Queen of Random: Guess who's back, back, back. Back again. Regina's back. .
. oh, never mind, it sounds stupid anyway. Anyway, I am back, after a short
hiatus (actually, I went on camp, and on holiday, and on top of all that, I
lost my Internet privileges) and I have more to 'Role Reversal' to give
you. As per usual, I do not own anything, lest of all anything I mention in
these stories. Heck, like I can afford to buy anything to do with these
things. I'm too busy saving up for a trip to Germany later this year. Argh,
and I'm pretty much flat broke, plus anything I do save up will pretty much
be cut in half, because the Euro is pretty much worth twice as much as our
dollar over here in New Zealand.
Pity I can't sell one of my non-X-Men short stories for some cash. I mean, who'd want to publish my work, anyway?
Role Reversal
Chapter Eleven: But wait, there's more!
"Have you seen Kitty?" asked Hank.
"I was going to say the same thing about Carter," replied Henrietta. "I suppose that, if we asked around, we would find that Lance and Lana would also be missing."
"That's not our main concern at the moment," reminded Xavier. "We need to know how to set everything right."
"How are Forge and Form doing?" asked Charlotte. "Are they any closer to repairing their machines?"
Hank shook his head. "No. But on the bright side, they have given us a conservative estimate as to when they will have their machines repaired."
"And when will that be?"
"Three days from now."
"Three days?!" asked Logan, the annoyance in his voice obvious. "We have to put up with the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood for another three days?!"
"Maybe longer," Henrietta replied with a smile. She did not blink at the extension of claws.
"But what will all of them do until then?" asked Ororo. "Our students have to go to school. What will their Doppelgangers do then?"
"And what about the Brotherhood and Sisterhood going to do?" added Orion.
"I suppose we can let that decision wait until this evening," said Xavier. "Until then, they will just have to occupy themselves."
*
"So, is Robin Williams like this in your world, Katrin?"
"Oh, ja, Kurt. Robyn is really funny."
As Xavier had said, the teens were having to occupy themselves until dinner would be ready - and Logan was already worried about that - and so most of them were all in the recreation room, watching some movies. Kurt had picked the first movie, and had thought it appropriate to pick 'Mrs Doubtfire'. This was a big hit with the teens, and the Doppelgangers especially, who had regaled the others with tales of how Robyn Willaminas was in 'Mr Doubtfire'.
"Well, that was great pick for the movie, Kurt," said Bobbi. "It seems a lot funnier when it is a man dressing up as a woman than the other way around."
"Yeah!" roared Tibal. "What's up next?"
"Um, let's see," said Evan, looking at the shelf that was stacked with videos and DVDs. "We've got 'The Lord of the Rings', um. . . 'Scary Movie' and 'American Pie', the chick flicks, my movie, um. . . 'The Matrix'. . ." He stopped there and grabbed a DVD. "Here's one."
"What have you got, Evan?" asked Eva.
"Well," said Evan, as he put the DVD in the machine, "we've had one about a real gender bender problem, so I thought we should watch one about people coming from other dimensions."
"I know which one this is, yo!" said Tonya. "It's 'The One', with Jess Li, right?"
"You mean, Jet Li, yo."
"Close enough!"
*
"It seems we have a problem," Xavier said quietly to Charlotte once they were alone.
"Yes, she told me about it mentally when he was telling you. She must have been really desperate to seek help from me. They both must have been."
"It doesn't surprise me as much as I thought it would to hear that they also have Doppelgangers," remarked Xavier thoughtfully. "But after the newer students' Doppelgangers showed up, it wasn't such a surprise to hear about the others."
"I suppose we must all be linked," added Charlotte. "After all, we were not there when the machines exploded. Had it just been the X-Women, the X-Men, the Sisterhood, the Brotherhood, along with Form and Forge, then it would appear that only those in direct contact with the blast would have travelled across the dimensions. But it's not."
"I understand. How shall we tell the others?"
"Not now, I think. Let them have their fun."
*
There were some muffled giggles coming from behind a tree as Principal Kelly exited the school.
"At school on a Sunday. How sad."
"Maybe we should cheer him up?"
"I hope he likes our little presents. It would be such a shame if he didn't."
If you haven't guessed by now, the two people speaking here were Tabitha and Tibal. They were carrying out the plan that Lance and Lana had heard them formulating earlier.
And yes, they had placed a little something for Kelly underneath the car.
I must tell you now, that I do not condone such behaviour, but in this case I think we can make an exception.
Kelly does deserve this after all.
So let me continue with this little escapade of our two demolition experts (and no, I am not talking about Lance and Lana!).
Principal Kelly was totally unaware as to what was going to happen as he loaded the back seat of his modest car (which was quite old, unlike that of the previous principal's. . . whoops, off topic people. Sorry!) when he heard a noise.
He quickly straightened, and looked around. "Who's there?" he demanded.
Tabitha and Tibal held their breaths and tried not to make a sound that might give them away.
They were fortunate, as the only sound that could be heard was the chattering of the squirrel in the tree they were hiding behind.
"Only a squirrel," said Kelly, and went back to what he had been doing.
Luckily for Kelly, (or perhaps, unluckily) he turned around to get something that he had dropped on the ground while placing stuff in the back seat.
That was when Tabitha and Tibal chose to strike.
The explosives that had been waiting underneath the car went off, sending the car at least half a metre into the air, before crashing back down to earth, smoking ever so slightly.
Kelly leapt out of the way just in time - although Tabitha and Tibal would later swear that he had been launched at least three metres by the force of the explosions.
Unfortunately, the tree hiding Tabitha and Tibal happened to be hiding behind was in the way of his flight path. There was a crash, and Tabitha and Tibal winced at the sound.
They decided to take off before Kelly was completely recovered from his daze.
Luckily a distraction was provided for them by the squirrel, who was kind enough to drop an acorn on Kelly's head.
*
"Oh, man, did you see him go flying? It looked like it was about four metres!" (It's just like the fish that 'got away' - it grows bigger with each passing minute!)
"Nice to see you two are back."
Tabitha and Tibal froze at the sound of the voice.
"Turn around."
Slowly, they turned around. "Storm. Hurricane. Hi."
"And where have you two been?" asked Ororo.
"Out," said Tabitha.
"Yeah, out," agreed Tibal.
"Well, it's good that you are back, as Professor X and Doctor X want to speak to everyone, and they did not want to do that until everyone was available."
"Come," added Orion. "Everyone is in the dining room, waiting for you."
*
The dining room was the only place in the mansion that seemed to be able to accommodate everyone who was there: X-Men and X-Women, Brotherhood and Sisterhood, newer students, and teachers. All up there were forty-six people there, and so not all of them were seated.
But they were all there, waiting to hear what Professor X and Doctor X had to say.
There was silence for a moment, and Xavier and Charlotte did not say a word.
"Can you just hurry up and say it?" demanded Petra after about thirty seconds.
"Dummkopf," muttered Katrin.
Petra snapped her head around and glared at Katrin. "Don't call me that fuzzball! If anything, du bist ein Dummkopf!"
"All right, calm down!" ordered Scarlett, coming between the two. Then she looked at Petra curiously. "Since when can you speak German?"
"My speed is not just limited to moving," Petra replied, scowling. "And when you can read as fast as I do, you'll read just about anything when you're bored. I've read about seventeen German dictionaries and grammar books, then the entire works of Johanna Goethe."
"People!" interrupted Hank. "As fascinating as this conversation is, we have something more pressing to deal with, so can we please-" Hank was suddenly interrupted by the sound of something - no, somethings - large swooping down over the mansion from high above.
Petra was the first to realise, and she looked at Pietro, who was also shocked. In the split second for them to glance at each other, they were away, and already outside on the front lawn before the others had the chance to blink.
*
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no," Petra moaned over and over again. "Not here. Not now. Not them!" She turned and looked at Pietro, who was also looking up into the sky. "You don't think. . . do you?"
Pietro didn't answer, as the other forty-two people who were there ran out onto the lawn.
"Mein Gott!"
"Oh, no!"
The five metal orbs that had been hovering near the roof of the mansion landed in front of the group.
The central one was the first to open, and revealed Magneto, the master of magnetism.
The one on his immediate left opened next to reveal a giant of a man: Colossus.
Then the one on the immediate right opened, and with a roar out came Sabertooth.
Then the one on the far left opened, and out stepped Gambit, idly playing with a pack of playing cards as his red and black eyes surveyed the group in front of him.
The last of the five was the one on the far right, and it contained Pyro, the mutant who mentally controlled flame.
At the sight of Pyro, Petra's expression changed from worry, to one of confusion, and she looked at Pietro, as if he could clarify something for her.
"Look!" shouted someone. "Up there! More!"
Yes, there were more of those orbs, and there were five of them.
And everyone could guess at who they contained.
The orbs landed right behind Magneto's ones, and opened in much the same way as the others had done prior to their arrival.
First, the centre one contained Magneto's Doppelganger, a woman with the same white hair, helmet, outfit and cold eyes as Magneto.
Second, the one on the left opened to reveal a tall woman with the same metal skin as Colossus.
Third, the one on the right, contained a very wild and cat-like looking woman with the same viscous glare as Sabertooth.
Fourth, the one on the far left contained a woman with the same distinctive eyes as Gambit, who was also carrying a pack of playing cards. A staff could be seen with her as well.
And last, but not least, the fifth and final orb opened to reveal what everyone knew to be Pyro's Doppelganger.
But when it opened, everyone looked very confused, Petra and Pietro in particular.
Petra was the first one to move, but when she ran up to the group, she ran up to Pyro, and not his Doppelganger, and she seemed to inspect him.
"Pyro," she asked, looking at the Doppelganger. "Either something is very wrong here, or you make one really ugly chick."
Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Pyro and his Doppelganger said at the same time, "I'm not a sheila!"
You see, that was the cause of everyone's confusion.
Both Pyro and his Doppelganger were male.
Pity I can't sell one of my non-X-Men short stories for some cash. I mean, who'd want to publish my work, anyway?
Role Reversal
Chapter Eleven: But wait, there's more!
"Have you seen Kitty?" asked Hank.
"I was going to say the same thing about Carter," replied Henrietta. "I suppose that, if we asked around, we would find that Lance and Lana would also be missing."
"That's not our main concern at the moment," reminded Xavier. "We need to know how to set everything right."
"How are Forge and Form doing?" asked Charlotte. "Are they any closer to repairing their machines?"
Hank shook his head. "No. But on the bright side, they have given us a conservative estimate as to when they will have their machines repaired."
"And when will that be?"
"Three days from now."
"Three days?!" asked Logan, the annoyance in his voice obvious. "We have to put up with the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood for another three days?!"
"Maybe longer," Henrietta replied with a smile. She did not blink at the extension of claws.
"But what will all of them do until then?" asked Ororo. "Our students have to go to school. What will their Doppelgangers do then?"
"And what about the Brotherhood and Sisterhood going to do?" added Orion.
"I suppose we can let that decision wait until this evening," said Xavier. "Until then, they will just have to occupy themselves."
*
"So, is Robin Williams like this in your world, Katrin?"
"Oh, ja, Kurt. Robyn is really funny."
As Xavier had said, the teens were having to occupy themselves until dinner would be ready - and Logan was already worried about that - and so most of them were all in the recreation room, watching some movies. Kurt had picked the first movie, and had thought it appropriate to pick 'Mrs Doubtfire'. This was a big hit with the teens, and the Doppelgangers especially, who had regaled the others with tales of how Robyn Willaminas was in 'Mr Doubtfire'.
"Well, that was great pick for the movie, Kurt," said Bobbi. "It seems a lot funnier when it is a man dressing up as a woman than the other way around."
"Yeah!" roared Tibal. "What's up next?"
"Um, let's see," said Evan, looking at the shelf that was stacked with videos and DVDs. "We've got 'The Lord of the Rings', um. . . 'Scary Movie' and 'American Pie', the chick flicks, my movie, um. . . 'The Matrix'. . ." He stopped there and grabbed a DVD. "Here's one."
"What have you got, Evan?" asked Eva.
"Well," said Evan, as he put the DVD in the machine, "we've had one about a real gender bender problem, so I thought we should watch one about people coming from other dimensions."
"I know which one this is, yo!" said Tonya. "It's 'The One', with Jess Li, right?"
"You mean, Jet Li, yo."
"Close enough!"
*
"It seems we have a problem," Xavier said quietly to Charlotte once they were alone.
"Yes, she told me about it mentally when he was telling you. She must have been really desperate to seek help from me. They both must have been."
"It doesn't surprise me as much as I thought it would to hear that they also have Doppelgangers," remarked Xavier thoughtfully. "But after the newer students' Doppelgangers showed up, it wasn't such a surprise to hear about the others."
"I suppose we must all be linked," added Charlotte. "After all, we were not there when the machines exploded. Had it just been the X-Women, the X-Men, the Sisterhood, the Brotherhood, along with Form and Forge, then it would appear that only those in direct contact with the blast would have travelled across the dimensions. But it's not."
"I understand. How shall we tell the others?"
"Not now, I think. Let them have their fun."
*
There were some muffled giggles coming from behind a tree as Principal Kelly exited the school.
"At school on a Sunday. How sad."
"Maybe we should cheer him up?"
"I hope he likes our little presents. It would be such a shame if he didn't."
If you haven't guessed by now, the two people speaking here were Tabitha and Tibal. They were carrying out the plan that Lance and Lana had heard them formulating earlier.
And yes, they had placed a little something for Kelly underneath the car.
I must tell you now, that I do not condone such behaviour, but in this case I think we can make an exception.
Kelly does deserve this after all.
So let me continue with this little escapade of our two demolition experts (and no, I am not talking about Lance and Lana!).
Principal Kelly was totally unaware as to what was going to happen as he loaded the back seat of his modest car (which was quite old, unlike that of the previous principal's. . . whoops, off topic people. Sorry!) when he heard a noise.
He quickly straightened, and looked around. "Who's there?" he demanded.
Tabitha and Tibal held their breaths and tried not to make a sound that might give them away.
They were fortunate, as the only sound that could be heard was the chattering of the squirrel in the tree they were hiding behind.
"Only a squirrel," said Kelly, and went back to what he had been doing.
Luckily for Kelly, (or perhaps, unluckily) he turned around to get something that he had dropped on the ground while placing stuff in the back seat.
That was when Tabitha and Tibal chose to strike.
The explosives that had been waiting underneath the car went off, sending the car at least half a metre into the air, before crashing back down to earth, smoking ever so slightly.
Kelly leapt out of the way just in time - although Tabitha and Tibal would later swear that he had been launched at least three metres by the force of the explosions.
Unfortunately, the tree hiding Tabitha and Tibal happened to be hiding behind was in the way of his flight path. There was a crash, and Tabitha and Tibal winced at the sound.
They decided to take off before Kelly was completely recovered from his daze.
Luckily a distraction was provided for them by the squirrel, who was kind enough to drop an acorn on Kelly's head.
*
"Oh, man, did you see him go flying? It looked like it was about four metres!" (It's just like the fish that 'got away' - it grows bigger with each passing minute!)
"Nice to see you two are back."
Tabitha and Tibal froze at the sound of the voice.
"Turn around."
Slowly, they turned around. "Storm. Hurricane. Hi."
"And where have you two been?" asked Ororo.
"Out," said Tabitha.
"Yeah, out," agreed Tibal.
"Well, it's good that you are back, as Professor X and Doctor X want to speak to everyone, and they did not want to do that until everyone was available."
"Come," added Orion. "Everyone is in the dining room, waiting for you."
*
The dining room was the only place in the mansion that seemed to be able to accommodate everyone who was there: X-Men and X-Women, Brotherhood and Sisterhood, newer students, and teachers. All up there were forty-six people there, and so not all of them were seated.
But they were all there, waiting to hear what Professor X and Doctor X had to say.
There was silence for a moment, and Xavier and Charlotte did not say a word.
"Can you just hurry up and say it?" demanded Petra after about thirty seconds.
"Dummkopf," muttered Katrin.
Petra snapped her head around and glared at Katrin. "Don't call me that fuzzball! If anything, du bist ein Dummkopf!"
"All right, calm down!" ordered Scarlett, coming between the two. Then she looked at Petra curiously. "Since when can you speak German?"
"My speed is not just limited to moving," Petra replied, scowling. "And when you can read as fast as I do, you'll read just about anything when you're bored. I've read about seventeen German dictionaries and grammar books, then the entire works of Johanna Goethe."
"People!" interrupted Hank. "As fascinating as this conversation is, we have something more pressing to deal with, so can we please-" Hank was suddenly interrupted by the sound of something - no, somethings - large swooping down over the mansion from high above.
Petra was the first to realise, and she looked at Pietro, who was also shocked. In the split second for them to glance at each other, they were away, and already outside on the front lawn before the others had the chance to blink.
*
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no," Petra moaned over and over again. "Not here. Not now. Not them!" She turned and looked at Pietro, who was also looking up into the sky. "You don't think. . . do you?"
Pietro didn't answer, as the other forty-two people who were there ran out onto the lawn.
"Mein Gott!"
"Oh, no!"
The five metal orbs that had been hovering near the roof of the mansion landed in front of the group.
The central one was the first to open, and revealed Magneto, the master of magnetism.
The one on his immediate left opened next to reveal a giant of a man: Colossus.
Then the one on the immediate right opened, and with a roar out came Sabertooth.
Then the one on the far left opened, and out stepped Gambit, idly playing with a pack of playing cards as his red and black eyes surveyed the group in front of him.
The last of the five was the one on the far right, and it contained Pyro, the mutant who mentally controlled flame.
At the sight of Pyro, Petra's expression changed from worry, to one of confusion, and she looked at Pietro, as if he could clarify something for her.
"Look!" shouted someone. "Up there! More!"
Yes, there were more of those orbs, and there were five of them.
And everyone could guess at who they contained.
The orbs landed right behind Magneto's ones, and opened in much the same way as the others had done prior to their arrival.
First, the centre one contained Magneto's Doppelganger, a woman with the same white hair, helmet, outfit and cold eyes as Magneto.
Second, the one on the left opened to reveal a tall woman with the same metal skin as Colossus.
Third, the one on the right, contained a very wild and cat-like looking woman with the same viscous glare as Sabertooth.
Fourth, the one on the far left contained a woman with the same distinctive eyes as Gambit, who was also carrying a pack of playing cards. A staff could be seen with her as well.
And last, but not least, the fifth and final orb opened to reveal what everyone knew to be Pyro's Doppelganger.
But when it opened, everyone looked very confused, Petra and Pietro in particular.
Petra was the first one to move, but when she ran up to the group, she ran up to Pyro, and not his Doppelganger, and she seemed to inspect him.
"Pyro," she asked, looking at the Doppelganger. "Either something is very wrong here, or you make one really ugly chick."
Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Pyro and his Doppelganger said at the same time, "I'm not a sheila!"
You see, that was the cause of everyone's confusion.
Both Pyro and his Doppelganger were male.