"What is going on?"
"What has happened to us?"
"My face... I am normal..."
"Where is our leader?"
"Where is Callisto?"
"She is here."
The last voice drew the most attention from the gathered Morlocks, and they immediately turned to see their leader standing their, leaning on her staff. Behind her stood her new second-in-command. The one known as Spyke.
"Calm yourselves, my people... there is no reason yet to panic," she stated.
"But Callisto," started the Morlock known as Lucid. Or at least, it looked like Lucid, minus the yellowed skin. "We are powerless now... how could this have happened?"
"We are not powerless," she stated, slamming the bottom of her staff down onto the ground with a loud clang that echoed throughout the Alley. "We are Morlocks. We have survived, and remained strong, through worse. True, this situation concerns me and my lieutenant, but for now, calm yourselves. Continue your tasks as you normally would. That is my command."
Callisto and Evan then departed, leaving the remaining Morlocks to continue to puzzle after their curious fate. Many of them had been born freaks, many were abandoned at birth. Now they were perfectly normal.
"Callisto, if this is affecting all mutants, the X-Men should be made aware of this..." started Evan. Callisto cut him off by holding her staff in front of his path, halting him.
"No. We are not returning to the surface."
"Why not?" he demanded angrily, pushing her staff out of the way. She turned to face him, her one eye flashing angrily, but Evan stood his ground. He hadn't become her second-in-command for nothing, after all. Reluctantly, Callisto broke the eye-contact and turned, sighing.
"I know what you're thinking, Spyke. We lead the others topside, as if they were normal, as if they were human. We can't give the others hope... you know as well as I do this will never last. They will be forced to return here, to the sewers, and they'll be more depressed than ever. I refuse to do that to them. It would break their proud hearts."
"Then let me go. I'll take Stall with me, we can meet with the X-Men and come right back," he replied.
"Rrrr..." she sighed angrily, pondering a moment or two before relenting. "Very well. No sightseeing. Find out if this is happening to them too... I suspect we are not the only ones being affected."
"I had the same though," he replied, dropping his skateboard and heading off down the slick tunnels to find Stall.
Callisto sighed, slipping into her sleeping chambers and dropping the mask of command, sighing deeply as she realized how much she'd come to depend on Evan the past few weeks. He was strong, creative, powerful. His mutation had made him very dangerous, and at the same time very useful. And his training with the X-Men had given him an idea of how to train other mutants like the Morlocks to make for a more effective fighting force. But that was not the only appeal Evan held for Callisto.
He was willing to die to save the Morlocks, the same as she was. She'd never seen a surface dweller, even a mutant, so noble. It touched something inside of her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"They were fast, effective. They knew exactly what they were doing," stated Scott clearly. Logan grumbled, nodding.
"Just black uniforms? Nothing else? No symbols, badges, ranks?" he asked.
"Nothing... though I wasn't paying the best of attention. The van was definitely unmarked though... no license plate."
Logan grumbled, and likely would've popped his claws if he'd been able to.
"I doubt they'd be foolish enough to try and attack us again... at least while we're on the Institute grounds. The big question," added Scott with a worried look behind his sunglasses. "Was why they attacked us... and more importantly... why attack Amanda?"
"Maybe they hate mutant sympathizers as much as they hate mutants," replied Logan, folding his arms, thinking.
"Then how did they know we were mutants?"
"SHIELD has profiles on all the X-Men," stated Logan quietly, staring out the window. Scott frowned.
"Then SHIELD was behind the attack?" he asked. It didn't seem possible, but still, he didn't know much about the organization.
"Couldn't be... I know ol' Patch too well, he wouldn't try anything like this, without due cause at least. No..." replied Logan. Then he added, "But if SHIELD has all the profiles of the X-Men, as well as a good deal more mutants, then anyone who could break in could access them."
"Like X23," started Scott. He realized his error almost immediately, and started to correct himself but Logan growled, low and angrily, and stormed out of the room. Scott was suddenly grateful their powers had been suppressed, or he might have found himself on the business end of three very sharp adamantium claws. Wolverine hated the mention of X23. To him, she was his darkest nightmares come true. What he could have become, if the Weapon X project had been able to control him. A heartless, soulless killer. Logan loved her like a father, and since her departure he had felt like he'd betrayed her, letting her go out into the cold world all alone.
"Sorry Logan," said Scott softly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Evan blinked, shielding his eyes.
He'd almost forgotten how bright the sun was. Alongside him Stall fared little better, shielding her eyes with her now normal sized hands. Evan smiled, glancing around at the deserted alleyway they had emerged in. Calliban had guided them here, stating it was where he had located the Institute New Recruits after the Sentinel disaster. Logically, it was near the Institute.
Evan rummaged through a nearby dumpster, careful to keep to the very top where the trash in question was still dry. A much needed Morlock skill, he'd found, was foraging. It wasn't like the Morlocks could sew, or even go up to the surface and purchase clothes, so they had to steal them. Finally Evan found what he hoped for: a worn out but still function red baseball cap with the New York Yankees across the front. Finding it clean and deciding it would do he turned around and placed it on Stall's head, as she smiled up at him happily, now able to see more easily. He smiled and took her hand, leading her to the streets of Bayville. Thankfully, despite their worn and torn appearance (Evan's shirt looked like Swiss cheese) they went unnoticed by the general population, which was precisely what they were looking for.
"Hey Stall, while we're up here I can show you how to skate," he said, handing her the skateboard from under his arm. He'd found it during a surface raid, picked it up from the street where it'd lay discarded, and it was the only way he kept from sometimes going mad down in the Morlock tunnels. Stall looked up at him curiously.
"Come on, you know how to skate... just get on like this," he said, placing one foot on the skateboard, demonstrating for her. "And... push!" he added, pushing his other foot off to propel himself forward. Smiling he got off and headed back to Stall, who was watching him with an awed expression.
"Come on its easy... you try it..." he said, dropping the skateboard down before her. Slowly, reluctantly, she placed her foot on, and started to push off... almost immediately she slipped and lost her balance, but Evan was there to catch her.
"Oh hey watch it... easy... take it slow Stall."
Stall smiled up at him, and Evan smiled as well. Stall was like the little sister he'd never had, always looking up to him, ever since he'd saved her back at the Power8 Facility. She didn't talk at all... apparently, according to Callisto, she'd been abused as a child because of her mutation. It had left her mute. But she was very curious and a very good listener, and always eager to hear Evan tell his stories about the surface and his old cadre of friends, the X-Men.
"Okay... lets try again..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"They've escaped sir... even the latent... what are our orders?"
"Forget that one, they're no threat for now. Obtain the others."
"We can't, they're already in a safe zone."
"Then keep an eye on them... get them when they emerge. I'll send reinforcements."
Authors Notes:
I have no idea how old Callisto is, but she actually seems kinda youngish to me in Evo. I don't think she's much older than the other mutant kids, maybe early 20's or so. As for the little mutant girls name, it was never mentioned in the Morlock episode, nor has she ever been seen in the comics. The Beyond Evolution website creator, Denail, labeled her as Stall, and it seemed as good a name as any to me, so for this story that is her name. Thank you, Denail.Caliente: Rogue is coming! Keep your skirt/pants on! Or have you never heard the expression: genius cannot be rushed? Well, I am no genius, but still, I, uh... shut up! Besides, I'm having just a little trouble with Rogue after what she did in Impact. I imagine everyone has the same question. 'Why?'
Kurt Wagner: I checked an on-line translator after I read that (mortified that I had messed it up) but it seems 'liebchen' is German for 'beloved', as suspected. Plus, the way you've spelled I the 'e' and the 'i' are switched, perhaps that is why you feel it is wrong.
HathorCol: Ja, Danke. Glad you like it. So… have you got any predictions/requests?
Soul Eater: Oh don't worry, all will be revealed in time.
Todd Fan: I mean that, you did some very twisted, awesome work with X-ME babies, both times around no less. No guesses on your end either, though? I'm surprised.