DISCLAIMER: The characters you're about to read are all owned by Marvel.
The song "Wait and Bleed" is property of the band Slipknot, "The End of All
Things to Come" belongs to Mudvayne, and Switchfoot owns "Dare You to
Move".
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm saying, up front, that, if your idea of Raye's life doesn't fit with mine, I don't want to hear about it. I've spoken to 5 Rachel experts, I've read 11 of her biographies, and I've read most of her comics. Each source says something different. Okay, enjoy!
241 timeline
06-06-2012
Westchester, New York, United States
Rachel Summers crouched in the high grass of the clearing, the lean muscles of her gangly limbs flexed in anticipation. Her golden-brown skin glistened with perspiration, as she telepathically searched the forest nearby. She saw her team captain, Bobby Drake, a 15-year old prankster with incredible charisma. He was fighting the opposing captain, his best friend, John, and huge waterfalls of fire and ice erupted between the two.
A few trees away, James, who had multiplied himself into three separate people, was holding off Bobby's green-haired girlfriend, Lorna, and a boisterous Sam Gutherie. Fireworks flew into the sky far away, as Jubilee alerted her team that she had found the golden ball. Rachel was about to run over to stop her, when she saw Sam's metamorphosis sister, Paige, flying over in the form of a roaring dragon, and decided that Husk could take care of the situation.
Then she spotted something that made her smirk mischievously. A tall Latino in a leather jacket was patrolling the outskirts of the forest, with her best friend, Kate Pryde, though neither of the two were looking for her team's ball. They had to be guarding their own. Rachel slid over to the region, crawling upon her knuckles and the balls of her feet for silence, as her godfather Logan had taught her.
She crept past Pryde, who was obviously a lookout for her teammate, Rictor, and into a bush behind the older boy. She went into his mind, to find the location of the blue ball, but forgot to enter softly. Rictor, who felt the girl's presence, snapped his head around just in time to see her heading for the tree canopy, and set a rough vibration through the air in her direction.
Rachel fell to the ground with a soft thud. She turned on him, taking hold of the part of his brain that controlled mobile skills, and commanded him to run to his other teammates. There, he involuntarily unleashed a small earthquake. Summers telepathically told her own squad to run for it, successfully delaying the other team significantly.
She ran back to the tree, but was intercepted by her best friend, who Rachel herself had nicknamed Kitty for her catlike agility and speed. The two girls, who enjoyed their playful competitions immensely, clenched their fists and furrowed their brows in concentration. Rachel threw a small optic blast in Pryde's direction, simply to occupy her, and her friend made herself immaterial, so that the laser flew right through her.
Of course, Rachel had expected this, and took the opportunity to go through the girl's body, right behind the blast. However, Kitty turned around quickly and grabbed her by the heel before she could get away. Rachel felt herself turn in midair, as she was lassoed the opposite way. She certainly wasn't making much progress this way.
She decided to make the ball come to her instead. She telekinetically lifted it from between two branches, without looking in that direction, so that, while Kitty believed she was staring her down and thinking of what to do next, she actually levitated it directly into her hands. Both girls put their hands over their ears, as a siren bellowed from the ball.
"Who won?" John shouted, still fighting with his best friend.
"Raye's team!" answered Kitty, giving Rachel a congratulatory high-five.
"Can I play the next round?" Rachel and Kitty turned to see a small boy with flat, blonde hair and enormous blue eyes behind a set of thick-rimmed glasses. Franklin Richards. The kid loved to tag along behind the two girls.
"Well, Frankie," Kate Pryde tried to explain nicely, "you're supposed to have powers to play." She and Rachel had always been proud to be the only children allowed to play the intense teenagers' game.
"Besides," said Summers rudely, "you don't have any muscles. We'd crush you."
"Raye!" objected Kitty, just as the rest of the two teams joined them.
"Great job, Raye," Sam complimented. "How're you guys doing?" This he said to Frankie, and Illyana Rasputin, who had just appeared beside him. The two kids smiled and waved.
Just then, a hissing sound rang out from afar. A giant missile soared past the group, traveling a mile in less than a second, to an enormous mansion in the distance. The weapon crashed into the side of the building, and a cloud of smoke mushroomed into the sky. As Rachel's heart stopped, so did time, and a tidal wave of debris zoomed toward her slow enough that she could put up a telekinetic shield in defense.
Unfortunately, she had forgotten her friends in her panic, and she watched the surrounding mutants become frozen with heat. As the tide reached them, it blew the 11 figures to ashes by 125-mph winds, and she screamed in horror. She found it hard to breathe, when she felt 3 psychic links die. Her mind lost the familiar smell of candy that constantly reminded her of Kitty Pryde, and the warmth of her mother's presence immediately became ice cold, while her father's faithful light sort of dwindled away. She had one link open still, but somehow, she knew it wouldn't last for long.
She had to find her grandpa.
* * *
The soldiers shifted the large chunks of rubble until they slid down the gigantic hillside that was once Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. They resembled tiny ants scrambling over a dune, from Dr. Roderick Campbell's viewpoint, on the top of the mountain of brick. Occasionally, a yellow flag went up, and the helicopter hovering above would lower a tray for the soldier below to load a dead mutant, to be thrown into the mass grave a couple of miles away.
His earpiece cackled alive, and a soldier's voice came. "What do we do if we find a live one, sir?" Campbell, who the United States government knew as Ahab, a covert operative who was assigned to "deal with the mutant problem", sighed in annoyance.
"There will be none alive. Unless you can think of a mutant power that can survive a nuclear explosion, and the radiation we installed to kill the X- Gene."
He began to look back to his charts, when the same voice returned. "I know, sir, but I have one here that's still breathing." He couldn't believe it.
"Put up a red flag, lieutenant!" he commanded. He looked around, spotted a tiny red beacon, and ran down the hillside at a neck-breaking speed, past several curious soldiers. By the time he had reached the spot, a crowd had gathered, and he pushed his way through.
Sure enough, a small girl, about six years old, with curly, bright red hair that fell to her back, lay in a fetal position, curled up against the famous Charles Xavier. And she was breathing. Ahab put his hand forth to shake her awake, but instead ran into an invisible wall.
"She's got some kind of shield!" someone cried from the audience.
"You idiots," Campbell said in return. "Have you never worked with mutants? She's a telekinetic." The only question is, he thought to himself, how did she put up her shield in the .03 seconds before the missile hit the building? He turned to his assistant, who had followed him down. "Get me the TK magnet. This one's a keeper."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm saying, up front, that, if your idea of Raye's life doesn't fit with mine, I don't want to hear about it. I've spoken to 5 Rachel experts, I've read 11 of her biographies, and I've read most of her comics. Each source says something different. Okay, enjoy!
241 timeline
06-06-2012
Westchester, New York, United States
Rachel Summers crouched in the high grass of the clearing, the lean muscles of her gangly limbs flexed in anticipation. Her golden-brown skin glistened with perspiration, as she telepathically searched the forest nearby. She saw her team captain, Bobby Drake, a 15-year old prankster with incredible charisma. He was fighting the opposing captain, his best friend, John, and huge waterfalls of fire and ice erupted between the two.
A few trees away, James, who had multiplied himself into three separate people, was holding off Bobby's green-haired girlfriend, Lorna, and a boisterous Sam Gutherie. Fireworks flew into the sky far away, as Jubilee alerted her team that she had found the golden ball. Rachel was about to run over to stop her, when she saw Sam's metamorphosis sister, Paige, flying over in the form of a roaring dragon, and decided that Husk could take care of the situation.
Then she spotted something that made her smirk mischievously. A tall Latino in a leather jacket was patrolling the outskirts of the forest, with her best friend, Kate Pryde, though neither of the two were looking for her team's ball. They had to be guarding their own. Rachel slid over to the region, crawling upon her knuckles and the balls of her feet for silence, as her godfather Logan had taught her.
She crept past Pryde, who was obviously a lookout for her teammate, Rictor, and into a bush behind the older boy. She went into his mind, to find the location of the blue ball, but forgot to enter softly. Rictor, who felt the girl's presence, snapped his head around just in time to see her heading for the tree canopy, and set a rough vibration through the air in her direction.
Rachel fell to the ground with a soft thud. She turned on him, taking hold of the part of his brain that controlled mobile skills, and commanded him to run to his other teammates. There, he involuntarily unleashed a small earthquake. Summers telepathically told her own squad to run for it, successfully delaying the other team significantly.
She ran back to the tree, but was intercepted by her best friend, who Rachel herself had nicknamed Kitty for her catlike agility and speed. The two girls, who enjoyed their playful competitions immensely, clenched their fists and furrowed their brows in concentration. Rachel threw a small optic blast in Pryde's direction, simply to occupy her, and her friend made herself immaterial, so that the laser flew right through her.
Of course, Rachel had expected this, and took the opportunity to go through the girl's body, right behind the blast. However, Kitty turned around quickly and grabbed her by the heel before she could get away. Rachel felt herself turn in midair, as she was lassoed the opposite way. She certainly wasn't making much progress this way.
She decided to make the ball come to her instead. She telekinetically lifted it from between two branches, without looking in that direction, so that, while Kitty believed she was staring her down and thinking of what to do next, she actually levitated it directly into her hands. Both girls put their hands over their ears, as a siren bellowed from the ball.
"Who won?" John shouted, still fighting with his best friend.
"Raye's team!" answered Kitty, giving Rachel a congratulatory high-five.
"Can I play the next round?" Rachel and Kitty turned to see a small boy with flat, blonde hair and enormous blue eyes behind a set of thick-rimmed glasses. Franklin Richards. The kid loved to tag along behind the two girls.
"Well, Frankie," Kate Pryde tried to explain nicely, "you're supposed to have powers to play." She and Rachel had always been proud to be the only children allowed to play the intense teenagers' game.
"Besides," said Summers rudely, "you don't have any muscles. We'd crush you."
"Raye!" objected Kitty, just as the rest of the two teams joined them.
"Great job, Raye," Sam complimented. "How're you guys doing?" This he said to Frankie, and Illyana Rasputin, who had just appeared beside him. The two kids smiled and waved.
Just then, a hissing sound rang out from afar. A giant missile soared past the group, traveling a mile in less than a second, to an enormous mansion in the distance. The weapon crashed into the side of the building, and a cloud of smoke mushroomed into the sky. As Rachel's heart stopped, so did time, and a tidal wave of debris zoomed toward her slow enough that she could put up a telekinetic shield in defense.
Unfortunately, she had forgotten her friends in her panic, and she watched the surrounding mutants become frozen with heat. As the tide reached them, it blew the 11 figures to ashes by 125-mph winds, and she screamed in horror. She found it hard to breathe, when she felt 3 psychic links die. Her mind lost the familiar smell of candy that constantly reminded her of Kitty Pryde, and the warmth of her mother's presence immediately became ice cold, while her father's faithful light sort of dwindled away. She had one link open still, but somehow, she knew it wouldn't last for long.
She had to find her grandpa.
* * *
The soldiers shifted the large chunks of rubble until they slid down the gigantic hillside that was once Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. They resembled tiny ants scrambling over a dune, from Dr. Roderick Campbell's viewpoint, on the top of the mountain of brick. Occasionally, a yellow flag went up, and the helicopter hovering above would lower a tray for the soldier below to load a dead mutant, to be thrown into the mass grave a couple of miles away.
His earpiece cackled alive, and a soldier's voice came. "What do we do if we find a live one, sir?" Campbell, who the United States government knew as Ahab, a covert operative who was assigned to "deal with the mutant problem", sighed in annoyance.
"There will be none alive. Unless you can think of a mutant power that can survive a nuclear explosion, and the radiation we installed to kill the X- Gene."
He began to look back to his charts, when the same voice returned. "I know, sir, but I have one here that's still breathing." He couldn't believe it.
"Put up a red flag, lieutenant!" he commanded. He looked around, spotted a tiny red beacon, and ran down the hillside at a neck-breaking speed, past several curious soldiers. By the time he had reached the spot, a crowd had gathered, and he pushed his way through.
Sure enough, a small girl, about six years old, with curly, bright red hair that fell to her back, lay in a fetal position, curled up against the famous Charles Xavier. And she was breathing. Ahab put his hand forth to shake her awake, but instead ran into an invisible wall.
"She's got some kind of shield!" someone cried from the audience.
"You idiots," Campbell said in return. "Have you never worked with mutants? She's a telekinetic." The only question is, he thought to himself, how did she put up her shield in the .03 seconds before the missile hit the building? He turned to his assistant, who had followed him down. "Get me the TK magnet. This one's a keeper."