~~ Bobby ~~
Northstar claimed to be the fastest mutant on earth. Pietro wholeheartedly disagreed. They decided to make a race of it. They tied. Now they were both testing their mettle on the 'New Brotherhood' as Jean-Paul insisted they be called. Bobby and Kitty wholeheartedly disagreed. They decided to vote on it. They tied, since no one else wanted to get involved. So the four of them placed bets (not money, just junk food) on who could annoy who the most.
Logan sighed. He was driving now, destination Quebec. He kept thinking that they shouldn't be so far from Bayville, that maybe Valzinameku would stay close to the little town, but it was best not to get Wanda upset. She had quite a temper. Logan looked at the pale boy riding shotgun. Bobby looked sick, not just a little flu bug kinda sick, but seriously sick. He didn't have a fever and other than looking like Hell warmed over, there was nothing wrong with him, but Logan couldn't help shaking the feeling that there was something he was missing. Maybe their situation was finally sinking in and Bobby was having trouble coping…
"You alright, kid?" Logan asked glancing at Bobby again.
"What happened? It's like everyone's dying. And then this guy who looks like Evan runs off to kill even more people. Logan, if we can't protect our own, how are we supposed to protect non-mutants, too? What's the point?"
Logan drove in silence, trying to think of an answer. Truth was he was trying not to think, because the same questions kept popping up in his mind too. "Well. Charley would say it's a matter of moral fiber. You can fight for what you believe in and die for it. Or you can not fight for it and die anyway. You wanna live a happy life, don't do anything. You wanna have something powerful to be remembered by, die in a powerful way. Course, Charley would also find a way to mention that if we can't to anything on our own, we should try working together, and maybe add in that bit about how if we don't fight for the normal people, who will. But I guess the only way to really answer that question is to think about what means more to you. Fighting and dying for yer friends or fighting and dying for a stranger, cause you know you'll die fightin' either way. It's in yer blood."
"I guess."
"Guessin's what got us in this mess. We guessed one too many times and every time we guessed, we guessed wrong."
"But Logan. It was us who started this whole thing. Evan and Kurt who tried to help Pheonix. Evan who got caught by… and weren't we the ones who-"
"Damn straight. And if you don't stop complaining it's gonna be you who gets thrown out the window. You have no faith. It'll work out. It has to."
"I hate to tell you this, Lance but you, Mystique and Pietro are all that's left of the Brotherhood. How's it gonna work out?"
"Well, Mystique has a degree. She can get a job. Pietro has his dad's money and I have friends who can hook me up with a job. How about you?"
"My family's probably disowned me by now." Bobby returned slowly.
"Who cares about that? What are you gonna do once all's said and done?" When Bobby didn't answer, Lance shook his head. "No faith. That's why you're gonna die. You don't have anything to look forward to. Nothing to do before you die. Deep down, you really just want it to be over with. And for your information, Todd is not dead."
"What do I plan to do after this?" Logan wondered out loud. "Probably go back to the Institute. Hmmm. Never thought much further than a day or two actually."
"You don't want to settle down, find a girlfriend, get married, have a kid or two?" Pietro asked as if that was what everyone looked forward to in life.
"Nope. Don't see myself as the settlin' down type."
"I think you'd do well on a farm." Pietro said with the air of one who meant something other than what they said, but was determined not to let their victim know it.
"You'd do well in a prison."
"I wonder… where Scott is…" Jean said. "I never really pictured a future without him."
"I never pictured the Institute without it's founder." Storm said quietly. "It just goes to show, doesn't it…"
"Well, I intend to find Slay and give him what-for for abandoning me like that." Northstar announced. He waited for someone to ask him why and where 'Slay' abandoned him, but no one did. In fact, the only one who knew he was talking about Todd was Logan and he wasn't going to ruin Todd's memory like that.
"I'm bored." Jean-Paul said louder.
"Shut up or you'll be stiff as a board by the time I get done with you." Lance threatened.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
~~ Scott, Haiden, Evan, Todd and Kurt ~~
"So he's dead."
"Yeah." Todd said sadly. "Him and just about everyone else."
"But only just about."
The other mutants looked at Scott.
"C'mon. Someone's still alive up there. We have to find them and organize a counter attack against this thing."
"I'm all for that, Scott, but there is no attack that'll work against this thing."
"We'll think of something. We have to, everyone's counting on us. Now let's get going. The more time we waste down here, the more suffering the people above us are going through. Felin, what about that ride?"
K'ten nec Felin merely pointed to the fountain, where a score (20) of Vulgate had gathered during the rather jumbled explanation of the events that had passed.
"That's an awful lot of people, isn't it?" Todd asked.
"They help."
A thin but muscular man separated himself from the group and approached the mutants. He had a friendly smile, Kurt noted, but sad eyes.
"K'vas nec Hiva." He greeted them genially.
Scott nodded and took over. He had learned a lot from Felin, like the fact that although the Vulgates didn't speak the same language as the humans, they could understand it. He decided to build on that and hope the Vulgates wouldn't be too floored by the surface world.
"Scott Summers. Todd Tolansky, Kurt Wagner, Haiden Malcolm. So, the sooner we get this over, the better. How're we traveling?"
"We fly." Hiva's grin was infectious. Unfortunately for Scott, the infection wasn't a good thing.
"What do you mean fly? We can't fly. Besides, we're in tunnel. How do you fly in a tunnel underground? Isn't there another, better plan, I mean, what if something goes wronnnnnnnngggggggggggg!!!"
Without waiting for Scott to finish, Hiva and his followers latched onto the mutants and took off.
Scott was less than pleased.
"What if we run into something at this speed? Do you know what happens when fast objects stop suddenly? Do you have any idea? AHHH! Something almost hit me! I felt it go past! Watch what you're doing, I'm slipping!!"
The other mutants were having the time of their lives. Kurt, with his incredible sense of depth perception was teleporting with his Vulgate, disappearing and reappearing so that the flyers around them had to duck and weave to avoid being hit by the two of them. It was all good and well that the young brats were having fun, one older Vulgate said to another, but the least they could do is leave us out of it.
Most of the Vulgates were having a blast listening to Scott panic. They would swoop past him and send him shrieking into a fit about stalactites and stalagmites. The truth was, there was nothing around except the other Vulgates and their passengers. A skyscraper could have fit in the tunnel they were flying in, and it was so long that you couldn't hear an echo because you were virtually in an open field.
It wasn't long before things changed though.
There was a low noise, like thunder that echoed in everyone's ears.
"Do they have storms down here?" Evan asked uncertainly.
One of the Vulgates shouted something unintelligible that sent the rest of them swooping and diving in a random display that would amaze even the most experienced pilot. It was a wonder that they didn't run into each other.
Thhhhhwap! Something snapped taut and one of the Vulgates near Scott gave a short grunt. Even if the X-Men were flying blind, they knew trouble when they heard it. With the efficiency of a million missions successfully completed, Scott focused on the ground and fired an optic blast. In the burst of light, the other mutants saw giant hornless rhinos running beneath them. One of the things had shot out its tongue like a chameleon and was barreling across the sand attached to a Vulgate right to Scott's left. The man was slowly but surely being dragged downwards.
"Did you see them, Evan?" Scott called.
"Yeah, but doubt I can get through that armor, I'll need more light if you want me to hit one in a soft spot." Evan answered as he readied a spike.
"We'll have to land ahead of them and fight on the ground. I can't use my power because it's blinding the Vulgates enough as it is." Scott felt the Vulgate speed up, presumably to land ahead of the monsters so they could coordinate an attack on them. Unfortunately, that meant leaving the captured Vulgate flying alone, a prospect that didn't please Scott at all. "Kurt, as soon as that thing drops him, you get that guy out of there. You have about a split second before I start shooting. As soon as you get a shot, Evan, you focus on the one that's got our guy."
Hiva set Scott down gently and stood behind him, already shielding his eyes against the red light. Scott waited until Evan and Todd were safe by his side before he shot a few blasts to see by.
"Got it." Evan exclaimed as he heaved his spike towards the monster. With a deafening shriek, it let go of the Vulgate and turned its attention to the mutants. Scott heard the first BAMF and started shooting. Because of the sheer size of the things, he simply took off his glasses and stared them down. A hail of arrows and bone spikes rained on the creatures, who shook them off easily. Only the light had an effect on them. They slowed and finally stopped.
"Where's Kurt?" Scott asked, feeling a headache coming on. He had never let his blasts continue for so long, so he had never anticipated any side effects of it. Now was not a good time to discover them.
"Here. Can we go now?" Kurt asked, shaken. When he had teleported, one of the monsters had actually followed him into that cold, bright place that he thought only teleporters could go. He didn't like what that implied.
"Yeah, it'll take them a second to get used to the dark again, so that's about all we have to get out of here."
"Gotcha." Hiva said, pleased that his follower was safe and that he had learned at least one word from the mutants. Scott slipped his shades back on and almost lost them as Hiva leapt into the air with Scott in his arms. It took the monsters longer than Scott thought it would to pull themselves back together. It was long enough for the Vulgates to build enough speed to leave them far behind.
"Are we there yet?" Todd said after about five minutes.
"Don't you dare start, Toad, or I'll fry you." Scott threatened.
"I don't doubt that you will." Todd answered mildly.
"Then shut up."
Northstar claimed to be the fastest mutant on earth. Pietro wholeheartedly disagreed. They decided to make a race of it. They tied. Now they were both testing their mettle on the 'New Brotherhood' as Jean-Paul insisted they be called. Bobby and Kitty wholeheartedly disagreed. They decided to vote on it. They tied, since no one else wanted to get involved. So the four of them placed bets (not money, just junk food) on who could annoy who the most.
Logan sighed. He was driving now, destination Quebec. He kept thinking that they shouldn't be so far from Bayville, that maybe Valzinameku would stay close to the little town, but it was best not to get Wanda upset. She had quite a temper. Logan looked at the pale boy riding shotgun. Bobby looked sick, not just a little flu bug kinda sick, but seriously sick. He didn't have a fever and other than looking like Hell warmed over, there was nothing wrong with him, but Logan couldn't help shaking the feeling that there was something he was missing. Maybe their situation was finally sinking in and Bobby was having trouble coping…
"You alright, kid?" Logan asked glancing at Bobby again.
"What happened? It's like everyone's dying. And then this guy who looks like Evan runs off to kill even more people. Logan, if we can't protect our own, how are we supposed to protect non-mutants, too? What's the point?"
Logan drove in silence, trying to think of an answer. Truth was he was trying not to think, because the same questions kept popping up in his mind too. "Well. Charley would say it's a matter of moral fiber. You can fight for what you believe in and die for it. Or you can not fight for it and die anyway. You wanna live a happy life, don't do anything. You wanna have something powerful to be remembered by, die in a powerful way. Course, Charley would also find a way to mention that if we can't to anything on our own, we should try working together, and maybe add in that bit about how if we don't fight for the normal people, who will. But I guess the only way to really answer that question is to think about what means more to you. Fighting and dying for yer friends or fighting and dying for a stranger, cause you know you'll die fightin' either way. It's in yer blood."
"I guess."
"Guessin's what got us in this mess. We guessed one too many times and every time we guessed, we guessed wrong."
"But Logan. It was us who started this whole thing. Evan and Kurt who tried to help Pheonix. Evan who got caught by… and weren't we the ones who-"
"Damn straight. And if you don't stop complaining it's gonna be you who gets thrown out the window. You have no faith. It'll work out. It has to."
"I hate to tell you this, Lance but you, Mystique and Pietro are all that's left of the Brotherhood. How's it gonna work out?"
"Well, Mystique has a degree. She can get a job. Pietro has his dad's money and I have friends who can hook me up with a job. How about you?"
"My family's probably disowned me by now." Bobby returned slowly.
"Who cares about that? What are you gonna do once all's said and done?" When Bobby didn't answer, Lance shook his head. "No faith. That's why you're gonna die. You don't have anything to look forward to. Nothing to do before you die. Deep down, you really just want it to be over with. And for your information, Todd is not dead."
"What do I plan to do after this?" Logan wondered out loud. "Probably go back to the Institute. Hmmm. Never thought much further than a day or two actually."
"You don't want to settle down, find a girlfriend, get married, have a kid or two?" Pietro asked as if that was what everyone looked forward to in life.
"Nope. Don't see myself as the settlin' down type."
"I think you'd do well on a farm." Pietro said with the air of one who meant something other than what they said, but was determined not to let their victim know it.
"You'd do well in a prison."
"I wonder… where Scott is…" Jean said. "I never really pictured a future without him."
"I never pictured the Institute without it's founder." Storm said quietly. "It just goes to show, doesn't it…"
"Well, I intend to find Slay and give him what-for for abandoning me like that." Northstar announced. He waited for someone to ask him why and where 'Slay' abandoned him, but no one did. In fact, the only one who knew he was talking about Todd was Logan and he wasn't going to ruin Todd's memory like that.
"I'm bored." Jean-Paul said louder.
"Shut up or you'll be stiff as a board by the time I get done with you." Lance threatened.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
~~ Scott, Haiden, Evan, Todd and Kurt ~~
"So he's dead."
"Yeah." Todd said sadly. "Him and just about everyone else."
"But only just about."
The other mutants looked at Scott.
"C'mon. Someone's still alive up there. We have to find them and organize a counter attack against this thing."
"I'm all for that, Scott, but there is no attack that'll work against this thing."
"We'll think of something. We have to, everyone's counting on us. Now let's get going. The more time we waste down here, the more suffering the people above us are going through. Felin, what about that ride?"
K'ten nec Felin merely pointed to the fountain, where a score (20) of Vulgate had gathered during the rather jumbled explanation of the events that had passed.
"That's an awful lot of people, isn't it?" Todd asked.
"They help."
A thin but muscular man separated himself from the group and approached the mutants. He had a friendly smile, Kurt noted, but sad eyes.
"K'vas nec Hiva." He greeted them genially.
Scott nodded and took over. He had learned a lot from Felin, like the fact that although the Vulgates didn't speak the same language as the humans, they could understand it. He decided to build on that and hope the Vulgates wouldn't be too floored by the surface world.
"Scott Summers. Todd Tolansky, Kurt Wagner, Haiden Malcolm. So, the sooner we get this over, the better. How're we traveling?"
"We fly." Hiva's grin was infectious. Unfortunately for Scott, the infection wasn't a good thing.
"What do you mean fly? We can't fly. Besides, we're in tunnel. How do you fly in a tunnel underground? Isn't there another, better plan, I mean, what if something goes wronnnnnnnngggggggggggg!!!"
Without waiting for Scott to finish, Hiva and his followers latched onto the mutants and took off.
Scott was less than pleased.
"What if we run into something at this speed? Do you know what happens when fast objects stop suddenly? Do you have any idea? AHHH! Something almost hit me! I felt it go past! Watch what you're doing, I'm slipping!!"
The other mutants were having the time of their lives. Kurt, with his incredible sense of depth perception was teleporting with his Vulgate, disappearing and reappearing so that the flyers around them had to duck and weave to avoid being hit by the two of them. It was all good and well that the young brats were having fun, one older Vulgate said to another, but the least they could do is leave us out of it.
Most of the Vulgates were having a blast listening to Scott panic. They would swoop past him and send him shrieking into a fit about stalactites and stalagmites. The truth was, there was nothing around except the other Vulgates and their passengers. A skyscraper could have fit in the tunnel they were flying in, and it was so long that you couldn't hear an echo because you were virtually in an open field.
It wasn't long before things changed though.
There was a low noise, like thunder that echoed in everyone's ears.
"Do they have storms down here?" Evan asked uncertainly.
One of the Vulgates shouted something unintelligible that sent the rest of them swooping and diving in a random display that would amaze even the most experienced pilot. It was a wonder that they didn't run into each other.
Thhhhhwap! Something snapped taut and one of the Vulgates near Scott gave a short grunt. Even if the X-Men were flying blind, they knew trouble when they heard it. With the efficiency of a million missions successfully completed, Scott focused on the ground and fired an optic blast. In the burst of light, the other mutants saw giant hornless rhinos running beneath them. One of the things had shot out its tongue like a chameleon and was barreling across the sand attached to a Vulgate right to Scott's left. The man was slowly but surely being dragged downwards.
"Did you see them, Evan?" Scott called.
"Yeah, but doubt I can get through that armor, I'll need more light if you want me to hit one in a soft spot." Evan answered as he readied a spike.
"We'll have to land ahead of them and fight on the ground. I can't use my power because it's blinding the Vulgates enough as it is." Scott felt the Vulgate speed up, presumably to land ahead of the monsters so they could coordinate an attack on them. Unfortunately, that meant leaving the captured Vulgate flying alone, a prospect that didn't please Scott at all. "Kurt, as soon as that thing drops him, you get that guy out of there. You have about a split second before I start shooting. As soon as you get a shot, Evan, you focus on the one that's got our guy."
Hiva set Scott down gently and stood behind him, already shielding his eyes against the red light. Scott waited until Evan and Todd were safe by his side before he shot a few blasts to see by.
"Got it." Evan exclaimed as he heaved his spike towards the monster. With a deafening shriek, it let go of the Vulgate and turned its attention to the mutants. Scott heard the first BAMF and started shooting. Because of the sheer size of the things, he simply took off his glasses and stared them down. A hail of arrows and bone spikes rained on the creatures, who shook them off easily. Only the light had an effect on them. They slowed and finally stopped.
"Where's Kurt?" Scott asked, feeling a headache coming on. He had never let his blasts continue for so long, so he had never anticipated any side effects of it. Now was not a good time to discover them.
"Here. Can we go now?" Kurt asked, shaken. When he had teleported, one of the monsters had actually followed him into that cold, bright place that he thought only teleporters could go. He didn't like what that implied.
"Yeah, it'll take them a second to get used to the dark again, so that's about all we have to get out of here."
"Gotcha." Hiva said, pleased that his follower was safe and that he had learned at least one word from the mutants. Scott slipped his shades back on and almost lost them as Hiva leapt into the air with Scott in his arms. It took the monsters longer than Scott thought it would to pull themselves back together. It was long enough for the Vulgates to build enough speed to leave them far behind.
"Are we there yet?" Todd said after about five minutes.
"Don't you dare start, Toad, or I'll fry you." Scott threatened.
"I don't doubt that you will." Todd answered mildly.
"Then shut up."