A/N: I noticed one reviewer, probably the most thorough, said I nailed
John's character, thank you, but trust me; I have twisted plans for him
Sorry it took so long to get this up guys, I hadn't realized just how big of a hit this story was, others will be more frequent.
*********
Bobby pulled at the collar of his uniform, resting in the cockpit seat to the X-Jet; he looked out the cockpit down at the Massachusetts landscape. There was his house, he knew he should stay away but he had to check on them. Touching down in a small forest he climbed down to the ground, pulling on a black bomber jet with a stylized X on the shoulder, and donned a pair of silver sports sunglasses, making his way out to a quiet suburban area.
*********
Logan shambled out of bed, pulling on a tee-shirt and checking to make sure his shorts were closed, he walked to the door, whoever was knocking was pounding hard, giving Logan's over-acute hearing a headache. With a growl he pulled the door open. Rogue was on the other side, tears streaking down her face.
"What's wrong?" Logan asked, concerned, he had to mentally remind himself not to touch her.
"It's Bobby," she stuttered, "He.he's gone."
*********
The White House.
Quite possibly the most well protected domain in the entire world. It was equipped with hidden weapon systems, state of the art defenses, underground escape routes and a Swat defense team that would make the Marines blush. If all you know is what you see in the news, then you know nothing at all.
President James Richter moved down one such secret hallway, deep underground, he walked beside General Andrew Cunningham, one of his most trusted comrades. "So what project did you want to show me, General?"
"A New Initiative sir, to combat the mutant problem," General Cunningham nodded to himself, stroking his grey goatee.
"What problem, General?" President Richter had a slight bite to his words, after the unexplained psionic attacks; he was one of the few who had taken a pro-mutant stance. "They are evolving; last I checked that was a good thing."
General Cunningham ignored the other man, leading him into a hangar sized laboratory. The President gasped, along the walls and across the floor, were hundreds of human-like figures, large, imposing dressed in tight fitting black uniforms with red armor. Their eyes were black pits. "Dear god Andrew!? What are these things."
"The true future, Mr. President. Cybernetic, next generation Androids. Advanced targeting and tracking systems, self-propulsion, state of the art weaponry. The ability to lock onto any mutant signature. These are the Sentinels." General Cunningham kept walking through the hangar until he came to the center.
The President gave a small nod, then a scowl. "Let me understand this, These, er. Sentinels, as you call them, are built to track down and apprehend mutants?"
"Yes sir,"
"Are they efficient?"
"Yes sir, they operate with lethal efficiency."
"I see," The President nodded, then looked his underling straight in the eye, "No offense Andrew, but are you crazy. I can't set these things loose on my own people, mutants or not, Americans are Americans. Close this project immediately."
"But sir!"
"Listen to me Andrew, I cannot authorize a task force of robots designed to kill Americans, whether the robots are giants" he pointed to one such Sentinel, at least as tall as a three story house, "Or human size," he pointed to one the models that was the height of a normal man.
"Not Americans sir, Mutants."
"American Mutants."
*********
It was called the War room, though the X-men still didn't believe the war had begun, the name was more of a joke from one time when Bobby pointed out the fact that "The Conference room" really wouldn't inspire fear or even anxiety in the brotherhood. Now the X-men gathered around the circular table, though none of them were in uniform, Scott, Logan, Kurt, Ororo and Rogue, with Professor Xavier at the apex.
"It would appear that Young Mr. Drake has decided to partake in something of an unscheduled field trip." Stated the Professor as the holographic projectors built into the table constructed a 3D map of part of the American map, Massachusetts. Then the image of an X-jet formed and displayed its course to Boston. "We've located the X-jet near the Drake residence in Boston, now we all know Bobby's current feelings towards his family, so the question is why he would go."
Rogue looked up, making eye contact with the Professor as her eyes widened, fitting the pieces together, "John!"
The team looked up, for the most part confused, but Xavier seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, "Go on Rogue."
"When Bobby and I went to the movies, we ran into John, he asked Bobby about the Bruins, and how they were doing."
Logan let out a small growl, "So the kid baited Drake."
Xavier nodded, "Yes it would seem that way, but we have to remember that John is with Magneto and I expect there to be more to this puzzle." Xavier looked around at his X-men and felt a great swell of pride, as he always had. "Scott, you and Rogue suit up and go to Boston, find Bobby and see what you can find there. I would suggest going by car." The two nodded and departed to get their uniforms on. "The rest of us will wait, be on guard my X-men, I sense that this is only a precursor to far greater things."
*********
Outside the mansion, Quicksilver sneered as a blue Hyundai Tiburon left the mansion and practically flew down the road in the direction of Boston. Fitting a small earpiece in, he whispered, "All right, get ready to move,"
*********
Thirty minutes had passed since the meeting, thirty minutes for Logan to grab a beer, thirty minutes for Kurt to take a seat playing Pokemon with a small child, thirty minutes for Ororo to fall into a good book and for Professor Charles Xavier to go back to grading papers. That's thirty minutes to get back into the norm, thirty minutes to let their guard down.
The alarms sprang to life, Shrill and crisp. They resounded with a loud whine then made Storm throw her book into the air and Logan Jump to his feet. The TV that Kurt was playing the game on automatically switched to a camera shot of the front lawn that showed a man, dressed in bronze armor and a bowl like helmet, massive and muscular, charging through the defenses as laser fire from the school's defense grid bounced off metal and flesh. Storm focused in on the screen's image, her eyes clouding over. A bolt of lightning shot in from the crystal clear sky, boring into the intruder, only to have no effect! The Behemoth got closer and closer. A small child, one Logan recognized as "the boy who didn't sleep" was right beside the wall, "Kid move!" he lunged forward, grabbing the kid and rolling away as the wall exploded from the charge's force. "Evening folks, the name's Juggernaut," "No, Mien Freud," Nightcrawler sprang from the couch, teleporting in a flash of smoke and the stench of Brimstone, apparating halfway to the Juggernaut, running on all fours into another cloud of smoke. Juggernaut raised an arm to block his eyes from the third flash right in front of him, but Kurt's eyes were wide open to see the blue and white streak of a fist fly over Juggernaut's head to solidly connect with Kurt's face, splitting his lip and sending him backwards, sprawled out on the floor.
Quicksilver stood in front of Juggernaut, cackling at the fallen X-man, "Aww, what's the matter, too fast for you?"
Logan pulled himself up and unsheathed his claws, "Ororo, Kurt, get ready because we have to save these kids."
*********
The neighborhood was a quiet suburbia, a utopia of family perfection; it was no wonder that William and Madeline Drake had been so fearful when they discovered they're eldest child a mutant, after all, what would the neighbors think? He walked up to the door and took a deep breath, lifted a fist and knocked on the door. A minute passed, then another, the sounds of a car turning onto the street and pulling into the driveway. Bobby gave a sigh of relief, they were okay, but then he felt his gut clench as his father stepped out of the car, face red and angry, hands in fists. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
So that was it, Bobby thought, no hi son, how have you been? Hope things are okay, sorry for that whole mutant bigotry thing! Just what the hell are you doing here!? Bobby stalked down the steps, face set looking his father straight in the eye, "Trying to make sure that my family's all right, god knows why though."
"We are all right! In fact life has never been better since you left freak, so why don't you keep it that way?" William snarled to his eldest son, treating him like something less then a stranger.
"You know what? Maybe I will." Then it happened, the house behind Bobby flared and burst into flames, knocking William back off his feet and Bobby into a crouch, as he reflexively spun towards the sudden explosion, arm up to block his eyes from the glare.
Pyro stepped from the flaming mass, hands nonchalantly at his side; he was dressed in a red jumpsuit with red goggles and small flame throwers on his forearms, "What? No happy family reunion? Aww.. But I wanted to call Oprah."
Bobby stood up, all the anger he felt towards his family was gone, and he had to protect them. "Dad, get Mom and Ronny out of the car, and take cover."
*********
The remaining X-men and the children ran through the halls of the mansion, Storm had delayed Quicksilver and Juggernaut with a small cyclone and they were now making their way to the hangar where Xavier waited. Logan took up the rear as the kids were ushered into the hangar. The kids were just boarding the plane when one at the end of the line tripped up and sprawled out on the floor. Logan's nose twitched, the scent was unmistakable, "Damnit!" he had to go for broke, reaching down while running he scooped up the child and tossed her into the air towards the plane, "Elf, catch!" Nightcrawler ported from the Blackbird and grabbed the child, rolling back into another portal back onto the plane. "Go! Wolverine shouted to them as he spun around and charged the doors back into the mansion. Those doors bent with ferocious force as someone from the other side hit them, then again and again when they finally burst open, Juggernaut and Quicksilver walked through followed by a third one, he was large, scruffy, with black eyes, long blonde hair and a dirty trench coat. Sabertooth smirked, "You two get the plane, I've got a score to settle with the runt."
"Fine with me bub!" Wolverine shouted as his arms snapped back.
Snikt
************************************************************************
Next time: The battle between Pyro and the Iceman begins, and as the X-men and the Brotherhood square off their new enemy is revealed, so stalks the Sentinels.
Sorry it took so long to get this up guys, I hadn't realized just how big of a hit this story was, others will be more frequent.
*********
Bobby pulled at the collar of his uniform, resting in the cockpit seat to the X-Jet; he looked out the cockpit down at the Massachusetts landscape. There was his house, he knew he should stay away but he had to check on them. Touching down in a small forest he climbed down to the ground, pulling on a black bomber jet with a stylized X on the shoulder, and donned a pair of silver sports sunglasses, making his way out to a quiet suburban area.
*********
Logan shambled out of bed, pulling on a tee-shirt and checking to make sure his shorts were closed, he walked to the door, whoever was knocking was pounding hard, giving Logan's over-acute hearing a headache. With a growl he pulled the door open. Rogue was on the other side, tears streaking down her face.
"What's wrong?" Logan asked, concerned, he had to mentally remind himself not to touch her.
"It's Bobby," she stuttered, "He.he's gone."
*********
The White House.
Quite possibly the most well protected domain in the entire world. It was equipped with hidden weapon systems, state of the art defenses, underground escape routes and a Swat defense team that would make the Marines blush. If all you know is what you see in the news, then you know nothing at all.
President James Richter moved down one such secret hallway, deep underground, he walked beside General Andrew Cunningham, one of his most trusted comrades. "So what project did you want to show me, General?"
"A New Initiative sir, to combat the mutant problem," General Cunningham nodded to himself, stroking his grey goatee.
"What problem, General?" President Richter had a slight bite to his words, after the unexplained psionic attacks; he was one of the few who had taken a pro-mutant stance. "They are evolving; last I checked that was a good thing."
General Cunningham ignored the other man, leading him into a hangar sized laboratory. The President gasped, along the walls and across the floor, were hundreds of human-like figures, large, imposing dressed in tight fitting black uniforms with red armor. Their eyes were black pits. "Dear god Andrew!? What are these things."
"The true future, Mr. President. Cybernetic, next generation Androids. Advanced targeting and tracking systems, self-propulsion, state of the art weaponry. The ability to lock onto any mutant signature. These are the Sentinels." General Cunningham kept walking through the hangar until he came to the center.
The President gave a small nod, then a scowl. "Let me understand this, These, er. Sentinels, as you call them, are built to track down and apprehend mutants?"
"Yes sir,"
"Are they efficient?"
"Yes sir, they operate with lethal efficiency."
"I see," The President nodded, then looked his underling straight in the eye, "No offense Andrew, but are you crazy. I can't set these things loose on my own people, mutants or not, Americans are Americans. Close this project immediately."
"But sir!"
"Listen to me Andrew, I cannot authorize a task force of robots designed to kill Americans, whether the robots are giants" he pointed to one such Sentinel, at least as tall as a three story house, "Or human size," he pointed to one the models that was the height of a normal man.
"Not Americans sir, Mutants."
"American Mutants."
*********
It was called the War room, though the X-men still didn't believe the war had begun, the name was more of a joke from one time when Bobby pointed out the fact that "The Conference room" really wouldn't inspire fear or even anxiety in the brotherhood. Now the X-men gathered around the circular table, though none of them were in uniform, Scott, Logan, Kurt, Ororo and Rogue, with Professor Xavier at the apex.
"It would appear that Young Mr. Drake has decided to partake in something of an unscheduled field trip." Stated the Professor as the holographic projectors built into the table constructed a 3D map of part of the American map, Massachusetts. Then the image of an X-jet formed and displayed its course to Boston. "We've located the X-jet near the Drake residence in Boston, now we all know Bobby's current feelings towards his family, so the question is why he would go."
Rogue looked up, making eye contact with the Professor as her eyes widened, fitting the pieces together, "John!"
The team looked up, for the most part confused, but Xavier seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, "Go on Rogue."
"When Bobby and I went to the movies, we ran into John, he asked Bobby about the Bruins, and how they were doing."
Logan let out a small growl, "So the kid baited Drake."
Xavier nodded, "Yes it would seem that way, but we have to remember that John is with Magneto and I expect there to be more to this puzzle." Xavier looked around at his X-men and felt a great swell of pride, as he always had. "Scott, you and Rogue suit up and go to Boston, find Bobby and see what you can find there. I would suggest going by car." The two nodded and departed to get their uniforms on. "The rest of us will wait, be on guard my X-men, I sense that this is only a precursor to far greater things."
*********
Outside the mansion, Quicksilver sneered as a blue Hyundai Tiburon left the mansion and practically flew down the road in the direction of Boston. Fitting a small earpiece in, he whispered, "All right, get ready to move,"
*********
Thirty minutes had passed since the meeting, thirty minutes for Logan to grab a beer, thirty minutes for Kurt to take a seat playing Pokemon with a small child, thirty minutes for Ororo to fall into a good book and for Professor Charles Xavier to go back to grading papers. That's thirty minutes to get back into the norm, thirty minutes to let their guard down.
The alarms sprang to life, Shrill and crisp. They resounded with a loud whine then made Storm throw her book into the air and Logan Jump to his feet. The TV that Kurt was playing the game on automatically switched to a camera shot of the front lawn that showed a man, dressed in bronze armor and a bowl like helmet, massive and muscular, charging through the defenses as laser fire from the school's defense grid bounced off metal and flesh. Storm focused in on the screen's image, her eyes clouding over. A bolt of lightning shot in from the crystal clear sky, boring into the intruder, only to have no effect! The Behemoth got closer and closer. A small child, one Logan recognized as "the boy who didn't sleep" was right beside the wall, "Kid move!" he lunged forward, grabbing the kid and rolling away as the wall exploded from the charge's force. "Evening folks, the name's Juggernaut," "No, Mien Freud," Nightcrawler sprang from the couch, teleporting in a flash of smoke and the stench of Brimstone, apparating halfway to the Juggernaut, running on all fours into another cloud of smoke. Juggernaut raised an arm to block his eyes from the third flash right in front of him, but Kurt's eyes were wide open to see the blue and white streak of a fist fly over Juggernaut's head to solidly connect with Kurt's face, splitting his lip and sending him backwards, sprawled out on the floor.
Quicksilver stood in front of Juggernaut, cackling at the fallen X-man, "Aww, what's the matter, too fast for you?"
Logan pulled himself up and unsheathed his claws, "Ororo, Kurt, get ready because we have to save these kids."
*********
The neighborhood was a quiet suburbia, a utopia of family perfection; it was no wonder that William and Madeline Drake had been so fearful when they discovered they're eldest child a mutant, after all, what would the neighbors think? He walked up to the door and took a deep breath, lifted a fist and knocked on the door. A minute passed, then another, the sounds of a car turning onto the street and pulling into the driveway. Bobby gave a sigh of relief, they were okay, but then he felt his gut clench as his father stepped out of the car, face red and angry, hands in fists. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
So that was it, Bobby thought, no hi son, how have you been? Hope things are okay, sorry for that whole mutant bigotry thing! Just what the hell are you doing here!? Bobby stalked down the steps, face set looking his father straight in the eye, "Trying to make sure that my family's all right, god knows why though."
"We are all right! In fact life has never been better since you left freak, so why don't you keep it that way?" William snarled to his eldest son, treating him like something less then a stranger.
"You know what? Maybe I will." Then it happened, the house behind Bobby flared and burst into flames, knocking William back off his feet and Bobby into a crouch, as he reflexively spun towards the sudden explosion, arm up to block his eyes from the glare.
Pyro stepped from the flaming mass, hands nonchalantly at his side; he was dressed in a red jumpsuit with red goggles and small flame throwers on his forearms, "What? No happy family reunion? Aww.. But I wanted to call Oprah."
Bobby stood up, all the anger he felt towards his family was gone, and he had to protect them. "Dad, get Mom and Ronny out of the car, and take cover."
*********
The remaining X-men and the children ran through the halls of the mansion, Storm had delayed Quicksilver and Juggernaut with a small cyclone and they were now making their way to the hangar where Xavier waited. Logan took up the rear as the kids were ushered into the hangar. The kids were just boarding the plane when one at the end of the line tripped up and sprawled out on the floor. Logan's nose twitched, the scent was unmistakable, "Damnit!" he had to go for broke, reaching down while running he scooped up the child and tossed her into the air towards the plane, "Elf, catch!" Nightcrawler ported from the Blackbird and grabbed the child, rolling back into another portal back onto the plane. "Go! Wolverine shouted to them as he spun around and charged the doors back into the mansion. Those doors bent with ferocious force as someone from the other side hit them, then again and again when they finally burst open, Juggernaut and Quicksilver walked through followed by a third one, he was large, scruffy, with black eyes, long blonde hair and a dirty trench coat. Sabertooth smirked, "You two get the plane, I've got a score to settle with the runt."
"Fine with me bub!" Wolverine shouted as his arms snapped back.
Snikt
************************************************************************
Next time: The battle between Pyro and the Iceman begins, and as the X-men and the Brotherhood square off their new enemy is revealed, so stalks the Sentinels.