"Could Guy Spears be behind this?"
The adults were meeting below in the control center of the Institute. The younger students and guests were being put to work on the sick to keep them out of the way. Charles, Moira, Patronete sat around a round steel table. Eric hung behind Charles, partially hidden in the shadows. Hank paced uneasily around the table.
"No, I do not believe that is possible," replied Charles, tenting his hands and resting his elbows on the table. "I've spoken with the man. He bears mutants no ill will."
"How can you be so positive of this?" asked Eric coldly. "Did you read his mind?"
"I did not," admitted Charles.
"Then we can presume nothing. Even if he bore our kind no ill will in the past, he may have changed. Beast... what have you found on Mr. Spears?"
"Just general business news," replied Hank. "Apparently after the incident with Pow-R8 and the Morlocks, he shut down Pow-R8 productions. Now he runs a company called 'Legacy.' It's a legitimate research company."
"Research? Into what fields?"
"Genetics and Military Science," replied Hank.
"And you do not consider that suspect, Charles?" asked Eric.
Silence reigned for a long moment then.
"Say this Guy Spears is behind the virus... what do we do?" asked Moira, tapping her fingers nervously against the round table.
"We'll need proof before we can contact the authorities," stated Patronete. "Solid evidence."
"Hank," said Charles. "See what you can find. If he is responsible there's got to be something you can find. If there isn't anything, we will know our guess was incorrect."
"And then?" asked Eric.
"We will see, Eric," he replied.
Hank was at the computer, his fingers tapping rapidly as information scrolled past, almost faster than the eye could follow. Dates, numbers, products. Incoming and out coming. Business meetings, hours, locations. None of it seemed out of the ordinary... until...
"My my... is this a dagger I see before me?" asked Hank, absent-mindedly quoting Shakespeare.
"You've found something Hank?" asked Charles, wheeling his chair over next to Hank and peering over his shoulder. The others quickly gathered around.
"No less than twenty gallons of our favorite 'toxic eliminators'," stated Hank, drawing quotes in the air with his fingers as he spoke. "Being delivered to a facility just outside of Bayville. Near Dark Hollow, actually."
"And here's something even more strange," stated Moira, tapping the screen over a news article. "That facility was abandoned nearly three whole years ago. Its gotta be nothing but rust by now."
Eric and Charles exchanged a glance.
"Gather who's available," stated Eric, as Charles placed his fingers against his temples and mentally summoned the healthy mutants to the control room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The able-bodied met down in the control center of the Institute, and the situation was immediately explained to them. That the virus was artificial, that someone had deliberately loosed it upon them. And that Spears might've been that someone. This was met by a number of shocked reactions (including having to restrain Spyke from rushing out to slaughter Spears) before everyone calmed down.
"However, we cannot move against Spears just yet. We need hard evidence he is responsible, not just the facts we have. And the questions point to this abandoned facility. The answers must lie there," stated Xavier.
"We'll find 'em Professor," said Scott, already having slipped into his customary leader mode. "Shadowcat, Iceman, with me..."
Scott started to make his way out of the room, when he found Evan and Wanda blocking his way.
"We're coming too," they said, and their statement was quickly picked up by the other able-bodied, younger mutants.
"The X-Men'll handle this," said Scott, turning back to face them.
"Yeah sure they will... wot X-Men?" asked John, as always fiddling with his lighter, flicking it open and lighting a tiny flame. It formed an arrow, pointing at the X-Men in question as he listed them off. "You, the Sheila, and the popsicle? Hahahaha, don't make me laugh." Scott scowled darkly, not enjoying being insulted, and almost marched over and smacked the red-head, but a hand stopped him. It was Kitty.
"Scott we're going to need help with this. John raises a good point," she said, as Lance stood behind her and nodded.
"Three of us used to be X-Men ourselves Scott," added Evan, referring of course to himself, Tabby and Lance. "We know how to do this."
Reluctantly, Scott sighed and nodded his head. "Alright, you can come along. But if you do, you follow my orders. I'm team leader here. And if we don't work as a team, we're going to fail, and everyone we care about here is going to die. Understand?" he asked, turning his ruby-red gaze on each member of his new team in turn. Tabby, Bobby, Lance, St. John, Kitty, Evan and Wanda, plus himself. This was his team.
Vunderbar.
"We will remain here and watch over the infected," stated Xavier, indicating the adults. "Be careful, all of you."
"I will remain behind as well," added Magneto. "The Institute will be incredibly vulnerable without you all present. I will ensure the safety of those present."
The adults and kids filed out of the room, the adults to return to their work, the kids to gather their uniforms and get ready for their mission. Professor X wheeled into his study, determined to again go over the Legacy company records and see if he could find out anything else more... useful. As he did, however, the phone ringed, and he picked it up. Who one earth could be calling now of all times, he wondered.
"Hello?"
"Professor Xavier? I'm afraid I have some bad news for you..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hank returned to the lab with Moira and Patronete, determined to work towards the cure and hopefully find something now that they knew what they were dealing with. Evan had explained about the Morlock mixture that had eased the Pow-R8 poison, and perhaps that was as good a place to start as any.
However, upon reaching the lab, Hank found quite a shock. Amanda was there, stumbling forward, still in her yellow bio-suit.
"Mr. McCoy," she said, stumbling forward. "Something... something's wrong..." she said, and then she passed out, and he only narrowly caught her before she hit the ground, gently easing her onto her back. Then he gasped.
Through the clear front of the suit, he could see her features... covered in green lesions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You cannot be serious," said Xavier, shocked to his very core. Things were, indeed, worse than he could've ever imagined. His nightmares paled beyond the reality of these past few days.
"I'm dead serious, Professor," stated Fury, on the other end of the line. "But even so I had my own top scientists confirm what Deborah found for us. It's the truth."
"I will alert my people," he replied.
"Keep out of this one, Xavier. You and your X-Men. If you get involved this thing could spread like wildfire, and then it'll be my head. Don't... get... involved," he stated, emphasizing each word with deadly seriousness.
Professor X made no reply, simply hung up the phone.
Despite being a mutant, he had always done his best to follow the laws of the country he lived in. And some of his own personal guidelines, no less. His X-Men handled situations when he felt the government could do nothing, where mutants were involved. It took mutants to solve such problems, and that was why he had formed them.
This was a mutant problem, despite what had now happened. His X-Men would solve it.
Xavier quickly left his study and made his way to rejoin the others in the medical ward.
"Hank," he said, before the doors had completely slid open and he wheeled his way inside. "There's been a development... the virus..."
And then he saw. Hank's expression, and in his arms, Amanda Sefton, the most open-minded young human Professor Charles Xavier had ever had the privilege of knowing. And underneath the protective suit she was already sick, unconscious, and covered in the green lesions of the virus.
"We know Charles. I've already had Moira and Patronete checked... they're both clean. And they've contacted Mrs. Leech. She's fine as well... for now at least. But we know what this means."
"That the virus no longer attacks only mutants," said Professor Xavier.
"It has mutated," added Hank.
"And now no one is safe."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iceman was prepping the X-Jet when he received telepathic instructions from the Professor. So did the other members of the impromptu team, warning them about the latest development of the virus. It cast a very thick cloud over the cockpit of the Blackbird as one by one the assembled team boarded and buckled themselves into a seat. Everyone was in full battle uniforms.
Cyclops boarded just as Iceman sat down in the pilot's seat, flipping the appropriate switches to shut the ramp and start the Blackbird up.
"Iceman, what're you doing? I'm flyin,'" said Cyclops.
"'fraid not. Got here first," he said with his usual smirk. "Hold on to your lunch!" he said with his usual humor as he punched the accelerator forward and the Blackbird rocketed forward. Scott was sent hurling backwards, slamming down hard into the seat next to Wanda.
"Rrrr... Bobby..." he said, starting to rise. Suddenly a blue glow encompassed his seatbelt and it snapped into place, locking him down.
"Oh let him fly," remarked Wanda, lowering her hand. "He'll get us there fastest, at any rate." Kitty giggled at that, but quickly stifled it when Scott turned to glance at her. He didn't like having others question his authority. And here, well, half the team was full of freelances and even rivals. He doubted they'd be able to get into the facility before ego's and personalities started to clash.
"If we get there alive," grumbled Scott, rubbing his neck where it'd slammed against the headrest.
Silence reigned in the jet, and even Iceman and Boom-Boom were devoid of their usual wise-cracking. Tension was evident. As Cyclops had put it back at the Institute, if they failed this mission, their friends and families were forfeit. And now that knowledge that the virus could infect normal people, meant that just that many more were depending on them.
The Blackbird rocketed towards the facility with all possible speed, as the X-Men, and their allies, rushed to save the world. They went unnoticed by the sentinel guardians of Bayville, who did not detect the flight of the sleek vessel as anything more than a momentary blip on their sensors.
Author's Notes:
Dramatic, yes? Now that the virus has mutated and infects humans, the entire world is screwed unless, yet again, the X-Men can save the day. Touched briefly on Spears and his new Legacy company, as its grown and become more powerful than a simple distributor of Pow-R8. Something that'll be more of a challenge to more than just a team of sewer dwelling mutants (nothing against the Morlocks, of course). And now Amanda is sick, how terrible. Poor Kurt would be devastated... if he didn't only have ten hours or so left until he finds himself at the pearly gates. And now it all comes down to a big climactic battle against the meanie mutant-haters. But, with a mix-matched team like this, think they've got a chance? Well, you'll see soon enough.
CrypticIdentity: Who on earth quoted that? I don't recognize it. Glad you're liking all the characters being sprinkled around here and there though, each being given their own screen time.
Son of Logan and Ororo: Well actually I do have little cousins, but I rarely see them. So no I guess I don't know all that much about children's programming, especially not Australian. But what you've said has given me an idea for... later. And I won't say one way or the other in regards to Colossus and Magik. You'll see soon enough.
Nessie6: Ah, you've figured me out. Crafty little thing aren't we? In more ways than one it seems. I didn't know Colossus had a brother, actually. Just his sorceress, teleporting sister.
Toddfan: I said ten stories, not feet! Ah well, still good. Oh and don't fret about Jason, he'll be fine. I had him meet up with Lucas for a reason.
Snitter in Rivendell: Yeah I know, I was worried I was pushing the envelope with that western thing myself. Ah well, live and learn. Glad you're confident of my skills to carry out the Legacy virus and the Pow-R8 things that would've been nice to see in season five. And yeah, I miss the more confident, suave Mastermind from TAS. That is, 'til Pheonix stripped his illusions away.
Comet-hime: You know darn well I'm working as hard as I can with the time I have. Which, these days, isn't much. I thought you'd like the sick mutant ladies in the same bed, kinky little thing you. And of course Agatha would be taking care of them. And of course, you being one of the privileged few who know what's in store for your fav couple.
The Rogue Witch: Don't feel bad, no one can guess where my twisted stories go. I must be just that good. Hehehe. Glad you liked the inclusion of all the little characters, and some insight into Juggernaut. That's the thing I love about X-Men. No one's truly, completely, senselessly evil. They all have pasts and personalities, like Magneto and Juggernaut.
Bleedingmoon89: I dunno, I just wanted to appease my fan base with a confrontation between those two. Though now that they've finally met outside of their uniforms, maybe I'll gradually work in a relationship similar to the movie John and Bobby.
Pyro-iz-hot: Please, most humble apologies for grammatical and spelling errors. I am most stupid, in that regard. It was helpful, however, and I shall work to correct my errors. But count yourself lucky I'm not bad enough to keep misspelling Rogue "Rouge". *shudder*.
Zen Bailong: More stories like this? This is exactly like most of my other stories. I do hope to get more reviews though, I appreciate feedback from everyone who likes (or hates) my writing.
Elrohirthewriter: Better make room under that desk for two, I also feel the storm coming. And I don't mean Ororo. Glad you're enjoying the tie-in's and the writing so far. As for Destiny, well, maybe it's her time...
Nightrider: Kurt's fate won't be decided for another few chapters, but don't worry you'll find out soon enough.
Gambi316: I am so very glad someone managed to figure it out. Well, sorry to disappoint you about Cain, but don't worry, plenty of action and suspense to come now that the mutants are on the move and have a tangible enemy who's butt they can kick. I did check out your story, its not half-bad. I just haven't had time to review yet, sorry.
Taineyah: Everyone? You want everyone to live? What kinda story would that be?! No, I think its time for... random character deaths! Muwahahahahahahah!! More to come soon.
DoubleL27: Well, glad you love my work. I too love my work. Hehe. Seriously though, as you can no doubt see, action is being undertaken by the mutants to stem this terrible plague. And yeah I like Scott too. He reminds me of me. Him and Lance.
Sandoz: I thought you'd like that! Just think of all my stories as continuations of one another, and its all one big frickin' story. Just like yours! Speaking of which... sequel! Sequel! SEQUEL!! SEQUEL!!!. Glad you liked the mention of other mutants. Israeli you say? Hmmm perhaps I was confused. But Lucas/David/Ian definitely isn't Israeli. Thanks for the info. Also glad you're enjoying the Kurmanda. I'm honestly surprised by that, I thought you were more of a Kurtitha sort.
