The Call to Arms
chapter one
3:23 p.m.
October 9, 2004
Location: Washington D.C.
"They are dangerous, unpredictable, unreliable creatures who hold themselves above the laws of human nature," the adamant voice of the speaker argued as he stood at the podium, his fists clenched at his side and his face stern as he looked out into the crowd. He reached to shove the glasses on his nose up and continued with his speech. "Restrictions need to be placed and severely punished when broken or there is no telling what dangers we will see in the near future."
The crowd broke into noise. Most were applauding and whistling the statement, a few were booing, showing their dislike for the man's powerful message. The master of debate held up his hand. "We will allow Professor Xavier to express his views on the matter."
Professor Xavier, who had been sitting quietly through the speech nodded his head and began to move his automatic wheelchair towards his own podium. He smiled to his opponent before saying in a cool, calm voice, "Thank you Mr. Trask for your opinion on the matter." He then looked towards the crowd, most of which who were looking skeptical. None looked too eager to hear what the professor had to say. "I feel you, along with most of the world governments present tonight, have expressed opinions that have been worthwhile and representative of the cautions held by most of the populous. However, I urge you to consider this. Mutants are no different than other human beings-"
Instantly, the room was in an uproar. Professor Xavier waited patiently until the master of debate got it under control again and urged him to go on. "Mutants have been given a gift, nothing more. The mutant gene is an evolutionary gift that is part of nature. Most mutants do not hold themselves above other humans. Most go about their every day life, wanting the same thing everyone does, to be happy and successful. To have family, to live long lives. Their dreams are no different. Would you persecute a painter for having artistic talents? Would you ban writers for having a gift of words?"
"In all fairness, Professor," Mr. Trask interrupted, leaning over the podium with a cockiness to his stance, "Painters and writers do not shoot lasers out of their eyes."
Again, the room was in an uproar. It took longer this time to quiet them down and in the back of the room, two figures stood by the doorway. One sighed and dropped his shoulders, reaching up to finger the sunglasses that covered his eyes. The woman next to him slipped her hand into his. "The Professor's taking a beating," the man whispered.
"And yet, he's remaining calm," the woman whispered. "That's what these people need to see. That we can be calm and mature about this whole thing."
"It makes to sense to me why they would listen to a man like Bolivar Trask," he said.
"He's one of the forerunners against mutant rights, Scott." She gave his hand a squeeze. "It doesn't matter what type of guy he is, he's saying what is on all of their minds."
"It still doesn't make me like the guy, Jean."
"I know."
"Mr. Trask, please," the master of debate held up his hand. "Allow Professor Xavier to speak."
Trask merely held up his hand, signaling the Professor to go on. "Please, Charles, by all means."
"You cannot judge a whole by the actions of a few," the Professor went on, unphased. "What's happened in recent days has been a resurgence of new mutants discovering their abilities. Most don't know they are mutants until their abilities happen to them in times of need or crisis. When a mutant is in danger, it is their nature to use their power."
"So last month in Kentucky when a man was turned to stone, that is mutant nature?" Mr. Trask asked, leaning forward again.
"Let's not forget the unfortunate man who was turned to stone had been attempting to rape a mutant girl at the time. Her powers came out in her time of greatest need."
"And the boy last week whose skin emitted a toxin so strong he nearly killed his entire school?" The room was in an uproar again, but the Professor shook his head.
"That was an unfortunate circumstance, I agree, but as I said before, we cannot base our judgment of a whole on the actions of a few."
Mr. Trask shook his head and held his hands out to the audience. "That is where you are wrong, Professor." The room quieted again at Bolivar's words. "When it comes to human lives, it is our duty to protect as many as possible. And it is because of this that I have established a program to ensure such 'unfortunate accidents' do not happen again. I would like to introduce to the people of Washington, and to the world, the Sentinel project."
A curtain was dropped behind the two. Professor Xavier turned and eyed the screen behind them and the lights dimmed. Bolivar Trask, grinning ear to ear, held his hands out to the screen as images started to play. The first image to come on was news coverage's of mutants using their powers. "In light of the recent events involving the loss of innocent human lives, let me introduce to you my latest project, the Sentinels." On screen came the image of a large, robotic machine. The audience was suddenly attentive and listening, leaning forward in their seats. "Today, at 3:30 pm, our first Sentinel test will commence. Five of these fifty foot tall mutant detecting Sentinels will be released to New York City. They are equipped with mutant power nullifying devices only to be used when a mutant power is detected being used. It will not hurt the mutant and they have been programmed to do no harm. However, if the case arises where a mutant fights back with intent to harm any of the Sentinel devices, I have equipped them each with an arsenal worthy enough to take down the most powerful of mutant enemies."
Jean gasped beside Scott, how tensed his shoulders. "He can't do that," she said, covering her mouth.
"Yeah?" Scott said, his voice bitter. "Whose going to stop him? Everyone in this room is anti-mutant. No one cares if innocent lives are lost as long as they aren't human lives."
Professor Xavier turned and looked towards Bolivar Trask. "You cannot do this Bolivar!" He said sternly. "This goes against everything we've been fighting for. What right is this for mutants who have done nothing wrong?"
"If they have done nothing wrong, then the Sentinels won't bother them," Bolivar answer, the smoothness in his voice coy and alarming. "And in five minutes, we will see the future of mutant rights come to life." The room cheered simultaneously and Bolivar smiled at Professor Xavier with a cocky grin. The Professor gathered his notes and immediately left the stage, where he met Scott and Jean.
"Professor, he can't do this," Jean said. "Those things will never work."
"No, they won't," Professor Xavier agreed. "Come, let us go back to the mansion. We may be taking a trip to New York."
3:34 p.m.
October 9, 2004
Location: The X-Mansion
"They can't do that, can they Dr. McCoy?" Dr. Hank McCoy turned to look at the children sitting behind him. His eyes rose to met those of Logan's, who was standing in the back of the room with his arms crossed in front of his chest. They had been watching the live broadcast of the debate, knowing the children loved to watch their headmaster on television. The look in his eyes told Hank that Logan was thinking the same thing: they were going to New York. But first, he had a room full of anxious children to deal with.
"There's nothing to worry about, children," Hank said, reaching out and patting one of the kids on the head. "You all are very safe here. And if the Sentinel project does go through, then we will deal with it. But right now, I believe it is recreation time. Why don't you all go find Forge, I'm sure he'll have something for you to do."
The children began to stand and one green haired teenager came over to Hank, putting a hand on his arm. "If you need, I could go and help you take out those Sentinels."
Hank grinned and nodded. "Thank you, Lorna, but I believe we can handle it."
She shrugged and followed her classmates off. "Well, if you change your mind!" She called back.
Hank felt his smile fade as he turned to Logan, who was still leaning against the wall, looking sorely angry. "We should have known that Trask bastard was up to something," he snarled, tapping his fingers with the itch to bring out his adamantium claws. Though Hank trusted Logan more than most, he always had a sort of fear of Logan's innate anger. He tended to be brash and impulsive, but Hank found it remarkable that the man came out on top most of the time. He seemed to be a anomaly to probability.
"We couldn't have known it would be on this grand of scale," Hank added, reached a clawed hand to scratch behind his ear. Hank was an anomaly himself. His mutant abilities had come out when he was young, showing signs of an almost animalistic feel over his senses and reflexes. Only in recent years had he begun to grow blue fur that covered his entire body. He slouched over like an ape and although at first he'd found it horrible and had considered ending his life on several occasions, he had soon learned to accept what he was. Especially since coming to teach at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The children had accepted him instantly, as had his fellow teachers and comrades, especially Logan, who seemed to connect on an animalistic level.
Logan's face suddenly frowned and Hank turned back to the television, he instantly took in what was happening and reached to turn up the volume.
"…seems to have malfunctioned and are now attacking mutants at random," the newscaster was saying. Logan came forward with a snarl and the two of them watched as a Sentinel shot a missile at a car. The teenagers inside managed to scramble away, one with animalistic reflexes and the other disappearing into thin air just before the car exploded with fire.
"We need to get a hold of Charles," Logan said and no sooner had the words come out of his mouth than the telescreen popped up, showing Charles' face.
"Logan, Hank, good," Charles said. "I assume you are watching the coverage in New York."
"Yes, and I'm not altogether sure that Bolivar Trask didn't know this would happen," Hank scoffed, looking back at the screen. New York was in chaos.
"We're nearly to the hangar, meet us there. We're going to see if we can stop them from hurting anyone," Charles said.
"So I can destroy me one of those things?" Logan asked.
"You can destroy five of those, Logan," Charles said and gave a small smile before the telescreen disappeared.
"I wonder just how exactly we stop those things," Hank asked as he and Logan made for the hangar.
Logan snorted and turned to grin. With a slick metallic whoosh, he brought out his claws and it was all the answer Hank needed.
4:37 p.m.
October 9, 2004
Location: New York City
It was panic, sheer panic that filled the streets of New York. The Sentinels had come over an hour ago, and in their wake they'd left a path of destruction. Looters and rioters were beginning to come out. Mainly rioters who were trapping any mutant they could find and throwing them towards the Sentinels in attempts to make the giant robotic machines go away, be fulfilled.
It was in the hands of one of these rioters where Bobby Drake made the decision that he didn't like New York City. As the rioter clubbed him upside the head with a fist, Bobby grunted and felt himself being thrown forward, into the street. He'd ran away from home only four days ago, when he'd accidentally frozen someone's shoes to the floor who had been shoving him around. Though he'd known about his powers for a few months now, his father had urged him to keep quiet about it. Knowing that his father wouldn't understand, because William Drake hardly ever understood infidelity such as this, Bobby had run away. Now, he wished he would have chosen a better spot to run away to. It had to be New York. That was Bobby Drake's luck when it came to these things, he supposed.
Bobby hit the pavement of the street with a sick scraping of his knees. He felt a hot burn in his hands and looked down at them, seeing he had skinned his palms. A sudden jet-loud noise brought his attention away from his hands and to the large humanoid robot landing in the street before him. Bobby had never seen anything like it before in his life. It was painted a dark red, with silver interiors. It's eyes glowed viciously with yellow but as they charged, they soon took on a light red, near pinkish color.
"Mutant DNA detected, cease and desist," the animatronics voice commanded. Bobby felt himself start to shake. He tried to hold completely still, hoping that it would leave him alone. He wasn't using his powers, it wasn't suppose to attack him if he wasn't using his powers. But Bobby Drake's luck flared again and the Sentinel held out its hands where two round circles opened and the tips of missiles were shown.
Bobby pushed himself to his feet, ready to run. The blast sounded harshly and panic fueled Bobby's flight. He tried to run but found that his feet weren't near the ground. An explosion sounded somewhere near by and left Bobby's ears ringing. He felt the sensation of flying and then, something different. He felt hands beneath his arms. Bobby opened his eyes, after realizing that he'd had them closed, and looked around. He was passing by buildings and as the ringing in his ears died down, he found he could hear the flapping of what sounded to be wings.
Looking up, he saw that someone had a hold of him. It was a man that looked young and rather noble. But it was the white wings that caught Bobby's attention. A mutant. He was in the hands of a mutant. He'd never met another one and he wasn't sure he was ready to be in the arms of one. Panic filled Bobby's chest again and he began to struggle.
"Hold still," the man's soft voice was meant to calm but it made the situation all too real for Bobby and he grabbed hold of the man's arms, trying to pry himself free. "Hey, come on. What's wrong with you? I'm trying to help…" the man urged him to calm down, but Bobby wasn't having it.
Distracted, Bobby's rescuer missed the laser the Sentinel shot in their direction. It skimmed one of his wings, causing a cry of pain to emit from the beautiful man's lips. They suddenly tilted to the side and Bobby felt his stomach do a flop as they veered towards the ground. It came too sudden for Bobby to make a decision of how he wanted to land. His feet crumpled beneath him, skinning his already bruised and knees. The man's weight landed on top of him, driving Bobby's face into the cement of the sidewalk. The man, luckily, rolled off of him quickly, but momentum was working against them and they both rolled for a while, earning bruises and scrapes along the way.
It took a moment for Bobby to collect himself. His left cheekbone was throbbing and he felt a trickle of blood run down his cheek. He could see it drip onto the sidewalk. His knees and ankles hurt and his right arm was sore, but he didn't think anything was broken. He looked towards where the other man had fallen and saw that he, too, was gingerly checking for any horrific injuries. The man looked altogether unhurt except for a few burnt feathers on his wings and a rather large scrape on his forearm. It surprised him when the man looked in his direction suddenly. Bobby met the man's cool blue eyes and they froze for a second.
Finally, the other blonde man gave him a scowl. "What the hell?" he snapped. "I…" as he started to rise, Bobby shook his head violently, not wanting the other man close to him.
"No," Bobby yelled, crawling backwards. "Stay away!"
"I won't hurt you," the man said is as though the thought shouldn't have even been in Bobby's mind. "I want to help you."
"No!" Bobby yelled and suddenly he felt himself tense and a wave of cold ran through him. He could see his breath in front of his face even though it was an unusually warm October day. Ice suddenly shot out across the ground, forming a sheet and made its way towards the winged man, who watched with growing eyes as it got closer. As it reached him, he tried to stand but the ice circled up his legs and caught one of his arms, instantly freezing it to the ground. The ice reached halfway up his arms and to his knees before it stopped. He tried to break free, but the ice held strong and his head whipped towards Bobby with wide eyes, his golden hair falling down.
Bobby had begun shivering. His skin was red and frosty where it was exposed. "Wait," the winged man pleaded as Bobby got to his feet. "Wait! Stop! You can't leave me like this!"
"I'm sorry!" Bobby cried, his voice breaking with confusion and possibly shock as he scrambled to run away from what was happening. Bobby disappeared around the corner, leaving the other man to face the Sentinel that was making it's way up the street.
The winged man struggled against the ice that was holding him in place. The pain of the cold was starting to get to him, but so was the panic of knowing there was a Sentinel advancing on him and he couldn't get away. He flapped his wings, hoping that perhaps they would help. But he got no reaction from the ice, not even a crack. He looked up to see the Sentinel was almost upon him. Its eyes began to glow, ready to shoot a laser and the man shielded himself with his wings, knowing that they would do little to stop the laser.
But the pain never came and after a moment, when he heard another explosion he opened his eyes to find a woman standing in front of him. She wore a rather sliming red bodysuit that showed off her belly. There were yellow gloves on her hands, though at the moment they were glowing a light pink. Her dark red hair hung down her back and she held her hands out in front of her. A force field of some sort was keeping the laser out. From off to the side, another laser shot out and hit the head of the Sentinel, instantly making it shut down and fall over, destroyed.
The woman lowered her hands and turned around, eyeing him. "Are you all right?" She asked, her smile genuine as she kneeled down to inspect the ice.
"Yes, but I seem to be stuck," he answered with a genuine smile of his own. The woman seemed to blush a little until another man came up beside her. He had a visor over his eyes. "Thank you," the winged man said.
"Any time. Let's see if we can't get you out of there," and with precision, the man reached for his visor and shot a series of lasers at the ice, cracking it enough to loosen and crumble. "There you are."
"Thank you again," the winged man smiled. He reached out a hand. "I'm the Avenging Angel."
"Nice codename," the other man said, but took his hand anyway. "Scott."
Angel turned towards the woman. "Jean Grey," she offered with a shy smile.
"I didn't know the Sentinels could do that," Scott muttered to himself, looking down at the ice that had yet begun to melt.
Angel suddenly looked less cheerful. He looked around. "They can't," he said, scanning the area. "I was trying to help this kid…"
"A kid did this?" Jean asked, looking towards Scott.
"We'll find him," Scott said, determined. "Which way did he go?"
Angel pointed in the direction the kid had run off in. "There, but good luck getting through to him."
"Thank you," Jean said as she and Scott ran off in the direction Angel had pointed them in. "You're welcome to come with us. We could use someone with your ability…"
"Nah," Angel said, "I've found my calling."
"Well if you change your mind..," Jean called back before disappearing around the corner as well.
"I won't," Angel told them promptly before taking off into the air.
Bobby, meanwhile, had found himself near the point of hyperventilation. He hadn't stopped running. His mind was reeling. How could he have left that man frozen there when he had saved him from one of those Sentinels? Did he make it out okay? What were those things even doing here? Who sent them? Why were they after him when he wasn't even using his powers? Bobby didn't have the answers and as he turned to corner, he found himself faced with his problems up close and personal.
A Sentinel stood just in front of him, with its back towards him. Bobby froze in place and tried to force himself to run the other way. But he couldn't make his legs work. His chest was heaving with his inability to breath, to comprehend, to understand what was going on. The Sentinel suddenly whirled, faster than something mechanical should have been able to. It spotted him, Bobby knew, because its eyes started to glow dangerously.
But before Bobby could think of escape, someone leapt off of a nearby building and onto the shoulder of the Sentinel. With speed Bobby had never seen anyone posses, the man lashed at the Sentinel, three strong silver claws slashing into the metal like it was butter. The Sentinel seemed distracted and Bobby knew now was the time to escape. He turned, and found himself face to face with another problem. A mutant was charging up the sidewalk. He looked ferocious, with blue fur and a face set into a growl. Bobby let out a terrified scream and sank to the ground, his hands covering his head as the mutant leapt. But it never made contact.
Peeking out from beneath his arms, Bobby saw the blue mutant had joined the other in slashing up the Sentinel. They both crawled over the robotic beast like insects, slashing and hacking. Finally, the one with the claws slammed both of his fists into the Sentinel's head and it stopped moving and titled sideways, falling to the ground with an earth shattering bang. The two mutants had jumped to safety. The blue furred one turned to Bobby and Bobby was somewhat surprised to see a smile on the mutant's face.
"Hello," it said in a much more sophisticated voice than what Bobby had been expecting. But the kid was beyond reason now. He shook his head.
"No, get away from me!" He screamed, crawling backwards.
"Hank!" Came a female voice. The blue furred mutant turned in the direction of the voice and Bobby looked too. A woman and a man with a visor had come running up. "Let me talk to him," she said softly and looked towards Bobby with a warm smile on her face. "Hey," she whispered, coming over and squatting in front of Bobby, who immediately crawled back a pace. "Take it easy," she said. "Do I look harmful in any way?" Bobby didn't answer, but his eyes shifted towards the blue creature, named Hank he had caught on.
"You don't have to answer that," the man with the claws said, garnering a glare from the redheaded woman.
She turned back to Bobby, the same sweet smile upon her face. "We're not going to hurt you. What's your name?"
"B…Bobby…" he shivered out through chattering teeth.
"Well Bobby, my name is Jean Grey," she said and pointed to the man with the visor. "This is Scott, Logan, and this big blue guy here is Hank. They're all pretty much harmless. Logan probably needs a shower, but other than that, yeah harmless." Logan snorted behind them but Jean ignored them. "We're here to help you, Bobby, we're not going to hurt you. We're just like you."
"No," Bobby said, shaking his head. "I'm nothing like you. I'm different."
"We're all different," Jean said, taking a step closer. She thought it was an accomplishment that Bobby didn't scoot away again. "That's what makes us so similar." To prove her point she pointed to a piece of debris off to the side and promptly it started to glow pink and then float. Bobby's eyes widened at the sight but he didn't say anything. "See? We're just like you." Seeing that Bobby wasn't going to react, Jean looked around. "Do you live around here?"
"N…no…" Bobby shivered, trying to stop his rattling teeth. "I ran away." He almost looked ashamed.
"Because of your powers?" Jean asked gently, seeing how the boy's eyes fell at the mere mention.
Bobby's eyes scanned them, taking them all in. He was still shaking severely and his face was pink. The scrape on his left cheekbone was beginning to swell, but Jean was worried about the cold air she felt radiating off of him. He shook his head slightly. "I can't control it," he whispered almost too quietly for Jean to hear. "I don't…I don't know how."
Jean kept the smile on her face. "What if I said I knew of a place that could teach you how. We all work there. That's where we all learned to use our abilities. You could come back with us, learn how to control it. That way it would be easier for you to go home..."
"I don't want to go home," Bobby shook his head. "I can't."
Jean seemed to think for a moment. "Why don't you come with us, get away from this mess, and talk to Professor Xavier, he's the man who taught us all how to use our powers. He can help you Bobby."
Bobby seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then a small smile inched its way onto his face. "Is this a trick?" he asked timidly.
"No tricks," Jean put a hand over her heart. "I swear."
Even though Bobby could hear his father's voice telling him that he was an idiot for trusting a complete stranger, he couldn't help but find himself enthralled with the crew of mutants he saw standing before him. Logan was a gruff man, who looked mean as sin, but there was a smirk on his face that showed he was tough, and could take down anyone. Hank, the blue mutant, was smiling goofily, seemingly giddy over the prospect of having a new pupil. Scott stood firmly scanning the area for trouble. He seemed to be the leader of the bunch. And Jean, she was smiling so sweetly at him. He could tell she was harmless.
"Anything to get out of New York," It was followed by a nervous, tired laugh. Jean chuckled herself and reached out a hand.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get you out of here." Bobby hesitated from taking her hand, but when he did, she felt how freezing his hands were. She made herself keep the flinch from the cold out of her posture as she helped him gain his feet.
"Jean, there are still three more of those things out there," Scott said, his hand on his visor.
"I'll take Bobby back to the jet," Jean said. "Think you guys can handle them?"
"You forget who you're talking about, bub," Logan scoffed before running off. Hank smiled at Bobby before following his comrade.
"We'll be back in a jiff," Scott said before following them.
Bobby turned to Jean. "You guys have a jet?"
(This chapter was edited a little from it's original post.)