Author's note: Sorry if that took long peeps! Here it is, the kinetic new chapter! Enjoy!
Previously on…
The Astonishing X-Men are a team of mutants who have dedicated their lives to protecting a world that hates and fears them. Led by Scott Summers, AKA CYCLOPS, and EMMA FROST, the X-Men have overcome threats not only to their race, but to the entire universe as well. Nonetheless, at their core, the X-Men are still teachers, mentors to thousands of children who wake up to find their world turned upside-down and inside-out. And in order to locate these children, the X-Men have under their use a small, helmet, CEREBRA, which increases telepathic awareness to near omniscient level.
Three night ago, a splinter cell born from the Government faction which fought off against Hitler's supernatural division, who called themselves the RING OF FATIMA, have come to the decision that world peace could only be achieved by sheer force of will. And that a device which could alter minds on a global scale wouldn't hurt either. That's why one of the Ring's members, LILAH GRAHAM, hatched an intricate plot which saw the X-Men out of the country, and their home utterly defenseless. Or so she thought.
The NEW X-MEN. Students who have learned the use and control of their uncanny powers under the best. Left alone, and with an entire army at their gates who want to take capture Cerebra, they do the only thing that the world has ever taught them to do. They fight back. With the STEPFORD CUCKOOS on the helm of Cerebra, it would seem that they could easily push the threat in the campus back. That was until Lilah Graham used her telepathy to heighten the violent urges of the students who didn't agree with the majority that Cerebra should not be used in order to force world peace. A riot broke out. Twelve students died, and much, much more were critically wounded. But more than that, the PHOENIX FORCE, which was hiding in MINDEE, one of the Stepford Cuckoos all along, re-emerged to devastating effect. Still, the small team led by Julian Keller, AKA HELLION, and MARK VASQUEZ, manage to beat Lilah and her soldiers. The X-Men finally come home to find the school in ruins, and the three sisters, who are now apparently hosts to the Phoenix, have disappeared.
Three days later, everyone in school is still on edge. The parents of one of the deceased students are headed to the school with a grudge to settle. And student BECKAH ADAMSON, one of the girls responsible for starting the riot in the school, gets brutally attacked by an unknown assailant inside her own room. Before she is found however, the world is suddenly torn asunder by massive columns of fire that wreak unspeakable destruction across the lands. It is the Phoenix.
Chapter 3: "Chaotic"
Julian laughed out loud as Cessily Kincaid, the red-headed girl made entirely of Mercury, detailed last night's Letterman show by morphing her hands into the host's thin frame. Kevin Ford, a young man with brown hair and even browner clothes, joined in the joviality, only to stop as he noticed some of the other students staring disapprovingly at them. It was something Bryan Cruz, the Puerto Rican student who could compel people to run away from anything he chooses, had already noticed. Julian seemed oblivious to it all, laughing louder when he accidentally spilled a carton of milk. "…guys, maybe we should tone it down." Kevin whispered, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt that they were already having a good time in such a short time's notice.
"Let's just finish up, you two." Cessily suggested, as she became extremely uncomfortable now that she noticed how much the other kids were staring at them.
"Why?" Julian asked. His two friends gaped at him in silence. Cessily began to stutter a response. Bryan picked her words up." Dude, we really shouldn't…you know…be happy yet."
"…" Julian raised his eyebrow, literally scoffing at his friends words. Somebody from a nearby table murmured something very derogatory about the Hellions to her friend, keeping her voice just loud enough to make sure that everyone else heard what she said.
"…maybe we should just leave…" Kevin softly proposed. Cessily nodded her head in compliance. Bryan didn't stray from the major opinion.
"Yeah? Screw that." Julian answered without a moment's hesitation. "Come on guys, we survived. We deserve this." he casually immediately reasoned, skipping on the fact that two of their number were still in critical condition. Cessily lowered her gaze.
"I mean come on!" the Hellion confidently reiterated, standing up and extending both his arms sideways, addressing the twenty-three other students in the cafeteria. Kevin shook his head at the squad leader, trying to signal him to stop what he was planning to do. No such luck. "We survived! Us! We faced an entire army and we lived to tell the tale! There's nothing to be sad about!" No one said a word. Everyone just stared at the Hellion as if he had a screw loose. Julian didn't take the hint. He didn't want to. "Guys! Come on! Lighten up! I mean- -"
"Well what about our dead friends, you dumbass?" chided an angry, male student from the corner of the room. "You saying we should be happy that our friends are gone? People we knew?"
"…" Julian stared at the student in the corner, unable to come up with any response other than to clear his throat. The room fell silent. Cessily tried to tug at Julian's jacket in an effort to sit him back down.
"He's right!" suddenly shouted another student coming from a different corner of the room, breaking the dread silence. "Are you just that damn stupid, Keller? You insensitive asshole! You think that this is anything to be happy about? Our friends are dead! Can't you drill that through your thick skull? Our! Friends! Are! Dead!"
"Yeah!" screamed a girl sitting beside him. It didn't take long before the other students joined in, some in compliance to verbally battering the Hellion, while some others were trying to restrain their friends. Julian was speechless. Cessily on the other hand, simply couldn't take it anymore.
"They sacrificed their lives to help us!" she angrily interjected, standing up after Julian. "And how do you repay them? Huh? How? By sulking? Brooding?"
"As opposed to going 'tralalala' like nothing happened?" snapped another female student. "You're just glad that none of your friends got killed! Tell me! Do you think you'll still be like that if Santo or Sooraya didn't make it? Come on, Cessily, tell me! Tell me!"
"…" Cessily gritted her teeth, as the student's accusation nearly caused her to stagger back. Partly because she was too scared to give it any thought, and partly because she knew that the girl screaming at her was right. The other students joined in on the verbal dispute, all the while the cafeteria's cook and service personnel tried desperately to calm everyone down. Kevin held his hands over his ears and kept his head low, trying his best to stay out of the whole thing.
Bryan was on red alert, ready to focus his energies on tagging the entire squad to make sure that a conflict won't arise. One of the students raised his fists, as his entire body began to glow with blue energy. Another began to talk in three distinct voices, each one louder than the other. Julian pressed his hands forward, threatening the other students to back off. Somebody was crying.
"Everybody, just calm down!" yelled a student, only top be pushed aside as a green-scaled, young man rushed past her, ready to pounce on the Hellion. Julian's eyes widened in horror as he caught a glimpse at the unsheathed claws that came at him. Three seconds before impact. And that was when a bright light broke everything apart.
"That's enough!" ordered a young man who stood by the doorway, just as the bright light began to fade. It was Mark. "No. More. Fighting." he calmly stated, without as much a hint of intimidation at the sight of a dozen, fuming students with charged superpowers. Mark was breathing heavily, while sweat clearly stuck onto his skin and shirt. It was obvious that he came down there running. "…please. Hisako just…Hisako found Beckah Adamson. She's dead."
"…" the students all stared at the messenger in shock, almost as if each one of them had just woken up. Mark licked his lips, he himself unsure of the words that have slipped from his dry mouth. Perhaps if he said it again, the reality of the situation would manage to sink in. Perhaps. Unfortunately, the denial that would come after the shock needed to be kept at bay, as three students suddenly screamed in complete agony. Cries of both surprise and concern soon filled the cafeteria. Mark was still standing at the doorway, his heart racing at the sound of the anguished students screaming about a great fire. Shrieks that were finally swallowed by what sounded like a ten-thousand ton locomotive flying overhead.
Everyone looked up, some instinctively ducking, as the deafening sound echoed across the entire hall. "…!" Mark narrowed his eyes and quickly sprinted across the cafeteria, running up to the windows on the far end. Julian followed didn't hesitate to fly after him, realizing that whatever was above them should be in clear view. The rest of the students, at least those who weren't helping their friends, all decided to rush to the windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening outside. Sweaty palms soon found themselves pressed against the brittle panes, as the students stared up at what was once the sky in horror. It was ablaze. Literally. The vast shade of light blue had been dissected by massive streaks of scorching fire. One of the students kept repeating to himself that this couldn't possibly be happening. Someone from the back began to mumble about something called Galactus.
Mark swallowed a gigantic lump in his throat as he struggled to find the right words. Something to say that would help him ease his nerves. Something. Anything. "…" Nothing. He soon turned his attention to Julian, who too was rendered wordless by the sight above. The two students took a second to exchange worried glances. Mark took a deep breath. "We have to find a teacher." Julian nodded, when without warning, a loud explosion echoed through the glass and into the room, making everyone jump in surprise.
A plane, unable to move fast enough, had just flown into one of the flaming columns. Only a cloud of steel and fire could be seen from below. The students began to scream. The airplane's broken parts where in a freefall. And they were headed to crash right on top of the school. "Get away from the windows!" shouted Mark, afraid that anything from falling debris to a delayed shockwave could tear through and injure the rest of the students. A girl suddenly curled into a fetal position on the floor; phasing herself into intangibility out of fear. One of the smaller freshmen tripped over a chair as she attempted to run out of the cafeteria. The gargantuan junior behind her, a young man that looked like an elephant, was unable to stop in time, tripping over her just as she was pulling herself up, and crushing her beneath a mammoth leg.
Julian quickly flew to the young girl's aid, using his telekinesis to push the much larger student off of her. "Come on, it's okay…" the Hellion whispered, only to cover his mouth in shock at the sight of a gigantic gash on the girl's forehead. "Hang on!" he then yelled, as he cradled the girl in his arms and flew to the infirmary's direction. One of the students run right through the concrete wall, tearing it down effortlessly by jumping right through. A rather large piece of debris cracked into another student's head, one that was just making his way to the cafeteria.
Another student began to cry, his frail body suddenly glowing with bright green energy as he did. A female student beside him tried calming him down, pleading for him to stop before his power gets out of control and levels the entire room. He wasn't listening. "…!" Mark remembered that boy, a young man brought in after he accidentally destroyed his entire house. It wouldn't be far-fetched to imagine that he could have done the same here. "Go! Go! Go!" he shouted as loud as he can, signaling to the Cuban boys friend that she should leave by waving his hands to the direction of the door. She hesitated for a second, before doing what he said.
"Kid! Come on! Get a grip!" Mark yelled as he grabbed the younger student's shoulders. He still wasn't listening. "Kid! Please! Just shut up!" No point. Mark shook his head, and seeing no other possible action, resorted to cracking his fist right across the boy's temple. The blow was enough to knock him out, allowing for the energy he was building up to dissipate harmlessly into the wind. Problem solved. At least, one problem solved, as the sound of large, blunt objects colliding with the hard ground began to echo. They could hear it on the rooftops, and they could feel it as the Earth shook. "…are those…?" Cessily took a step closer to the windows. "…what are those?" she asked out loud, at the sight of charred figures freefalling right outside the cafeteria. It was only when noticing one of the charred remains grasping tightly onto another, much smaller one, that Cessily gasped.
That was when a turbine from the exploded airplane landed on the grounds just outside the cafeteria hall, sending smaller pieces breaking through the windows like metal bullets. A particularly sharp piece bounced off the floor. The female student, the one who had just previously attempted to help calm the explosive child down, screamed in agony as the large steel shard impaled her thigh, right as she was jumping through the collapsed section of the wall that one of the seniors was responsible for earlier on.
"…" Mark in the meanwhile; fell to his knees, holding back the urge to scream at the pain caused by the large shrapnel sticking out of his arm. There were still about three students inside the room with him, all either too hurt or too scared to move, except for one who was crawling to the side of the girl who now had a pole stuck through her leg. Even the cafeteria staff have evacuated. "…!" with trembling hands, Mark grabbed onto the hot edges that protruded from the back of his arm.
When people saw those kinds of wounds in television, most of them think that they could just shrug off the pain. That it couldn't possibly be as bad as it looked. Mark now knew better. It was excruciating. Gritting his teeth, and closing his eyes, he started to pull the shrapnel out of his arm; cursing profusely under his breath at the painful sensation of searing metal sliding against exposed muscle. And to think Wolverine always made it look so easy.
"Mark!" Cessily, who was still out of breath, worriedly called from behind the now empty cafeteria counter. "Are you alright?" she then asked, still cautiously squatting where she was. Mark responded by screaming in both pain and frustration, right as he yanked the metal piece out of his arm. Cessily covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm fine." Mark irately responded.
"S-Somebody! Help!" then shrieked a girl who was now in the hallway, kneeling in the other side of the collapsed wall, catching both Mark and Cessily's attention. "Sh-sh-she's not moving! Somebody! She's not moving!"
"…!" Mark quickly got to his feet, and limped his way towards the frantic student, gaining speed as the young woman's voice grew increasingly hysterical. Cessily didn't stay far behind. The girl knelt between two bodies. To her right was the student unfortunate enough to catch a piece of concrete rubble with his face. To her left meanwhile, was the girl who had what looked like a steel pipe sticking out of her thigh. Her eyes were still wide open, staring blankly into the ceiling. Dead, thanks to bleeding out from a severed femoral artery. The pain she felt during her last moments must have been unbearable.
"God…" Mark pressed his palm against his face at the sight of the dead student. There was nothing anyone could do now. The girl was in tears. It didn't matter if you knew the person or not. Watching someone die in front of you always leaves a hole behind. A sick, annoying vacuum that will make you wish you could have saved that somebody's life. It took a few seconds before he gathered enough strength to kneel down and close the dead student's eyes.
"Cess…can you get the other one out of here?" Mark weakly asked, pointing with his eyes to the other student who nearly had his face torn off. Cessily nodded, de-constituting herself into her liquid form to increase her mobility. Mark helped the grieving girl to her feet. "…there…there wasn't anything you could have done." he slowly stated in an effort to calm her down, even though he himself wasn't even sure of the truth behind his words. All he knew was that it was too late to help her out.
"…you're bleeding…" the girl whispered faintly, the very moment she could regain some semblance of composure. "…does it hurt?" she then asked. Mark furrowed his brow, only then noticing how beautiful the girl in front of him was. She had short, blonde hair, much like that of the girl he loved. Her eyes were a soft tint of green, while her lips were a light shade of pink. There was something about her, a soft radiance, which seemed like it could soothe the longing that he felt within his broken soul. Mark struggled to find the words. This could be it. A person who could dig him out of the pit he dug himself into. That, or she could just be another mutant with potent pheromone-based abilities. Mark cleared his throat. "…you have to get to the danger room. Now."
"…" the girl stared at him for about two seconds before she finally nodded. Maybe it wasn't the best time in the world to admit that she's had a crush on him for almost two years now. That when she found out that he and Mindee became an item, she cried in her dorm room all night. That she knew crying over them was so stupid, and that he wasn't hers, and he should be happy that he's happy. But she just couldn't accept any of it. Now, now he was standing right in front of her. Her whole world was in disarray and the man of his dreams was barely a foot away. And he had just told her to leave.
"…Mark?"
"…?"
"M-my name's Lily. Lily Morrison."
"…yeah. I know you. We're classmates in philo."
"You…you really freaked out."
"…yeah."
"That time in class…"
"…yeah."
"You scared us."
"I'm sorry."
"…is it…was it about her? Mindee?"
"…"
"…I mean…"
"…you should really get to the Danger Room. Now."
Danger Room/Twenty Minutes Later
Silence. A gigantic room full of teenagers and not one of them dared to make a sound. Perhaps, rightfully so. The last time that these kids were locked up in that very same room, their tempers were on flare. A punch was thrown. And in an instant, all hell broke loose. Lives were almost lost. Even then, no one had scrubbed the blood out of the metal floor. And the gap in the middle of the room, a line where no student of either side wanted to cross, represented an enmity which was clearly, still very much alive. Somebody coughed, but quickly muffled it before it could get louder. A group of boys were still glaring intensely at Julian. Cessily placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. Lily eyed the both of them for a short moment, before turning her attention elsewhere. To Mark. The only student who still able to walk who wasn't in the room with them. It bordered on the pathetic, really, the way she loved him even though he never talks to her, or the way he never even bothered to give her a second glance. Maybe it wasn't love. Who knew? All she did know is that he gave her a reason for waking up. For living. Literally. He must have forgotten by then, but she didn't. And every day since that day, she dreams of being in the perfect moment that could draw them together, to tell him how thankful she was. Was this the moment? She didn't know. "He was bleeding…he could be hurt somewhere…or, what if he got hit in that- - that artery? That big one?" Lily closed her eyes, trying to shut out the thoughts from shaking her even more. She wanted to find him. But she knew that the woman standing by the exit won't let her.
Shadowcat stood silently in front of the locked doors, keeping watch over the children in case any of them decide to do something incredibly stupid. In fact, she stared at them so hard that she was practically daring them to move. Not to mention that being in full X-Hear helped as well, so much so that she could have given the Wolverine a run for his money. None of them knew, that for all her posturing and stern expressions; that she was just as scared as the rest of them. Or perhaps even more so, since she knew that they looked onto her for direction. For guidance. Which begged the question, 'how do you tell a group of children that the world isn't about to end when all signs point to the fact that it would?' So mired as she in thought, of how, when and what to do next, that she did not even notice one of the students approach her. "…miss Pryde?" Bryan raised his hand in order to get the X-Woman's attention. He got it. Shadowcat raised her eyebrows, signaling to the young man that she was listening. Bryan swallowed a lump in his throat before he took a step forward. "What's happening outside?"
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier/-at the same time-
Director Maria Hill watched in horror from the bridge of the Helicarrier as reports of what looked like tornadoes of pure fire that tore through nearly every major city across the globe came her way. Even from the bridge, she could already see one of the great columns just past the horizon, reaching up to the flaring sky. And the fact that she knew the rest of the world was experiencing the same thing didn't help to improve her disposition. Everyone was still in shock. Hill, who was just as battle-hardened as her missing predecessor, was no exception. She knew war. She knew death. And in front of them, she never even flinched. But this? To watch helplessly as civilization itself was getting torn asunder; it was terrifying. Especially if you were one of the few people on the planet tasked to never let such a thing come to pass.
"Alkali Lake in Canada has been hit. The dam's gone…and the water's been evaporated." reported one of the crew members working a console.
"Okinawa, Japan, six blocks have been wiped clean off the planet." added a woman who had just received word from her communicator.
"The Savage Land was hit, but we don't have a specific location yet." then declared another crew member.
"…" Hill squinted her eyes as the names of the locations began to pile in. She knew there was something about them. Something they all had in common even though they were miles apart. A global secret that they have killed in order to protect.
"Director!" one of the helmsmen suddenly called, finally snapping out of his own shock. It didn't take long before the rest of the crew working the consoles began to start shouting as well, each one complaining about something short-circuiting the electrical systems. Images being displayed on holographic screens began to flicker under heavy static. The panic was building.
"People! Give me a sit-rep in five words or heads will start rolling!" Hill ordered, shouting at the top of her lungs to ensure that everybody got her attention. It worked.
"We're having an engine failure!" responded a station engineer, right as a visual schematic of the ship's core faded out of view. "We need to land!"
"Engine failure? That's impossible! This thing has more than thirty separate engines!" Hill shouted back in clear disbelief, only to be proven wrong as the airship suddenly lurched to the side, throwing everybody on board off balance. Three more consoles were now offline. Hill got back to her feet. "…okay then. Get us on the ground, now!"
"We're on top of a city!" protested one of the pilots. "Hell, we're forty-thousand feet in the air!"
"Do I look like I care? The whole freaking city can bill me! Now move!" Hill snapped as she held onto the railings for support.
"Beginning descent!" declared one of the men piloting the Helicarrier.
"Director!" a pilot stood up and pointed at the column of fire that towered in the horizon. There was something happening to it. Lightning began to shine from within the flaming citadel, almost as if there was a gargantuan battle unfolding within. "We're receiving massive electronic interference!" a crew member screamed as more and more of their systems began to go offline. The ground on their feet began to rumble. Everyone fell silent. The rumbling grew louder. Stronger. Hill opened her mouth but couldn't find the strength to scream. Electricity surged through the entire Helicarrier, tearing through the consoles and the machinery, sending pieces of broken glass and bright flying through the air like graffiti.
"What's happening?" screamed the Director as she attempted to regain her balance.
"We're losing energy!" hysterically shouted one of the station engineers. "We're being sucked dr- -" A falling plate of metal struck him on the back of his head, silencing him immediately. Not that he needed to finish his statement, as a new sight appeared before the terror-stricken officers of S.H.I.E.L.D. The electricity that had just, seconds ago, been bouncing off of their walls, was now being sucked into the flaming vortex miles away. So was the power of the entire city that cowered by its feet, as the electricity that brought light to a million homes were now but strings drawn to the heart of the conflagrated citadel.
"…" Hill bit her lip, cursing whomever decided to end the world during her first term as the head of a global, peace-keeping task force. And for all her arrogance, her pride, she still knew when her best wouldn't be good enough. She needed help. And she was going to find help. That of course, is assuming she survives the crash. She closed her eyes, and stood as straight as she could, even though her aircraft was now doing a nosedive into the middle of central park. Hill took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Everybody! Brace yourselves!"
Danbury, Connecticut/-thirty minutes later-
Logan shook his head. He was certain that his heart stopped for more than thirty seconds this time. It was the smell that struck him first. The smell of something burning. Of human skin melted away, and fresh tissue charred into coal. His hearing came next, made alive by the sound of a faint heartbeat underneath his own. At least he knew that Valerie was still alive. But just barely. That's why he had to move. "…" Logan knew that he was going to regret opening his eyes, but he really didn't have any choice. He's a superhero. It's what he's supposed to do. Open his eyes so that the rest of the world wouldn't have to. It's a miracle that he hasn't yet been struck blind.
"Oh God…" Logan's mouth hung open as he finally caught a glimpse of what had happened around him. All of the other patrons were dead; only their partial remains left behind after the blazing shockwave from the initial explosion hit. Most of the restaurant that they were in had already been blown away, leaving nothing but broken off segments from what remained of the walls. The ceiling was gone as well, giving the mutant a clear view of what had happened to the sky. Even the clouds were on fire. "…Jeannie…" Logan stared up at the burning sky. "…wherever you are, we could sure use some help…"
"…ow…" mumbled a baritone voice from beneath some of the debris. It was Henry. "…did the world just end?" he groggily asked, only to stop and stare wide-eyed at the devastation around him. From what he could see, a total of four blocks in each direction were reduced to black stains on the map. Everything was in a tint of yellow, thanks to the inferno that now inhabited the skies. Ash fell from the air like snow, neither he nor Logan aware that they were what remained of the people who were unceremoniously cremated. "Hey…there's a crater across the street…" he then absent-mindedly noted, as he began to clean what was left of his eyeglasses. "Oh…wait…" Henry took a good look at the broken frame in his paw before promptly throwing it away. A second later and he suddenly jumped up. "…Val?"
"Here. Alive. We need to get her to a hospital." Logan slowly responded.
"Huh. Logan?"
"What?"
"Your leg is missing."
"…" Logan raised his eyebrow and looked down to the spot where his leg once was. "Oh."
"This is all wrong…" Henry began to mutter, right as he sluggishly got up to both feet.
"No kidding." Logan sarcastically retorted while looking left and right for his lost appendage.
"What I meant was…Logan, look around. The blast radius. Whatever it is, it leveled everything for miles. We shouldn't have been able to survive."
"You'll have a' forgive me for being glad that you're wrong. Now if you don't mind, I could use a little- -" A bright light interrupted Logan before he could finish his own sentence. It was followed by what looked like a charred leg being unceremoniously dumped to the ground.
"Forgive me for not being able to mount the force field in time." then announced a deep, though apologetic voice. "I have found your leg."
"…" Logan fell silent at the sight of the figure who now landed gallantly in front of them. He wore a white, synthetic armor that had dark green greaves, which was the same design as his rather fitted helmet. Even his skin was a dark shade of green, though his eyes were stunningly white. Logan grabbed his leg and promptly reattached it to his thigh, before turning to the alien once more. "…you're a Kree."
"…I am called Khar-Lee." the alien then announced with a proud smile. Behind him, two more figures appeared, both of whom looked exceptionally over-powered. One of them, a bald man with violet skin and a hulking frame, had gigantic railguns to substitute for hands. The other was a rather slim creature that looked to have a body covered completely in black, and white hair that overflowed to cover its entire face, as well as most of its body. Khar-Lee lowered his head, and stared Logan in the eye.
"We have come to save your planet."
Chapter 3 – End
Next Chapter – Where the X-Men face a new challenge, and where some children decide to share more about themselves…
Author's Note: Khar-Lee? What are the Kree doing here? And what does he mean by 'we'? And why is he named after me? Tune in for the next installment of 'Beloved'! Suggestions, Recommendations, violent reactions? Send them my way!