Author's Note: Our basketball team gets a bloody rematch after we won? That's stupid. Piss me off. Anyway, total disclaimer, the Avengers and FF? So not mine. It's Marvel's.

Madripoor Rose: I try my best. Thanks.

Doza: Thank you.

Anhayla: Thank you. I'm pretty big on plot twists but I doubt I'll be throwing a curve ball here. I always keep my stories on at ten chapters, so there's still some time for more stuff to develop.

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. The X-MEN are called by S.H.I.E.L.D. because they're the only team readily available, and the X-Men answered the call, confronting Teleplex's team and preventing them from doing further damage. The fight didn't go well for the X-Men however, and the timely arrival of both the AVENGERS and the FANTASTIC FOUR managed to save them from complete defeat under the SILVER THORN…

Chapter 7: "Fallout"

"Is she-" Scott got back to his feet, clutching his sore side.

"She's alive." Emma chided, knowing full well what Scott was about to ask. "Though my ability to control myself is inching slowly into oblivion as we speak." She noted, glaring at the unconscious mutant who gave her a concussion.

"That's good." Interrupted a woman in a skin-tight, leather suit. "…because you'll be handing her over to us now." She then ordered. The fact that she was beautiful remained secondary to the fact that she was armed like a one woman armada. She had short, black hair that went to show she wasn't the type of woman who treasured style over substance. "Director Hill." Scott greeted, though not with a voice reserved for someone who he thought well off.

"Hand her over, X-Men. We'll take care of her." She ordered again, as the S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercrafts began letting down more and more personnel, some of them to help with the clean-up, while others were there to simply intimidate. The five fully armored men standing behind the director were representatives of the latter.

"…Emma." Scott turned to his lover, who was still staring intently at her captive.

"…Alright. You can have her." She then relented, throwing the unconscious woman to the director's feet. "We have what we want." Emma remarked with a smirk.

"You did a good job here, X-Men. It could have gone better mind you, but…"

"Mind nothing." Emma interrupted, walking up to the S.H.I.E.L.D. director without any sign of intimidation. "You will graciously ask us to step down from this case now that these 'new' Avengers are here. And we, will unfortunately decline, seeing as this is a mutant problem, and that I owe them a whole lot of suffering."

"Miss Frost. I do hope you realize that we have machinery protecting us from mind control." The director retorted, placing her hands on her waist.

"And I do hope you realize, Miss Hill, that your psi-scrambler can only protect you from mind control. Not anything else." Emma rebutted. "Care for me to give you a demonstration? Who wants to have their brains fried" she asked, eyeing the men behind the director, who all took a few steps back at the sight of the former White Queen's harsh eyes.

"…Very well." The director responded. "We are working with these Avengers on a much, more important case anyway." She then added, much like a twelve year old would in order to win a shallow argument.

"I'm sure you'll be needing our help soon. The Sentry is quite the enigma, isn't he?" Emma asked, raising her eyebrow.

"…I don't know what you're talking about." The director remarked, thought it didn't take a telepath to know that she wasn't telling the truth.

"Of course you don't. Just remember, I have an Avenger in my team too." Emma then declared, referring to Logan, who seemed to have the ability to be everywhere at once.

"…Well, Miss Frost, I'd love to stay and chat, but the truth is, that would be a lie." Hill responded, signaling for her men to turn on back. "We'll be having that talk soon, Mr. Summers!" she then reminded the mutant leader, who was standing behind Emma.

"…Talk?" Emma turned and gave Scott an inquisitive look.

Rose Garden/11:00

"…" Derrick stood silent as he gazed at the framed picture of Sophie, wreathed by white roses.

"Hey." Greeted Mark as he stepped into the garden. "What'choo doing?" he asked, standing beside his best friend.

"…Just thinking." He responded. "She died doing what's right." he then said. "How many people go out that way?"

"…" Mark scratched the back of his head. "What's with the big, deep thoughts?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"Everyone can be a hero, you know."

"What if you were born not to be?"

"Well…then you'd be a pussy if you didn't do anything about it, right? You could be born blind, doesn't mean you can't learn to see the world around you."

"…" Derrick nodded his head, still seemingly planets away.

"You know, remember in day one, I asked you where you were from?"

"Yeah?"

"Indiana, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"You sure?"

"Uh…yeah, I'm pretty sure I know where I came from."

"There's no listing of a Gallis anywhere in Indiana."

"…My parents moved out a little after I started here."

"Oh. Okay. Where'd they go?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I'm just curious."

"…No, really."

"…Just curious, man."

"…"

"You want to go grab lunch?"

"Uh, not in the mood."

"Okay. Sure. See you in Lit."

New York Streets/11:03

Kitty was sitting on a mailbox that was lying on the middle of the wrecked street, with Henry standing behind her, and Susan Storm kneeling in front of her. "This won't hurt." Susan reassured Kitty as she closed her eyes, concentrating at the matter on hand. "Really, I'm fine." Kitty tried persuading, but none of the other heroes would have any of it. "I mean, we've got a healer at home." She then said, as she began to feel the Invisible Woman's force fields coming in contact with her skin.

"Healer can't take those bullets out of you. Besides, we can't have you bleed to death in the jet, vacuuming in there is a bastard." Henry reminded, as he held on Kitty to support the young mutant. "Your care for me is simply sublime." Kitty responded.

"Well, healer'll just let the wound close around it, which we don't want. Besides, I've got first dibs on the healer." Henry explained, still nauseous at all his singed fur.

"No fair. At least you have a healing factor." Kitty pouted.

"Who doesn't?"

"Here I go." Susan cautioned, as she used her power to form an invisible pair of clamps. "Take a deep breath…" Henry advised, as he watched Kitty begin to grimace as Susan worked to take out the bullet lodged in her shoulder.

"Feels funny. Where's Peter?" Kitty then asked, her eyes clamping shut as a reaction to the invisible force fields.

"Tony is helping him down." Henry responded, referring to Iron Man, who flew to the building that Peter got hurled into.

"Is he okay?" she then asked, as she suddenly and inexplicably lost the feeling of discomfort.

"It takes a lot more than getting catapulted two blocks away to put our good man down." Henry noted, his feline eyes landing on Emma, who was intently looking in Kitty's direction.

"It's out!" Susan yelled, as she finally got to pull the bullet from her shoulder, catching it with her hand. "Told you it wouldn't hurt. Want to keep it?" she asked, handing Kitty the bullet.

"Sure thing." She responded, nearly out of breath. "I'm getting someone to stitch you up. You've lost a lot of blood." Susan then remarked, as she stood and took her leave. "Thanks!" Kitty shouted, to which the fantastic adventurer waved back in response.

"She's swell." Kitty noted, rubbing her still, painless shoulder. "Why can't Emma be like her? On a side note, why can't Emma be like a human being? She looks just like one…" she asked rhetorically.

"Emma's…it's a breeding thing." Hank responded.

"Oh well. Hey, maybe we can do a get-together thing with the Fantastic Four soon."

"Sounds good. Had the pleasure of fighting alongside Susan a couple of times. Reed's lucky to have her." Henry responded, giving room for the S.H.I.E.L.D. medic to tend on Kitty's wound.

"Hank has a crush." Kitty teased, smiling at the young medic who gave her a goofy grin. "This may sting." The medic noted, as he took a thin, silver thread from his field kit.

"Gay now, remember?" Henry reminded. "Go ahead." Henry then insisted to the medic. "She doesn't feel any pain." He explained. It took a few more seconds for Kitty to realize why.

Campus Grounds/11:05

"…" Mark sighed out loud as he stepped out of the Rose Garden, with the three Cuckoos waiting for him by the bench area. All their eyes were lit, signaling that their powers were still in use.

"What did you gals see?" Mark asked, as he reached where they were sitting.

"…it was difficult." They responded in unison, their eyes soon losing their glamour. "…which is odd in itself." They then noted.

"Odd? Why?"

"How many students keep their heads booby trapped?"

"…What?" Mark turned to look at the rose garden, through the grass arched entry, finding Derrick still staring at the portrait of the Cuckoos' fallen sister. "What do you mean, booby-trapped?" he then asked, his keeping his voice barely above a whisper. All three sisters stared at each other, and then stood up. "We should talk someplace farther." Phoebe declared, as they began to make their way to the tennis court.

"…But he's not a telepath." Mark argued, as he followed the three sisters.

"When you were talking to him, we tried searching for what the words he spoke meant, just like you asked us to…" Mindee began. "…but each time we got a glimpse of the history behind what he says, a massive wall blocks our way." Celeste continued. "And if when we tried to drill our way through, we saw a recipe for Alzheimer's ready to pounce on us." Phoebe finished.

"How…he's not a telepath! He's not supposed to be able to do stuff like that…"

"Maybe someone did it for him." Celeste suggested.

"Do you think it could be a mental block? Like what we read earlier?" Mindee asked.

"…If it is, then all we get is that he's a much more powerful… fire guy than he really is. Doesn't mean that he's also a powerful telepath who can make the faculty go crazy."

"A lot of mutants have auxiliary abilities that seem completely different from their primary ones." Celeste explained.

"Which means that the possibility of him being a telepath and a pyrokinetic is not too far from reality. It's been done before after all." Phoebe then reminded.

"But…sorting hat! You guys would know if he had telepathy, right?" Mark asked.

"…We can find out."

New York Streets/11:07

Logan held on to his jaw, waiting for the muscles to grow back, as his senses picked up the presence of another superhero, crawling down a wall. "I'm not in the mood." He snarled, even before the red and blue-clad hero could get a syllable out. Mainly because Logan knew that once he started talking, it would take a coma to stop him. "What happened to your face?" Spider-Man finally asked, ignoring Logan's warning of intolerance. "Whatever it is, it's going to happen to you unless you leave me alone!" Logan threatened, clearly not kidding, as he revealed his mutilated visage.

"…"

"…"

"Dude, you've got something on your face."

"That's it, I'm sticking my claws up your ass."

"Eeew! Why'd you wanna do that?" Spider-Man asked, as he began to use his webbing to help clear the streets of debris.

"I'm a bit pissed right now, you moron!" Logan snapped, sitting himself back down on the sidewalk.

"Well, yeah, I mean, if someone blew my face off, I'd be in a pretty foul mood too…actually no, I'd be very, very dead. But you've got healing powers. You shouldn't let something like, uh, your eyes and nose and…other stuff not being there anymore, get to you, you know what I mean?"

"Rarely if ever."

"The wife says 'hi' by the way." Spider-Man commented, as he swung to the opposite building. "Says you ought'a come over for dinner." He then noted, as he fired his webbing on the side of an upturned car, hoisting it up back to how it should be. "MJ is preparing this paella dish, the one you really liked when you dropped by once?"

"When?" Logan asked, refusing help from a S.H.I.E.L.D. medic who offered to help him with some bandages.

"You remember, when Aunt May moved to Stark Towers and…"

"I meant, 'when is the dinner', webhead."

"Oh. Well, not sure. This Saturday, maybe? Just be sure to…you know, maybe wear a hat and sunglasses. The whole seeing what your skull looks like may ruin MJ's appetite."

"I'll be getting my face back by evening." Logan responded, beginning to lighten up.

"You sure? Because I could reschedule if you want…"

"Ha. Nah. Now I actually get something to look forward to."

"So you're not Mr. sourpuss anymore?"

"Getting there. Now quit talking to me, the more my lips move the less time it takes for the muscles to heal."

"Aye, aye ,captain." Spider-Man responded, saluting to Logan as he swung to another building. "Hello Captain!" he then greeted as he landed where Captain America was.

Tennis Courts/11:09

"I think we should tell a teacher." Phoebe suggested, as they sat on a bench overlooking the aerial athletics, as two flying mutants decided to spice up their tennis match. Not that it wasn't done before. Mark sat on the armrest, with the three sisters taking up the seats.

"Little too early for that, don't you think?" Mark asked, still unsure of what he was supposed to do. "I don't know about you, but we're not too keen on waiting for another super criminal to ruin a school event." All three of them responded, their eyes lighting up in an angry glare.

"Oh, sorry." Mark responded, realizing that their anger came from the fact that they lost a sister in stopping a maniacal student.

"…At any rate, it's your duty as his best friend to act in what you should believe to be in his best interest." Celeste counseled, their eyes returning to normal.

"…and what you should be thinking is that there has to be a reason why he's got a mind tighter than Fort Knox." Phoebe added.

"Thing is…what if what's stopping him is really… what if he actually needs to be stopped from being something?" Mark asked.

"Like what?' questioned Mindee as she leaned forward.

"…he said something about, what you need to be, to be a hero. He asked me… what if he was born… to not be a hero."

"If anything, it just means there's more reason to worry." Phoebe responded. Mark took a deep breath, and stared at the distance, past the two mutants playing aerial tennis.

"…Just, give it more time. Let's be sure about what we're doing."

"We can take it into our own hands."

"No. No, you said he had some weird crap swimming around his brain. Can't let anything happen to you three."

"…" Mindee blushed and stepped behind one of her sisters so Mark wouldn't notice.

Stark Tower/11:10

Iron Man let his boosters die down to decelerate as he approached a large whole in the middle of a skyscraper, one that incidentally, he owned. "Colossus?" he called, as he entered through the hole. It was a library, which quickly emptied when a large mutant found himself jettisoned inside. "I'm here." The steel mutant responded, as Iron Man found him sitting down, leaning against the far wall. Two security guards stood over him, their hands on their pistols. "Gentlemen!" Iron Man called. "I'll be escorting Mr. Rasputin here." He immediately declared, helping the steel mutant get back to his feet.

"But sir…" one of the guards came up to the Avenger. "We…he…"

"Is it against the law to get thrown across New York and into a building against your will?" Iron Man asked, putting the Colossus' arm over his shoulder to help him walk.

"…No sir."

"Then that settles it."

"How goes the battle?" Colossus immediately asked.

"Baddies fled. Your team's just fine, scratches here and there…Logan's face is missing…" Iron Man answered, his voice now much more tender than it was seconds ago. "Come on, I'll carry you out."

"Thank you, but I may be a little too heavy." Colossus responded, his voice still weak.

"Then turn back to your normal state."

"…My skin is melted. I'm sure that becoming organic right now would do me much worse. I'll need to see the healer at the school first." Colossus reasoned.

"Well, I've still got enough batteries to lift you up…and you're not going to fit in the elevators anyway."

"…Very well. Thank you."

"So, I heard you got to visit the great beyond. How was it?"

"I…in all honesty, I am not certain if I truly died at all."

"That must suck." The Iron Man commented as he helped Colossus to his feet, putting the steel mutant's arm over his shoulder in support.

"Yes. Yes it does, suck." He responded, limping along as Iron Man led him to the hole where he initially crashed through. "…This is your property, yes?" he then asked, his eyes trailing over the plaster scattered across the room.

"Yep. Nifty place, huh?"

"I am sorry for the hole."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Good thing about being a millionaire? You don't care as much as you need to."

"Ah. Words to live by." Both men stopped as they reached the broken wall, staring down at the hundred or so stories that separated them from the ground. "…Thousands of people, living their lives." Colossus muttered, as he watched the people below. "I wonder what they think of."

"…People down there?" Iron Man turned his boosters on, and jumped ahead of Colossus, hovering in front of him for a few seconds. "Jump, I'll grab your hands." He instructed. It only took a second before the steel mutant complied, as he leapt off the hole, extending his hands to the air so Iron Man can catch them.

"People down there…oof!" Iron Man continued, as he held onto the Colossus' hands. "Probably wondering how to get through the day." He said, as he flew to where their two teams were.

"…Just like us." Colossus commented.

"Just like us."

Brooklyn, New York/14:48

"That didn't go as well as we planned." Teleplex muttered, taking a drink from a bottle of Evian. They found themselves, rather comfortably, in an incredibly lush, two bed-room condominium, with quite the view of a famous bridge.

"All things considered, I think we did much better than we expected." Bile argued, though keeping it in a lighthearted manner.

"We lost Tremolo." Teleplex quickly pointed out, sitting himself on the sofa.

"You think she'll talk?" Coil asked, descending the stair to the second level of the residence.

"She doesn't know about this place, so it wouldn't really matter." Teleplex responded, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Which reminds me…" Mist Mistress interrupted, taking a seat beside Teleplex. "…how exactly did you find this place?"

"This was my…previous employer's." Teleplex responded, stifling a chuckle behind a mouth full of mineral water.

"They seem very, very well-off." Mist Mistress replied, her eyes wandering around the two-floor unit. There was no ceiling that divided the first and second stages, with the bath, dining and living rooms on the former, and the bedrooms on the latter.

"Well, they were." Teleplex responded, with the Mistress taking immediate note of the used tense.

"Until I gave them a rapid dose of Ebola." Bile chided, a look of pride gleaming on his face.

"…Former employer's, huh? That the reason why you set all of this up?" Manacle asked, emerging from the dining room.

"Yes. Like all of you, I underwent the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rehabilitation program…to…aid in the restraint of me using my psionic abilities."

"You mean G.O.N.E." Coil chided, leaning on the leather chair. "Gene operational neutralization operative. They stuffed me in a Circus." She remarked with a bitter tone.

"And they kept me in an office." Teleplex followed. "Until one night, I walked into my employer having a late night…'discussion' with the secretary. Of course I told him that I would keep it a secret, seeing as he had a very, very unstable wife at home. But he thought I was going to take the situation for granted. Try and use it to get a better position, more money…"

"Did you?" Mist Mistress asked.

"No. But that didn't stop him from announcing a company lay-off. And surprise, surprise, my name was on the list."

"Then you should have busted his balls for it!" Coil interrupted.

"More than a hundred very disgruntled employees got laid-off. Who would listen to the unsubstantiated complaints of one of them?" Teleplex asked, answering Coil's question. "I've been playing nice all my life, and it never got me anywhere. With this, at least I get to have a little fun before I die."

"If you want fun, then maybe you'd like to actually step in the field with us." Manacle chided. "Getting punched through a building isn't exactly going 'tralala' through a park."

"It's not the fighting that gets me going, Manacle." Teleplex replied.

"It's the ordering us around." Bile declared, entering the living room with a bottle of champagne. "Teleplex here gets off on being the boss." He explained, sitting on the chair that Coil was leaning on.

"Bossy huh?" Mist Mistress gave him a smile. "I like that."

"What about you?' Coil asked Bile. "Is there anything other than, 'make stuff go boom' in your agenda?"

"Well, I'd like to say there is, sweetheart, but if I do, then I'd just be kidding myself. I don't have any misconceptions on what I'm supposed to be. I'm a walking virus. Means that if there's a God up there, then he seems to have a pretty clear idea of what I should do with myself."

"…And that is?"

"Pure and simple. To become the very antithesis of life."

Uni-Mind/15:01

The X-Men had their War Room, while the other telepaths had their own telepathic destinations when they wanted to discuss private matters. For the Stepford Cuckoos, it was in the confines of their vastly capable uni-mind.

"What do we do?" Mindee asked, sitting in the middle of a floating bed with his two sisters.

"I say we tell Miss Frost." Celeste suggested, psionically manifesting a pillow to hug.

"But before we do that, I say you get that picture of Mark out of our heads." Phoebe added, pointing at a floating memory of Mark playing basketball.

"What? It's nice to look at." Mindee defended, pouting her lips. 'You can see his muscles ripple." She then said, enhancing the image.

"Yes, and thanks to you we've been doing nothing but think of him and his perfect physique for the last two weeks!" Celeste responded.

"Well, I can't help it!" Mindee shouted back, though not out of agitation of any sort.

"Then do help it! We can't sleep when you keep thinking off whether or not to mind control him into asking you to a date." Phoebe pointed, manifesting a small pillow to throw at her sister.

"Okay, okay, stop it already! Let's…let's just get back to business, shall we?" Mindee asked, raising her hands in surrender, as a massive, white blinds began to cover the images of Mark.

"…So, are we sure we really want to go ahead and tell the teachers about Derrick?" Mindee then asked, her eyes shifting between her two sisters.

"Well, we may not have any evidence that it's him causing the Hitchcock phenomena other than your boyfriend's paranoia…" Celeste started.

"He's not my boyfriend." Mindee objected.

"…but we all do agree that it is very intriguing to find a non-telepath with a booby-trapped head." Phoebe finished. "And someone with that kind of potential… danger… is something that the teachers should know about." Celeste added.

"But remember what Mark said…" Mindee declared, raising her hand. "What if Derrick really just wants to forget something? What if that psychic lock is supposed to be there?"

"A threat of imminent danger?" Celeste asked. "When has that ever stopped us?"

Chapter 7, End

Next Chapter – So the drama

Author's note: Hope you enjoyed, comments, suggestions, violent reactions? Review:)