(Next update is here. Hope y'all enjoy.)
Death Fury: Thanks. Professor X is a character I haven't worked with really yet, but I have a general sense of what to do with him.
Noble Six: Hope it's a sign of a good story.
Chapter 7: Fear of the Future
(New York City, Xavier Institute, the next day)
Xavier looked down as he wrote something on paper in his office. There was a knock at his door.
"Come in."
Jean Grey walked in.
"Ah, Jean."
"How was your meeting with the Avengers?"
"It was fine. They are ready to help us. Their history with the Inhumans will make them invaluable allies."
"Did you tell them what we've suspected?"
"Partially. The matters of the mutant community are still new to them, so I feel it's best that they are gradually introduced to it. Though I did act on Laura's request. The young heroes of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be working with us, led by Spider-Man."
"Is he like what Laura said?"
"I have the sense he has a good heart, though his ego is something I can't say of yet."
Jean nodded.
"Some of the team is about to practice."
Xavier nodded and finished what he was writing. His hoverchair moved him along to the side of Jean. They moved through the halls, students greeting them as they went by. Then they went into an elevator which descended and they entered a shining steel hallway.
A group of X-Men turned to the two. Cyclops, Beast, Gambit, Wolverine, Laura, Julian, and Jubilee.
"Ah, I see our youngest are stepping up. That's good to see."
Cyclops nodded to the Professor.
"Julian and Jubilee have really been working hard lately. Laura, of course, has excelled with practice. Beast, Gambit, Logan, and I will be running a practice course in the Danger Room. I asked Jean for the two of you to overview and control the test from the viewing deck."
"Good thinking, Scott."
Wolverine turned to Laura.
"Well darlin', ready to show them how it's done?"
Laura smirked.
"They'll have to keep up."
Wolverine smirked.
A few minutes later the team that was set up stood together. The room shifted and suddenly a few Sentinels appeared.
Cyclops turned to the team.
"Remember: work together!"
Julian chuckled.
"Yeah we got it! Take these wind up toys down!"
Julian's hands were surrounded by a light green aura. He thrust one forward and green waves flew towards one of the Sentinels knocking it back.
"Ha! See!"
The Sentinel lunged, throwing one of its massive fists forward. Cyclops fired an optic blast and forcing the murder machine's fist back.
"Focus, Hellion!"
Julian, Hellion, grumbled as he fired another blast at the Sentinel. Jubilee giggled before she fired off her blasts at the same Sentinel.
Gambit pulled out a card which lit with red energy and threw it. It exploded on impact when it struck one of the Sentinel's eyes. He dodged the laser blast from another and threw another exploding card.
"Are the rest of you joining in or not?!"
Wolverine and Laura charged, both leaping onto a Sentinel. The former extruded his claws, slashing along the leg of the machine as he climbed up. Laura growled as she extruded all of her claws. Her foot claws had her climb up the Sentinel, jabbing into the machine as she quickly skipped up and made her way to the top. Her hand claws slashed at the Sentinel's neck cutting its head off. Both leapt off.
"A hand or two, friends?"
Beast lunged into the air, grabbing Wolverine and Laura with either hand. The momentum carried all three of them onto another Sentinel. Wolverine and Laura snarled as they slashed at the Sentinel's limbs, cutting them off one by one as Beast leapt to each of them and held them in place.
Cyclops dodged a laser blast from one of the Sentinels. He turned to Jubilee, Gambit, and Hellion.
"Jubilee! Aim where I aim! Hellion! Get ready to direct Gambit's weapons!"
Cyclops fired at one of the joints of the Sentinel, Jubilee instantly responded by sending her blasts at the same spot. The combined blasts opened a hole in it. Cyclops's hands clenched.
"Now!"
"Ready, mon ami?"
Gambit threw a few lit cards. Hellion threw one hand forward, the cards were surrounded by the same light green aura as they turned and flew into the hole and the machine. The Sentinel burst apart as teh cards exploded inside it and blew it to pieces.
Cyclops smiled.
"Good work, team."
The others walked to him. Hellion chuckled.
"Good thing I was here to help."
(Viewing Deck)
Xavier and Jean Grey looked on. The former shook his head, chuckling.
"The team is doing well. Maybe we can afford to have more than one. What do you think, Professor?"
"Perhaps. Though for now, the youngest among us need more training…or at least some do. Laura has already proven herself to be just as gifted in combat as her father."
"Jubilee, to no surprise, has been doing very well. Julian has been showboating though."
"Well, he wouldn't be the first X-Man to do so and he won't be the last."
"True…but for what's coming…I don't know how well showboating will help us."
(Danger Room)
Julian grinned, moving pieces of the broken Sentinels in a circle.
"So, when are you guys ready to show the world your newest X-Man?"
Beast put a clawed hand on the young mutant's shoulder.
"You are strong, Julian. But you must remember that we have to work together. 'The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement.' John C. Maxwell."
Julian rolled his eyes as the Danger Room reverted to normal. Professor X and Jean Grey entered.
"Well done, all of you. It's good to see how well you all are working together."
"We've got more work to do though. But there's something else isn't there? Lately you've let one of the senior members watch over training alone."
"My talk with the Avengers and the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. went well…but there are things that concern me with the rise of hate crimes directed at mutants. Mutant activity has often been down so much that I've begun to hardly use Cerebro."
Wolverine grumbled.
"That's because the 'fine folks' running for campaigns targeting us have probably made mutants trying not to use their powers out of fear of discovery."
"Logan has a point. Mutants are keeping a low profile to avoid being harassed and assaulted."
Laura snarled.
"Then we should be out there taking down whoever's going after mutants."
"No, Laura. We mustn't be hostile towards humans. That will only further agitate the human population and make these same politicians push harder."
"We can't just stand by and let this go on!"
"I understand your frustration, but we must show that we can live peacefully alongside humans."
Laura grumbled, starting to walk off.
"That should be showing that they can live peacefully with us!"
"Babe, wait!"
Julian ran off after her, the door closing behind them. Professor X sighed, shaking his head.
"She's got a point, Chuck. Often enough humans are targeting us and it's usually not in self defense."
"I know, Logan. But in order to show that peace is possible, we cannot instigate confrontations."
Logan sniffed.
"I see the Wall Crawler met with you. I know he'd be siding with you on this."
"Yes, he made quite an impression."
"Yeah, the kid's alright. Unfortunately, sometimes peace isn't always an option."
(Triskelion, present)
Spider-Man was on the roof, one leg over another, reading a magazine with Tony Stark on the cover.
"Yo, Spidey!"
"Yes?"
Spider-Man looked down, seeing Power Man on the ground looking up at him.
"Everyone's here. Iron Spider and Agent Venom just got back from their patrol."
"Great!"
Spider-Man leapt down to the floor and put the magazine to the side.
"Thanks, Luke."
The two walked into a room, the entirety of the academy was present.
"Hey guys. Glad everyone's here."
Iron Spider tapped on one of his arms, both being crossed.
"So? How'd it go with the meeting?"
"The leader of the X-Men said that Laura wanted us to work closely with the X-Men."
The group struck up a surprised yet excited conversation.
Dagger smiled widely.
"The X-Men! All the whispers about them! I can't wait to meet them!"
White Tiger looked from them to Spider-Man.
"How is Laura?"
"She's doing better. Turns out, she's dating someone!"
The group gasped. Nova chuckled, rubbing his hands together.
"Who?"
"Don't know his name, but it's good she's with someone. Besides that, we won't be working with the X-Men straight away. The leader said he's concerned about a certain mutant though he didn't give their name. I think Director Fury may know though he hasn't mentioned them. Whoever they are, it's clear that they're not to be underestimated and that they have a grudge against humans. Which means there's an angry and powerful mutant out there planning something."
Agent Venom stepped forward.
"What does that mean?"
"That the very people we're trying to help…maybe try to fight us."
The group whispered to one another. Spider-Man looked at them, rubbing one arm.
(You know, I can't say I blame them. It's bad enough with some humans hating us…but mutants? We're going to fight to help them…but knowing some of them hate humans…and may fight…brutally for their own…it's a major moral problem.)
White Tiger whistled and the group stopped.
"This isn't a simple situation. There are different sides to this that we have to face. Possibly fighting those we mean to protect isn't something any of us want. We made that mistake months ago with a victim of one of the worst crimes we've ever seen. We have to do better, we have to be better. Not just for our sakes…but for those of whom we mean to stand with."
The others looked at one another. Spider-Man took a step forward.
"Tiger's right guys. The mutant community are people whom we've dedicated our lives to protecting. We have a responsibility to be heroes and that means we do right by those we are trying to help. It's not gonna be easy, but that's what we have to do."
The academy nodded.
"Director Fury has another practice session set up for all of us, I'll be there in a few minutes."
All but White Tiger left. She walked up to Spidey, wrapping her arms around him.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah…just…we've faced all kinds of bad guys from street to cosmic level…it just feels like this is different…"
"We haven't really involved ourselves in politics. With this, we'll be doing so…under the radar. We can do this."
"I know…but…who are we really going to be facing? Humans? Mutants? Both?"
"Only time will tell."
(That's what I'm afraid of.)
To be continued…
(Hope y'all enjoyed the update.)
