before anyone else could say anything, Tabby tossed her time bomb across the street, watching as it rolled across the lawn. She led the charge at the Brotherhood house, and the rest of the X-Men could do little but follow.
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Todd watched as Magneto moved towards Alison, his gloved hand outstretched toward the blonde-haired pop star. He felt a chill go down his spine, realizing just how afraid she must be, also knowing what kind of man Magneto was, he felt very afraid of her indeed. His fear for his own well being outweighed, that, however. He wasn't going to risk his life for some stranger. His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a familiar soft crackle of energy behind him. He turned, seeing one of Tabby's energy bombs resting on the ground behind him and let out a yelp, leaping on top of Fred's head.
"Uh, fellas, we ain't alone no more!" He cried, attracting the attention of the entire Brotherhood, as well as Magneto, just as the time bomb went off, knocking all of the mutants backwards, Todd taking the worst fall of them all, tumbling off of Fred's head and ending up in Lance's lap, from which he was rather quickly ejected. Magneto looked up and saw the X-Men approaching and a scowl crossed his face.
"Fools," he said, "when will they learn not to interfere?" He stretched out a hand, seizing a nearby parked car and dropping it in the X-Men's path, the glass of all the car's windows shattering as it smashed into the pavement. Shadowcat phased straight through, undeterred. Nightcrawler teleported onto the Brotherhood's lawn, and Tabby and Amara, her body now seemingly encased in fire, took the long way around.
Alison panicked, finding herself now free of Magneto's grasp, but having no where to run for safety. She didn't know who to trust anymore, the Brotherhood and their enigmatic, very frightening, leader Magneto, or this new group of costumed mutants. All that she knew was that she was in very real danger. She reached up with her trembling hands to grab her headphones and place them over her ears, starting her CD but ignoring the music that came out, merely concentrating on building up enough power to defend herself if need be. She watched in shocked silence as the teenager whose name she had learned was Lance outstretched his hand, his eyes rolling back into his head, and the ground began to tremble. A chasm opened up between the costumed mutants and the Brotherhood, underground water pipes surfacing and spilling out onto the lawn. The girl whose body seemed to be entirely engulfed in flames was hurling fireballs at Fred, who seemed to be completely unaffected, laughing and charging at the girl. The boy with the furry blue complexion and long, pointed tail was disappearing and reappearing in puffs of pink smoke, trying to keep up with Pietro, who was running circles around him. She watched the chaos of the battle unfold before her, and then realized that the tall, imposing man in the gladiator helmet had vanished from her sight. She began to look around for him, but could see no trace, until a heavy hand grasped her by the shoulder.
"You will be coming with me now, Alison," she looked up to see the man's cold gray eyes and cried out in terror. She reached up a hand to push the man away, and concentrated on the energy that she had allowed to build up inside of her. A beam of bright white light flashed forth from her hand, solidly connecting with the costumed man's shoulder, knocking him back a few steps. Alison scrambled to her feet, backing away from the now very angry Magneto, firing off another burst of light with her hands. Through her headphones, she could vaguely make out the sound of sirens filling the air. The foe she had been fighting looked at the police, then back at Alison. "I will be returning for you," he stated quite simply before levitating off the ground and moving through the night sky to escape. She turned back to look at the battlefield, at the now-defeated four young men who had driven her here from the concert, all of them laying on the grass, rubbing various wounds. The four costumed mutants approached her.
"Hi," the girl with a light complexion and brown hair said, "I'm Kitty... I know you've been through a lot tonight, and I understand if you refuse, but we'd like to invite you back to our place... to explain everything that happened tonight to you." Alison just stared at the girl, openmouthed.
"After everything that's happened, you want me to just trust you," she said, "how do I know that they weren't trying to protect me from being kidnaped by you?!" Her voice was raising higher, her hands were now trembling in a mix of fear and rage.
"You don't know that," Kitty replied, a frown distorting her face, "you'd just have to trust us."
"No, I'm through trusting," Alison said, shrinking back.
"Listen, if you change your mind... here's where you can find us," Kitty said, handing Alison a card, "Kurt, let's get out of here." The blue furred boy put his arms around his teammates shoulders and they all vanished in a puff of pink smoke, accompanied by a "bamf." Alison just stared at the spot where they had stood a few moments before, then headed over to a police car, looking at one of the officers and saying, "I'm ready to go back to the arena now."
The officer pushed up his cap to get a better look at Alison. She was clearly shaken by the events of the past few moments, "What about these hoods?" he gestured at the Brotherhood.
"Let them go," she said, "they didn't do anything to me. The four who just disappeared didn't try anything, either, I don't want to press any charges. I just want to return to my friends."
"Very well, Miss Blaire," the police officer nodded, "we'll have to question the boys, and I'm sure the neighbors will wish to charge for disturbing the peace, but if you say that they didn't do anything to do, I believe you." Alison nodded in return, not really knowing if either team of mutants had meant to cause her harm, and wondering if she would ever really know the truth about what had happened that night.
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To Be Continued
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Chapter 8: Confusion
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The X-Van screeched to a halt half a block from the Brotherhood pad, and a few minutes later, Amara, Tabby, Kurt, and Kitty jumped out in their combat uniforms, running down the road toward the Brotherhood Boarding House. Kurt looked a little more than relieved to finally be out of the car that Tabby had been driving.
"I wonder what Lance and the loser gang want with Alison," Tabby said as they moved in.
"Vhatever it is, you can be sure Magneto has a hand in it," Kurt replied.
They stopped on the corner across the street from the ramshackle building that the Brotherhood boys called home, seeing the boys and Alison standing on the front porch. In front of them stood a shadowy figure in a cape, a truly imposing character, and one frighteningly familiar to all of the X-Men.
"Magneto!" Amara cried out, "what's he doing here?"
"I don't know," Kitty said, "he usually lets the Brotherhood do his dirty work!"
"Shouldn't ve vait for back up before moving in against Magneto?" Kurt asked, his yellow eyes darting back and forth among the three girls.
"There's no time for that," Tabby said, a glowing orange ball appearing in her left hand, growing in size by the moment, "we've gotta rescue her... c'mon!" Before anyone else could say anything, Tabby tossed her time bomb across the street, watching as it rolled across the lawn. She led the charge at the Brotherhood house, and the rest of the X-Men could do little but follow.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Todd watched as Magneto moved towards Alison, his gloved hand outstretched toward the blonde-haired pop star. He felt a chill go down his spine, realizing just how afraid she must be, also knowing what kind of man Magneto was, he felt very afraid of her indeed. His fear for his own well being outweighed, that, however. He wasn't going to risk his life for some stranger. His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a familiar soft crackle of energy behind him. He turned, seeing one of Tabby's energy bombs resting on the ground behind him and let out a yelp, leaping on top of Fred's head.
"Uh, fellas, we ain't alone no more!" He cried, attracting the attention of the entire Brotherhood, as well as Magneto, just as the time bomb went off, knocking all of the mutants backwards, Todd taking the worst fall of them all, tumbling off of Fred's head and ending up in Lance's lap, from which he was rather quickly ejected. Magneto looked up and saw the X-Men approaching and a scowl crossed his face.
"Fools," he said, "when will they learn not to interfere?" He stretched out a hand, seizing a nearby parked car and dropping it in the X-Men's path, the glass of all the car's windows shattering as it smashed into the pavement. Shadowcat phased straight through, undeterred. Nightcrawler teleported onto the Brotherhood's lawn, and Tabby and Amara, her body now seemingly encased in fire, took the long way around.
Alison panicked, finding herself now free of Magneto's grasp, but having no where to run for safety. She didn't know who to trust anymore, the Brotherhood and their enigmatic, very frightening, leader Magneto, or this new group of costumed mutants. All that she knew was that she was in very real danger. She reached up with her trembling hands to grab her headphones and place them over her ears, starting her CD but ignoring the music that came out, merely concentrating on building up enough power to defend herself if need be. She watched in shocked silence as the teenager whose name she had learned was Lance outstretched his hand, his eyes rolling back into his head, and the ground began to tremble. A chasm opened up between the costumed mutants and the Brotherhood, underground water pipes surfacing and spilling out onto the lawn. The girl whose body seemed to be entirely engulfed in flames was hurling fireballs at Fred, who seemed to be completely unaffected, laughing and charging at the girl. The boy with the furry blue complexion and long, pointed tail was disappearing and reappearing in puffs of pink smoke, trying to keep up with Pietro, who was running circles around him. She watched the chaos of the battle unfold before her, and then realized that the tall, imposing man in the gladiator helmet had vanished from her sight. She began to look around for him, but could see no trace, until a heavy hand grasped her by the shoulder.
"You will be coming with me now, Alison," she looked up to see the man's cold gray eyes and cried out in terror. She reached up a hand to push the man away, and concentrated on the energy that she had allowed to build up inside of her. A beam of bright white light flashed forth from her hand, solidly connecting with the costumed man's shoulder, knocking him back a few steps. Alison scrambled to her feet, backing away from the now very angry Magneto, firing off another burst of light with her hands. Through her headphones, she could vaguely make out the sound of sirens filling the air. The foe she had been fighting looked at the police, then back at Alison. "I will be returning for you," he stated quite simply before levitating off the ground and moving through the night sky to escape. She turned back to look at the battlefield, at the now-defeated four young men who had driven her here from the concert, all of them laying on the grass, rubbing various wounds. The four costumed mutants approached her.
"Hi," the girl with a light complexion and brown hair said, "I'm Kitty... I know you've been through a lot tonight, and I understand if you refuse, but we'd like to invite you back to our place... to explain everything that happened tonight to you." Alison just stared at the girl, openmouthed.
"After everything that's happened, you want me to just trust you," she said, "how do I know that they weren't trying to protect me from being kidnaped by you?!" Her voice was raising higher, her hands were now trembling in a mix of fear and rage.
"You don't know that," Kitty replied, a frown distorting her face, "you'd just have to trust us."
"No, I'm through trusting," Alison said, shrinking back.
"Listen, if you change your mind... here's where you can find us," Kitty said, handing Alison a card, "Kurt, let's get out of here." The blue furred boy put his arms around his teammates shoulders and they all vanished in a puff of pink smoke, accompanied by a "bamf." Alison just stared at the spot where they had stood a few moments before, then headed over to a police car, looking at one of the officers and saying, "I'm ready to go back to the arena now."
The officer pushed up his cap to get a better look at Alison. She was clearly shaken by the events of the past few moments, "What about these hoods?" he gestured at the Brotherhood.
"Let them go," she said, "they didn't do anything to me. The four who just disappeared didn't try anything, either, I don't want to press any charges. I just want to return to my friends."
"Very well, Miss Blaire," the police officer nodded, "we'll have to question the boys, and I'm sure the neighbors will wish to charge for disturbing the peace, but if you say that they didn't do anything to do, I believe you." Alison nodded in return, not really knowing if either team of mutants had meant to cause her harm, and wondering if she would ever really know the truth about what had happened that night.
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To Be Continued
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