Chaotic Boredom: SHEEE'S BACK! YAY :)
Chapter 22: The Acolytes Show Their
Faces At Last... Boomer is Born
All too soon, in the humble opinion of the X-Men and New Mutants, school began again. As soon as they entered the building, they were greeted by a hailstorm of insults, put-downs, and occasionally, more physical forms of abuse.
Kyle had it particularly bad, not being able to see the feet until he hit them. People quickly became fond of tripping the blind mutant martial artist. However, when he finally had had enough, and turned a trip, which had been accompanied by a shove, into a triple handspring, people quickly remembered that, blind he may be, but he could probably take down any four members of the varsity football team.
The mutant teenagers ignored the harassment of their peers marvelously... or at least, the X-Men did. The Brotherhood had a little more difficulty doing so. Out of all of them, it seemed that only Lance had enough self-control to ignore the insults thrown his way. And the occasional tremors pointed out that even that was fraying.
First period was no better, as the teachers went out of their way to make the mutant's lives miserable. Through it all, the young mutants ignored the slings and arrows of their peers. However, when lunch came around, some of the young mutant teens gathered at a table outside, and ranted
"I swear, if I hear one more person mutter 'Muttie' I'm going to drop the roof on their head." Said Lance. Really, Scott was rather impressed the earthshaking mutant hadn't lost his cool yet.
Kyle simply sat on the ground in a half lotus, his eyes closed. "Lose your temper at them, Lance, and you reduce yourself to their level, and you make all they say about mutants right in their eyes. Instead, do what they do not expect of you; be calm. Take their insults, and turn your other cheek. Walk past them, and ignore their jibes, and be as the rock in the stream. For while the stream rushes by the rock, taunting it with its waves and moisture, the rock stands it's ground, never responding to the rush of the stream."
Amara looked over at Kyle from where she was eating, "Since when did you start to spill anecdote's? You sound like Sensei."
Kyle chuckled. "I'm actually quoting what he told me just this morning. Afraid I'd lose my temper."
The X-Men chuckled at that, knowing that Kyle's temper could be worse than Wolverine's when the right button's got pushed.
Their laughter was abruptly cut off by the floating to the ground of a card, glowing with energy. As the card, the Suicide King, hit the table, Rogue's eyes widened.
"MOVE!" She called. The X-Men responded, and it was their training alone that saved them from being thrown by the exploding table. As Principle Kelly walked over, his face barely concealing his joy at getting these mutants out of his school for that stunt, Gambit jumped to where the table had once stood from a nearby tree.
"Ahh... Mon chere, ye gon 'n ruin Gambit's su'prise."
The X-Men turned to glare at the Acolyte, as Kelly watched, his face surprised at the boy's arrival. Suddenly, from behind the bleachers, Colossus walked out, and, as Kelly watched, surrounded himself in his metallic armor. The X-Men's jaws dropped at Lockjaw walked out of the shadows of the trees. "Human's killed mi hermanito because of me. They will never accept us, so we must make them do so."
While this was a shock, the blast of electricity at Kyle shocked them to silence. As Kyle, who had broken his half-lotus with a back flip, landed, they looked at the top of the bleachers to see...
Berserker.
His new uniform was mostly black, with blue lightning bolts running along the fabric in a crisscross pattern.
"Hey guys, let's play." He called to his former teammates, as his hands began to surge with electricity.
Kyle found that he was once again under attack, but not from Berserker, he heard a swishing sound from behind him just in time to roll under the blade. His roll carried him to the rest of the X-Men present, who turned to face the mutant who had attacked him.
When Rogue first saw her, she saw for a split second Risty, and then the differences registered. The hair was black instead of purple, and was in a braid that fell to mid-back. The face was much-more Asian in the specific features, but the build of it was nearly identical to Risty's. Her body, however, had the leanness to it, the sort of deadly grace, the sense of strength without the bulk of muscles, that quiet confidence, and awareness of the surroundings, that were all present in Kyle. Rogue suddenly made the connection; this girl was a martial artist, and a good one. Rogue then registered the girl's eyes; they looked solid white, like they were rolled up into her head.
Berserker smiled, "Meet Psylocke, the first subject to survive the process of being submitted to Magneto's Mind Shell machine."
The X-Men turned to stare at Berserker as the News crews pulled up, and as Principal Kelly and a majority of the student body watched, the battle was joined.
Gambit made the first move again, tossing a few more charged cards at the X-Men, whom all dodged the attack. Kyle made a move towards the rest of the Acolytes, but Psylocke cut off that idea by rushing towards him, her blade extended.
The Students watched, sure that the girl would cut him down. However, at the last second, Kyle spun to the side of the attack, and pressed a button on the end of his cane. From the end of it shot out the other end of a Bo Staff, which he quickly used to block the back swing of Psylocke's blade. The two martial artists quickly built into a flurry of blows, some connecting, but most being blocked or dodged.
Side, diagonal, down, side, diagonal, down... She's trying to build me into a pattern. Kyle realized, after having blocked the same set of three movements four times. He suppressed a grin, even as he ducked past diagonal swing, placing him to Psylocke's left on her down swing. He swung low with his Bo staff, knocking Psylocke's feet out from under her. In that same motion, he planted his staff into the ground, and used it as a pole, swinging around it to land a foot in her face. She flew back a few feet, and then flipped before she even hit the ground. She rushed forward, and the battle continued.
Rogue and Gambit circled, and, as Gambit watched, she reached up, and drew her leather glove from her right hand. "Takin' th' glove's off, mon chere?"
"Yah gonna regret thaht cahd, Cajun."
With that, Rogue rushed the card-tossing mutant, whom dodged out of the way of her charge. She turned as he jumped at her, using his staff to pole vault into her, kicking her chest. She flew back a few feet, and hit the ground in a roll.
"Naw yah really gonna regret thaht." Rogue said, taking the other glove off.
Principal Kelly decided to step in. "Stop this at once, or you will all be expelled."
Rogue didn't even turn to look at the Principal as she spoke. "Ah'd lahve tah, but Magneto's goon's ain't givin us a choice."
Gambit, almost to emphasize her point, threw a card at her. She rolled to the side, tackling Kelly with her shoulder. Before the principle could say a word, the explosion ripped from the card. As Rogue quickly ran at the card-tossing mutant, Kelly realized that, had she not tackled him, the card's blast would have killed him. He watched as Rogue came at the Cajun, and, before he could react, slammed her hand onto his face. He flashed for a second, and then dropped to the ground, unconscious. Rogue brought her hands up to her face, and covered her eyes, shaking her head dazedly.
Principle Kelly made a quick decision, and, confiscating one of the student's sunglasses, tossed them to Rogue.
The sunglasses bounced off her hands, and then fell to the ground at her feet. She bent down, and, feeling what they were, slipped them over her eyes.
"Thahnks." She called out, and then turned to assist Amara against Colossus, tossing various small objects, which now had a tendency to explode on impact, at the metallic monstrosity.
Amara wasn't faring too badly against the metallic mutant, having quickly found that he could withstand a blast of lava without being melted clean through. However, she was having some trouble keeping out the reach of his arms, and she really didn't want to let rip with her full power. While Rogue's help was appreciated, they both knew that they couldn't take him down without Amara using her full power. As Colossus took another swing at Amara, she made her decision. Powering up to her Magma form, her image inducer frying in the process, she blasted the hulking powerhouse in the back with a stream of lava. The blast sent Colossus flying through the air, rolling him along the ground for a few feet, until he finally came to a stop. At that point, he clambered to one knee, and charged at Amara, who sent him flying with another blast.
Lance was having trouble fighting against Lockjaw. It wasn't that he was too powerful; it was that Lance was hesitant to release his powers on the mutant. As Lockjaw came at him again, his teeth gnashing, Lance was caught by a tooth, ripping a tear in his side. He grunted in pain and. as he pressed his hand to his side, he watched the animorphic mutant turn to him, and grin a feral grin.
Kyle could hear Lance's grunt of pain from where he fought
Lockjaw. Realizing what was going on
with the earthshaker, Kyle spoke out to him, even as he flipped Psylocke
through the air with his staff. "Lance, Rock him."
Lance glanced at his blind teammate, "What do you mean?"
Kyle didn't turn his head, "You know what I mean. I know it's hard to do, but if we don't stop them, then who will?"
Lance dodged another attack, "You're the one who said that attacking would just make what people say about mutants true."
Kyle responded to this. "Only if you attack in anger, against those that cannot defend themselves from your assault. If you attack in self-defense, and use only what power you need, then we prove them wrong. We prove that we are human, just like them, only that we need to exercise a little more control." Before Kyle could continue, Psylocke was upon him again.
Lance sidestepped again, being caught in the leg by Lockjaw as he did so. Crying out, Lance dropped to one knee. The kid's right. It isn't right to use my power against those who can't fight back, but I can sure use it against those who can! From his knee, Lance raised his right hand, and his eyes rolled back into his head.
The watching students were amazed as the ground beneath the Crocodile-like man rippled, and, like a wave, carried him into a tree, which it smashed him against, then settled. When the ground dropped back to normal, the croc-man dropped to the ground, nearly unconscious.
Berserker was still standing on top of the bleachers, which Boom-Boom had scaled to stand opposite him. The two mutants squared off, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Boom-Boom lost her cool first, and threw a handful of explosive charges at Berserker. He smirked, and dodged down two sets of seats, letting the blasts fly past him. He then threw his palm at her, throwing a bolt of electricity at the blond bomber.
Boom-Boom saw the blast, and flipped backwards. For once in her life, she thanked her father for making her learn the basics of gymnastics, 'came in use for when your steeling something.' He had said. She found a better use for it in combat.
Berserker rushed her as she landed, and tried to punch her, his fist once again electrified. Tabby, however, was not someone to get caught by the same trick twice, and jumped backwards. As Berserker looked over the edge, he saw that the blond girl had vanished.
"Come on Boom-Boom," again the name sounded like a curse "It isn't like you to run away."
Tabby smiled, "Your right, that isn't Boom-Boom's style," Berserker realized that the voice came from behind him. He turned, just in time to see a handful of Tabby's 'cherry bombs' reach him.
"But I'm not Boom-Boom any more." She said, as the blast caught the electrical mutant in the chest, and knocked him through the air, to land on a tree, unconscious.
The second he fell into unconsciousness, Psylocke stopped fighting. Her eyes rolled back down, showing brown pupils to the amazed X-Men.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Was all she had time to ask before one of Magneto's spheres landed behind her. The tentacles shot out of it, and wrapped around her, dragging her into the depths of the sphere.
As the students watched, the rest of the Acolyte's were collected by similar spheres. The X-Men looked up to find their worst enemy.
Magneto.
"You have done well, X-Men. But this battle is far from over. Know that the war is coming, and you will not stop it." With that warning, Magneto gestured to the spheres, and they, and he himself, flew away.
The rest of the X-Men arrived at that point, and they watched at Boom-Boom worked her way out of the bleachers. She came over to stand in front of the rest of the X-Men, and spoke.
"Look's like Ray joined the Acolyte's."
Cyclops shook his head, "Just our luck."
Kyle spoke up, "Boom-Boom, did you knock Berserker out just before the spheres arrived?"
She looked over at the blind mutant, "Yeah, why?"
"Because I think I know who they used to make the shell for that girl Psylocke. Just before the sphere's arrived, she stopped fighting. Apparently, Ray was the host for the shell."
The rest of the X-Men started to mull that over, when Tabby spoke, "By the way, don't call me Boom-Boom. That's what my father used to call me, and I just stuck with it. But, Berserker made me realize that I'm not the person I was then, and now it's time to sorta, cut the last tie to that time."
Kyle nodded, "Well, don't cut all ties to your past, 'cause that's what makes you who you are."
She nodded, and Cyclops spoke up, "How about Boomer?"
Kitty chuckles, "Yeah, right. Makes her sound like she was born in the Fifties."
Tabby smiled, "I like that, actually."
Amara turned to stare at Kitty as she transformed back to her normal, and now revealed, natural, form. "What do you mean by 'born in the Fifties?'"
