The New Mutants
Written by Darkstorm5000
Disclaimer: The X-Men and related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Comics and Marvel Enterprises.
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Story 17- Here Cometh A Living Legend
Location: Muir Island, Scotland
Scant miles away from Scotland's northern-most coast sits this moderately sized landmass, which located right off of the Scottish mainland is west of an area known as Cape Wrath. Muir Island is best known for being home to the world's foremost research facility in the field of mutant genetics, which Dr. Moira MacTaggert has spent a good portion of her life building it into. With its geography consisting of a mixture of lush, rolling green hills and jagged rocky cliffs, Muir Island is also a beautiful sight to behold in its early pre-dusk hours, in the off-chance that the sun manages to peer through its usually foggy and overcast weather. But, the fact that this day had brought a cloudless, clear afternoon was not the most unusual sight to be seen on the island.
Currently approaching the island on its slowly dimming horizon was a remarkable, and almost futuristic appearing aircraft. Further inspection would reveal this vehicle to be a Quinjet, a mid-sized, experimental vehicle recently put into limited production by Stark Enterprises. A small fleet of Quinjets, which were capable of easily traveling at super-sonic speeds, had been donated to the Avengers by Stark Enterprises for their exclusive use. Uses, which included shuttling the newly assembled band of superheroes to locales worldwide, and taking them from their base of operations in New York City to such far off destinations as Muir Island, for example.
As this Quinjet activated its vertical thrusters and began its descent onto Muir Island, doing so in an open clearing not very far from the island's main complex, a stoic figure soon emerged from within the craft and started down the plane's exit ramp. Dressed in a one-of-a-kind red, white, and blue outfit, this noble voyager could only be the fabled Captain America.
Aside from the blue helmet-shaped mask with a giant white 'A' on the front of it, which covered his face and most of his head and that was securely maintained with a leather strap running underneath his chin, Captain America's star-spangled attire was also accessorized by a large round shield that had a giant star embossed in the center of it, which was strapped to his back. As this old soldier, who had himself participated first-hand in many a dangerous mission during his time approached the research complex's entrance, he was unknowingly about to walk smack-dab into a warzone of a decidedly different nature.
"But Mom, why can't I go outside?" Seven year-old Megan McCoy begged, as the curly-haired young girl looked up at her mother.
"You can go outside, but only after you've finished your school lessons for the day." Wanda Maximoff-McCoy replied, as the mother and daughter stood together in the main laboratory of Dr. MacTaggert's research complex, the two of them now engaged in a test of wills.
"Aww, I never get to do annyyythiing…" Megan whined in disappointment.
"What did you say, young lady?" Wanda sternly asked, as she had turned her attention to the repair work on analysis equipment in the laboratory that her husband and her brother were currently occupied with, but now quickly turned back around to respond to her daughter.
"Nuthin'." Megan now mumbled, as she quickly folded her arms out in front of her and was about to stomp off back into the section of the complex that housed Muir Island's living quarters, when all of a sudden the facility's security alarms went off after detecting a new presence on the island.
"Well, it appears that the security system, which Forge devised and installed before his departure back home, is functioning splendidly." Dr. Henry McCoy stated, as he came over to cue up a visual image from the island's surveillance system on a nearby computer terminal.
"Too bad that it didn't bother to detect this intruder, until after his craft had landed. Stranger still that we weren't alerted of this plane's approach to begin with." Pietro Maximoff added, as his mutant powers had allowed him to instantaneously make his way from the other side of the lab and over to the monitor where Hank was standing in front of, as the surveillance camera zoomed in closer onto the approaching visitor.
"If that's who I'm thinkin' it is, then I have t'wonder what it is that's brought him t'our neck of the woods?" Sean Cassidy asked, as he had also come over to join Hank and Pietro in front of the monitor, and the three men then immediately recognized the individual on camera.
"Whatever's brought him here, it'd be rude of us t'let the automated defense systems begin takin' shots at him." Dr. Moira MacTaggert stated, as she had hurried back into the main lab from an auxiliary storage room close y upon hearing the alarms going off, and now also saw that it was indeed Captain America there on Muir Island. Moira then proceeded to type in codes on the terminal to deactivate the weapons defense system, which Captain America's arrival had triggered.
The muscular Agent of Liberty continued on into the complex, following the invitation presented to him at its main entrance by Dr. MacTaggert via the research facility's video-intercom system. And soon, Captain America was met by the sight of the six other individuals inside, who were all currently occupying the main laboratory.
"And t'what do we owe a distinguished gentleman like yuirself payin' us a visit?" Dr. MacTaggert humorously inquired of Captain America, as she removed her glasses and swept her right hand through her reddish-brown hair. Cap looked at Dr. MacTaggert and saw that she was wearing a yellow and purple trimmed outfit, complete with her customary white lab coat over it.
"After attending a debriefing following our battle against the Sentinels, I learned about the destruction that they had caused when they attacked Muir Island and kidnapped you, Doctor MacTaggert. I had come here on behalf of Tony Stark to offer any assistance that he, or the Avengers, might be able to provide in helping you to rebuild your research facility. But from the looks of things, it appears that you have things well under control." Captain America replied to Dr. MacTaggert, as it was his turn to recognize a few familiar faces, starting with two individuals in there that he had just weeks ago fought alongside in their battle to stop the Sentinels, "Beast, Quicksilver, it's nice to see you again."
"What, no warm 'how-do-ye-do' for me?" Sean now jokingly posed to him.
"Banshee, it has been awhile. I'm really surprised to find you here, since I would think you'd be off somewhere hot on the trail of whoever's currently at the top of Interpol's most wanted list." Cap replied, as he placed one of his cardinal-red leather boots up on an empty wooden crate in front of him, which some new equipment had arrived in. He then noticed that Sean, Hank, and Pietro were each dressed in navy blue work jumpsuits, which they were donning as they finished the last phases of their repair work on the damages to the facility that had been caused by the Sentinels during their previous attack on Muir Island.
"I hate t'break it t'ye, but me days as a globe-spannin' detective were put behind me some time ago." Sean told him, as the middle-aged man with slightly graying blondish-red hair leaned back against one of the new pieces of computer equipment in the expansive laboratory area.
Sean was of course referring to his career in international law enforcement, which he had dedicated a majority of his life to. It was a career that had led him to cross paths with more than his fair share of notable individuals, including Captain America and eventually the X-Men.
"Since we're on the subject, it was'nae necessary for you to trouble yuirself by comin' all the way out here just to offer me your help. I'm sure that you've got far more important affairs t'be attendin' to." Dr. MacTaggert came over and said, as she now stood in front of Captain America, while another individual in the room unexpectedly made an observation of her own about him.
"Mommy, how come that man gets to dress up when it's not Halloween, but I can't?" Megan now inquired of her mother.
"From the mouths of babes!" Pietro clapped his hands in response, as the silver-haired man in his mid-to-late twenties laughed loudly at his niece's honestly-inquired question.
"You'll have all the opportunity you want to play dress up, when you get older." Wanda smiled as she came and stood behind her daughter, putting her arms around her little girl in a supportive embrace. But, Wanda couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by her daughter's question about the hero's attire, and then her twin brother's remark about it, although Megan hadn't meant any discourtesies by it.
"I don't believe that you've had the opportunity to meet my quite resplendent wife Wanda, nor my somewhat loquacious daughter Megan." Hank now said as he introduced his wife, who Cap now paid an observation to. He noticed that this woman, who had long brunette hair and clear blue eyes, was wearing an aqua long-sleeved blouse and matching pants, before looking down at the little girl standing next to her mother and saw that she was attired in a light-weight fuschia sweater and heavy cargo pants, in the event that young girl ever did manage to find a way to go outside today to experience the Scottish isle's outdoors.
"Megan, run along to the television room and I will be there in a moment." Wanda now said as she hugged her daughter, and then sent her on out of the room ahead of her.
"Now that the formal introductions are out of the way, I'm still curious as to why a man with the multitude of underlings that Stark is certain to have, would instead send you all the way across the Atlantic to deliver such a mundane message to Dr. MacTaggert?" Pietro asked Cap point-blank.
"Actually, I stopped here since I happened to be on a mission in the area. I've been trying to locate someone operating in the region, who I've been hearing quite a few things about, including a number of selfless and heroic acts." Captain America said in response to Pietro's question.
"Who're ye lookin' for? I might be able t'lend ye a hand in findin' him." Sean offered, as he was very familiar with various areas of the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, and had made a sizable number of contacts in his days with Interpol that might be of assistance.
"There's an individual who calls himself Thor, but I've been unable to confirm his exact location. I stopped here before making my way on up to Norway and then Iceland, since the majority of his sightings seem to be concentrated in those countries." Captain America explained, which drew fairly astonished looks from all of the other individuals in the room.
"You mean Thor, as in the thunder god of Norse mythos?" Hank curiously inquired.
"I'm trying to find him to see if he would be interested in becoming a member of the Avengers." Captain America told them.
"Are you recruiting for a super-hero team, or for the insane asylum?" Pietro snidely asked him.
"Pietro…" Wanda said to her brother in a semi-warning tone, although it didn't stop him with his current line of questioning.
"At any rate, how do you know that this person claiming to be Thor isn't just some delusional mental case?" Pietro continued.
"All evidence available to us suggests that he may be the real deal, especially if he can do half of the things eyewitnesses have claimed to have seen." Captain America responded.
"And you'll need all the help ye can get, particularly if all of ye intend on goin' after that Hulk monstrosity again." Sean pointed out, as the story of the Avenger's recent fight with the Hulk had made news world-wide.
"And, if you Avengers are to pick up where the Sentinels left off." Pietro unabashedly stated to Captain America.
"What, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" Captain America queried, as Pietro had finally managed to get Cap's undivided attention with this last remark.
"You believe that the rest of us can't see through all of the media spin, and through that United Nations charter nonsense, to grasp the real reason why the Avengers were created?" Pierto replied, "Which coincidentally occurred right after the U.S. government's pet project with the Sentinels failed so miserably?"
"My dearest brother-in-law, you seem to be forgetting that our friend here was instrumental in helping us to defeat the Sentinels' nefarious scheme." Hank tried to remind Pietro, but Pietro continued on unabated.
"Today you Avengers are hunting down Hulk's in the name of national security and public safety, tomorrow they'll be sending you to randomly round up all of us mutants." Pietro said, as he walked over to Captain America and looked him directly in the face while he finished clarifying his conspiratorial assertion.
Despite the fact that both Wanda and Pietro had long ago cut their familial ties with their father, some of the mistrusts that he harbored about non-mutants, and that he had subsequently drilled into his young teenage children seemed for some reason to remain with Pietro. This was in spite of the fact that Pietro would adamantly argue that his father no longer had any influence over him, and rather it was just common sense that made him feel such things. Especially, when the whole episode with the Sentinels was taken into consideration, which turned out to have been funded and built by perhaps the powerful government in the world.
"You obviously don't know a thing about me." Captain America said in response to Pietro's accusation.
"I do know that when the time comes, a good little soldier-boy like yourself will follow whatever orders are handed down to you from your superiors." Pietro rudely insulted him.
"Pietro, that's enough!" Wanda now loudly demanded of Pietro in a voice that was strongly tinged with the accent of their Balkan homeland, as she felt that her brother had more than had his say this afternoon.
"Well, just for your information son, what I do have is a major problem with bigots who that feel that any group of people should be persecuted based on their race, religion, or even genetics. It's the reason why I spent my early adult years fighting all over Europe, which included being dropped across the Channel onto Normandy Beach and watching as brave young men were cut down around me in a hail of bombs and bullets, all in an effort to prevent Hitler's twisted vision of his ideal world from becoming our reality. And, I sure as hell didn't go through all of that so that I could become a part of something just as bad, if not worse." Captain America emphatically expressed, and for the first time today Pietro didn't have anything to say in response.
"I am sorry if my brother offended you." Wanda now came over and said to Cap.
"There's no need to apologize, I believe that everyone should have the right to express his or her opinion, whether I might agree with it or not." Captain America replied, as he looked at Wanda and then turned his attention back to Pietro, "But, you have raised a valid point about concerns that might reside within the mutant community with respect to the Avengers' true intentions. Given all of your varied histories with the X-Men, and with mutant/human relations greatly in need of improvement, perhaps you four might consider applying for membership yourselves with the Avengers to help alleviate those fears."
"I can't speak for the others, but I'm thinkin' I'm a bit too old to go off startin' a new full-time career of super-heroin'." Sean light-heartedly remarked.
"Trust me, age is just a state of mind." Captain America smiled, as he now brought his foot down from crate where it had been positioned and prepared to take his leave, "Nevertheless the offer still stands, both in regards to you joining the Avengers, and with assistance in rebuilding your research facility, Dr. MacTaggert."
"As long as you make sure that you and these Avengers help t'keep the Stephen Lang's of the world from wreakin' havoc on the rest of us poor souls, then that'll be worth more t'me than any construction work ye can muster up." Dr. MacTaggert amiably replied from the lab chair that she had went and taken a seat in, as Sean came over and placed his hands very caressingly on the back of her shoulders.
Then, Sean, Moira, Wanda, Hank, and Pietro all watched as a living legend soon made his departure from the laboratory, so that he could continue his search for another man who might also be the stuff of legends.
And perhaps more…
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Story 18- Alternative School Part 9, Smells Like Teen Spirit
While passing an entire summer away at school might be the last place that any student would want to spend it, summertime at Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy was still a very tolerable experience for her unique student body. Operating on a schedule not all that different from their counterparts down at Xavier's in New York State, the students in Snow Valley also had to endure rigorous and exhaustive training sessions. Sometimes, even running full simulations up to twice a day in the Combat Room, their special training facility secretly constructed underneath the campus to help them hone their mutant abilities.
But when they weren't training, their Headmistress left the rest of her students' days free to themselves, which most of them spent the majority of at Pitman Hall inside of its huge, state-of-the-art Student Center located within.
"It's insane when you take a sec 'n think about it. It took those butt-brains who run Video Channel three tries before they figured out, if you're gonna have a network called 'Video Channel', then maybe you should actually play videos on it." Tabitha Smith declared, as she sat on a sofa in the student center and made her observation while watching a music video on Video Channel-3, with the music blaring over speakers connected to one of the two large, flat-screened TV's in there.
"With all the reality shows they put on now, you'd think they'd just rename it the Reality Channel?" Jennifer Stavros replied, as she sat with her blonde counterpart on the sofa and watched a video playing in front of them by the Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes.
"Or just plain 'Channel' would probably work as good." Tab stated, as she smiled and ran her right hand through her medium-length blonde hair, which had small rose-tinted highlights in it.
With it being summer, the two girls were dressed the part as Tabitha had on a hot pink colored tank top with black spandex tights, while Jennifer had on a sky blue cutoff tee with denim 'Daisy-Duke' shorts.
"We're lucky the student center's got a digital hook-up, since this doesn't come on basic cable." Jen pointed out, as she sat next to Tab with her legs up on the sofa, crossed over Indian-style.
"Thank you, Miss Frost." Tab now looked up towards the ceiling, and humorously said aloud.
Although she was nowhere in sight, the students at the Massachusetts Academy had long ago figured out that their Headmistress would on occasion telepathically eavesdrop on them, just to keep apprised of what was going on around her campus.
"Check out that outfit she's wearin', there's no way I'd be caught dead in somethin' like that." Jen now stated, as a new video now came on the television.
"Someone needs to tell that cow Lila Cheney to take that off." Tab commented, "Lila's such a Gwen Stefani-wannabe, tryin' to rip her style when what she needs is to go and catch herself a clue."
"If someone she's payin' actually told her wearin' that was a good idea, then they seriously need to be in the unemployment line tomorrow." Jen continued cutting on the entertainer, when something else besides the revealing outfit that Lila was wearing caught her attention, "Unless it was that guy shakin' his butt right behind her."
"I see what'cha mean. Even if I don't normally go for guys with goatees, he really knows how to rock those moves." Tab added, as the two girls watched the very-chiseled backup dancer on TV perform.
"I hope John doesn't come down here and catch you droolin' over this hottie. He just might flip out and set the TV on fire, and maybe burn down the whole student center while he's at it." Jen now turned and jokingly said to Tab.
"I doubt it. Me and John already had a nice loonnngg talk about him losin' his cool, back when he and Lance were about to seriously wreck shop up in here before." Tab humorously replied, "Besides, Hot-Shit's up in his room involved in his favorite pasttime, so we probably won't be seein' him for at least a coupl'a hours."
"Uh-huh…" Jen replied with one eyebrow raised, as she wasn't sure what 'past time' exactly that Tabitha was referring to, and she figured that she was probably better off not knowing.
Just then on the other side of the room, some of the guys were gathered in there shooting pool at the pool table, when another student, who had been involved in that near altercation with John, now boisterously made his entrance into the student center known.
"Listen up, bitches." Lance Alvers said to the guys gathered around the pool table, which consisted of Sven, Harlan, and Eric Kleinstock, Demarcus Fonseca, and Haroun al-Rashid, "Which one of you dudes wants to be first in line to get his ass schooled by the master?"
"You're pretty damn confident. Let's see if you got what it takes to back it up." Eric said, as he stepped up to accept the challenge first and forcefully tossed a cue-stick over at Lance.
"I got more than confidence to back it up, Big-bitch number 2." Lance said, as he easily caught the stick and continued with his trash-talking to the other teen.
Eric, like his two brothers, also had dark-brown hair like Lance, but the Kleinstock Brothers were much taller and had a more muscular build than him. But right then, Lance surprisingly pulled out a ten-dollar bill, laying it down on the pool table with a good amount of force behind it to underline his point.
"In that case, what do the rest of you say about a small bet?" Demarcus smiled, as the teen who had short bluish-black hair and was wearing a tan short-sleeved, button up shirt with red and green checkered stripes and dark-colored pants, now laid two five-dollar bills on the table.
"Since I assume that Sven and Harlan will put their bankrolls behind their brother, I'll also wager that Lance will wipe the floor with Eric." Haroun stated, as the young Moroccan who was wearing an outfit similar to Demarcus', but instead had on a black shirt with two white vertical stripes that went down the front, also made his bet and matched the others.
Meanwhile, Eric and his brothers were huddled together, as the triplets tried to come to a consensus on whether they could accommodate such stakes.
"We don't have that kind of cash right now." Sven now said in unison with his brothers, as he was the one who turned around from the sibling conference and spoke to the group.
Then, someone else unexpectedly came to their aid.
"Yes you do, I will cover you and match these three buffoons. If only for the sheer satisfaction of seeing the looks on their faces when Alvers' braggarts proves just how much of an American Idiot he truly is, and how they are idiots of an international sort for believing the nonsense that he spouts on a consistent basis." Manuel De La Rocha stated, as he strode into the student center. Manuel quickly pulled out thirty dollars from his pocket and then placed it on the pool table with the rest of the bills.
"Stack 'em up and rack 'em up already." Lance now told them, as balls on the table were now being arranged to begin play.
Then, as Lance and Eric took a preliminary shot to see who would break and take the first official shot of the game, Jen and Tab's attention was now trained on the group of guys gathered on the other side of the student center.
"Guys can be such macho-weenies when they put their little minds to it. Still, don't'cha think you should go over by Manuel and support your boyfriend?" Tab now said to Jen, as she pointed over at Manuel who was dressed in a maroon colored dress shirt and dark slacks, accessorized with pieces of fine jewelry on his hands and wrist, like rings and an expensive, gold custom-made wristwatch.
"Manuel's not my boyfriend." Jen stared back at Tab, folding her arms over to emphasize her clarification.
"Well, with all the time you two spend together, I just figured that there was somethin' there." Tab said, as she continued to inquire, "So, what's the story? Is he like your gay-est, best-est friend, or what?"
"We're friends, but I'm pretty sure he's not gay." Jen replied, as she giggled a little, "Although if he were, Manuel's so conceited I'm sure the only guy he'd probably ever fall in love with'd be himself."
"It's probably a good thing you two are platonic and all, since I don't think Marie-Ange would appreciate you makin' moves on her man." Tab stated, as they saw another one of their classmates, Marie-Ange Colbert enter the student center. She was dressed in a simple white, short-sleeved blouse and skirt, her medium-brown hair pulled back with a single scarf as she walked over to where the guys were at.
Meanwhile, back at the pool table…
"De La Rocha, you can hate it or you can love it, but one way or another you better figure out how to live with it. 'Cause I'm the king when it comes to handlin' a pool-cue, you 'knocker." Lance boasted, as he shot one ball right after another into the corner and the side pockets of the table.
"I merely attribute your performance so far to rotten luck, which will be running out soon enough." Manuel snidely replied, as the bad blood between him and Lance continued to run as cold as it ever did.
"Well, I guess that's why you called your shadow in, to try 'n make that happen." Lance tauntingly said, as he couldn't pass up the opportunity to point out to Manuel that a certain individual was standing a few feet behind him, "You better turn around, 'cause it looks like your ol' lady has somethin' to say to you too."
Upon slowly turning around to see Marie-Ange standing quietly behind him, and now getting very upset at having to listen to Lance now being provided with additional ammunition with which to ridicule him, Manuel very loudly acknowledged the reserved girl's presence.
"I do not know why you insist on following me around like some lost stray! FOR THE LAST TIME, WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Manuel angrily shouted at Marie-Ange.
This was all in spite of the fact that Manuel knew precisely why Marie-Ange would constantly follow him around the school, and why she always seemed to be somewhere close by. Thanks to his emotion-sensitive mutant powers, Manuel had known for some time that Marie-Ange had a crush on him, which she had developed shortly after her arrival at the Massachusetts Academy.
"Nothing." Marie-Ange softly replied to Manuel's hurtful inquiry, with tremendous pain evident in eyes that were on the verge of tears as she looked up at him.
Manuel's insensitive words had managed to cut very deeply, which emotionally devastated Marie-Ange. The young French-native immediately turned her gaze downward, as she quietly left the group and went over to sit by herself at one of the round tables in student center. Marie-Ange then started to lay her tarot cards out on the table, which she always had in her possession, and began reading them.
"You'd better be careful, else she might go pull out her crystal ball and put some kinda crazy curse on your ass." Lance laughed, as he continued his harassment of Manuel while landing the seven-ball on the pool table in one of the side pockets.
"Even if her powers were to afford her such a capability, at least that means that I would no longer be forced to endure your useless prattle." Manuel defiantly responded to Lance, as he slammed his right fist onto the top edge of the pool table.
Back over on the sofa…
"I know it's her powers and all, but it's way too freaky how Tarot's always obsessin' over those voodoo cards of hers." Tab said, as both she and Jen had watched the exchange between Manuel and Marie-Ange, and then saw as Marie-Ange went and sat at the table to search for answers in her cards that weren't exactly forthcoming.
Then, the two girls quickly went back to their previous conversation.
"Anyways, so if it's not Manuel, then who do you like around here?" Tab now continued with her probing.
To which, Jennifer looked over at the pool table, her eyes riveted for a moment not on Manuel, but on a certain resident bad-boy who was donning a sleeveless denim vest over a simple black t-shirt, had on a pair of faded denim jeans and a pair of black leather gloves that had the finger holes cut out of them, and who was currently on a tear as he intended to prove that his skills at pool were as formidable as he had promised. Jennifer had felt an attraction towards him, an inexplicable connection with him, which seemed to irresistibly draw her into him.
"Well…" Jen smiled, as she was about to answer. But right then another classmate, who all of this time had been quietly sitting by herself in the student center, came up and unknowingly interrupted Jen's announcement.
"Hi guys." Angelica Jones said, as the redhead came over in front of the TV, standing in between it and Tabitha & Jennifer, "What happened? I wasn't really paying attention since I was so involved in the book I was reading, but I couldn't help but look up when I heard Manuel over there yelling. I wonder what made him so--"
"Um, yeah 'Question'-star. So, is your perfectly bad-timin' a new part of your powers, or is it somethin' you just gotta work at it?" Tab interrupted her, as she looked up from the sofa and spoke to Angelica, although her remark had come out sounding much harsher than Tabitha had actually intended it to be.
Irregardless, to Angelica, Tab's tone had still in no uncertain terms relayed the fact to her that she and Jen were involved in an 'A-B' conversation, and that Angelica could definitely 'C' her way underneath the nearest rock.
Without saying anything else, Angelica just turned away from the two girls and went back to the recliner seat over in the corner of the student center. She then sat back down, picking up the latest Harry Potter novel that had previously preoccupied her, seemingly able to pull her into another world of its own. But, before she once again became fully engrossed in it, Angelica sat back and wondered to herself if she was doomed to remain the proverbial outsider, in some ways now feeling like she was an outcast despite being in the company of fellow cast-offs.
Angelica had thought that these feelings of not fitting in would be a thing of the past, after she had arrived at the Massachusetts Academy back in the spring. It was right after Angelica had lost control of her powers one day, when Cassie and a couple of the other popular girls at her high school had pulled another one of their really mean pranks on her.
Angelica remembered how she had run off crying afterwards, and had ended up taking refuge underneath the gym bleachers. She had felt so ashamed and embarrassed when the girls' dumped garbage on her in the cafeteria in front of the whole school, and having broken the last straw with her, Angelica was no longer able to hold back the raging fire that seemed to burn inside of her. The result was that the school's gymnasium, which was luckily empty at the time, went up in flames in a matter of minutes, and the rumor going around West Morris High School that afternoon was that someone had intentionally set the fire.
After inadvertently setting part of her school on fire, Angelica had run home knowing it was just a matter of time before the authorities figured out who did it. It was in that moment that Angelica finally decided to tell everything to her father, including the fact that she was a mutant. As Mr. Jones tried to figure out what he and his little girl were going to do, both about his daughter's emerging mutant abilities and about the danger they were starting to pose, it was then that Emma Frost miraculously showed up with a solution to all of their problems. She offered to whisk Angelica away, to take her to the private school that she ran in Snow Valley with the promise to her father that she would instruct his daughter in how to properly control her powers. And, Miss Frost had also pledged that the small matter of the damage, which Angelica that had accidentally caused to her high school with her powers, would also be 'taken care of'.
Back in the present as her fellow classmate Catseye now walked by in front of her, Angelica watched this other mutant who was now in her lavender-hued lioness form, and who seemed to vastly prefer remaining in her feline forms than to joining the rest of them in the human world. Catseye proceeded to go over and lie down on the floor close to Angelica, so that she could catch a quick catnap. Meanwhile, Angelica continued looking down at her and for a moment slightly envied Catseye's ability, which allowed her to completely shut out the more complex and confusing world of people around her.
But soon, Angelica herself had also retreated back into her own world, as she curled up in the recliner with the book in her lap and was pulled back into its fantastical pages. A small part of her wished that she could be among these other young people, many of whom had amazing and spectacular powers, and were learning to do brave and incredible things with them.
As ironic as that might sound.
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Story 19- The Disco Dazzler…
On this sunny afternoon at Xavier's School for the Gifted, some of its residents were taking advantage of the amicable weather outside on the grounds of the estate. But, two students in particular were currently engaged in a favorite outdoor activity of theirs', as they traveled along the wide concrete pathway that encircled the entire mansion.
"Betcha still can't catch me!" Jubilee yelled, as she came flying down the walkway on a pair of inline skates, deciding to take a shortcut through the estate's outdoor garden.
"We'll just see!" Theresa Cassidy responded, as she came down the pathway on her rollerblades right behind Jubilee, moving at an equally fast pace.
But, the two girls were so absorbed by their game of cat and mouse that they didn't see fellow resident and school music teacher Alison Blaire, as they exited the garden area that was also surrounded on all sides by tall, green hedges and shrubbery. The two girls kept with their current pace and speedily rounded a sharp curve on the pathway right outside of the garden, where a few trees had also served to diminish their field of vision and helped to facilitate a potential disaster.
Alison, who also had come outside after deciding to take advantage of the pleasant environment out there this afternoon, had just begun her leisurely stroll towards the beautiful garden that had noticeably benefited from and flourished under Storm's vigilant care. When Jubilee and Terry came rushing towards her, both girls were seemingly dressed the part with their helmets, knee-pads, and elbow pads on, as they almost took Alison down like a couple of blitzing linebackers. But, Alison showed them just how able-bodied that she was, displaying that fact by agilely sliding to the side onto the grass next to the concrete walkway. She barely dodged Jubilee and Terry just in the nick of time, as the pair came whizzing by with great momentum behind them.
"Whoa! I'm, like totally sorry for the near wipeout." Jubilee apologized, after she and Terry had finally managed to stop, and then slowly skated back up the path to where Alison was standing off to the side.
"It's alright. But, I guess that means we'll just have to start enforcing the campus speed limit a little more closely now." Alison light-heartedly replied, as she stepped back up onto the walkway from the grassy area next to it.
Both Jubilee and Terry were dressed in light-colored and lightweight summer clothing, with Jubilee wearing a simple goldenrod tee and short combo set, while Terry had on a similar outfit in a sandy brown color for their roller-blading expedition.
"Those were some nice moves ye have there." Terry now added, as she continued rolling back towards Alison behind Jubilee and complimented her.
"Thanks, it's nice to know that I haven't lost a step, despite my forced early retirement." Alison replied, referring to her reflexes that had been honed by some of the best dance choreographers in the business, a fact which she had just demonstrated first-hand for the two girls.
Then, the trio walked together up the pathway and then over to a larger concrete area right outside of the mansion's garden, which had a couple of benches close by.
"Seeing you two out here sure does bring back some memories." Alison continued talking with them, "When I was your age, me and my friends used to love going to Coney Island on the weekends, and sometimes we would spend whole days just roller-blading on the boardwalk along the beach."
"Then it's time to get offa memory lane and come hook up with the wheeled crowd around here." Jubilee remarked, as she slowly whirled in a tightly defined circle around Alison.
"Sorry, but it's been way too long, and I haven't been on a pair of skates in years." Alison politely declined.
"C'mon, it's just like ridin' a bike. It's not something ye just up and forget." Terry encouragingly responded.
"And you look like you wear the same shoe-size as me too." Jubilee added, as she skated over to one of those benches outside of the garden, sitting down to remove her inline skates.
Alison hesitated at first, but then went ahead and over to the bench. She sat down next to Jubilee and obligingly slipped off the white flats that she had on to accessorize her outfit, which consisted of a mint cream short-sleeve blouse and capri-length pants, before putting on Jubilee's black and pink trimmed boots that had a single, straight rail of four wheels attached on the bottom of its sole.
Alison then stood up from the bench on the skates, at first struggling to find her balance on them. But, true to Terry's words, Alison soon felt like she was fifteen all over again, as she at first slowly glided in a steady circle around the spacious paved surface, before picking up her speed a little.
"You know, I'll never forget this one time when I took a dare from my friends and entered this roller-disco contest they were having at a local rink close to Coney Island called Numero Uno, back when that whole '70's retro-vibe was pretty hot again. I even decided to go all out on the dare my friends had laid down on me, and went so far as to go to this thrift shop uptown to put together a retro outfit to wear on the night of the contest. I remember I picked out this one white polyester outfit that had a revealing, low-cut sleeveless top and these huge bell-bottoms, I'm talking really huge." Alison grinningly reminisced, as she continued whirling around the pavement on her borrowed skates in front of the two girls, "To finish my whole look off, I went and got a leather studded collar and matching wriststraps, and I even put on some blue face paint like I saw in some old pictures. My friends wouldn't stop teasing me, saying how I looked like one of those guys from KISS. And like I said, I had done it all just as a joke, and that's why I couldn't believe it when I actually ended up winning the whole thing that night."
"Well, then ya gotta show us some of those moves that got you crowned 'disco-queen', or whatever it was they called the winner. But, just as long as you don't go do that tongue-thing like that one guy." Jubilee requested of her teacher, "Here, I even got the tunes to make you move."
Jubilee then pulled out an object that had been clipped to the elastic waistband of her shorts, which upon initial observation appeared to be an ordinary transistor radio, although it was anything but ordinary.
"Where'd you get that old pocket radio from?" Alison asked Jubilee.
"It's not an old radio, at least not after Kitty got through turbo-chargin' it." Jubilee replied, as she came over to show the handheld radio to Alison up close, "I had said something one time about wishin' I could have somethin' that picked up satellite radio channels like my boom-box, but wasn't so big to have to lug around with me. Two weeks later, Kit-Cat shows up and like hands this thing to me. I, like, have no idea what she did to it exactly, but this thing picks up AM, FM, digital, police and EMS, and I even think some stuff outta New Zealand. But anyways, let's get things poppin' and use it to light up a disco-inferno for you, and I'm not talkin' about the Fifty-Cent kind either."
Jubilee then looked down at the modified digital display face on the radio, searching through the various channels until she hit upon the all-disco satellite feed. Now coming out of the small speakers, which had a surprisingly rich sound in spite of their miniscule size, was Blondie's Heart of Glass. And taking her cue, Alison began to move along with the rhythm of the song, losing herself in it as she cut loose on her roller blades on the wide, concreted area.
While her musical aptitude might have seemed to be second-nature to her, Alison Blaire's skills as a dancer had come nowhere near as naturally. But, an intense dedication to improving her abilities, combined with hours on top of hours of learning nearly every form of dance known to man managed to cover up that fact. Which Jubilee, Terry, and now another new admirer could attest to, as Alison moved smoothly and gracefully along with the steady beat.
While she put on an exhibition and displayed for them some of the dance stylings in her huge repertoire, which included various versions of 'The Hustle', Alison's audience was impressed just as much by her fluid gyrations on the skates, as they were now by an impromptu light show. The illuminations were provided courtesy of her mutant powers, which thanks to the sound waves of the music coming out of the radio that her body naturally absorbed, caused her to regenerate them into intense light-rays outward.
It was much the same now, as it was back on that night when Alison entered that roller-disco contest, which she had previously mentioned. That night could also be considered Alison's first public performance in front of a crowd of people. Without knowing it at the time, a teenaged Alison's newly burgeoning mutant powers manifested themselves at that moment, while she was strutting her stuff on the floor of Numero Uno's roller rink, captivating and mesmerizing those there to witness it and helping the young participant from Gardendale, Long Island to dazzle and very much stick out in the minds of those there to judge the competition that evening. But, the spectators had assumed that the light show was merely the result of elaborate light tricks and special effects on her part, and when asked afterwards about it by her friends, Alison told them that she had no idea what they were talking about, which was the truth.
The result of that one night was that Alison realized just how much she had enjoyed the thrill of getting up in front of a crowd, performing in front of one that wanted to be entertained and to have a good time. It was in that moment of awareness that Alison began to seriously consider pursuing a career as an entertainer, which would allow her the opportunity to reach an audience through her music.
"When I was asking around looking for you, I didn't realize all of you were out here shooting a sequel to Roller Boogie?" Scott Summer now humorously commented, as he announced his presence to the three ladies out there, after Alison had wound up her exhibition for them. But, Scott had been observing Alison from afar close to the mansion for some time, absolutely entranced by her and by her performance.
"Nah, I was just showing Jubilee and Terry how I really got the nickname of Dazzler." Alison smiled, as she looked over at Scott and ran her hand through her short, reddish-blonde hair.
"We thought you got that nickname because of the role you had in that movie Crossing Points?" Jubilee curiously inquired.
"That was just a movie. I got my nickname from my friends waaayy before I was in that, and the producers just happened to find out about it when they were casting me." Alison informed her, as Scott then got her attention.
"Ali, I was on my way to the cafeteria, and I'd been looking all over for you to see if you wanted to join me?" Scott now asked Alison.
"Sure. Plus, I think I've bored Jubilee and Terry out here long enough anyways." Alison responded, as she had sat back down on the nearby bench to remove the borrowed skates.
"Bore us, no way! Watching paint dry, now THAT is boring." Jubilee sarcastically quipped.
"Well, I guess it's good to know that I at least rank somewhere up above acrylic and latex." Alison just as sarcastically replied, as she handed the skates back to Jubilee, before putting her own shoes back on.
"Ye'll have t' go and dust off yuir old skates, and see if ye can keep up with us when me and Jubilee go 'bladin' around the mansion next time." Terry now offered Alison.
"It's a deal." Alison happily accepted.
"You're invited too, if you wanna come with?" Jubilee added, as she looked over and extended her offer to Scott, but only received a wry smile from him in response. Which displayed to her that Scott was merely giving the proposal a cordial consideration.
Jubilee then sat down on the bench and strapped her skates back on, and in a few minutes she and Terry were back to their roller-race around the campus. Meanwhile, Scott and Alison had headed back inside, so that she could now regale him with the tale of how a Dazzler was born…
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Next Chapter: The Wheel of Ideas spins on…
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A/N: Special thanks to those that reviewed the last chapter-
TheDreamerLady- Glad you liked the assorted grab-bag of goodies from last chapter, including the tidbits of things to come. It hadn't occurred to me how that whole 'lower extremities' line could be read a whole 'nother way. Guess I'm even more clever than I give myself credit for.
Oh, and as far as Carmella goes, she's definitely the real deal and not an OC. Which you'll get to see more of in upcoming chapters…
Montana Magic- Thank you for the kudos! I'm glad you enjoyed everything so much, because I wasn't sure at first how deep into the Marvel Universe I should delve. And to me, including lesser-known (and sometimes fairly obscure) characters seemed like a good opportunity to show interactions between them and the more popular ones.
ishandahalf- Glad you liked Gambit vs. Iceman, what with all of the ridiculing, taunting, and bragging between them. And I agree with you, and would be willing to lay a couple of dollars on the odds that there has to be a 'Witty Banter 101' being taught somewhere in the comics universe too.
Independent Fire- Glad you're intrigued by the appearance of Carmella, and with the stuff going on with everyone else. All I can say is stay tuned…
El Varon- If I had to guess, I'd say the Thing and the Hulk would probably start off above a size 20 or 25 shoe, at least. But, right off the top of my head, I can't remember if FF4 the movie might've made mention of this or not?