Author's Note: Okay, this is pretty long, on account that there's almost no dialogue. Good luck wading through this one.
Kitty Rasputin: At first I thought of Rachel to talk to her, but I decided to keep things strictly on the Astonishing crew. Yeah, Logan has a thing for letting the kids go and let themselves fix their own problems, with his role as someone who contains the damage should damage come (New X-Men), but seeing as next to Peter, he's the closest to Kitty (training in Japan) and in the 1st Astonishing X-Men, he and she had a little talk about not worrying, that it would only be natural for him to come to her aid. Of course, I didn't follow Kitty's continuity before Astonishing, so if I'm wrong in a big way, then, uh, oops. About Scott, well, he let his baggage go back in The Phoenix: Endsong, where he proved that he moved on, and loved Emma now (never seen him cry so much actually), so I may find a hard motive for him going crazy, especially since he already vented on the whole En SabahNur thing while pummeling Xorn.
RandomMarvelFan: Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I like Bile too, hehe. Doesn't have any flashy superpowers.
Madripoor Rose: I'm surprised I still have a plot somewhere around here…
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. Meanwhile, a band of mutants, led by the psionic TELEPLEX and the sadistic BILE, begin an assault on the people of New York…
Chapter 6: "The Not So Big Fight Scene"
"You know it's not your fault Logan." Henry remarked, comforting his teammate as he took his lab gown off. "What?" Logan turned to his blue-furred friend. "Didn't get you there."
"Hank's talking about S.H.I.E.L.D." Scott explained, placing his ruby quartz shades in a small container, and then hiding it inside the locker.
"…Oh. That." Logan took a deep breath as he readjusted his gloves, always the final touch for when he was suiting up. "You're face went pale when Scott mentioned it." Henry then mentioned.
"That S.H.I.E.L.D. needs us for a job? Well, yeah, the only reason they're asking us for help is because I killed about four hundred of their agents."
"It's a mutant problem Logan." Scott corrected, even though he knew that his teammate's words rang true as well. When The Hand brainwashed Logan as their very own person of mass destruction, they sent him on a death trip that resulted in the aforementioned body count. One that had him threatening the lives of every student and faculty member of the Xavier Institute in the process. Needless to say, he still felt bad about it. With S.H.I.E.L.D. still recuperating, the most that they could help with was to offer a clean-up crew to take care of injuries and damage.
"Besides. The Fantastic Four and the 'new' Avengers are busy with their own sagas at the moment." Scott added. "Perfect time to make friendly with the public."
"That's right." Henry noted. '"What do you think, Peter?" he then asked, attempting to get at least one syllable from their silent teammate.
"…I simply wish to do some violence." He responded, making his teammates stare at each other in worry.
Women's Lockers/10:23
"…" Emma took her shirt off, her eyes fixed on her open locker, obviously in avoidance with making eye contact. "…" Kitty did the same, unlacing her sneakers, keeping her eyes on the ground. "…" Emma reached for her hairpin, but fumbled at the last moment. With a loud click, which was the only sound in the room, it fell by Kitty's feet.
"…Emma." She picked up the hairpin and handed it to the blonde telepath, still not making eye contact.
"…Thank you, Katherine." She responded, staring at the wall as she reached for her hairpin. "How thoughtful of you." She added, as she began to fix her hair, brushing her golden locks back.
"…Yeah. It's a human thing. Having a heart and stuff. You wouldn't understand." Kitty answered, throwing her shoes into her locker. "…I must say. You're comebacks are getting as fresher and fresher." Emma coldly replied.
"Oh? You thought I was kidding?"
New York, Street Intersection/10:28
Teleplex leaned closer to the control panel that was the area once his bed. He sat on a chair, his eyes shifting between the many screens hooked together in a terminal that took up the entire wall. Each screen changed at a thought, since Teleplex carried the ability to keep a psychic fix on any target he chooses, projecting them on any broadcasting tool he had. It was the closest thing that a non-telepath had to pure omniscience. Right now, his eyes fixed themselves on the chaos in front of the Radio City Hall. "Let's get this ball rolling, people." He said with a smile. The radio by his side suddenly began to static, attuning itself to the police scanner's frequency. "Should be fun. This is Teleplex on all points, police should be on your tails in three, it's going to take them longer to mobilize the big guns."
Bile chuckled in contentment as he watched the people before him scream in panic as the acidic mist ate away their skin. The two police officers on the scene braved the lethal spray as they worked to get the crowd to safety. By then, all attention was on the ruckus in the streets, that no one noticed a large man steeping out of a van parked on the opposite corner of the street, dressed in black, leather straps that covered his entire body, save for his cold eyes.
He raised his massive arms to the air, and a pair of yellow, psionic chains manifested themselves. With a thought and a gesture, Manacle lashed the chains forward, willing them to wrap around the Radio City sign hanging down the side of the building. "Manacle." He heard Teleplex talking to him through a small radio connected to his ear. "Company's coming."
"On it." The large man responded. Gathering his strength, he used the psionic chains to tear it off; flinging it onto a police car that came from his left. "Oh shi…" The African-American police officer swerved to the left, avoiding the large sign that crashed down the street. Another patrol car that just followed however, didn't fare so well, as the large, rectangular sign nearly cut it in two.
By then the people were in hysterics, and their screams only grew louder as they saw a thin, pale woman clad from head to toe in silver suddenly elongate, her entire body looking like elastic. Her upper torso sped past a group of people like a missile, and before they could even comprehend the situation, the woman circled back, trapping them in a tight loop. The other passersby could only look in horror as the woman stretched upwards, bringing the people along with her, and in a fit of diabolical laughter, hurled them across the city block. Their screams only ended along with the loud, blunt noise as their bodies hit the pavement. "Coil." She heard Teleplex whisper to the radio on her ear. "To your right, three patrol cars. Break them." He instructed, to which the mutant gleefully complied.
Library/10:30
"Look, says here that a telepath can use his or her gift to conjure a mental block on someone." Mark noted, his eyes glued to the hardcover book in his hands. All four of them were back on the table, each one with a book on advanced telepathy.
"Yeah. We do it when we think that lethargic Todd Roberts boy will get a higher grade on multiple choice exams." Mindee responded, with her two sisters nodding in agreement.
"No, not mental block, mental block, I mean mental block as in literally."
"…We're sorry, what?"
"…Uh… 'when a mutant, or a metahuman's powers become far too destructive, or potentially destructive, then a mental block, a telepathic wall that could suppress the mutant, or metahuman's ability to use his or her powers, may be used in an ethically utilitarian manner'."
"I thought we're looking for mental repression?" Phoebe asked.
'This is the closest thing I have." Mark replied.
"So basically, it's making someone forgot that he or she has powers." Celeste chided, resuming the topic.
"Right. But…it's more than that. You could forget you had powers, but still end up accidentally using them. This mental block thing not only makes you forget you had powers, it also stuffs it in lock and key, so you don't get to use it."
"Effectively crippling you." Celeste concluded, reaching her hand out for the book that Mark was reading.
"Wait, uh, I'm still…" Mark flicked a few pages, signaling that he wasn't through with the book.
"Hold on a minute, if there's a telepathic technique like that, why don't people use it on every super villain in America?" Phoebe asked.
"That's what I'm looking for." Mark responded, looking at the headings of the chapter outline.
New York , Street Intersection/10:34
As the streets began to clear, the police started to open fire, using their patrol cars to cover themselves for protection, keeping the three mutants in a circle of steel and gunfire. "Bile, get behind Manacle." Teleplex ordered, to which he quickly complied, as the much larger mutant's psionic chains began to lash violently at high speeds, deflecting the bullets., while Coil's elastic body managed to protect him from the gunfire of the opposite end.
"Give Manacle room to maneuver." Came the next order, and just as the first barrage stopped, Bile stepped out from behind Manacle, both his hands equipped with Uzis. Without reluctance, he opened fire, sweeping his hands so that all four patrol cars had their fill of bullets.
"Manacle, take their protection away." Teleplex then instructed, as the cops were now busy keeping their heads down to avoid getting a headshot. It gave the large mutant time to propel his psionic chains onto all four police cars. Bellowing out loud, he pulled them all up, much to the police officers' shock. "Make it rain." Came his next order, as manacle then slammed the cars down on to the scrambling cops.
On the other side, Coil had no problem taking care of the policemen that attempted to eliminate her. As their bullets could not penetrate her elongated body. There were three patrol cars, covering six armed officers. It hardly seemed fair. Stretching her arms forward, she let her fingers grow longer and longer, until they found themselves tightly wrapped around each of the cops' necks.
"People." Interrupted Teleplex into their radios. "We've got super heroes." He warned, prompting them to ready themselves for battle. For Coil, it was just another way of telling her to finish what she was doing. "Sorry boys." She whispered, as she hoisted all of them up on their necks, and slammed them on the side of the building to the sound of a loud thud. If that wasn't enough to kill them, then the fall certainly would conclude the matter. As the last body lost its life to the pavement, the three super villains finally saw the X-Men, all in a row, standing in the middle of the street.
"…Damn. I really wanted to fight the Avengers." Bile uttered under his breath, as he and Manacle joined Coil, falling in line, with the old mutant standing in the middle. "X-Men." He called, raising his arms as if welcoming old friends. "I'm glad that we finally got a super hero team's attention."
"You could have sent us a memo." Shadowcat responded.
"Let me introduce ourselves. I'm Bile. And we here are called the Silver Thorn."
"Well, we'll make it very simple for you people." Cyclops began. "Go in quietly, and we don't tear your heads off your shoulders."
"We don't do favors, slim." Wolverine commented, his eyes on the bodies of the dead officers. "Let's make them suffer." He then declared, as he charged at the three super villains. "…Wait, S.H.I. E.L.D. said there were six…" Cyclops muttered, unable to prevent the feral mutant and the Shadowcat from going ahead of the team, with Colossus soon following. Emma remained behind Scott, while Henry strafed to the right.
"Tremolo." Teleplex called, giving the go signal for the mutant in hiding. A second later, a female mutant with flowing, black hair flew in from behind the X-Men, a blur of violet as was the color of her caped costume; and before Emma could act on the new presence she felt, Tremolo released a concentrated blast of vibro-sonic energy, aimed straight at the X-Men. Cyclops' reflexes were a second faster, as he jumped to the side, avoiding the brunt of the impact, but suffering it nonetheless.
Emma on the other hand, didn't fare so well, as the force of the concussive blast knocked her unconscious. "Emma!" Cyclops cried, as he turned his optic blasts on the airborne mutant. She immediately swerved to her left to avoid the initial blast, returning fire soon after, which too proved unsuccessful. "Hank, get her to safety!" he then ordered, as his blue furred friend immediately did so.
"Manacle. Cyclops." Teleplex then instructed, as the large mutant channeled his psionic energies into hook-ended chains in an attempt to finish the distracted mutant off. It proved itself in vain though, as Colossus quickly jumped in the hook-ended chains' path. "…Take care of him." Came the next order for Manacle. The massive mutant immediately complied, as the chains wrapped themselves around Colossus' entire body.
"Let's play, big man!" he yelled, as he threw the steel mutant right into a café on the side of the building to his right. Before the dust could settle, Manacle jumped right into the building with Colossus, ready for a fistfight to finish the mutant off. Shadowcat stopped as she watched Manacle take advantage of Colossus' weakened state, her emotions once again getting the best of her, as she didn't notice Bile take aim with his Uzi. "Take her down." Teleplex ordered with a sick smile, one that he shared with Bile as he pulled the trigger. "Kitty, look out!" Cyclops screamed, in the midst of his energy shoot out with the flying mutant.
Library/10:40
"Well, there's no telling what side effects it could have, right?" Mindee asked.
"Guess so. Uh, criticisms on the use of mental suppression…" Mark bit his lower lip as he skipped all the way near the end of the book. "Oh here… 'it takes extreme telepathic strain to conjure a mental block, and has only so far proved successful to oneself or ones relatives, through the natural telepathic rapport that they share'…uh, and… 'attempts to perform mental blocks during psychic surgery have all proven much complicated, as the patient may suffer from losing even their most simple motor and sensory functions, as they are linked closely with their capacity to use their mutant or metahuman abilities'…"
"…Makes sense." Phoebe remarked, closing the book that she was reading.
"Huh. It would be no use to reform someone if they won't be any use after." Mindee added.
"…Case closed." Celeste concluded.
"Uh…well, you know, if you ladies have anything else to do, I'm fine here, I got the lead anyway…"
"Still looking for anything?" Mindee quickly asked, giving her sisters glances to stay.
"I… want to see if there are signs, uh symptoms. How to tell if someone has a mental block." He said, his mind now completely on Derrick. "…Like dreams."
New York, Street Intersection/10:41
The rapid gunshots snapped Shadowcat back to reality, a little too late, as a bullet clipped her on the shoulder. "Kitty!" Wolverine turned and found the young woman rolling on the ground, clutching her bleeding shoulder. "Cover her, Logan!" Cyclops ordered, next. Wolverine nodded, his view of her suddenly got blocked by a massive, silver wall though, as Coil's body expanded all around him. "Keep him away from everyone else." Teleplex ordered, as Coil's arms came from behind the feral mutant, grabbing his wrists, and then hoisting him up to the air. "Let go off me elastic-bitch!" Wolverine shouted, right before Coil began to violently skid him across the side of a building.
"Damn it!" Cyclops rolled away from another blast as Tremolo swept by. "…okay, change of plan." He then muttered as he avoided another blast, jumping forward and blasting the base of a streetlight. The force of his optic blast managed to tear right through it, sending it crashing down, right on top of Tremolo as she sped by.
"Tremolo!" Teleplex's call fell on deaf ears as the woman crashed to the ground, completely unconscious. "One down." Cyclops muttered, catching Bile take aim at him with his guns. "Oh…" Bile opened fire. With agility that betrayed his muscular frame, Cyclops cart wheeled out of the initial spray's way, landing with an optic blast, which Bile spun sideways to avoid. "Shoot the car." Teleplex then ordered into the gun happy mutant's earpiece, signaling him to an upturned SUV just two feet behind Cyclops.
"Right ahead of you." He muttered, as he pulled the trigger, sending a half a dozen or so bullets right past Cyclops, and onto the gas tank of the upturned SUV. "Wha-" Cyclops turned just in time to see the spark rapidly expand into a flame. A second later, the SUV erupted into a ball of fire, with a shockwave that brutally smashed against the mutant leader's body, knocking him out almost instantly.
"The beast man is headed for you." Teleplex then informed Bile, as he found the fearsome mutant on all fours, running towards him. "Holy-" Bile raised both Uzis and opened fire, trying to hit the nimble mutant, who leapt from left to right in order to avoid getting littered with gunfire.
"Move to the right, now." Teleplex instructed. Bile immediately heeded his order, as he stepped to where Teleplex directed him. "Mist! Full blast!" Teleplex then ordered. And as the Beast made a lunge for Bile, a massive concentration of acidic mist, erupted from beneath the manhole directly below the feral mutant. Bile covered himself as the manhole cover shot straight up, hitting the Beast on the gut, followed by a blast of mist with the potency of a geyser, engulfing his entire body. "Thank you for coming." Bile hissed as he watched the Beast get propelled over him, landing on top of a van all the way to the other block. It was enough to put him down for the count.
"Felt like I waited down there forever." The Mist Mistress remarked as she climbed out of the sewers, joining the battle. She still had her classic green, body costume, with yellow seams on. A sudden cry of pain made the both of them look up, as they watched Wolverine jettisoning himself back to the ground, after managing to scratch Coil in just a second's lapse of concentration. "Blimey." Bile muttered, as he watched the Wolverine tuck and roll as he landed, brushing off four stories worth of a fall without so much a wince of pain.
"Not good." The Mist Mistress remarked, stepping behind Bile, as Wolverine began to sprint towards them. "Just fine." Bile responded, throwing his Uzis down and reaching for something in his trench coat. The Wolverine let out a feral cry as he made a jump for the old mutant, who in turn pulled out a sawed-off double barreled shotgun from his coat. "Oh fu-!" Bile pulled the trigger point black, the force of a wrecking ball, right into Wolverine's chest, sending the mutant flying back.
A loud crash, the sound of thunder then echoed from inside the building, as Manacle found himself crashing through another wall, adjacent to the one where he threw the steel hero in earlier, and out into the street, after a strong right hook by the Colossus. Both Bile and Mist Mistress turned their heads to the right, their eyes following their weakened comrade as he slammed into the building on the other end of the street. "Mist. Help him out." Teleplex ordered.
"Sure thing." She responded, as she rushed to the steel mutant who stepped through the large hole in the wall. "Hey, muscleman!" she called, waving her hands, releasing a spray of concentrated mist from them, straight to Colossus' direction. "Wha-" Colossus used his arms to shield himself from the sudden gust of acid. Even in his current form, he could feel the heat singe at his metallic skin, letting out a trail of smoke as the pain settled in. "Feel that, honey?" she taunted, as the shock to the metal man's system forced him down on one knee. "That's you melting."
Library/10:50
"Okay, this book has nothing." Mark announced in exhaustion. There was already a tall pile of books in the middle of their small table.
"Well, this one's a bust too." Celeste declared, closing a thick book in front of her.
"Maybe…maybe we can just…reference it to similar cases of mental therapy." Phoebe suggested.
"…huh?" Mark turned to the blonde girl, who looked like she had a brilliant idea brewing as her eyes shone. "That's right." Mindee added. "Psychic surgery." Celeste brought up, her yes now lit up as well.
"Okay, English for the non-psychic?" Mark asked, to which the three girls turned at him in unison.
"When a person undergoes psychic surgery, the telepath uses psionics to expose or suppress. There have been cases when people undergoing suppressive surgery started sleepwalking. Routinely doing what they are not supposed to do in their sleep." All three of them explained.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's close enough." Mark muttered, feeling resolute that his suspicion of Derrick was one worth exploring. "So, if this rings true for mental blocking, then a lousy job could mean that a person won't have his or her powers locked away…instead, he or she'll lose control over it."
"It's a possibility." Mindee responded, her eyes returning to normal.
"…You're trying to find out if what's happening in school is accidental or not, aren't you?" Celeste then asked. "…Just trying to help." Mark responded, not quite ready to point his finger at his best friend just yet.
New York Streets/10:52
"No!" Colossus mustered his strength, trying his best to ignore the crippling pain. He then reached his hand out, grabbing the woman by the collar, prompting her to stop. "That's me sending you to orbit." He corrected with anguished lips, readying his fist to even the score. Mist's eyes shot wide open as fear struck her numb. "Manacle!" Teleplex yelled, prompting the still weary mutant back to action.
Extending his hand, Manacle forced another band of chains into existence, wrapping themselves around Colossus' raised arm, preventing him from striking the Mist Mistress. With his other hand, manacle conjured another handful of psionic chains, this time ensnaring Colossus' feet. "Time to fly!" he shouted, pulling at his feet to make him lose balance, not to mention lose his grip on the Mist Mistress' collar, and then at his arm to fling him in the air.
"Coil!" Teleplex called, to which the female mutant rocketed to the mutant in the air. In an instant, Colossus found himself wrapped beneath Coil's elongated body. "Get rid of him." Teleplex then instructed, as she went high up the air, rapidly unwinding in the process. With the laws of motion taking over, Colossus was literally flung in two blocks' distance, crashing into the middle of a skyscraper.
"That takes care of that." Bile commented, as he unloaded another slug to Wolverine's cranium, just as the Canadian as getting on his feet. "And for the time being, that takes care of you."
"Bile." Teleplex called. "I'm not getting a fix on the girl…she's…"
"What is it?" Bile asked, scanning the street for any signs of the mutant that he shot.
"…Behind you!" Teleplex suddenly shouted, as he finally fixed on Shadowcat, who had just phased herself back to the surface.
"Wha-" Bile's question turned into a loud gasp as he felt something move inside him, forcing him to his knees. "All of you, stand down…" Shadowcat ordered through gritted teeth, as she stood behind Bile, her hand clamped on the old mutant's heart. "…or chuckles here gets his pacemaker jumpstarted." She threatened, getting the super villains' attention.
"You don't want to do that sweetheart." Bile responded in a taunting voice.
"Oh, I think I really do." Shadowcat replied, in between her pained breathing, her eyes shifting between the four other villains. "…What? You think my super power is to never worry about finding a Halloween costume? Crush my heart girl, you get my blood in your hands. And any liquid in my body has an entire litany of diseases waiting to infect someone they come in contact to."
"…You're bluffing."
"Twenty bucks says you get syphilis and a nasty case of dandruff, pussycat."
"…"
"Tremolo. Get him out of there." Teleplex whispered to the recovering woman's ear. "Now." With a burst of energy, Tremolo got on all fours, sending out a wave of vibro-sonic energy, aimed at the ground near where Bile knelt. "Bloody hell." The old mutant muttered, shielding his body with his arms, as the force blast caused the ground to erupt. Shadowcat's phased form protected her from the blast and the debris, but the force managed to propel Bile backwards, right through the super heroine, and out of her fatal grip.
"Air support!" Teleplex ordered, to which Coil used her elastic body to act as a hammock, catching Bile before he could land on the pavement, and then gently setting him down soon after. Shadowcat's blood loss began to take its toll, preventing her from taking anymore action against the band of mutants.
"…Huh, pull out people." Teleplex then instructed. "The Fantastic Four and those 'New' Avengers are on their way. We can't handle all of them at once." He explained. "Down the sewers." Bile instructed, still gathering his breath. "This is your lucky day X-Men!" he then taunted, in typical villain fashion, as Manacle threw a manhole cover off. Mist Mistress jumped in first, with Manacle coming in second. "We get to finish this soon." He threatened, as Coil carried him down into the sewers. "Tremolo, get out of there, now." Teleplex reiterated, as the mutant shakily got to her feet.
"Tremolo, was it?" interrupted a female voice from behind her. Tremolo turned to find Emma Frost, in her diamond form, with her fist raised. "I owe you pain." The diamond woman hissed, punching the older woman on the jaw with enough force to crack concrete. Teleplex closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, knowing full well that they won't be able to salvage the situation.
"Sir?" he heard Coil from his earphone.
"Go on. There's no telling if Iron Man has x-ray in that suit of his. We can't risk staying any longer." He responded, fixing his screens on the incoming aircrafts.
The humming of loud motors then began to fill the air, as both the Fantasticar and the Quinjetta hovered over the scene. The Iron Man was the first one out, as he flew down to see if he could be any help to his beaten colleagues. Johnny Storm, otherwise known as the Human Torch, came down after, jumping right out of his seat on the Fantasticar and flaming on to enable his own flight.
"Mr. Summers?" Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four called, tuning in his frequency to the earpiece of the mutant leader. "We came as soon as we could. Is everyone alright?" he asked, his worried wife looking down at the devastation. "Are you crazy, stretch? Look at the streets! That ain't alright!" The Thing chided, pointing down at the scene. "I'm going down, Reed." Susan added, creating an invisible platform that she used to safely drop herself down to ground level. Shadowcat was already helping the Beast on his feet, ignoring the pain and weakness that racked her body. Wolverine was still busy growing his face back.
"There are more than a dozen civilian fatalities here, Richards." Cyclops muttered, catching the Fantasticar's frequency. He was leaning on another upturned Rolls Royce, blood streaming down from a wound on his forehead. "…and a ton more injured. Get S.H.I.E.L.D. clean-up down here." He muttered, turning his earpiece off and leaning his head back on the cold steel. "Media's going to chew our heads off for this."
"Not if we give them someone else's head instead." Emma corrected, holding up an unconscious Tremolo by the cape. "And this one just might do."
Chapter 6, End
Next Chapter-Super hero therapy group?
Author's note: Whoo.