First Confrontation
Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Marvel, I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Thanks for the feedback: Risty, Raniatlw, DemonRogue13, Jaina12, crazyspaceystracey, IceBlueRose, Anti-XYo, Obsidian, Erikstrulove, Joey1, Goofn1, Julez, EmeraldKatsEye
Sorry about the long delay, real life got messy. When things got streightened out I hated everything I wrote, so I put my evo stories on hiatus and worked on other things until I'd wrote something I was willing to post. Now that I'm back in practice I'm trying to get back into this series. I can't make any promises with regards to schedule at the moment, but I am working on Evo stories again.
Rogue grimaced as she watched Bobby, Jubilee, Alex, Paige and Doug in the Danger Room below. She hit the intercom. "Ramsey, what is your problem? Keep up with the group!" She snapped.
"This is stupid, I don't have powers!" Doug yelled back.
"Neither does Paige and it doesn't seem to be stopping her." Rogue pointed out coldly.
Paige blushed at the implied compliment. Doug scowled but hurried after the others. Once she was sure Doug was keeping the pace despite the other obstacles Rogue sent the drones after them.
Bobby and Jubilee turned at the first whir of the motors and started blasting. A moment later Alex got the idea and joined in. Paige and Doug scattered as they searched for cover.
"Alright!" Jubilee cheered as her fireworks brought down a second drones. "Two for me!"
"Four." Bobby cried as he shot an icicle from his fist.
Alex formed his hands into guns and fired off blasts of concussive force. Two drones dropped to the floor. "Five."
Bobby opened his hands and a sheet of ice swept the room, creating an instant glacier inside the Danger Room. Paige gasped as the ice closed around her arm. "Well that's that!" Bobby gloated.
"Bobby get yourself under control!" Rogue shouted angrily.
As she shut down the simulation Alex hit Bobby's ice-wall with a powerful blast of power.
Rogue took off running.
The ice shattered becoming an indoor avalanche. "Surf's cold today!" Alex laughed as he let the frozen flood sweep him away.
Bobby grabbed Jubilee's arm and hauled her onto a newly formed ice-slide behind him.
Moving in a blur of speed Rogue darted through the partially opened doors and into the Danger Room. She leapt from one unstable chunk of ice to another. She moved on before the ice had time to shift under her weight, constantly working her way upstream against the flow of ice.
Rogue grabbed Doug's outstretched hand and threw herself backwards. She used her body weight and her momentum to yank him free of the ice and toss him to the relative stability of Bobby's ice-slide. A fraction of a second later she was back on her feet and racing toward Jubilee. She grabbed the younger girl's hand and brought it in contact with her own cheek. With Pietro's accelerated perceptions Rogue was able to judge the precise flow of power between them, when she let go Jubilee was dazed but still conscious enough to cling to Bobby.
Rogue turned toward the spot where Paige had last been and blasted the ice with an intensely hot burst of fireworks. The ice melted away. In the strobe-like pauses between blasts Rogue caught sight of a blond head beneath the ice. She gritted her teeth and drove her hand through the last, glass-like layer of ice five times in quick succession to free the younger girl from the ice's hold.
With Paige's limp form balanced precariously on her shoulder Rogue raced back for the hall.
Alex had already made it out of the Danger Room on his own. Bobby joined them with both his charges a few moments later. Rogue glared at Bobby and Alex as blood dripped from her sliced up hand. "Try using your heads for something more than a hat rack." She snarled. "Doug, Jubilee, come with me. Yah two can stay right where yah are 'till Ah've time for yah." With that the Goth-girl turned and stalked toward the infirmary, Paige still over her should in a fireman's carry. Jubilee gave the two boys a sympathetic look before she turned to trail after Rogue.
"I knew I didn't belong here." Doug muttered under his breath.
"What happened?" Moira demanded as they entered the infirmary.
"Rampant stupidity." Rogue snapped then forced herself to take a deep, calming breath. "A homemade Ice Age in the Danger Room. Ah think Paige's arm got flash-frozen. She and Doug got tossed around some. Jubilee should be fine; Ah just used a touch of mah powers on her. Ah guess Ah brought her along 'cause she ain't one of the pair Ah'm thinking 'bout pounding into next Sunday."
Moira helped Rogue lower Paige onto her examine table. "Let me have a look." She said.
Rogue, there's been an incident at one of the mutant testing centers. I'm summoning your team, we'll meet in the hanger.Xavier ordered.
"Damn." Rogue swore. "Ah'm bring Jubilee 'stead of Bobby." She informed Xavier as she wrapped a bandage around her hand.
Fifty miles East of Westchester Jean lay on an un-made dorm cot, her homework spread out in front of her, her belongings neatly packed and stacked just inside the door. When the doorknob turned Jean set aside her studies and prepared herself as if for battle.
A black teenager with waves of thick midnight hair bound in a ponytail walked in. She glanced around. "You must be my new roommate. I'm Misty Knight. Do you need a hand unpacking?"
"I've learned to settle a few things first, it saves time in the long run." Jean replied wearily. "I'm Jean Grey, the mutant. If you raise a fuss housing will find someplace else for me to get kicked out of within 24 hrs."
Misty thought about it for a few minutes. "It's the eighth week of the semester. Why haven't they just given you your own room if they're having this much trouble?"
"But that wouldn't send their message so clearly." Jean answered bitterly. "I'm going to survive this. I can live out of a suitcase for the whole damn year if I have to. Then I'll be able to move off campus and get an apartment. I'm not going to let some little bigot push me around. So go make you're complaints, the head of housing will be understanding. She'll probably reward you. But tell her she's not getting rid of me."
"How about I help you unpack instead." Misty offered.
Jean's defenses crumpled. "You're really not going to kick me out?" She asked.
"My former roommate let her boyfriend stay over. She had me sleeping on the couch in the lobby at least two nights a week. When I complained about it her ass of a boyfriend offered to let me in for a little three-way. From where I'm sitting, you're a big step up if just being a mutant is the only reason you're getting bounced all over the dorms."
Jean laughed. "No worries, my boyfriend took off for parts unknown. I only see him in my thoughts."
Jean opened the top box and Misty came over and started dumping clothes in the dresser. "Once we get all this junk moved in, I know a great place to eat. Well actually the food's crap but it's paid for. Welcome to dorm life."
Rogue met Xavier as he left the elevator. Sam and Wanda were with him. "What happened to Spyke and Berserker?" Rogue asked.
"I'm not certain." Xavier replied. "They've left the school grounds."
Rogue felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as they boarded the X-Jet. She hoped the situation wasn't too serious given that she had a team that had never worked together before.
Once they were in the air she asked Xavier. "What happened?"
"Jonathan Starsmore, a foreign exchange student attending classes at a high school in Rhode Island." Xavier explained. "From what I've been able to determine he lost control of his powers during the psychiatric review resulting in an explosion of some sort. Dr. Hunter escaped injury but both of the SHIELD agents working with her were hospitalized while attempting to contain him."
"Lemme guess: a scared kid freaks out at the thought of being interrogated by the government so a couple of goons in armor shove guns in his face then blame him when everything goes to hell." Rogue assumed.
"Not exactly." Xavier said. "I spoke with Dr. Hunter. Jonathan was apparently in the process of extending his student visa and applying for college. He took it into his head that he was being deported. That was what caused the initial loss of control. Dr. Hunter believes that he may have been injured, precipitating a complete panic. The SHIELD Agents believed that their armor would protect them and attempted to remove him to a secure facility… They were wrong."
Emma turned and looked over her shoulder at the cabin of the private jet. She examined the four teens sitting there, her elite, the prize for enduring dozens of lesser mutants over-running her home crying for their mommies.
At nineteen Xi'an Coy Mahn was the eldest. Rearing her younger siblings had forced an early maturity on the Vietnamese girl as well. She sat apart from the others looking aloof and self-contained. Her midnight black hair was contained in a neat plait that she'd coiled on top of her head. Her uniform consisted of a high-necked tunic, lavender at the collar then gradually darkening to mauve as it fell past her hips, blending into the fitted black pants. The over-all effect was more conservative than Emma approved of, but her initial mental scan of this student indicated that encouraging her to emulate Emma's style had the potential to backfire dramatically.
Roberto Dacosta was the next student to capture Emma's appraising attention. She was rather pleased at her success in stealing the sixteen-year-old from Xavier given the number of recruits Magneto had lost to his rival. The Brazilian boy was outfitted in a solid black bodysuit; panels of slick, silken black were inlayed over the flat black of the suit, giving it the appearance of shimmering black flames even in his powered-down state. He was flirting with Theresa and trying to keep his eyes on her face.
The Irish-American Theresa Cassidy had chosen to wear green accented with a coppery-gold that matched her hair… or was it the green that was the accent? Emma had found Sean's voluble disapproval of his seventeen-year-old daughter's wardrobe amusing; she'd outfitted Theresa with that in mind. Excluding the cape, Theresa's uniform could better be described as a bikini top with hot pants. Her long hair fanned around her face in a riotous mass of curls. Emma considered telling her to pin it back then decided to see if it got in the girl's way before raising objections.
Maria seemed to be competing with Theresa for Roberto's attention. The feline girl was practically leaning against his shoulder, one clawed hand resting lightly on his upper-arm. Her attention seemed to be making Roberto nervous, a quick scan of his mind told Emma it wasn't Feral's inhuman appearance that was making him squirm, it was the fact that he'd found her dismembering a small animal she'd found roaming the grounds. Maria's choice of clothing also appeared to be in competition with Theresa's. She wore a sleeveless maroon leotard. While it covered a bit more than Theresa's ensemble, Maria's served the secondary purpose of compressing the thick fur covering her torso to reveal some curves that might otherwise have been missed.
Emma clapped her hands lightly, calling the group to attention. "Attention, darlings. I didn't call you here to admire one another." She said. "A little bird told me Xavier's group has been summoned to help deal with a child who reacted badly to the government's inquisition."
"What does that have to do with us?" Roberto asked. "The X-Men'll take care of it."
"Oh I'm certain that Charles' X-Men are quite capable of bring one frightened child to heel. However, I am concerned about what will happen to the boy afterwards."
"What do you mean?" Xi'an asked.
"This terrified boy took down two of SHEILD's finest." Emma's eyes gleamed with a covetous light. "Xavier turned one of his own over to them. Do you think he'll protect this child? Do you think SHEILD will have any mercy for one of us who showed them for the ineffectual buffoons they are?"
Xi'an shook her head grimly.
"Do I get to hurt someone?" Feral asked.
Emma frowned at the girl. "You will delay the X-Men while I collect your new classmate. Think of this as your entrance exam."
Roberto spent the rest of the trip chewing on his lower lip, wondering which of his friends he'd be expected to fight.
Rogue stood at Xavier's shoulder, the rest of her team clustered behind them as they waited for the wheel chair lift to unfold itself outside of the hatch.
A subsonic howl set the hair on their arms standing on end as it sheared through the metal and turned the lift into so much scrape.
Rogue spun Xavier's chair around and pulled him deeper into the safety of the jet then leapt through the ruined hatchway. A few moments later Cannonball, Jubilee and the Scarlet Witch joined her outside. They found themselves confronted by Xi'an, Roberto and Maria.
Theresa swooped back and forth across the sky, wailing. The pitch of her voice changed and the X-Men scattered as the ground beneath their feet was blasted apart.
Cannonball faced off against Roberto. "You're fighting against us now?" He asked uncertainly.
"If I have to." Roberto replied. He didn't meet Sam's eyes. "We aren't letting the Professor turn that kid over to SHEILD."
Rogue danced around the battlefield, deliberately holding herself back so that Theresa's strikes looked like near misses. Frustrated, convinced she could hit the stripe-haired X-Man if she tried just a little harder, Theresa's blasts got increasingly reckless. Rogue paused just in front of Feral then darted out of the way, leaving Theresa's attack to take down her own teammate.
Xi'an held back from the battle to evaluate her opponents. Rogue seemed the primary threat, but the mercurial speed of her thoughts made it difficult for Xi'an to grasp them.
"Sam, get in the air." Rogue ordered. "Jubilee, Wanda, what are yah waiting for?"
Emma strolled through the testing facility, past a half-dozen frozen SHEILD soldiers. As she passed by Emma rearranged their memories to her liking. When she was certain they would remain entranced Emma transformed, as her skin turned diamond-hard the babble of other people's thoughts went silent in her mind.
She knocked politely on the door to the room where Starsmore had been cornered. When there was no response she turned the doorknob and walked in, confident in her own invulnerability.
The room was silent despite the psionic fire filling every corner. Coolly Emma strode through the inferno to stand over the brown-haired teen huddled in fetal position in the far corner of the room. "Quite the display." She commented.
It was the fearless, conversational tone that caught the boy's attention more than anything else. Slowly he uncurled enough to stare up at her. His huge, soulful brown eyes blinked at her in disbelief.
Emma studied him for a moment. A ragged line of dark bangs crossed his forehead, his cheekbones where sharply defined and if his nose was a little on the large side his eyes balanced it. Emma imagined that he must have been extremely popular with the girls; that would probably make it more difficult to adapt to his mutation. Below the boy's roman nose his face was gone, replaced with orange flames that seemed to originate from somewhere deep within his body. From what Emma could see behind his knees the damage extended to his stomach. The light from the psionic fire illuminated the ragged remains of his chest cavity from within giving the impression that the boy's body was nothing more than a hollow chamber, marginally containing a being of pure energy.
"I take it I'd be wise not to expect much in the way of a dialogue at the moment." Emma said. "Which works out rather nicely since I'd rather you just listen for the moment. I'm Emma Frost, a mutant like yourself. At one time I also found myself beset by powers I didn't understand and couldn't control. Like you I saw my life slipping into disaster. I mastered my new abilities and turned them to my advantage. I can help you do the same. I can take you out of this place and hide you from those who would threaten you. I can teach you to find the strength to never need fear anyone again. Right now all I ask from you in return is for you to calm yourself and make an effort to reign in your powers."
Emma forced herself to project an air of patience as the boy digested her words and struggled to comply with her request.
Gradually the psionic fire receded; it retreated back into the boy's body. When the room had cleared enough for her to do so safely Emma reverted to flesh and blood, once her teleapathy returned she gently reached into Jonathan's mind and helped him to control his power.
See that wasn't so hard.Emma projected.
What're ya doing inside me head?Jonathan demanded.
Welcome to the world of telepaths.Emma replied with a smile as she recognized his 'voice' as a telepathic projection rather than simply being a thought she'd picked up. It seems I won't have to worry about how you'll communicate after all. Come along now, you'll want to meet your classmates.
Xi'an made her choice as Jubilee shot a stream of fireworks at Roberto, she reached into the younger girl's mind and took over.
Mechanically Jubilee turned her powers on Wanda. The Goth Girl scowled darkly as she ducked behind the X-Jet's landing gear. "Why are you attacking me?" Wanda snarled. She retaliated with a hex.
Jubilee's plasmiods began exploding the instant they left her fingers. The close proximity explosions left her stunned.
Roberto charged Wanda only to go sprawling as Rogue hooked a leg out from under him. Above them Theresa avoided Cannonball's clumsy attacks with the aerial grace of a dragonfly while he shrugged off her attacks as if they were no more dangerous than raindrops.
Upon seeing her avatar go down Xi'an turned her abilities on Wanda. At the feel of a foreign presence in her mind Wanda shrieked in outrage. The frail focusing crystal that hung before her mind's eye shattered.
A blue glow surrounded Wanda; it pulsated as her control over her powers wavered. She pointed at Xi'an, a blue bolt of power leapt at the Asian girl. Both girls screamed in pain as the effect of Wanda's power reverberated through the link Xi'an had forged between their minds.
This stops now!Xavier projected as he severed the link between Xi'an and Wanda. At the same time he quieted both their powers.
Very impressive,Emma's mental voice was smug, but belated. Time to be on our way students. We have what we came for.
Roberto sent Sam and Jubilee a look that was both regretful and relieved. He slung the unconscious Feral over his shoulder and began his retreat.
Sam abandoned his battle with Theresa and landed in Roberto's path. "Why are yah with them?" He demanded.
Roberto glanced at the ground. "This is where my father wants me. Just leave it at that."
Sam hesitated.
Let them go.Xavier project. I do not approve of Ms. Frost's tactics but the situation has been controlled. Fighting amongst ourselves will only confirm humanity's poor opinion of us.
Nervously Bobby and Alex stood outside the med lab door with their ears pressed against it as they listened to the conversation from inside.
"It itches!" Paige complained.
"That is because the epidermis was damaged." Moira said. "Scratching will only make it worse."
The two boys winced.
"I brought chess." Jamie said.
Bobby took a deep breath and reached for the door. Alex caught his wrist. "What if she doesn't want to see us?"
"As soon as Sam gets back from his mission and finds out we hurt her we'll be joining Paige in the Infirmary anyway." Bobby said. "I figure the apology will sound more sincere if we give it before her big brother pulverizes us."
"Isn't Sam one of your best friends?" Alex asked.
Bobby shrugged. "Paige is his little sister, she doesn't have powers, not only did I forget to protect her it was my power that hurt her. Friends or not Sam's going to want to kill me."
"Assuming Rogue doesn't get us first." Alex commented. "That girl was rabid."
"Rogue has a low tolerance for stupidity." Jamie said as he opened the door and glared at them. "I could see her deciding that that Sam has the stronger claim though. Either way you're screwed. I could almost feel sorry for you, except it's going to be fun to watch. What are you waiting for, go grovel."
"Thanks for the pep talk." Bobby muttered. He and Alex stepped past Jamie.
Paige sat cross-legged on one of the beds, her right arms was swathed in bandages from fingertip to above the elbow. She stole a glance at Moira's back then moved to scratch at her bandaged arm.
"Paige." Moira reprimanded without turning.
"Does every mom-type in the world have eyes in the back of their head?" Paige exclaimed.
"Yes dear." Moira replied calmly.
"Um Paige?" Bobby began. "I'm, we're real sorry about what happened. I got caught up in blasting stuff and forgot you could get hurt. Is there anything we could do?"
Paige traded a look with Jamie. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll start putting a list together." She said.
Alex and Bobby looked worried. "Sure Paige, you'll tell Sam we're apologizing right?" Bobby said.
Paige smiled. As they retreated they heard Jamie say. "Personal slaves? I like how you think."
"Lots of brothers." Paige explained. "A guilty conscious is better than gold."
Paige stared longingly at her bandaged are. "Ah can't believe how bad this itches. I feel like scratching my skin right off."
"Don't you dare." Moira said.
"But Ah really, really want to."
"No."
"But…"