PLEASE READ:
OK, here's how the penny spins. This little story has been buzzing around in my mind for quite some time now, so I decided why leave it in there? This fanfiction I'm writing is the result: whether it's good or bad, you decide. Basically I've always thought that there should be a live action TV series of X-Men shown once a week, kind of like Charmed. But no, sigh. They won't do it, dammit. So I've decided to do it myself D Yep, I'm writing an X-Men series. I really have no life.
It takes place in my own Ideology universe. The X Team consists of: Jean, Cyclops, Beast, Storm, Dazzler, Bobby, Wolverine, Rogue, Betsy and Warren. Sometimes, on special missions, other mutants will be joining them, but I won't stay listing them from now.
Jean and Cyclops have been married for quite some time now and have a kid.
All the characters' appearances and characterisations will remain more or less like those of the movies. I'm hoping I won't go OOC or something.
Disclaimer: Would you believe me if I told you I owned the X-Men and their little golden world? Not likely huh? Well it's tiring writing the same thing all the time! Fine, I don't own the X-Men, they were created by Stan Lee and belong to Marvel Comics. Eurgh.
I will be introducing some OC's, some minor characters; others, one in particular, will be quite important. Please don't use them without permission, otherwise you will have to face my flesh eating slug, Lawrence. No, don't sigh and roll your eyes. That's what Paris Hilton did sniggers
And of course, please review! I really would appreciate any sort of feedback. Im not one of those writers whose policy is "if u dont review i wont rite n e more so haha lol there!" I just enjoy writing. But reviews really boost an author's morale, and actually help him/her write better. Any criticism is welcome, ConCrit, anything except flames. If I wanted my self esteem lowered I'd go spend a week in Lucerne with my Aunt Hope.
This is also my first fanfiction that I'm publishing on the Net.
Well, enough blabbering. Onto Atlantis!
PROLOGUE
----MANY YEARS INTO THE FUTURE----
One evening of late summer, during an unusually tempestuous storm, a young man trudged through the streets of New York, head buried inside the long collar of his overcoat. The mud squelched beneath his boots and rain trickled into his neck, infiltrating his layers of clothes; however his walk remained resolute and firm- nothing was going to stop him from this mission, especially not some unseasonable storm like this.
As he plodded along his eyes flitted here and there at his surroundings, and the sights they took in tore at his heart. Around him was not a city, but a bare wasteland, complete with destroyed houses, mutilated trees and smashed vehicles lying on their sides. From time to time people hurried past him, some yelling with distressed voices, others with grim faces and clutching weapons in their hands. Some stopped and pleaded with him for help, but he could only shake his head, look at them with pity and continue on his way.
It was the children he felt for most- vessels of innocence tortured by the cruel fate that had been prepared for them by others who sought only to destroy. They suffered and wept, adults before their own time. The pity of it? Potential… children were all about potential…
He was fast approaching his destination. He kept walking along a street for a few more minutes, then turned quickly and ducked into a small dark alley, which led to a dead end.
It was quiet, very quiet, and this made him uneasy. The hairs at the back of his neck prickled and stood up as he pressed himself against the wall, feeling the hard stone bricks with his right hand. The other was clutching a large metallic gun held to a large artillery belt fastened around his waist.
Eventually, a tinny beep in his earphone told him he had found the right brick. The chip embedded into his finger had found the other chip that had been embedded into the right brick. A few seconds of crackling static ensued, and then soft a voice said, "Password?"
He said, "Thanataphobia. I declare myself Bishop."
"Good, you're here, and not a moment too soon. Wait a few seconds. We'll teleport you inside."
Oh, bloody shit. He hated teleporting.
Her squeezed his eyes shut as the familiar tingling sensation started to prickle around his body, then all of a sudden he began to shake violently and within the next few seconds he was standing inside the brick wall… inside a large metallic room where about three other people had been waiting for him for the past hour. Two men were standing around a huge machine, tapping different buttons and pulling levers here and there. Next to them a tall blonde woman was speaking rapidly into a TeleCommunicator.
"Sector 2 to Sector 1. Sector 1… do you copy? Agent 9 has arrived. Mission shall commence shortly. Yes. All should proceed according to plan. Any difficulties, we will let you know." A short pause. "Yes indeed. God help us." She clicked the TeleCommunicator shut with a sigh, then smiled at Bishop.
"I'm so relieved you made it here safely," she said, then walked over to him and they hugged fiercely.
"Me too, Agent 1," he replied. The warmth and familiarity of her body against his calmed down his rattled nerves and eased his troubled mind. "Is everything ready?"
"Yes," she said, and buried her face into his shoulder. In a muffled voice she said, "I don't want you to go."
He sighed. She looked up at him then, her eyes brimmed with tears, looking directly into his. He said, "I know. Heck, I'm dying not to. But we've been working together on this for far too long now… t'aint fair anyways to ask someone else to do it. 'Sides, it shouldn't take much…one gunshot and it should all be over…" He shuddered slightly and she held him tighter.
"Got it!"
They both looked over to where the two men stood near the machine. One of them clapped his hands together with glee while the other rolled his eyes, clearly not that amused.
"Did you get it configured, Sy?" she asked breathlessly, vanishing from Bishop's side.
"Yup. This baby's all set and rearing to go." Simon looked over to where Bishop stood gazing warily at the machine.
"Better get over here, dude," he called. "You'll be on your way in two sec's." He looked over to the other guy. "Yo, Marcus, this is so cool!"
Marcus rolled his eyes. "You may be the brightest nineteen-year-old that ever existed, but definitely not the most mature." He turned over to Bishop. "Hold out your arm."
He fastened a thick, metallic band around Bishop's wrist, and began explaining. "This button here is in case of emergencies. If the band is in any way damaged or malfunctioning, press it immediately and you'll be back here in no time. This button here is a small recording device- a portable notebook, if you like. We've stored a whole bunch of stuff on it- even images, just in case, you know." He pressed it and holograms beamed onto the ceiling, flickering slightly. "This is to prove you're legit, in case anyone calls you a lunatic or anything. Which they probably will."
Agent 1 turned away from them for a while as Marcus continued explaining the band. She looked up and stared hard at the machine.
Time travel… had you mentioned it ten or so years ago, people would have laughed in your face and made some crass joke about H.G. Wells. But technology is an amazing and unpredictable thing, and it was only a couple of years ago that Professor Maxwell HazeazeHahhswhdpowhpf of Cambridge had amazed the world with the first ever successful time machine. Of course he had never made his secret public… but with spies everywhere and some with mutant powers, nothing remained secret for long…
"OK, that's about it I think. You're ready," said Marcus. "Off you go, then." Sy made a little sound of strangled excitement in the back of his throat.
"What, already?" asked Bishop quite alarmed.
"Of course," said Marcus, "there's a future to be saved and no time like the present to do it." He chuckled at his little joke; nobody else did.
"Good luck," Agent 1 said in a small voice. He turned around and caught her lips in his own, absorbing the feel of her and her features of her face into his memory. When they pulled apart her face was full of tears.
"It's just so hard," she said. "She was the best friend I ever had."
"I know. I know." He embraced one last time. She pushed him away then, smiling at him furiously. "Go save the world then."
"OK."
"Will we ever see each other again?"
"I can't- say. I don't know…"
"Don't worry, Bish," said Sy. "F'you don't come back I'll marry the girl for you."
"You insensitive twat," said Marcus.
Bishop forced a laugh, and stepped inside the time machine…
