Before the X-Mansion was rebuilt in May 2004, a bomb planted by Magneto/Xorn decimated it. How did the students survive? What happened before the bomb exploded? Imitating the perspective of the popular hit TV series "24" the students and teachers of the Xavier's Institute have 24 hours to survive Magneto/Xorn's attack.
6:00 AM
Bobby Drake was jogging around the school since the sun came up. The sun had just majestically climbed from the east. It brought warmth to the cool morning and also warning of the humid day ahead. Bobby had jogged for about 45 minutes. He slowed his pace. His entire body was encased in ice. However, you could still make out the spiked style of his hair and the veins on his arms. From a distance, no once could tell that his chest was completely made of solid ice.
As he began to quicken his pace around the school, he noticed two small figures quickly approaching him. Closer. Familiar. One was a young boy, chestnut colored hair and a light blue ball cap. The other was orange, scaly and wearing a spring jacket.
"Hey Mr. Drake!" Carter called out.
Bobby waved. "What are you kids doing so early in the morning? Do your mothers know where you are?"
Sammy Pare answered, "Yea Mr. Drake. We're just going to the creek before it gets too hot. Summer vacation has just started you know?"
"Ok. Whatever. You two don't go too far, got it?"
They both nodded and began to walk to towards the creek. Bobby continued his morning exercise.
When the two kids got far enough from Iceman, Sammy asked, "Geez, what's up his duodenum?"
"I don't know. Mom says that he has cold shoulder since Lorna came back."
"Yeah. I heard about that psycho attacking everyone at the wedding."
Carter looked at the sky for a second, lost in thought.
"I don't think she's a psycho, I think she's just broken and needs to be fixed."
Sammy winced, "Whatever dude. At least Mr. Drake didn't catch on."
"Yeah. Do you think that was kind of wrong?"
"Nah. He would of freaked if he knew we were kind of going off school property."
Carter stopped for a second to fix his shoe laces and asks, "So where are we going?"
Sammy smirked through his fish-like lips, "It is so cool. I found it when I was trying to hide from my mom. As much as I want her to be here she's kind of getting annoying. Anyways, I'm taking you to what I think could be a UFO site!"
Carter looked up at Sammy with awe in his eyes.
"Cool…"
6:15 AM
Annie Ghazikhanian walked across the hallways of Xavier's Institute. Her white heels clicked to the sound of the empty hallways. Some of the students had left the school for the summer, but there were still many who stayed behind. She entered one of the classrooms on the second level.
"Marking exams so early in the morning?"
Jean-Paul Beaubier didn't even need to look up from his desk.
"Come in Annie. Yes I am marking exams. I'm almost finished. We only have a couple hundred students in the school so it'll take me less than a minute to mark each and everyone."
"Speed reading. I've always wanted that kind of ability when I was studying to become a nurse."
"Oh really? How are your patients? Gracious I presume." He lifted a mug from the table and took a sip. Hot cocoa. No caffeine.
"The ice queen was reading me her rights. Emma Frost can be the most condescending woman on earth, but I know she truly loves her students."
She sat on top of a desk directly in front of Jean Paul. She faced the window. Bobby Drake wasn't outside anymore.
Jean Paul looked at her and said, "I still can't believe that Esme shot her own teacher. Emma isn't the easiest person to get along with, but to shoot her down… with a diamond bullet… I would of settled for a laxative."
Annie stood up and walked to the board. "I'm not surprised anymore. Alien invasions, school riots and a trip to Hell… the school shooting looked very normal and bland compared to those."
"These are mutant students Annie. They have to deal with the supernatural world more often than 'normal' kids. A child like Esme must have been confused and misguided in order to do something like this."
Annie began to draw on the board with a piece of chalk and asked, "When does a child start taking responsibility for their actions? I think Esme was old enough to make her own decisions and not hide behind the excuse of being a mutant. I was talking to her sisters earlier this morning. Even they knew deep down that Esme had made the decision to deviate from them and commit a crime for God knows what reason."
Still sitting on his chair, Jean Paul placed the stacks of paper onto a large folder.
"Good point. As much as I wish Esme were innocent, she shot Emma Frost. And it was a decision that she made on her own. For what ever reason, she wanted her teacher dead," he sighed. "How about your other patient?"
Annie smirked, "You mean Josh Foley, the golden child? That boy has a lot of energy and after almost being slaughtered by some large animal, he managed to heal himself and turn his skin into one of my favorite colors. It's almost funny how my only patients are living pieces of jewellery."
"Josh may be full of himself but he's a good kid."
Annie finished drawing a sun with clouds.
Jean Paul looked at her and said, "You know four-year-olds can do better."
She laughed, "Shut up!" and changing the subject, "What are you doing today?"
"We have that faculty meeting that Danielle Moonstar called up at 7, other than that, nothing else. Why?"
"I'm almost done the report on those micro-sentinel things that the children had earlier in the term so I'll be free today. I wanted to do a little shopping in town."
Jean Paul crossed his arms, "So you want me to be your shopping buddy? What am I, a straight woman's stereotypical gay bosom buddy? And are we going to stop for ice-cream?"
Annie chuckled, "Yes Jean Paul. Of course we'll stop for ice-cream."
"Then count me in."
6:45 AM
Sammy and Carter continued to walk the forest trail around the area of Xavier's Institute. The sun was now directly on the east in front of them. Birds chirped. Other animal sounds.
Carter stomach started to grumble, "Are we there yet? I'm getting tired. And hungry."
"Don't worry dude. What I'm going to show you will knock your socks off. Here I got this chocolate bar. And yes we're almost there."
The two continued walking. Carter chewed on the chocolate bar. It was early in the morning and the day was already getting humid. Carter immediately stopped.
Sammy looked behind him to see a stoned look on Carter's face, "Buddy, what is it?"
"I sense something. I don't know. I'm kind of scared here."
"Maybe it's the UFO site. We're very close to it. It's just over there." Sammy pointed to a cave.
"I don't know Sammy. I think we should go home now."
"Don't worry! I've been in there before. There's nothing to be afraid of. Trust me."
The two walked towards the cave. It looked as if the land around had recently been cleared. As if some force had just created this cave right in the middle of the forest. It was dark, mystical, and downright frightening.
"See this is it," Sammy pointed.
Carter tried looking inside. It was too dark.
"What if there are bears in here or something?"
"You and I would be able to sense them. Hold on. This is the cool part."
They waited for a few seconds. Then symbols on the walls started to glow."
Carter was astounded, "Holy. Holy. Holy."
"See! Don't you think that this is a UFO site now?"
Carter scratched his head. There was something familiar about these symbols.
"Sammy. We've seen these symbols before… during the school riot."
6:59 AM