X-Men
Dawn of Destruction
Last Chapter: Wolverine and Rachel pick up Iceman, Rogue, Gambit, and the others from the mall-unaware that they are being followed back to the mansion.
"Cold Feet"
"This will be your room", Storm said, slowly shoving open the soundless, oak door, "Go ahead and get yourself unpacked. You may come down whenever you are ready."
As soon as Storm had let Zee in she was gone. The young girl glanced around the room slowly. It was big enough-bigger than her room back at home. Detracting away the fact that she would probably have to be sharing it with somebody; Zee set her duffel bag down in amusement. The curtains were open, spilling in the sunshine that was only beginning to fall into the sky and splash it with pink pastels and other light colors. She took a seat on the foot of the nearest bed and took a deep, shuddering breath.
Do I really belong here?
The girl wasn't completely sure if this was the right decision. Should she really be cut off from the rest of the world just because she was different? She wasn't going to hurt anybody-she would never do that. Not unless they were causing her or her family harm. Like that night at the movies. . .
She had been hanging out with two of her friends just before going home to the Cerebro II nightmare. Some player had come up, groping her like she were his girl, so she pushed him off. He had shoved her up against the wall and tried to put his hand up her shirt.
"What's wrong baby. . ."
She tried to block the sight out of her mind. She had been so afraid- so frightened. The next thing she knew, there were no hands clutching her. He had disappeared. He was gone. She had ran home-crying-where the rest of the evening's events unfolded.
Zee snapped back to reality as a slight breeze brushed past the window. She began to unpack what little belongings she had. She shoved her five tank-tops and three pairs of jeans into a top drawer and set her Zip-loc bag of toiletries on the dresser. That's when the slam of a door below caught her attention. The peace and quiet of the large mansion was drowned out as what sounded like thousands of excited voices chirped quickly.
"Enough!" came one, distinct gruff voice from the pack, "I want all of you up in your dorm rooms now! Once Storm and I have decided what to do with you we'll call you back down."
The talking ceased, and footsteps began pounding up the stairs. Zee froze, holding her breath. She didn't dare open the door. Was her roommate one of the students that had been sent up? Zee didn't think she was ready to have a run-in with her roommate just yet-she still needed time to interact with the environment and develop a feeling for her surroundings.
Unfortunately, the doorknob to her room twisted and the door flung inward. . .
A skinny, tall red-headed girl entered the room and stopped as she eyed over Zee. Her large, green eyes softened as she flicked a strand of crimson hair from her face, "Hey-uh, are you my roommate?"
"I guess", Zee murmured, standing up and offering her hand, "I'm Zee."
The red-head smiled and took her hand, "Hi Zee, my name is Rachel Summers-I'm a telepath."
"So, what's going on?" Zee asked inquiringly, "Why is everyone in so much trouble? I heard that yell from up here."
"Oh", Rachel replied, realization flickering in her eyes, "You mean Wolverine-some of the younger ones went to the mall and caused a BIG problem-let me tell you. I wasn't with them-thank God. I'm old enough to be in college, so 'hanging' with them just isn't my style, you get me? Anyway, one of them (a real cocky one I might add) caused a huge explosion in the mall and nearly got all of them caught. It's pricks like him that give mutants like us", she sat down at a desk near the window and opened a book as if she were studying, "look bad."
Zee sighed, "Wow."
"I know-a lot of information to process", Rachel laughed, crossing her leather-clad legs, "Anyways, don't worry, you'll fit right in. Today is my first day here too-it's actually not that bad."
Rachel seemed a little confident, and kind of snobby, but Zee decided she was okay. She was almost twenty, so she looked down on most of the other students and practically considered herself one of the true X-Men. Her hair was pretty, Zee decided, nice and shiny, clasping her shoulders and framing a pretty, pale face.
Zee ran her fingers through her own, fine silk black hair and tumbled backward onto the bed. She was extremely tired. This was all a lot to process in the span of two days. Discovering you have a mutant power, being kicked out of your home, and brought to a mutant-training facility overnight was kind of exhausting.
As Rachel peered at the small print in her college-level text-book, the young, tired mutant drifted into soundless snores.
XXXXXXXXXX
Beast felt a strange, wild sensation of nothingness as Professor X raised his hands and clenched his fist. Before he could even tell what was going on, his booted feet were digging into white sands that were glowing in an eerie twilight from the sparkling moon.
Wild, salty waves lapped angrily in the slight, yet wild breezes. As he squinted, he could make out the same young, blond-headed boy comfortable on a large, outstretched rock which was laden in seaweed. He looked back and made them out, a look of panic surged through his face. He looked as if he was going to grab his board and disappear again, but as he stumbled to his feet, he stopped and turned to face them again.
"Where are we?" Beast asked, running his hands through his human hair.
Professor X smiled solemnly, "The northern coast of Hawaii. He always comes here when he's feeling alone. Of course, right now we are back in 1965 right now-when there wasn't a resort built only two feet away and it was a tourist site."
"You mean-he can go anywhere in any time period?" Beast asked, puzzled.
"Yes, and right now, we are not in the present", the Professor said, feeling as if he had to break it down for his comrade, "I told him we are here to help him, and that is why he stopped", he said, sensing Beast's next inquiry.
The boy's taut, bright blue eyes glazed over the two that neared him slowly, "It's okay, Davis. We are not here to hurt you."
The wind whipped the boy's wild, wavy blond hair and he said, "Who are you?"
"I am Professor Xavier-and I run the Xavier Academy for the Gifted", professed the smiling bald man, "And I have noticed you-with no place to go."
The boy stumbled forward, "What are you? Some type of stalker?"
"No-only a watcher", the professor explained, smiling at the boy's look of puzzled-ness, "And I have been watching you for a long time now. I know that you call yourself Slipstream and that you can pass back and forth through time and place. Take my hand", he reached out and smiled, "I can show you a place where you will belong. Where you will be happy."
"I'm not into all this Matrix stuff", the boy dropped his board and lifted his hands, "And why do you want me to hold your hand? Now I know why your school is special." He grabbed his board and turned, leaving the Professor and Beast to stare at a lost prospect. He disinigrated into a purple-like portal quickly.
"What do we do know?"
Professor Xavier didn't even bother to glance up at his friend, "We wait."
XXXXXXXXXX
Sergeant Howard Michaels flickered his steely eyes throughout the military base. His rifle stood obediently at his side in the still, cool night. He glanced over at what he was in charge of. Low-rank security guards. Twenty-years, in the service, only to be put in charge of some under-paid, over-worked security guards who could probably care less if anyone broke inside the experimental lab and took out that mutant.
Michaels remembered nearly ten years ago. The pale, white-faced, burning-red-eyed mutant inside had tried destroying Croatia, to show the world that he was the boss. He called himself Mister Sinister, and he had taken out almost all of Croatia's population and economic needs. An international agreement had been settled that the United States military base would take him in and test on him until his death. It was probably better that he was in charge of these low-rank losers anyhow. If he wasn't, anyone could just stroll on inside.
Working the graveyard shift didn't even phase his home-life. He wasn't married and he didn't have kids.
Turned into just what I frowned upon as a kid.
A workaholic, unmarried, middle-aged loser.
He smiled at a passing officer-much higher in rank than he. That's right, he thought, smile like his little pet. Michaels watched as he was followed by a young Asian woman who he thought was pretty hot, some loser who was wearing sunglasses (even though it was the nighttime), and an old, white-haired man dressed in purple.
He watched as Supervising Officer Ryans saluted the nearby cadets and entered the building. Michaels had no idea why the officer was going inside so late at night-but he was in command and it was none of the Sergeant's business.
The inside of the lab was dark and musty. Mystique frowned beneath her bearded disguise. Those foolish humans outside actually thought she was their commanding officer. She slowly melted away into her true, blue, scaly form. Methane, Magneto, and Cyclops followed behind.
Mystique had to admit-at first Methane annoyed the hell out of her. She hated that another woman had joined the Brotherhood and could've taken place as Magneto's favorite. But, she had to give the young girl appreciation for whipping Cyclops into shape. He did whatever she told him, whenever she told him. The fact that he was Mister Sinister's worst enemy only made it all more ironic. Once Mister Sinister saw that they had Cyclops on a leash, he would join them. He was an expert mutant killer-and Mystique had a good feeling that he would join them, making it only easier to defeat the X-Men.
She turned the corner to find a guard staring at her. His mouth gawked open just before a long, slender blue leg shot out and snapped his jaw. He hit the floor with a dull thud. That's when all the lights went out. Mystique smiled as she was a mass of twirling arms and legs. Surge had cut the lights for the perfect amount of time-because when they came back on, every guard was lying, bruised and beaten, on the floor.
Up ahead was a small, dark cell. She smirked as she looked inside. Mister Sinister's slumped figure was pale, short black hair still chopped to perfection. He turned, his eyes burning in their glowing red color. She could make out his mouth twist into a smirk, "Mystique. . ."
He had tried to kill her years ago. His clan, the Marauders, had been sent to destroy the shape-shifting creature. She had survived the ordeal, and then joined Magneto and the Brotherhood. She smiled smugly- everything was behind her now-a part of her past. She crossed her arms and switched her hips, "Yeah, it's me. I've come to get you out of here."
Suddenly the bars twisted in grotesque angles. Magneto twisted his fist angrily until the metal bars split and Mister Sinister slowly crawled out. He glanced over at Cyclops and anger penetrated through his eyes, "Magneto-what the hell is he doing here?"
Methane smiled and groped her pet, "He's on our side now", she blew a breath into his face, "Aren't you baby?"
"Yes, Master", Cyclops answered mechanically.
Mister Sinister glanced at them all in amusement. Mystique smiled at how pathetic the X-Men's leading man looked, taking orders from a woman half his age. Mister Sinister glanced at them all in approval and said, "What do you want?"
"Talk to me", Magneto said, smirking slightly as the Brotherhood slowly exited the premises through the back, just a screeching alarm went off.
By the time Michaels and his crew made it inside, the only sign left of intrusion was the menacing, twisted metal bars that bordered the empty jail cell.
XXXXXXXXXX
Wolverine sat, arms crossed, on the kitchen counter. Storm and Nightcrawler sat before him, Nightcrawler sipping on a cup of tea and Storm shutting her eyes in concentration every so often. Wolverine had filled them both in on how the students had maimed the mall. Luckily nobody was killed-a couple of security guards had broken limbs, but other than that, everything was okay.
"So Remy just blew it up?" Storm was still trying to grasp the full concept, "Just like that?"
Wolverine shook his head in disappointment, "Yep."
"And then he, Bobby, and Rogue", Storm started, "Just ran off and left Danielle and Neal to fend for themselves?"
"I don't think they knew that the security guards were going to attack, but yeah, that's pretty much what happened."
Storm closed her eyes once again in concentration, "Well, now the teenage chapter of the H.S.A.M.F. knows their faces and if they find out where the school is-it could be their next target."
"Vell I don't think Kitty, Jubilee, Amara, or Betsy should be punished", Nightcrawler put in, "I think they vere just trying to shop."
Storm nodded, "For the next two months, the other five will simply have to clean the Danger Room."
"And shine my boots", Wolverine added.
"And they should have to wash the Blackbird for the next six months", Nightcrawler added, "That vas very dangerous vhat they did-the punishment cannot be light."
"I agree", Storm replied, "So their punishment is two months of Danger Room duty, six months of cleaning the Blackbird, and doing Logan's laundry?"
Nightcrawler and Wolverine nodded. Storm took a deep breath and slightly slouched back in her seat, "Don't call them down just yet-let's just enjoy these sacred moments of peace."
XXXXXXXXXX
Psylocke took a deep breath as she watched Danielle pace around the room. Jubilee sat next to her, munching on some popcorn. Amara and Kitty were thumbing through some teen magazine, drooling over the latest cutie. As soon as Wolverine had sent them all up to their rooms, the rest of the girls-besides Rogue-had met up in hers and Danielle's dorm.
"I'm sure it'll be okay", Psylocke tried to convince her worried friend.
Danielle shuddered, "It's my first day and I'm already screwed! I'll bet none of the other students here act as irresponsible as we did!"
"Don't worry about it", Psylocke murmured, digging into Jubilee's bag of buttered popcorn.
"Yeah", Jubilee munched through bits of flying butter, "Wolvy is cool- he won't go too hard on you."
"Sure", agreed Kitty, from her seat next to Amara, "You're lucky it wasn't Cyclops who caught you-then you'd be in trouble. I remember this one time, when. . ."
Psylocke ignored the rest of what seemed like a pointless story to put a reassuring hand on Danielle's pacing shoulder, "Please, do not worry about it. Seriously, you had to get out of the mall-they weren't gonna let you go."
"I guess you're right", Danielle said, taking a seat on the bed next to her friend, "It wasn't my fault. Everything is going to be o-kay."
Her last remark was swallowed up as Kitty blasted up the radio Psylocke had packed and brought to the school with her other belongings. Kitty and Amara jumped up and began dancing to some random boy band and Psylocke shot Moonstar a pained look of terror.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Do ya'll think we're in trouble?" Rogue asked, playing with a strand of the long, white streak in her hair, "I mean, would Logan really go that hard on us?"
"I don't know the guy", Gambit murmured, pulling out a cigarette and glaring at Neal, "Hey, solar-energy fire boy, give me a light."
Thunderbird rolled his eyes from his spot at Iceman's desk, "First of all, there's no smoking allowed in the dorms. Second of all, it's nighttime, so where do you expect me to pull out my power? A hat?"
Gambit sneered at him and shoved the cigarette back into its case and jammed the carton back into his pocket, "This place sucks."
"Hey, it gave you a place to go", Bobby snapped, not bothering to look up from the Motocross magazine he was thumbing through.
Gambit just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Rogue gripped Gambit's bedspread to relieve the tension that was racing through her veins. Thunderbird eyed over Gambit once more, before returning to a story he was hand-writing in his free time. Gambit sneered at him angrily then smirked over at Rogue.
"Hey", he said into her ear so that Iceman couldn't hear, "Is there anybody in your room?"
Rogue smiled at the prospect of being alone with Gambit. Kitty had gone into Psylocke's room to hang out with the rest of the girls. Gambit was such a rebel. He was misunderstood-just like her.
Too bad I can't even touch him.
Rogue shook her head and murmured, "Nope-ain't nobody in my room right now. 'Cept maybe you an' me."
Gambit smiled. They both got up at the same time and made their way to the door. Bobby looked up from his magazine immediately. Rogue rolled her eyes-if he said anything she swore to herself that she would slap him. When was he going to let her go? She was over him.
Right?
She shoved the thoughts from her mind and grabbed the doorknob. He needed to stop playing over-protective ex-boyfriend. Did he think he was some kind of hero because he had caught her in the parking lot earlier when Neal's powers had gone out of control? She rolled her eyes and yanked the door open.
"Where are you two going?" Bobby asked, his voice trembling-from anger most-likely.
Gambit ignored the question and exited into the hall. Rogue turned and crossed her arms.
"We're goin' to mah room, as if it's any of your business."
"Uh-why?" Bobby asked, tossing his legs over the bed and throwing his magazine to the floor.
"Because we can't possibly have sex in front of you two", Rogue joked, just to get under his skin.
Bobby jumped up. Fear and anger was etched in those icy blue eyes and the room suddenly got extremely cold. Rogue smirked to herself.
Works every time. "Whatsa matter, Frosty?" Gambit asked, glancing back into the room only to wrap his arm around Rogue's heavily clothed shoulder, "Your hands too cold to stroke the pointy icicle?"
Rogue gasped to smother to laughter she felt coming on. She knew she shouldn't be laughing at such a perverse joke-especially when it was directed towards someone she was so close to, but she couldn't help it. Bobby's hands reverberated in anger, and the room got even colder. Neal gasped as the freeze took him over.
"Later", Gambit said, leading Rogue out into the hallway.
Bobby followed the two angrily. Gambit rolled his eyes and kept walking. Bobby glared at his enemy's retreating feet. He bent down and gently shoved his palm into the floor-concentrating all of his energy. Suddenly, a long, narrow, jagged line of glassy ice made its way slowly-yet rapidly-across the hardwood floor. It snaked along until it reached Gambit's feet. The ice worked its way around his left foot, then smiled around his right. Gambit grunted in annoyance as he could no longer move.
"What the. . ." he turned awkwardly to glare at the Iceman, "You stupid punk!"
He started talking quickly and angrily in Cajun. Rogue turned and threw daggers at Bobby with her eyes. Iceman smiled, shrugging, and retreating back to his room, leaving an angry ex-girlfriend and a cocky Cajun iced to the floor.
Rogue stormed in after him, "What do you think you're doing?"
Iceman ignored her and plastered himself across his bed, grabbing his magazine and thumbing through it again. Rogue grabbed her glove, preparing to yank it off and clench his face-watching his veins swell as she sucked all of his energy. She stopped herself before she could yank the first nylon strip off of her right arm.
Control your temper.
That's one thing you need to do with a power like yours-control your temper.
Rogue gave one last disgusted glance at Bobby, who sat on his bed with one eyebrow arched in satisfaction. She turned and retreated back out into the hallway. Neal smirked and silently applauded his friend. Bobby listened as Gambit grunted in angry displeasure.
It was music to his ears.
A/n: Well, what did you think? Review! Next chapter will be up probably tomorrow or the next day. Does anybody know who created the Sentinels? I used to know, but I forgot, so could someone e-mail me or tell me in their review? Thanks-I'm planning to do my next story in this section about the Sentinels attacking. Next chapter will feature Synch and Polaris.
Coming Soon:
X-Men: The Movie Section:
Operation: Zero Tolerance (Mid-June)
Dawn of Destruction
Last Chapter: Wolverine and Rachel pick up Iceman, Rogue, Gambit, and the others from the mall-unaware that they are being followed back to the mansion.
"Cold Feet"
"This will be your room", Storm said, slowly shoving open the soundless, oak door, "Go ahead and get yourself unpacked. You may come down whenever you are ready."
As soon as Storm had let Zee in she was gone. The young girl glanced around the room slowly. It was big enough-bigger than her room back at home. Detracting away the fact that she would probably have to be sharing it with somebody; Zee set her duffel bag down in amusement. The curtains were open, spilling in the sunshine that was only beginning to fall into the sky and splash it with pink pastels and other light colors. She took a seat on the foot of the nearest bed and took a deep, shuddering breath.
Do I really belong here?
The girl wasn't completely sure if this was the right decision. Should she really be cut off from the rest of the world just because she was different? She wasn't going to hurt anybody-she would never do that. Not unless they were causing her or her family harm. Like that night at the movies. . .
She had been hanging out with two of her friends just before going home to the Cerebro II nightmare. Some player had come up, groping her like she were his girl, so she pushed him off. He had shoved her up against the wall and tried to put his hand up her shirt.
"What's wrong baby. . ."
She tried to block the sight out of her mind. She had been so afraid- so frightened. The next thing she knew, there were no hands clutching her. He had disappeared. He was gone. She had ran home-crying-where the rest of the evening's events unfolded.
Zee snapped back to reality as a slight breeze brushed past the window. She began to unpack what little belongings she had. She shoved her five tank-tops and three pairs of jeans into a top drawer and set her Zip-loc bag of toiletries on the dresser. That's when the slam of a door below caught her attention. The peace and quiet of the large mansion was drowned out as what sounded like thousands of excited voices chirped quickly.
"Enough!" came one, distinct gruff voice from the pack, "I want all of you up in your dorm rooms now! Once Storm and I have decided what to do with you we'll call you back down."
The talking ceased, and footsteps began pounding up the stairs. Zee froze, holding her breath. She didn't dare open the door. Was her roommate one of the students that had been sent up? Zee didn't think she was ready to have a run-in with her roommate just yet-she still needed time to interact with the environment and develop a feeling for her surroundings.
Unfortunately, the doorknob to her room twisted and the door flung inward. . .
A skinny, tall red-headed girl entered the room and stopped as she eyed over Zee. Her large, green eyes softened as she flicked a strand of crimson hair from her face, "Hey-uh, are you my roommate?"
"I guess", Zee murmured, standing up and offering her hand, "I'm Zee."
The red-head smiled and took her hand, "Hi Zee, my name is Rachel Summers-I'm a telepath."
"So, what's going on?" Zee asked inquiringly, "Why is everyone in so much trouble? I heard that yell from up here."
"Oh", Rachel replied, realization flickering in her eyes, "You mean Wolverine-some of the younger ones went to the mall and caused a BIG problem-let me tell you. I wasn't with them-thank God. I'm old enough to be in college, so 'hanging' with them just isn't my style, you get me? Anyway, one of them (a real cocky one I might add) caused a huge explosion in the mall and nearly got all of them caught. It's pricks like him that give mutants like us", she sat down at a desk near the window and opened a book as if she were studying, "look bad."
Zee sighed, "Wow."
"I know-a lot of information to process", Rachel laughed, crossing her leather-clad legs, "Anyways, don't worry, you'll fit right in. Today is my first day here too-it's actually not that bad."
Rachel seemed a little confident, and kind of snobby, but Zee decided she was okay. She was almost twenty, so she looked down on most of the other students and practically considered herself one of the true X-Men. Her hair was pretty, Zee decided, nice and shiny, clasping her shoulders and framing a pretty, pale face.
Zee ran her fingers through her own, fine silk black hair and tumbled backward onto the bed. She was extremely tired. This was all a lot to process in the span of two days. Discovering you have a mutant power, being kicked out of your home, and brought to a mutant-training facility overnight was kind of exhausting.
As Rachel peered at the small print in her college-level text-book, the young, tired mutant drifted into soundless snores.
XXXXXXXXXX
Beast felt a strange, wild sensation of nothingness as Professor X raised his hands and clenched his fist. Before he could even tell what was going on, his booted feet were digging into white sands that were glowing in an eerie twilight from the sparkling moon.
Wild, salty waves lapped angrily in the slight, yet wild breezes. As he squinted, he could make out the same young, blond-headed boy comfortable on a large, outstretched rock which was laden in seaweed. He looked back and made them out, a look of panic surged through his face. He looked as if he was going to grab his board and disappear again, but as he stumbled to his feet, he stopped and turned to face them again.
"Where are we?" Beast asked, running his hands through his human hair.
Professor X smiled solemnly, "The northern coast of Hawaii. He always comes here when he's feeling alone. Of course, right now we are back in 1965 right now-when there wasn't a resort built only two feet away and it was a tourist site."
"You mean-he can go anywhere in any time period?" Beast asked, puzzled.
"Yes, and right now, we are not in the present", the Professor said, feeling as if he had to break it down for his comrade, "I told him we are here to help him, and that is why he stopped", he said, sensing Beast's next inquiry.
The boy's taut, bright blue eyes glazed over the two that neared him slowly, "It's okay, Davis. We are not here to hurt you."
The wind whipped the boy's wild, wavy blond hair and he said, "Who are you?"
"I am Professor Xavier-and I run the Xavier Academy for the Gifted", professed the smiling bald man, "And I have noticed you-with no place to go."
The boy stumbled forward, "What are you? Some type of stalker?"
"No-only a watcher", the professor explained, smiling at the boy's look of puzzled-ness, "And I have been watching you for a long time now. I know that you call yourself Slipstream and that you can pass back and forth through time and place. Take my hand", he reached out and smiled, "I can show you a place where you will belong. Where you will be happy."
"I'm not into all this Matrix stuff", the boy dropped his board and lifted his hands, "And why do you want me to hold your hand? Now I know why your school is special." He grabbed his board and turned, leaving the Professor and Beast to stare at a lost prospect. He disinigrated into a purple-like portal quickly.
"What do we do know?"
Professor Xavier didn't even bother to glance up at his friend, "We wait."
XXXXXXXXXX
Sergeant Howard Michaels flickered his steely eyes throughout the military base. His rifle stood obediently at his side in the still, cool night. He glanced over at what he was in charge of. Low-rank security guards. Twenty-years, in the service, only to be put in charge of some under-paid, over-worked security guards who could probably care less if anyone broke inside the experimental lab and took out that mutant.
Michaels remembered nearly ten years ago. The pale, white-faced, burning-red-eyed mutant inside had tried destroying Croatia, to show the world that he was the boss. He called himself Mister Sinister, and he had taken out almost all of Croatia's population and economic needs. An international agreement had been settled that the United States military base would take him in and test on him until his death. It was probably better that he was in charge of these low-rank losers anyhow. If he wasn't, anyone could just stroll on inside.
Working the graveyard shift didn't even phase his home-life. He wasn't married and he didn't have kids.
Turned into just what I frowned upon as a kid.
A workaholic, unmarried, middle-aged loser.
He smiled at a passing officer-much higher in rank than he. That's right, he thought, smile like his little pet. Michaels watched as he was followed by a young Asian woman who he thought was pretty hot, some loser who was wearing sunglasses (even though it was the nighttime), and an old, white-haired man dressed in purple.
He watched as Supervising Officer Ryans saluted the nearby cadets and entered the building. Michaels had no idea why the officer was going inside so late at night-but he was in command and it was none of the Sergeant's business.
The inside of the lab was dark and musty. Mystique frowned beneath her bearded disguise. Those foolish humans outside actually thought she was their commanding officer. She slowly melted away into her true, blue, scaly form. Methane, Magneto, and Cyclops followed behind.
Mystique had to admit-at first Methane annoyed the hell out of her. She hated that another woman had joined the Brotherhood and could've taken place as Magneto's favorite. But, she had to give the young girl appreciation for whipping Cyclops into shape. He did whatever she told him, whenever she told him. The fact that he was Mister Sinister's worst enemy only made it all more ironic. Once Mister Sinister saw that they had Cyclops on a leash, he would join them. He was an expert mutant killer-and Mystique had a good feeling that he would join them, making it only easier to defeat the X-Men.
She turned the corner to find a guard staring at her. His mouth gawked open just before a long, slender blue leg shot out and snapped his jaw. He hit the floor with a dull thud. That's when all the lights went out. Mystique smiled as she was a mass of twirling arms and legs. Surge had cut the lights for the perfect amount of time-because when they came back on, every guard was lying, bruised and beaten, on the floor.
Up ahead was a small, dark cell. She smirked as she looked inside. Mister Sinister's slumped figure was pale, short black hair still chopped to perfection. He turned, his eyes burning in their glowing red color. She could make out his mouth twist into a smirk, "Mystique. . ."
He had tried to kill her years ago. His clan, the Marauders, had been sent to destroy the shape-shifting creature. She had survived the ordeal, and then joined Magneto and the Brotherhood. She smiled smugly- everything was behind her now-a part of her past. She crossed her arms and switched her hips, "Yeah, it's me. I've come to get you out of here."
Suddenly the bars twisted in grotesque angles. Magneto twisted his fist angrily until the metal bars split and Mister Sinister slowly crawled out. He glanced over at Cyclops and anger penetrated through his eyes, "Magneto-what the hell is he doing here?"
Methane smiled and groped her pet, "He's on our side now", she blew a breath into his face, "Aren't you baby?"
"Yes, Master", Cyclops answered mechanically.
Mister Sinister glanced at them all in amusement. Mystique smiled at how pathetic the X-Men's leading man looked, taking orders from a woman half his age. Mister Sinister glanced at them all in approval and said, "What do you want?"
"Talk to me", Magneto said, smirking slightly as the Brotherhood slowly exited the premises through the back, just a screeching alarm went off.
By the time Michaels and his crew made it inside, the only sign left of intrusion was the menacing, twisted metal bars that bordered the empty jail cell.
XXXXXXXXXX
Wolverine sat, arms crossed, on the kitchen counter. Storm and Nightcrawler sat before him, Nightcrawler sipping on a cup of tea and Storm shutting her eyes in concentration every so often. Wolverine had filled them both in on how the students had maimed the mall. Luckily nobody was killed-a couple of security guards had broken limbs, but other than that, everything was okay.
"So Remy just blew it up?" Storm was still trying to grasp the full concept, "Just like that?"
Wolverine shook his head in disappointment, "Yep."
"And then he, Bobby, and Rogue", Storm started, "Just ran off and left Danielle and Neal to fend for themselves?"
"I don't think they knew that the security guards were going to attack, but yeah, that's pretty much what happened."
Storm closed her eyes once again in concentration, "Well, now the teenage chapter of the H.S.A.M.F. knows their faces and if they find out where the school is-it could be their next target."
"Vell I don't think Kitty, Jubilee, Amara, or Betsy should be punished", Nightcrawler put in, "I think they vere just trying to shop."
Storm nodded, "For the next two months, the other five will simply have to clean the Danger Room."
"And shine my boots", Wolverine added.
"And they should have to wash the Blackbird for the next six months", Nightcrawler added, "That vas very dangerous vhat they did-the punishment cannot be light."
"I agree", Storm replied, "So their punishment is two months of Danger Room duty, six months of cleaning the Blackbird, and doing Logan's laundry?"
Nightcrawler and Wolverine nodded. Storm took a deep breath and slightly slouched back in her seat, "Don't call them down just yet-let's just enjoy these sacred moments of peace."
XXXXXXXXXX
Psylocke took a deep breath as she watched Danielle pace around the room. Jubilee sat next to her, munching on some popcorn. Amara and Kitty were thumbing through some teen magazine, drooling over the latest cutie. As soon as Wolverine had sent them all up to their rooms, the rest of the girls-besides Rogue-had met up in hers and Danielle's dorm.
"I'm sure it'll be okay", Psylocke tried to convince her worried friend.
Danielle shuddered, "It's my first day and I'm already screwed! I'll bet none of the other students here act as irresponsible as we did!"
"Don't worry about it", Psylocke murmured, digging into Jubilee's bag of buttered popcorn.
"Yeah", Jubilee munched through bits of flying butter, "Wolvy is cool- he won't go too hard on you."
"Sure", agreed Kitty, from her seat next to Amara, "You're lucky it wasn't Cyclops who caught you-then you'd be in trouble. I remember this one time, when. . ."
Psylocke ignored the rest of what seemed like a pointless story to put a reassuring hand on Danielle's pacing shoulder, "Please, do not worry about it. Seriously, you had to get out of the mall-they weren't gonna let you go."
"I guess you're right", Danielle said, taking a seat on the bed next to her friend, "It wasn't my fault. Everything is going to be o-kay."
Her last remark was swallowed up as Kitty blasted up the radio Psylocke had packed and brought to the school with her other belongings. Kitty and Amara jumped up and began dancing to some random boy band and Psylocke shot Moonstar a pained look of terror.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Do ya'll think we're in trouble?" Rogue asked, playing with a strand of the long, white streak in her hair, "I mean, would Logan really go that hard on us?"
"I don't know the guy", Gambit murmured, pulling out a cigarette and glaring at Neal, "Hey, solar-energy fire boy, give me a light."
Thunderbird rolled his eyes from his spot at Iceman's desk, "First of all, there's no smoking allowed in the dorms. Second of all, it's nighttime, so where do you expect me to pull out my power? A hat?"
Gambit sneered at him and shoved the cigarette back into its case and jammed the carton back into his pocket, "This place sucks."
"Hey, it gave you a place to go", Bobby snapped, not bothering to look up from the Motocross magazine he was thumbing through.
Gambit just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Rogue gripped Gambit's bedspread to relieve the tension that was racing through her veins. Thunderbird eyed over Gambit once more, before returning to a story he was hand-writing in his free time. Gambit sneered at him angrily then smirked over at Rogue.
"Hey", he said into her ear so that Iceman couldn't hear, "Is there anybody in your room?"
Rogue smiled at the prospect of being alone with Gambit. Kitty had gone into Psylocke's room to hang out with the rest of the girls. Gambit was such a rebel. He was misunderstood-just like her.
Too bad I can't even touch him.
Rogue shook her head and murmured, "Nope-ain't nobody in my room right now. 'Cept maybe you an' me."
Gambit smiled. They both got up at the same time and made their way to the door. Bobby looked up from his magazine immediately. Rogue rolled her eyes-if he said anything she swore to herself that she would slap him. When was he going to let her go? She was over him.
Right?
She shoved the thoughts from her mind and grabbed the doorknob. He needed to stop playing over-protective ex-boyfriend. Did he think he was some kind of hero because he had caught her in the parking lot earlier when Neal's powers had gone out of control? She rolled her eyes and yanked the door open.
"Where are you two going?" Bobby asked, his voice trembling-from anger most-likely.
Gambit ignored the question and exited into the hall. Rogue turned and crossed her arms.
"We're goin' to mah room, as if it's any of your business."
"Uh-why?" Bobby asked, tossing his legs over the bed and throwing his magazine to the floor.
"Because we can't possibly have sex in front of you two", Rogue joked, just to get under his skin.
Bobby jumped up. Fear and anger was etched in those icy blue eyes and the room suddenly got extremely cold. Rogue smirked to herself.
Works every time. "Whatsa matter, Frosty?" Gambit asked, glancing back into the room only to wrap his arm around Rogue's heavily clothed shoulder, "Your hands too cold to stroke the pointy icicle?"
Rogue gasped to smother to laughter she felt coming on. She knew she shouldn't be laughing at such a perverse joke-especially when it was directed towards someone she was so close to, but she couldn't help it. Bobby's hands reverberated in anger, and the room got even colder. Neal gasped as the freeze took him over.
"Later", Gambit said, leading Rogue out into the hallway.
Bobby followed the two angrily. Gambit rolled his eyes and kept walking. Bobby glared at his enemy's retreating feet. He bent down and gently shoved his palm into the floor-concentrating all of his energy. Suddenly, a long, narrow, jagged line of glassy ice made its way slowly-yet rapidly-across the hardwood floor. It snaked along until it reached Gambit's feet. The ice worked its way around his left foot, then smiled around his right. Gambit grunted in annoyance as he could no longer move.
"What the. . ." he turned awkwardly to glare at the Iceman, "You stupid punk!"
He started talking quickly and angrily in Cajun. Rogue turned and threw daggers at Bobby with her eyes. Iceman smiled, shrugging, and retreating back to his room, leaving an angry ex-girlfriend and a cocky Cajun iced to the floor.
Rogue stormed in after him, "What do you think you're doing?"
Iceman ignored her and plastered himself across his bed, grabbing his magazine and thumbing through it again. Rogue grabbed her glove, preparing to yank it off and clench his face-watching his veins swell as she sucked all of his energy. She stopped herself before she could yank the first nylon strip off of her right arm.
Control your temper.
That's one thing you need to do with a power like yours-control your temper.
Rogue gave one last disgusted glance at Bobby, who sat on his bed with one eyebrow arched in satisfaction. She turned and retreated back out into the hallway. Neal smirked and silently applauded his friend. Bobby listened as Gambit grunted in angry displeasure.
It was music to his ears.
A/n: Well, what did you think? Review! Next chapter will be up probably tomorrow or the next day. Does anybody know who created the Sentinels? I used to know, but I forgot, so could someone e-mail me or tell me in their review? Thanks-I'm planning to do my next story in this section about the Sentinels attacking. Next chapter will feature Synch and Polaris.
Coming Soon:
X-Men: The Movie Section:
Operation: Zero Tolerance (Mid-June)