Thanks for the feedback: Risty, me, CrimsonCoyote, Joey1, Rageful Jewel, Steven P. P, Pandora
Notes: Sorry for any confusion due to the rewrite, I just wasn't happy with a couple of things.
Cecelia Reyes: She creates an impenitrable personal force field sort of like Unus the Untouchable, only in her case it was more of a defensive reaction rather than something she has control over. She's much more defined by being a doctor than by being a mutant.
I can't believe I forgot Sam :(. I've been trying to work in mentions of all of the characters, I remembered X23 (who I dislike) and forgot Sam.
Xi'an Mahn Coy stood on the sidewalk outside of her apartment. She stared up into the spreading branches of an old oak tree with her fists planted firmly on her hips. "Well how did you get up there?" She demanded.
Nga and Leong, her eight-year-old siblings, glanced at each other then down at Xi'an. "We climbed."
"Then you can climb back down." Xi'an insisted.
"Nuh-hu!" The twins protested violently.
"Look, I'll help you." Xi'an offered touching her fingertips to her forehead.
"No! We'll fall." Nga yelled.
Xi'an sighed. She was certain if they could climb up they were physically capable of climbing down but she didn't want to use her powers to force them to do something against their will.
The young man she'd seen coming and going from the apartment below hers joined her beneath the tree. His dark brown eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked up into the branches of the tree. "Do you need help getting them down?" He asked.
Xi'an shot another glare up at the twins. "I thought they were monkeys. It turns out they're just a couple of 'fraidy cats."
"You're in luck. Lance Alvers at your service and it's my professional duty to remove cats from trees." Lance laughed as the twins sulked. "Do you have a ladder?"
"If I had a ladder do you think I'd be standing down here?" Xi'an demanded irritably.
"Point taken." Lance said. "We'll just have to get creative. Hold on a second."
Lance jogged away. He returned to park his latest jeep under the tree a few seconds later. "That should do." He said. Then he climbed up to stand balanced between the roll bar and the top of the windshield. "Could you two come down just a little on your own?" Lance asked.
"No!" Leong exclaimed. Nga nodded in agreement with his sister. They watched Lance's efforts with fascination.
In an attempt to reach up a little higher Lance transferred all his weight to the roll bar. "You're going to fall." Xi'an warned.
"Everything's under perfect…."
Lance sat up rubbing his head where it had hit the jeep's tailgate. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about. According to everyone I've got a hard head."
Xi'an bit back a laugh. She glanced around and saw a thick sheet of ply board leaning against the dumpster. She dragged it over and with Lance's help set it on top of the jeep to provide a solid platform to stand on.
Lance climbed back on top of the jeep. "Guys are you sure can't climb down just a little? Please?" He asked. The twins shook their heads.
Lance sighed. He grabbed a branch and pulled himself up into the tree. "I'll hand them down to you." He told Xi'an.
She nodded then took his place on top of the jeep. Lance found a secure perch in the tree. He reached up to lift first Nga then Leong down to their older sister. Once the kids were down Lance jumped out of the tree.
"Thank you." Xi'an said.
"Oh, no problem." Lance replied, a little embarrassed. "I better move the jeep before the manager starts screaming about it being on the sidewalk."
"Thanks." Xi'an repeated and the twins grinned, they'd enjoyed all the fuss their antics had stirred up. Lance started the jeep. The radio came on as the engine caught. "… Genosha, the self-proclaimed mutant homeland was destroyed."
Xi'an put a hand on the steering wheel and kept Lance from leaving as the report continued. She needn't have bothered. Lance was frozen in shock. They listened silently as the reports continued to roll in. "Super-Sentinel robots seen over the Island… Huge explosions seen in the capital city of Hammer Bay… No communications coming out… Radiation levels off the charts…"
"They'll have television coverage." Xi'an said maybe fifteen minutes later. Lance nodded. He turned off the jeep and followed Xi'an and the twins to their apartment.
Every channel covered the destruction of the island nation of Genosha. Sixteen million people wiped out in the space of a few minutes. A thriving country reduced to a barren mass grave. The single largest concentration of mutants on the planet decimated. A new generation of Sentinels, ones that gave new meaning to the phrase unstoppable, unleashed. The whole world held its breath and waited for the other shoe to drop.
Government officials from every country disavowed involvement and expressed their horror. Members of the X-Men, Alpha Flight, X-Factor and other mutant groups pled for the world's mutants to be patient, not to seek reprisals; that the guilty parties would be found. The FOH and off-shot organizations like Purity claimed they had no knowledge of the attack while praising it as the start of humanity's return to glory.
When reporters gained access to graphic footage of the destruction via numerous black-box type cameras in Genosha Xi'an sent the twins out of the room. She and Lance watched the genocide of their species speechless with horror.
Xi'an glanced at the clock. "Work!" she exclaimed. "I have to call. I have to tell them I'm sick of something."
"They don't know?" Lance asked.
"Nga and Leong don't have anyone else. I can't go around painting a target on my back." Xi'an said defensively.
"Yeah, I don't exactly publish the news myself. The people I work with know. It was either show 'em or watch while we all died." Lance said.
A while later Lance stood up and announced. "I'm going to go down to my place and grab some stuff for dinner. We can shut that thing off for a while and do something normal for an hour or so."
Xi'an looked surprised. "Yes, that does sound good. I know Nga and Leong would be happy to help."
Lance smiled. "I'll be right back. If you don't mind my cat's probably getting lonely."
"I'm sure the twins won't mind." Xi'an said.
After dinner Xi'an asked. "Did you know anyone living in Genosha?"
"I don't know that many mutants." Lance said. "I keep track of fewer… Pietro would have been there. Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff. Damn. Damn idiot! Why did he ever have to be loyal to that lunatic?"
Xi'an looked startled. "I know a few people who lived there." She said. "They weren't Magneto's supporters. They were just tired of fighting, tired of hiding all the time. They thought it would be safe to be a mutant there."
****** ****** ******
Kitty filled her suitcase and called a taxi. As she left the Institute Storm settled to the earth beside her. "Kitty is something wrong?" She asked. "Why are you leaving in the middle of the night?"
"Yeah, something's wrong." Kitty exclaimed. "I'm twenty-two years old and I attend more funerals for my friends than weddings. I am sick of everyone dying for the cause, it's not worth it."
"When we go out to fight the latest bad guy to protect humanity I don't care if we win anymore. The only picture left in my mind of humanity is the mob of protesters who meet in front of the gates every Saturday."
"Kitty…" Storm tried to interrupt.
"I've fought for Xavier's dream of co-existence since I was barely fifteen years old. I've watched it die a slow, ugly death. Since Genosha even Xavier's lost faith in it. Look at us Storm. We're huddling in our mutant enclaves and waiting for them to die out. All the Professor hopes for any more is to stave off open warfare until it's too late for them to fight back. We used to believe that we were all human, that our powers didn't change that. I want to remember what that felt like."
"Where will you go?" Storm asked.
"I got accepted to the University of Colorado." Kitty said. "I'm tired of being a soldier. I want to have a real life. I've been Shadowkat for so long I've forgotten who Kitty Pryde was. I want to remember what it feels like to interact with people who didn't grow up at the Mansion. I want to make friends with people who are more likely to die of old age than of violence. Storm I need to get away from this place before it suffocates me."
****** ****** ******
[b]Several Months Later[/b]
Xi'an's expression darkened with concern. Purity was targeting Dr. Benes' Astrophysics Department. Their websight claimed the class was harboring a mutant. Purity was right. Xi'an hadn't even known her old friend was on campus until they made her a target. "Kitty be careful." She said.
Xi'an was just about to start looking for Kitty's address when a knock called her to the door. "Lance, you look like you're in a hurry." She said.
He grinned endearingly. "Could I ask a favor?"
"No promises."
"My team just got called to help out with the Morning Side Blaze. Could you pick up my mail and feed the cat for the next two weeks or so?"
"Of course. You be careful."
"Thanks. It'll be good to get out. Town has been so dull lately."