Author's note: Okay, so if you follow shows like Buffy, you'd know that the first act is the set-up, the second is a preliminary battle, the third is the draw-in, and the fourth is the climax. So this is basically, well obviously, between the second and fifth. In other words, it's another set-up chapter. Lots of talking heads here to wade through, but the next chapter totally makes up for it, I swear.
Madripoor Rose: Hehe thanks, now you're just making me feel warm and squishy inside. I actually just added the part where Peter punches Kitty to end their underwater scuffle before posting the chapter, since I originally wrote it so that when the water hits her, the next scene was already with Peter giving her CPR. But I thought that I'd be going on too long without too much action, so I included the little gut busting scene.
Kitty Rasputin: Thanks. I thought about having Logan go loony and all that, but since Mark Millar's finishing up on a story where The Hand brainwashes Logan after killing him, I thought that doing so here as well would be a retread. But, doesn't eliminate the chance that it'll happen thoughJ
RandomMarvelFan: Wow, thanks for the enthusiasm, really. Means a lot.
Ryan Schiff: Stop giving away my plot twists:D
Kirayoshi: Thanks. I always thought that the X-Men don't just use their powers to win, but always keep a check on circumstance and environment. Don't worry, I have no plans on ignoring character relationships, it's what's going to get them in trouble come the next chapter.
Previously on…a normal day gets cracked wide open when Rachel Summers, AKA MARVEL GIRL, attacks headmistress EMMA FROST in broad daylight. And even though there were no permanent injuries, it did leave both the faculty, and the student body rattled, as the possibility of an aggressor within the institute arises. It doesn't take long for the senior team to conclude that the attack was telepathic in nature, and targets people through an empathic, or emotional connection. With the toll of the days events getting to her, KITTY PRYDE tries to spend her early hours of rest training instead, an idea that didn't go to well, as the psionic entity that corrupted Marvel Girl possessed her as well, making her lash out at her teammate COLOSSUS, nearly killing him. At the same time, DERRICK GALLIS suffers a violent dream that leaves him with a bloody nose, one that his roommate and best friend MARK VASQUEZ believes to be something much worse than the young mutant was letting on…
Chapter 5: "Super Scary and Arbitrary"
The elevator doors opened, and a middle-aged woman carrying a Pomeranian, stepped off, escorted by her much older, much portly husband. Even though they wore casual attire, anyone with half a brain could still see the extravagance on display. A bellboy greeted them good morning as he stepped into the elevator, while they nodded at him and headed left, the wing where the first twenty rooms were. "I swear, Cecily, I don't know why you had to drag me along for this. You know your sister and I don't get along." The man hissed as his eyes wandered to a beautiful young woman exiting her room.
"Now, now Harry. It's her birthday. You should be there." The woman calmly responded, not even bothering to look at her husband as she spoke.
"Yes, but her…hobbies are quite revolting!" he chided, yelling through clenched teeth.
"To each his or her own, I always say. Besides, as long as it's legal, then it's perfectly fine." Cecily answered, emphasizing on the word 'fine'.
"Really now." Harry responded, rolling his eyes.
"For your information, there are a lot of respectable people into… bondage."
"Alright, alright. As long as she doesn't ask me to tie myself to her bed…" He commented, as they both stopped in front of a door. They could already hear the music, orchestral, from inside.
"Stop that." Cecily scolded, re-posturing herself in preparation.
"Hey…" Harry's brows furrowed as he noticed that the door to his sister-in-law's two-bedroom unit was left an inch open. "That's odd…" Cecily muttered, as she pushed the door open. "Oh…" Harry turned to glance at his wife, before stepping inside before of her. "Margery, dear? It's us…" he greeted, gesturing for his wife to stay a few inches behind him. "The door was open…we…" Harry didn't find the time to finish his sentence, as his mouth instantly dried.
"What is it? Get a move on!" Cecily ordered, pushing ahead of her husband. "No, don't!" he tried stopping her, but it was to no avail, as her eyes rested atop the bloody pile that was the remainder of her sister and her sister's friends. That morning, the whole building heard Cecily's scream.
Library/ 09:10
The library was massive. The ceiling was a dome, with wooden panels and white paint furnishing it with n elaborate, Celtic design. As stereotypes go, most of the students who spend their time in the library where the ones who inherited the more unsightly characteristics of mutation. It was only so often that one of the popular kids, save for an occasional Stepford, stepped in that silent hall. That's why a lot of the student's took a break from their reading, to notice a handsome, well-built young man in a sleeveless red shirt step inside. Behind him came the three girls, all in a light shade of blue.
"Thanks for coming along." Mark commented, as the three Stepford Cuckoos placed their handbags on top of a small table. "Well we do enjoy a good intrigue." The three of them responded, their eyes glowing.
"Ha. Users. So, how does this library thing work anyway?" he asked, placing his backpack on the table, along with the three girls' stuff. "Well. First, you get a book. Then you read it. And after, you close the book. " Celeste pointed out, her face twisted in a smirk. "Hilarious. You stink." Replied the athletically inclined student, looking up to read the signs detailing what subject the books on the shelves were about.
"What are we looking for again?" Mindee asked, running up to his side.
"Uh, something about brain stuff. You know…psychic stuff."
"It's over there." Mindee declared, pointing at a portion of the library a couple of shelves away. "Theories on psionic forms and functions." She read out loud.
"Oh hey, thanks."
"So, what are we looking for?" the Cuckoo asked as they began to head for the shelves, turning back for a second to smile at her two sisters trailing behind.
"I'm not really sure. I want to find stuff about…psychic…stuff." He responded, his eyes locked onto his destination. For the uninitiated, the lack of eye contact either meant that the person was so into you, or has no interest at all. Mindee was hoping that in their case, it was the former.
"You've made that exceptionally clear." Celeste interrupted.
"Yes, I have." Mark responded, as they finally got to the psychic section.
"Is this about Derrick?" Phoebe asked, forcing mark to turn and look at her with a dumbfounded look.
"It's all around campus. We heard that Derrick went insane and attacked you, but we know it's a complete lie." Mindee followed. "Right?" Celeste then asked, all three of the girls suddenly staring at him intently.
"Uh…I figured you three had some sort of ulterior motive…" Mark joked, avoiding giving a straight answer to the three telepaths. "I need this for my paper." He then announced, making his way in between the shelves. "…Okay." Mindee answered, glaring at her sisters. "Yes, okay." The both of them responded, allowing Mindee to go in after Mark.
"So…what's your topic?' she asked, as she got to the young man, who was already busy taking books, then shoving them back into the shelf a second later.
"I'm looking for stuff on repression."
"Repression? Maybe you should have tried the psychology section…"
"No, not…I mean power repression. How do I know if someone's hiding his or her real superpowers"
"…Why would anyone do that?"
"Don't know…hopefully, I get to find a 'how'."
Apartment Unit/9:20
"Glad to see you all here." Bile greeted, taking his hat off as a gesture of welcome. The apartment that they occupied was small, about forty square feet wide, barely the size of a studio. A small, circular dining table was the first thing anyone would notice when entering, most probably because it was something people occasionally bumped to on their way inside. There was a kitchen to the right, a restroom beside it, and the bedroom opposite that. There were six people inside, four of them standing on the dining area.
"You act like it's your apartment, Bile." A man commented, stepping out the bed area, which was just separated from the dining room by a small partition. "I like to think that it is. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who started it all." He stepped back, allowing the man to get full attention.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm glad you could all make it." He greeted. Like them, he was already past his prime, with the taxes of time greatly marking his appearance. He had short, brown hair, reminiscent of most people stuck in the seventies. "I'm called Teleplex."
"Teleplex? I heard about you." Interrupted a woman with large, black hair, her eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses. "You're a psychic, right?"
"In a way." He replied. "I was the one who found all of you."
"…Yeah. And all we have is a cryptic promise from good 'ol Bile here." Added another woman, this one with narrow eyes and pale skin. "What are we really up to?" she then asked.
"When do we do more violence?" Manacle asked. Like everyone else in the room, he was in his civilian outfit, giving the five others a clear view of his disfigured face.
"I really like him." Bile commented, nodding his head.
"In one hour." Teleplex chided in a loud voice, putting all attention once more to himself. "In one hour, we go to town. And we make the people remember just who the hell we are."
Xavier Institute, East Wing/10:03
"…" Kitty stared at the sky, trying to empty her mind from the events of earlier that day. Lockheed, a small, purple dragon from the Broodworld, was sitting beside her. Both of them were on a stairwell, on the platform in between the first and second floors, with a massive window showing the school gardens. "Hey there. Where have you been all this time?" she asked her little friend, to which it let out a small growl in response. "Oh? I hope you had fun…" she half-heartedly whispered, patting Lockheed gently on the head.
"Hey, Pum'kin." Greeted a male voice from above the stairway. Kitty didn't have to turn to see who it was. "I said I wanted to be alone." She remarked, still looking through the window.
"Why?" Logan asked, beginning to descend the stairs.
"Because." She responded, trying to make it perfectly clear that she wasn't in the mood.
"Because?" he wasn't buying it.
"Because. Something."
"…There are kids needs counseling."
"They go to Hank when they can't find me. They to like stare at his fur. It's blue."
"Hank needs a rest."
"Why? Did I try to kill him too?"
"…Stop punishing yourself, Kitten. It got to one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. It could have gotten to any of us."
"…"
"You know, these things that happen, things like what you're doing now… I kinda' like it."
"…What? Can you repeat that last one?" Kitty turned to face Logan, a look of disbelief on her face.
"It…reminds me that there's still a kid somewhere in you. Reminds me of what we're fighting for in the first place."
"…"
"You keep me from getting older."
"...God…so I really am a PR stunt." Kitty moaned, looking back through the window.
"No, kid. You're a guidance counselor. A guidance counselor who has a ton of guys crushing over her, and about a dozen more gals admiring her. A guidance counselor who also happens to be a bad-ass ninja. Who can also take anyone of us out without a problem. "
"…"
"You're an X-Man."
"…You rehearsed that or something?"
"Liked it that much, huh?"
"…" Kitty turned and looked at Logan. "It's not that bad." She whispered, a weak smile on her face.
"…Emma edited it." Logan remarked, sitting beside Lockheed.
"Oh. I change my mind then. It sucks."
"I know I don't have to speak for her, but…she feels very sorry about what happened."
"Oh? That's odd; because that would actually entail that she had feelings."
"Come on. She was just… worried."
"Worried? That's why she attacked me?"
"She didn't attack you."
"Logan, how would you feel if… if someone paraded what you felt about Jean right in front of her?"
"…You let her get under your skin."
"So, you're saying it's my fault?"
"No."
"Funny, that's how it sounds to me."
"Kitty…"
"Listen, the last thing I need right now, is to be reminded that a hell-bitch from the skanky ho dimension is running the team." Kitty snapped, standing up. "Come on Lockheed, let's go." She then said, to which the little dragon complied.
"Aw crap." Logan muttered, slapping his forehead.
Photo Lab/ 10:06
Most of everyone outside the liberal arts department didn't like going in the photo lab. The news that it was haunted was very well-known, and still persists even though the school itself always gets blown to kingdom come by a maniacal super villain. It was just a small room, with only three students inside. The lights were off, giving way to the red ones on top of the exposure panels.
"…You okay, Todd?" Derrick asked as he took out some film. "You look like a ferret is trying to eat you."
"…I'm getting this weird buzzing in my head." The frail student confessed.
"Yeah, I think that means your going crazy." Chided the third student, an Asian female who looked like she came from a Victoria's secret catalogue. Derrick chuckled at her comment, but his smile soon faded as he noticed Todd beginning to tremble. "Hey man, what's wrong?" he asked, beginning to rush the development of his film. Taking it out prematurely could ruin it after all.
"I was just kidding Todd." The girl remarked, also with a look of concern on her face. She glanced at Derrick, almost as if asking what they were supposed to do.
"Yeah, yeah, I…I just feel…" Todd scratched his head, and then took off his glasses to clean them.
"…Todd?" the girl stepped closer. "What's wrong?"
"I need to go. Someone's calling." He cryptically responded, taking his denim jacket and leaving the room.
War Room/ 10:07
Unlike the Danger Room, most of the student body, especially the undergraduate batches, didn't know of the War Room. And they shouldn't. The War Room wasn't a room per se, but rather, it was a shared, psychic projection, between all the present senior members. Much like the Danger Room's simulated environment, it was up to the telepath to conjure the environment that they would find themselves in. And as is the usual case, the telepath kept it simple. Emma, Scott, and Henry sat on white, leather chairs, floating in the midst of gigantic, floating words, pulled out from Emma's memories of the Les Miserables musical and set against a light, blue backdrop.
"Are you certain that Peter didn't want to join us?' Emma asked, crossing her legs.
"He said that he preferred to take the time and think about his early morning fight for survival." Henry responded.
"Any progress on the chart?" Scott asked, moving things along.
"Well, it does coincide with Emma's statement."
"That it was a student in her Ethics class who caused all this?"
"Yeah. Rachel was crossing the corridor, just outside of the room where Emma was. That's why no one noticed the psionic entity that Emma described she saw a few hours ago. There was no need for it to manifest since the target was just outside the room. When the psychic explosion erupted, Emma and girls felt the worst of it, Blindfold too, and she was in the next room." With the aid of Emma, Henry began to project a psychic image of a small map, appearing in the middle of the room.
"Now Lee was in the comfort room, one floor below. Said he felt something, but just shrugged it off. Laney and Martel were in the science labs, that's two floors above, they mentioned getting a chill down their spines, but nothing as dramatic as with you and your girls."
"Basically, the classroom was the hot point. The farther the students were from it, the less they felt the feedback." Scott commented.
"…When we were in the Underground Complex, I managed to isolate a psionic entity. And I only noticed it when it was directly below our room." Emma noted. "The one you pointed out as coming from the men's dormitory."
"Pull a list of all the male students in Emma's ethics class." Scott instructed, and a second later, twelve projected files popped out of nowhere.
"No telepath." Henry noted, as each file slid by like it was floating on an invisible panel.
"That's the dilemma. The only telepaths present were my girls." Emma commented.
"No chance of them causing this?" Henry asked. "I mean, doesn't have to be them, them, could be a more powerful telepath forced them to do it. Hide his or her tracks."
"Happened before." Scott added.
"Two things." Emma pointed. "First, I have a telepathic rapport with my girls. I would have known. Second, my girls are the top telepaths of the student body. They couldn't have been swayed. The only reason Esme managed to overwhelm the uni-mind was because she had an intimate connection that she easily exploited."
"You almost sound like you're proud." Scott remarked.
"Esme isn't back is she?" Henry asked, resting his head on his paw.
"Scott." Emma turned and looked at her lover. "…Someone's here for you."
Faculty Lounge/ 10:09
Scott shook his head as he found himself sitting on the living room, which doubled as a lounge for the senior members of the faculty whenever they felt like it. He looked around, glancing at Emma sitting beside him, and Henry on the chair, their eyes set on the television, though their minds were still in a different place. "Mr. Summers? Sir?" came a weak voice, coming from a frail young man standing in the doorway. He had a mobile phone in his hands, and it was still ringing.
"Yes, son?" he asked, standing up, eyeing the student suspiciously. "…Is that my mobile phone?" he asked, noticing the Nokia in his hands. He had left it in his office earlier on, that's why he didn't hear it ringing.
The boy at the door reminded him of what he used to be before a strict training regimen gave him a perfect physique. Thin, awkward, eyes hidden beneath a pair of thick glasses. "You…have a message." He declared, hampered by a case of stuttering.
"It's urgent." Todd then said, handing the phone over to the headmaster with both hands. "…and no one was answering."
"…" Scott made his way to the student, taking the mobile phone and then answering it.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, Mr. Summers." Greeted a female voice.
"Who is this?"
"Director Hill. I trust you already know who I am." Responded the woman on the other line. Scott stopped as he heard the name, and as he recognized the multi-government funded organization that backed it up. He signaled for the student to give him some time alone, and returned to the woman on the phone.
"Miss Hill…look, if this is about the Breakworld debacle, yes, Jean did come back, but it was only for two days." He immediately explained, even before the woman on the phone could get to a point.
"This isn't about the Phoenix, Mr. Summers, though we will be having a talk about that soon. Shi'Ar high-ups have been grilling us about their missing spacecraft."
"Oh. Uh, tell them to check for the ship in an Eleka'an event horizon."
"Gladly."
"Okay... so what is this about? If you're looking for Logan…"
"We may need the X-Men's help."
"As long as it has nothing to do with genocide and S.W.O.R.D., then we'll consider."
"Actually, its cases like these that prompt us to turn to such drastic measures."
"…You have a mutant problem."
Radio City, Music Hall Exterior/ 10:28
A large crowd gathered outside the historic theater, waiting patiently for the security to allow them inside. It wasn't usual for an awards show to begin so early in the morning, but then again, the hall was booked for the whole month, and it was the only time that the gay and lesbian community could fit in for their pink festival. Anyone with a dark imagination could easily come up with a way to cause a bloodbath that chilly morning. And as the case usually goes, someone did. No one noticed what seemed like steam rise from the tunnels, mild at first, slithering its way to the crowd. The pavement beneath it began to hiss, thanks to an acidic compound inside the mist.
"Ladies, and gentlemen!" came a thundering voice from behind the huddled mass of people. A few of them turned, finding a tall man, covered in head to toe with a long, brown trench coat and a hat to match. Two police officers took notice from a corner, stopping and staring at the man, to see if he would cause trouble. With a callous smile, Bile took off his hat, revealing his scarlet eyes and violet skin, much to the horror of the on looking men and women. And with his smile permuting to a sadistic grin, he watched as the mist settled at their feet, knowing full well what his colleague could do with it. The two officers were already making their way towards him, not that it would matter.
"I am called Bile. And in the spirit of brotherhood…" he raised his hands to the air, like a priest giving a sermon. "…and acceptance…" he added, as his eyes fell on the title of the event flashing by the rooftop. "…I suggest you all run." And with his last words, the mist rose in full force, engulfing the people in its lethal grasp.
Chapter 5, End
Next Chapter- The X-Men versus the band of oldies!
Author's note: A chapter with no one going insane? Shocking! Well, the next chapter fixes all of that. Hope you enjoyed, do review.