The New Mutants
By: Joey
Disclaimer: Sorry, I don't own these characters, Marvel Comics and I believe KidsWB! (or at least they do for the Evo version) does, and I'm only using the characters for entertainment only, no harm meant.
will be used for Doug/Cypher's language translations.
Chapter 8
"Fallout!"
Previously: In the middle of the night, the team meets a young Russian girl named Illyana Rasputin, and soon they were brought into an adventure in Limbo the magical demon realm where teleporters use as a waystation. With the team's help Illyana freed the realm from the tyranny of Belasco and his henchdemon S'ym. Now, the team is back on the road, with Illyana joining them as Magik!
******
A few days after the Towering Festival, footage of the event and mutant battle that took place in it was finally leaked to the media.
The Xavier Institute Gifted Youngster, Bayville, New York.
"....And so, as you can clearly see from this video footage, the raucous festival was interrupted by a battle between two mutant groups, as well as the blatant destruction of the Tower Structure itself, though this reporter does feel it should be noted that the structure was planned to have been destroyed later on in the festival, it is this reporter's opinion that the mutants seemingly disregard for the safety of non-mutants that is completely unacceptable. This has been a special report by Manoli Wetherall, for Channel 11 news, now back to Trish Tilby in the studio."
The television was shut off, and all was quiet in the study of Professor Charles Xavier. "Sam....why? I trusted you and the others..." he quietly said to himself. He then sent a mental note to his youngest student, Jamie Madrox, who soon walked into the room.
"Um, What do you need me to do sir?" Jamie asked.
"I want you to go find the other students and tell them to go and meet me in the Ready Room, all right?" He told the young boy, who gave a quick nod.
"Yes sir!" Jamie said, and quickly made several copies of himself, each copy went in a separate direction in order to find his fellow school mates.
Xavier wheeled himself out of the room, his mind contemplating what must be done. *I am sorry Samuel.*
******
Once everyone had assembled in full uniform, Xavier spoke.
"Thank you all for coming," he said, "this will be very difficult for me to tell you, but your next mission is going to be very personal, you see....you all are going to go up against your former friends."
"What do you mean Professor?" Scott asked, confused, though he was beginning to understand what the Professor meant.
"I believe this may explain things." Xavier replied, turning on a monitor and showing the group the evening's telecast. "Obviously, it is rather biased against mutants, however the truth of the matter is, is that they acted too rashly, and that innocent people could have gotten hurt. Therefore, I am sending you in to retrieve them, and bring them back."
"But Professor, are you sure we can even find them?" Kitty asked.
Kurt nodded in agreement, "Ja, they could anywhere now!"
Xavier nodded. " I took the time to use cerebro, and I have found their location, and programmed it, and their signature into the X-jet." he replied, "Now, as for mission itself, Scott, you will be in charge, as you are the most qualified, and Logan, Ororo, and Hank are taking care of some business on my behalf."
Scott gave a quick nod. "Yes sir."
"Good, the rest of you will accompany the regular team, for two reasons. Number one, I do not know exactly how many mutants are with them, and two, with Evan currently visiting his family, our primary team's number's have been slightly depleted. However, the exception will be you Jamie, you will be staying here with me, as you are still too young to go on missions."
"Awe...." the young boy said, disappointment obvious in his voice.
"Now then, I am sorry to tell you that I do not have very much information on mutants who seem to be traveling with them, and so I am sorry to leave you all so uninformed, so I want you all to take caution with this mission, Judging from the footage, it would appear that at least one member has enchanced strength powers, so keep that in mind, although I want fighting to be the last option that you consider, I want you all to be very careful, I do not want any repeats of the Wanda incident." Xavier said, as he keyed some commands into the computer. "Speaking of which, Scott, do not underestimate them, they have come a long way from being your underclassmen, and underestimating them could be as dangerous as you're underestimation of the Brotherhood during the Wanda incident."
Scott visibly blanched at the comments. " I won't sir, you will have my guarantee."
Xavier nodded, saying, "Good. I know that you are all familiar enough with powers of Cannonball, Sunspot, Magma, and Wolfsbane from your various training exercises, that you do not need to be briefed on them, but remember, when it comes to their allies, be prepared for anything, especially the unexpected. I wish I could see you all off, however I have to make a very personal phone-call. I will monitor you with Cerebro, however. Meeting adjourned, good luck and godspeed."
******
After their back track in Colorado, the team was back on the highways. Thanks to Illyana's teleportation powers, they made up for lost time by teleporting from Denver to a Nevada desert, their new destination being San Diego, California. During the trip, the team learned to bond with each other, and becoming better at teamwork as they practiced. They helped Illyana during several return trips to Limbo, where she was hailed as a Queen, though the shy girl had turned down the offers of royalty. Doug even helped her speak better English, using his powers of language translation to help her, though he never noticed the jealous looks that Rahne gave him and Illyana. They had also helped Illyana with the transition of demon trainer, as several younger beasts had become her allies now, they were various creatures, young, but rather strong, especially a purple dragon that was among the young horde, and she even found out that her Soul Word had a different affect of magical beings then it did to those of flesh and blood, while it was deadly to a creature of magic, to a human being it had double purpose, it shocked the target, as they first believed themselves to be cut, until the pain came, where it was estimated that it felt like being clubbed over the head by a large metal baseball bat.
It was sundown now, and the desert was cool and quiet, the team had parked for the night, and had their sleeping bags out, ready to sleep out under the stars. Over their short time together, the team had learned to anticipate almost anything, but they were definitely surprised when a jet flew by overhead and landed right in front of them!
"Geez, that thing's big enough to carry the whole dang van in it's cargo hold!" James exclaimed as he watched the jet land.
"Hey Sam..." Roberto said, eyeing the jet. "I think that's..."
"The X-Jet. Ah know Roberto." Sam said, "Looks like we better get ready for a scrap. Suit up everybody! If the worst comes to worst, Ah got a battle plan that should help us out a lot."
With that, the team dispersed, preparing themselves for the worst.
******
Scott landed the jet perfectly, and shut off the engine. "Ok everybody, remember, we're hear to convince them to peacefully come with us, fighting is a last ditch option, all right?"
The others nodded.
"Scott, I'm getting eight mutant signatures from the portable Cerebro." Jean reported.
"Good, at least now we have an idea of what we're up against." Scott said. "Ok everyone move out!"
The others quickly got out of their seats and followed Scott's lead to the outside, where they were greeted with the site of New Mutants in full uniform.
"Wow, they look like a regular X-Force." Kurt joked, trying to lighten the mood, which he slightly succeeded in, as Bobby and Jubilee stifled some laughter.
"I don't know Kurt, like, they don't really have the look of some crazy mutant powered celebrities that the name seems to come with." Kitty offered back, which caused some more stifled laughter.
"Cut the chatter people." Scott chastised, as they approached the team. "Ok, all of you, The Professor saw your little stunt at the Towering Inferno Festival, and he was very disappointed. We haven't come for a fight, but we're here to take you all back with us."
"And what about those of us not affiliated with your school?" Dani asked, " We've never been a part of you people, where does this leave us?"
Scott crossed his arms. "We were instructed to bring you along with us, the Professor has some questions for you people as well." He responded.
"And if we refuse?" James asked, eyeing the large group in front of him. "Then what?"
"If you won't come peacefully we will use force," Scott said, "and we have firepower to bring you in."
"That may be Scott, but you know we're not the type to give up easily." Sam said, giving Illyana a quick signal. "And we're not going to give up our independence, and views!"
"I'm sorry then Sam, because now we're going to have to-What the?!" Scott's speech was cut short as the entire group seemingly vanished into the ground. Before he could give out any type of order, a yell of "All right everybody, go for it!" rang through the air, as the New Mutants rushed the X-men from behind, using Illyana's unorthodox teleportation powers to their advantage.
******
Sam's battle plan was simple. Use Illyana's teleporting "stepping discs" as a surprise tactic, then each member was to isolate an X-man, cutting off their teamwork abilities. Cannonball and Mirage went after Cyclops and Jean Grey, while Wolfsbane and Cypher fought Nightcrawler and Rogue. Meanwhile, Sunspot and Magma attempted to stop Berzerker and Iceman, and Warpath and Magik went up against Jubilee and Shadowcat.
******
Instead of immediately using their mind powers, Dani and Jean began their fight by exchanging blows, Jean using the self-defense skills she learned from the class they all took from Wolverine, while Dani used the skills she learned from her Grandfather and her time with the team. Eventually however, Jean brought out the bug guns, and began to use her telekinetic powers to her advantage, using them to trip up Dani, or shield herself from an attack, or even use it to fling her opponent around. The assault was doing it's job excellently, as it wasn't giving Dani the proper time to concentrate, thereby using her power of drawing out a person's worst fear and bringing it to life in a 3-d construct to hit Jean with a move that could put her out of the time permanently.
Sam however, was having a fair amount of better luck against Cyclops, as the speed of blasting, combined with his protective blast field allowed him to weather the storm of optic blasts that he was constantly bombarded with, however, because of this, he was unable to find a good opening to strike Scott hard with a rocket-assisted attack, so he was stuck diving and turning, in an attempt to both dodge Scott's dangerous optic blasts, while at the same time shake him off so that he could counterattack.
******
"Ach! Why don't ye stand still and fight me!" Rahne growled out at her opponent, Kurt Wagner, codenamed Nightcrawler.
"Nein, fraulien, I rather enjoy this little game of tag!" Kurt replied, dodging or teleporting away from Rahne's attacks.
The young Scottish girl had given up using her full wolf form, as even though it was more agile than her werewolf form, she needed the extra power boost that her transitional form gave her, not mention hands and feet to assist in her fighting. However, no matter how hard she tried, she was only able to land a few or her attacks, as his teleportation skills allowed Kurt to avoid most of offense.
"Neiner, neiner, neiner!" Kurt teased, as he teleported behind Rahne and gave her a swift boot to her backside, before teleporting away once again.
"Ooohhh, Kurt Wagner, when I get my hands on ye...." Rahne growled, her anger started to boil over from her opponents antics.
Meanwhile, Doug and Rogue were involved in a more traditional fistfight, exchanging blows like two trained boxers.
"Ah have to admit, for a scrawny guy, y'all sure can punch hard." Rogue said, " However, right now, Ah'm putting an end to this!" then, she took off her right glove, exposing her bare hand.
"How exactly is taking a glove off supposed to help you in a fight?" Doug asked, getting in a defensive stance. He knew from what the quick explanation from Sam that Rogue could absorb people's strength and powers from physical contact, however he didn't realize that it was skin to skin contact, and thought that Rogue had simply chosen not to use her powers on him.
That mistake cost him, as he was caught off-guard by a feint from Rogue, giving her the opening she needed.
"Argh!" Doug yelled out in pain, as he felt his strength being sapped from as Rogue's hand met his cheek. He fell down to his hands and knees, seeing Rogue standing over him in the corner of his eye.
*Bad luck Ramsey!* He thought to himself. *Looks like you're in big trouble now!*
******
From the moment they first met, Roberto Da Costa and Ray Crisp didn't like one another. Ray had thought Roberto was too egotistical and vain, while Roberto believed Ray to be nothing more than street rat who got lucky. Now, they were finally able to settle their differences in the way they always wanted to, extremely violently.
Roberto had gotten an early edge, using his solar enchanced strength to knock Berzerker for a loop, however his overconfidence left him open for a devastating counterattack, when Ray unleashed several high-powered lightning bolts from hands, which caused Roberto to double over in pain.
"Not so hot now, huh Sunspot?" Ray taunted, "You don't have your money to flaunt or any of the teacher's to interupt our fight this time. I always knew you were soft deep down."
Roberto struggled to get up, his left hand clutching his forehead, even though the sun's rays could increase his strength, he was still vulnerable to attacks as any regular person. "Why....don't you just shut up...street Rat!" he spat out, hoping to goad Ray into losing his temper and making a mistake.
"You never learn do you Da Costa? I was a Morlock, a member of the toughest streetgang of mutants in New York, you don't talk down to us!" Ray yelled out, sending another massive electric discharge Roberto's way, who screamed out in pain.
Meanwhile, Amara and Bobby had fully powered up, and were sending out streams of pure hot and cold at one another, neither one willing to lose the advantage they needed in order to win, though Amara knew very well that she could summon a volcanic geyser up from the ground, which would help her win, however such an act could damage the tectonic plates, if she weren't careful another, and the lava flow could sverely hurt Iceman, which was something she definetely did not want to do.
******
Jubilation Lee knew that she wouldn't be very successful in a straight up fight with her opponent, the incredibly strong (and rather cute, she observed) James Proudstar, so she used her mutant power of generating firework style plasmoids, almost like sparks in their appearance, a different way. To blind.
James had been flashed several times already, and he was getting sick of it, he got another face full of rainbow light and shot out an Apache curse he'd heard from his older brother Jon once. *Stupid girl! Those lights may not be the strongest thing around, but with her constantly shooting me in the face, I can't see a blasted thing, and that's leaving me open!* he thought to himself as he took a wild swing, and missed by a mile. Jubilee meanwhile, took the opportunity to get in a few punches to his gut before giving him another face full of sparks.
Illyana wasn't faring much better, her opponent could phase herself causing whatever attacks Illyana used to harmlessly go right through, even her Soul Sword wasn't having any affect! *I must think of a plan!* she thought, rolling to dodge a sneak attack by Shadowcat, who had phased through the ground and had come up from behind her, hoping to catch Magik by surprise. *Surprise! That's it!* Illyana thought to herself, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Nightcrawler teleporting once more avoid an attack by Wolfsbane. In an instant she created a stepping disc in Limbo, where it awaited Kurt, since her stepping discs were even quicker than Kurt's bamfs.
******
Kurt Wagner had no idea how he ended up where he ended up. He teleported just like normal, however instead of reappearing behind Rahne as he had intended, he flew straight into Jubilee! The collision then started a chain reaction, as he sparks went haywire, flying about into the faces of both Iceman and Shadowcat, stunning the latter into de-phasing, and causing the former accidentally move his Ice-beam under his teammate and best friend Berzerker, causing him to slip up. Now a great majority of the X-men were vulnerable, and the New Mutants didn't waste the chance they had.
Rahne quickly pounced onto Kurt, her claws to strike at the Fuzzy Elf, while Warpath and wound up and punched Jubilee hard, sending her flying back, and giving her a one-way ticket to dreamland. Sunspot, also used his chance to deliver a vicious punch combo to Berzerker, a punch to the gut, followed by a hard uppercut to the head, Ray was out of it before he hit the ground.
Magma quickly sent a blast of heat at Iceman, sending him flying back, while Illyana teleported behind the stunned Shadowcat and whacked her hard with the Soul Sword, knocking Kitty to her knees.
******
Rogue was ready to finish her opponent off, so she drew into the small amount of Doug's powers, and summoned it, however, she wasn't prepared for nothing to happen!
"What's goin' on? Why aren't your powers working?!" Rogue said aloud, confused.
*Alright! Who knew my powers would actually save my butt!* Doug thought, before responding in Latin Do you speak Latin?
Of course I don't speak Latin! Rogue yelled out, annoyed. Then she realized what she just did. I'm speaking Latin! How am I speaking Latin?!
It's pretty simple, actually, Doug replied, My powers is to speak and translate any and all languages, not really useful in battle, really, or at least I thought until now! With that he used capitalized on Rogue's confusion by delivering a solid punch to her jaw, sending her down.
******
Seeing that the others were doing a lot better, and the method of how they did it, Sam formulated a plan. Quickly he made a dive towards Dani, which Scott thought gave him an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone, however at the last second, he grabbed Dani and pulled up, Scott's optic blast sent Jean flying back.
"Jean!" Scott called out, quickly running to her aid. "I'm so sorry!"
"Not now Scott, we can talk about your aim later, we're still in trouble!" Jean replied, using him as leverage to stand back up.
"Ok, Mirage, here's your chance!" Sam said as he set Dani back down. "Give her your specialty!"
"Right, Cannonball." Dani responded, and began to concentrate. "Let's see what you're afraid of red."
******
At first Jean, didn't know what was happening, there were no signs of anyone around here. She called out for Scott and the others, getting worried. Then she saw the bodies.
Laying on the ground, were the New Mutants, and beside them were her teammates, her teachers, friends, and family. Even the Brotherhood was there!
"W-What's going on?!" she said, getting scared. Then she felt herself bump into something. She quickly turned around to see Scott, looking incredibly hurt. "Scott! Oh my God! What happened?!"
"You happened Jean," was the reply, "you're powers went out of control, just like they did before, but this time, there was no stopping you. We all tried to help you, and we all paid the price. Why Jean, why?"
"No....No! This can't be happening!" Jean cried out, tears streaming down her face. "NO!!!!!!"
******
In reality, Jean was on her hands and knees, crying, power radiating off of her. Her worst fear was being broadcast to her, and everyone else to see, even if she didn't realize it.
"Jean? Jean, what's going on?!" Scott said, worried. He didn't like seeing some weird zombie version of himself.
"Now you're mine, leader boy." Sam said, and quickly blasted off, hitting Scott hard with a rocket assisted tackle before flying back after releasing his target.
"Regroup!" Scott called out as he got back up. Quickly, Kurt, Rogue, Kitty and Bobby ran to his side, the other members either knocked out cold, or in Jean's case, incapacitated.
"Oh man, this doesn't look good." Bobby said, a worried look on his face.
"Like, Scott, we could really use some brilliant plan right now!" Kitty added.
However before the battle could continue any further, a solid voice rang out in everyone's mind. "STOP!"
Everyone turned to the source of the intrusion, and they were all shocked to see Professor Xavier, before them, a smaller stealth jet nearby, with Jamie Madrox visible in the copilot's seat.
"No more." Xavier simply stated. The look in his eyes was calm, yet full of authority.
Sam stepped up. "Look sir, if all this is about what happened at the festival, well Ah can explain, hut we are not coming back to Bayville." he said, courage evident in his voice.
"That, and other explanations can be saved for later." Xavier replied, " I've come here on a different mission than that of what I sent the X-men on, after hearing a disturbing piece of news."
"And what would that be, sir?" Sam asked, curious, but guarded.
"I've come asking your help." Xavier said. "My son is in peril."
End of Eighth chapter.
Author's note: Not surprisingly, this was a pretty easy chapter to write down, since it was for the most part, one big fight scene. Next up, will be a two part adventure on Muir Island! I originally intended the revelation of Xavier's son to be in the next chapter, but I think works a little better how it is here (Not to mention of my reviewers sort of gave away the surprise anyway). Also, for those who are curious, Jean's fear is her powers going out of control, like in "Power Surge" but in a much more deadlier manner.
At anyrate, I put in a few comic references in this chapter, if you have a keen eye, you might be able to spot them!
Remember folks, C&C is always appreciated!
Next Chapter: Part one of the Legion saga! What mysteries will be found when the New Mutants and the Uncanny X-men team up on Muir Island, and what is trouble with the young David Haller, the son of Professor X? All this plus some of the backstory to everyone's favorite Scottish werewolf, Rahne Sinclair!
By: Joey
Disclaimer: Sorry, I don't own these characters, Marvel Comics and I believe KidsWB! (or at least they do for the Evo version) does, and I'm only using the characters for entertainment only, no harm meant.
will be used for Doug/Cypher's language translations.
Chapter 8
"Fallout!"
Previously: In the middle of the night, the team meets a young Russian girl named Illyana Rasputin, and soon they were brought into an adventure in Limbo the magical demon realm where teleporters use as a waystation. With the team's help Illyana freed the realm from the tyranny of Belasco and his henchdemon S'ym. Now, the team is back on the road, with Illyana joining them as Magik!
******
A few days after the Towering Festival, footage of the event and mutant battle that took place in it was finally leaked to the media.
The Xavier Institute Gifted Youngster, Bayville, New York.
"....And so, as you can clearly see from this video footage, the raucous festival was interrupted by a battle between two mutant groups, as well as the blatant destruction of the Tower Structure itself, though this reporter does feel it should be noted that the structure was planned to have been destroyed later on in the festival, it is this reporter's opinion that the mutants seemingly disregard for the safety of non-mutants that is completely unacceptable. This has been a special report by Manoli Wetherall, for Channel 11 news, now back to Trish Tilby in the studio."
The television was shut off, and all was quiet in the study of Professor Charles Xavier. "Sam....why? I trusted you and the others..." he quietly said to himself. He then sent a mental note to his youngest student, Jamie Madrox, who soon walked into the room.
"Um, What do you need me to do sir?" Jamie asked.
"I want you to go find the other students and tell them to go and meet me in the Ready Room, all right?" He told the young boy, who gave a quick nod.
"Yes sir!" Jamie said, and quickly made several copies of himself, each copy went in a separate direction in order to find his fellow school mates.
Xavier wheeled himself out of the room, his mind contemplating what must be done. *I am sorry Samuel.*
******
Once everyone had assembled in full uniform, Xavier spoke.
"Thank you all for coming," he said, "this will be very difficult for me to tell you, but your next mission is going to be very personal, you see....you all are going to go up against your former friends."
"What do you mean Professor?" Scott asked, confused, though he was beginning to understand what the Professor meant.
"I believe this may explain things." Xavier replied, turning on a monitor and showing the group the evening's telecast. "Obviously, it is rather biased against mutants, however the truth of the matter is, is that they acted too rashly, and that innocent people could have gotten hurt. Therefore, I am sending you in to retrieve them, and bring them back."
"But Professor, are you sure we can even find them?" Kitty asked.
Kurt nodded in agreement, "Ja, they could anywhere now!"
Xavier nodded. " I took the time to use cerebro, and I have found their location, and programmed it, and their signature into the X-jet." he replied, "Now, as for mission itself, Scott, you will be in charge, as you are the most qualified, and Logan, Ororo, and Hank are taking care of some business on my behalf."
Scott gave a quick nod. "Yes sir."
"Good, the rest of you will accompany the regular team, for two reasons. Number one, I do not know exactly how many mutants are with them, and two, with Evan currently visiting his family, our primary team's number's have been slightly depleted. However, the exception will be you Jamie, you will be staying here with me, as you are still too young to go on missions."
"Awe...." the young boy said, disappointment obvious in his voice.
"Now then, I am sorry to tell you that I do not have very much information on mutants who seem to be traveling with them, and so I am sorry to leave you all so uninformed, so I want you all to take caution with this mission, Judging from the footage, it would appear that at least one member has enchanced strength powers, so keep that in mind, although I want fighting to be the last option that you consider, I want you all to be very careful, I do not want any repeats of the Wanda incident." Xavier said, as he keyed some commands into the computer. "Speaking of which, Scott, do not underestimate them, they have come a long way from being your underclassmen, and underestimating them could be as dangerous as you're underestimation of the Brotherhood during the Wanda incident."
Scott visibly blanched at the comments. " I won't sir, you will have my guarantee."
Xavier nodded, saying, "Good. I know that you are all familiar enough with powers of Cannonball, Sunspot, Magma, and Wolfsbane from your various training exercises, that you do not need to be briefed on them, but remember, when it comes to their allies, be prepared for anything, especially the unexpected. I wish I could see you all off, however I have to make a very personal phone-call. I will monitor you with Cerebro, however. Meeting adjourned, good luck and godspeed."
******
After their back track in Colorado, the team was back on the highways. Thanks to Illyana's teleportation powers, they made up for lost time by teleporting from Denver to a Nevada desert, their new destination being San Diego, California. During the trip, the team learned to bond with each other, and becoming better at teamwork as they practiced. They helped Illyana during several return trips to Limbo, where she was hailed as a Queen, though the shy girl had turned down the offers of royalty. Doug even helped her speak better English, using his powers of language translation to help her, though he never noticed the jealous looks that Rahne gave him and Illyana. They had also helped Illyana with the transition of demon trainer, as several younger beasts had become her allies now, they were various creatures, young, but rather strong, especially a purple dragon that was among the young horde, and she even found out that her Soul Word had a different affect of magical beings then it did to those of flesh and blood, while it was deadly to a creature of magic, to a human being it had double purpose, it shocked the target, as they first believed themselves to be cut, until the pain came, where it was estimated that it felt like being clubbed over the head by a large metal baseball bat.
It was sundown now, and the desert was cool and quiet, the team had parked for the night, and had their sleeping bags out, ready to sleep out under the stars. Over their short time together, the team had learned to anticipate almost anything, but they were definitely surprised when a jet flew by overhead and landed right in front of them!
"Geez, that thing's big enough to carry the whole dang van in it's cargo hold!" James exclaimed as he watched the jet land.
"Hey Sam..." Roberto said, eyeing the jet. "I think that's..."
"The X-Jet. Ah know Roberto." Sam said, "Looks like we better get ready for a scrap. Suit up everybody! If the worst comes to worst, Ah got a battle plan that should help us out a lot."
With that, the team dispersed, preparing themselves for the worst.
******
Scott landed the jet perfectly, and shut off the engine. "Ok everybody, remember, we're hear to convince them to peacefully come with us, fighting is a last ditch option, all right?"
The others nodded.
"Scott, I'm getting eight mutant signatures from the portable Cerebro." Jean reported.
"Good, at least now we have an idea of what we're up against." Scott said. "Ok everyone move out!"
The others quickly got out of their seats and followed Scott's lead to the outside, where they were greeted with the site of New Mutants in full uniform.
"Wow, they look like a regular X-Force." Kurt joked, trying to lighten the mood, which he slightly succeeded in, as Bobby and Jubilee stifled some laughter.
"I don't know Kurt, like, they don't really have the look of some crazy mutant powered celebrities that the name seems to come with." Kitty offered back, which caused some more stifled laughter.
"Cut the chatter people." Scott chastised, as they approached the team. "Ok, all of you, The Professor saw your little stunt at the Towering Inferno Festival, and he was very disappointed. We haven't come for a fight, but we're here to take you all back with us."
"And what about those of us not affiliated with your school?" Dani asked, " We've never been a part of you people, where does this leave us?"
Scott crossed his arms. "We were instructed to bring you along with us, the Professor has some questions for you people as well." He responded.
"And if we refuse?" James asked, eyeing the large group in front of him. "Then what?"
"If you won't come peacefully we will use force," Scott said, "and we have firepower to bring you in."
"That may be Scott, but you know we're not the type to give up easily." Sam said, giving Illyana a quick signal. "And we're not going to give up our independence, and views!"
"I'm sorry then Sam, because now we're going to have to-What the?!" Scott's speech was cut short as the entire group seemingly vanished into the ground. Before he could give out any type of order, a yell of "All right everybody, go for it!" rang through the air, as the New Mutants rushed the X-men from behind, using Illyana's unorthodox teleportation powers to their advantage.
******
Sam's battle plan was simple. Use Illyana's teleporting "stepping discs" as a surprise tactic, then each member was to isolate an X-man, cutting off their teamwork abilities. Cannonball and Mirage went after Cyclops and Jean Grey, while Wolfsbane and Cypher fought Nightcrawler and Rogue. Meanwhile, Sunspot and Magma attempted to stop Berzerker and Iceman, and Warpath and Magik went up against Jubilee and Shadowcat.
******
Instead of immediately using their mind powers, Dani and Jean began their fight by exchanging blows, Jean using the self-defense skills she learned from the class they all took from Wolverine, while Dani used the skills she learned from her Grandfather and her time with the team. Eventually however, Jean brought out the bug guns, and began to use her telekinetic powers to her advantage, using them to trip up Dani, or shield herself from an attack, or even use it to fling her opponent around. The assault was doing it's job excellently, as it wasn't giving Dani the proper time to concentrate, thereby using her power of drawing out a person's worst fear and bringing it to life in a 3-d construct to hit Jean with a move that could put her out of the time permanently.
Sam however, was having a fair amount of better luck against Cyclops, as the speed of blasting, combined with his protective blast field allowed him to weather the storm of optic blasts that he was constantly bombarded with, however, because of this, he was unable to find a good opening to strike Scott hard with a rocket-assisted attack, so he was stuck diving and turning, in an attempt to both dodge Scott's dangerous optic blasts, while at the same time shake him off so that he could counterattack.
******
"Ach! Why don't ye stand still and fight me!" Rahne growled out at her opponent, Kurt Wagner, codenamed Nightcrawler.
"Nein, fraulien, I rather enjoy this little game of tag!" Kurt replied, dodging or teleporting away from Rahne's attacks.
The young Scottish girl had given up using her full wolf form, as even though it was more agile than her werewolf form, she needed the extra power boost that her transitional form gave her, not mention hands and feet to assist in her fighting. However, no matter how hard she tried, she was only able to land a few or her attacks, as his teleportation skills allowed Kurt to avoid most of offense.
"Neiner, neiner, neiner!" Kurt teased, as he teleported behind Rahne and gave her a swift boot to her backside, before teleporting away once again.
"Ooohhh, Kurt Wagner, when I get my hands on ye...." Rahne growled, her anger started to boil over from her opponents antics.
Meanwhile, Doug and Rogue were involved in a more traditional fistfight, exchanging blows like two trained boxers.
"Ah have to admit, for a scrawny guy, y'all sure can punch hard." Rogue said, " However, right now, Ah'm putting an end to this!" then, she took off her right glove, exposing her bare hand.
"How exactly is taking a glove off supposed to help you in a fight?" Doug asked, getting in a defensive stance. He knew from what the quick explanation from Sam that Rogue could absorb people's strength and powers from physical contact, however he didn't realize that it was skin to skin contact, and thought that Rogue had simply chosen not to use her powers on him.
That mistake cost him, as he was caught off-guard by a feint from Rogue, giving her the opening she needed.
"Argh!" Doug yelled out in pain, as he felt his strength being sapped from as Rogue's hand met his cheek. He fell down to his hands and knees, seeing Rogue standing over him in the corner of his eye.
*Bad luck Ramsey!* He thought to himself. *Looks like you're in big trouble now!*
******
From the moment they first met, Roberto Da Costa and Ray Crisp didn't like one another. Ray had thought Roberto was too egotistical and vain, while Roberto believed Ray to be nothing more than street rat who got lucky. Now, they were finally able to settle their differences in the way they always wanted to, extremely violently.
Roberto had gotten an early edge, using his solar enchanced strength to knock Berzerker for a loop, however his overconfidence left him open for a devastating counterattack, when Ray unleashed several high-powered lightning bolts from hands, which caused Roberto to double over in pain.
"Not so hot now, huh Sunspot?" Ray taunted, "You don't have your money to flaunt or any of the teacher's to interupt our fight this time. I always knew you were soft deep down."
Roberto struggled to get up, his left hand clutching his forehead, even though the sun's rays could increase his strength, he was still vulnerable to attacks as any regular person. "Why....don't you just shut up...street Rat!" he spat out, hoping to goad Ray into losing his temper and making a mistake.
"You never learn do you Da Costa? I was a Morlock, a member of the toughest streetgang of mutants in New York, you don't talk down to us!" Ray yelled out, sending another massive electric discharge Roberto's way, who screamed out in pain.
Meanwhile, Amara and Bobby had fully powered up, and were sending out streams of pure hot and cold at one another, neither one willing to lose the advantage they needed in order to win, though Amara knew very well that she could summon a volcanic geyser up from the ground, which would help her win, however such an act could damage the tectonic plates, if she weren't careful another, and the lava flow could sverely hurt Iceman, which was something she definetely did not want to do.
******
Jubilation Lee knew that she wouldn't be very successful in a straight up fight with her opponent, the incredibly strong (and rather cute, she observed) James Proudstar, so she used her mutant power of generating firework style plasmoids, almost like sparks in their appearance, a different way. To blind.
James had been flashed several times already, and he was getting sick of it, he got another face full of rainbow light and shot out an Apache curse he'd heard from his older brother Jon once. *Stupid girl! Those lights may not be the strongest thing around, but with her constantly shooting me in the face, I can't see a blasted thing, and that's leaving me open!* he thought to himself as he took a wild swing, and missed by a mile. Jubilee meanwhile, took the opportunity to get in a few punches to his gut before giving him another face full of sparks.
Illyana wasn't faring much better, her opponent could phase herself causing whatever attacks Illyana used to harmlessly go right through, even her Soul Sword wasn't having any affect! *I must think of a plan!* she thought, rolling to dodge a sneak attack by Shadowcat, who had phased through the ground and had come up from behind her, hoping to catch Magik by surprise. *Surprise! That's it!* Illyana thought to herself, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Nightcrawler teleporting once more avoid an attack by Wolfsbane. In an instant she created a stepping disc in Limbo, where it awaited Kurt, since her stepping discs were even quicker than Kurt's bamfs.
******
Kurt Wagner had no idea how he ended up where he ended up. He teleported just like normal, however instead of reappearing behind Rahne as he had intended, he flew straight into Jubilee! The collision then started a chain reaction, as he sparks went haywire, flying about into the faces of both Iceman and Shadowcat, stunning the latter into de-phasing, and causing the former accidentally move his Ice-beam under his teammate and best friend Berzerker, causing him to slip up. Now a great majority of the X-men were vulnerable, and the New Mutants didn't waste the chance they had.
Rahne quickly pounced onto Kurt, her claws to strike at the Fuzzy Elf, while Warpath and wound up and punched Jubilee hard, sending her flying back, and giving her a one-way ticket to dreamland. Sunspot, also used his chance to deliver a vicious punch combo to Berzerker, a punch to the gut, followed by a hard uppercut to the head, Ray was out of it before he hit the ground.
Magma quickly sent a blast of heat at Iceman, sending him flying back, while Illyana teleported behind the stunned Shadowcat and whacked her hard with the Soul Sword, knocking Kitty to her knees.
******
Rogue was ready to finish her opponent off, so she drew into the small amount of Doug's powers, and summoned it, however, she wasn't prepared for nothing to happen!
"What's goin' on? Why aren't your powers working?!" Rogue said aloud, confused.
*Alright! Who knew my powers would actually save my butt!* Doug thought, before responding in Latin Do you speak Latin?
Of course I don't speak Latin! Rogue yelled out, annoyed. Then she realized what she just did. I'm speaking Latin! How am I speaking Latin?!
It's pretty simple, actually, Doug replied, My powers is to speak and translate any and all languages, not really useful in battle, really, or at least I thought until now! With that he used capitalized on Rogue's confusion by delivering a solid punch to her jaw, sending her down.
******
Seeing that the others were doing a lot better, and the method of how they did it, Sam formulated a plan. Quickly he made a dive towards Dani, which Scott thought gave him an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone, however at the last second, he grabbed Dani and pulled up, Scott's optic blast sent Jean flying back.
"Jean!" Scott called out, quickly running to her aid. "I'm so sorry!"
"Not now Scott, we can talk about your aim later, we're still in trouble!" Jean replied, using him as leverage to stand back up.
"Ok, Mirage, here's your chance!" Sam said as he set Dani back down. "Give her your specialty!"
"Right, Cannonball." Dani responded, and began to concentrate. "Let's see what you're afraid of red."
******
At first Jean, didn't know what was happening, there were no signs of anyone around here. She called out for Scott and the others, getting worried. Then she saw the bodies.
Laying on the ground, were the New Mutants, and beside them were her teammates, her teachers, friends, and family. Even the Brotherhood was there!
"W-What's going on?!" she said, getting scared. Then she felt herself bump into something. She quickly turned around to see Scott, looking incredibly hurt. "Scott! Oh my God! What happened?!"
"You happened Jean," was the reply, "you're powers went out of control, just like they did before, but this time, there was no stopping you. We all tried to help you, and we all paid the price. Why Jean, why?"
"No....No! This can't be happening!" Jean cried out, tears streaming down her face. "NO!!!!!!"
******
In reality, Jean was on her hands and knees, crying, power radiating off of her. Her worst fear was being broadcast to her, and everyone else to see, even if she didn't realize it.
"Jean? Jean, what's going on?!" Scott said, worried. He didn't like seeing some weird zombie version of himself.
"Now you're mine, leader boy." Sam said, and quickly blasted off, hitting Scott hard with a rocket assisted tackle before flying back after releasing his target.
"Regroup!" Scott called out as he got back up. Quickly, Kurt, Rogue, Kitty and Bobby ran to his side, the other members either knocked out cold, or in Jean's case, incapacitated.
"Oh man, this doesn't look good." Bobby said, a worried look on his face.
"Like, Scott, we could really use some brilliant plan right now!" Kitty added.
However before the battle could continue any further, a solid voice rang out in everyone's mind. "STOP!"
Everyone turned to the source of the intrusion, and they were all shocked to see Professor Xavier, before them, a smaller stealth jet nearby, with Jamie Madrox visible in the copilot's seat.
"No more." Xavier simply stated. The look in his eyes was calm, yet full of authority.
Sam stepped up. "Look sir, if all this is about what happened at the festival, well Ah can explain, hut we are not coming back to Bayville." he said, courage evident in his voice.
"That, and other explanations can be saved for later." Xavier replied, " I've come here on a different mission than that of what I sent the X-men on, after hearing a disturbing piece of news."
"And what would that be, sir?" Sam asked, curious, but guarded.
"I've come asking your help." Xavier said. "My son is in peril."
End of Eighth chapter.
Author's note: Not surprisingly, this was a pretty easy chapter to write down, since it was for the most part, one big fight scene. Next up, will be a two part adventure on Muir Island! I originally intended the revelation of Xavier's son to be in the next chapter, but I think works a little better how it is here (Not to mention of my reviewers sort of gave away the surprise anyway). Also, for those who are curious, Jean's fear is her powers going out of control, like in "Power Surge" but in a much more deadlier manner.
At anyrate, I put in a few comic references in this chapter, if you have a keen eye, you might be able to spot them!
Remember folks, C&C is always appreciated!
Next Chapter: Part one of the Legion saga! What mysteries will be found when the New Mutants and the Uncanny X-men team up on Muir Island, and what is trouble with the young David Haller, the son of Professor X? All this plus some of the backstory to everyone's favorite Scottish werewolf, Rahne Sinclair!
