you all know the drill, here's chapter 2.
This is part 2 of 4 of the prelude, just to clarify here. I'm going into further detail here on what happened after, just cause the show didn't really cover it.
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Disclaimer: I don't own wolverine and the x men. Marvel does, and they are stupid for cancelling it.
Rogue ran through the hallways of the collapsing underground, her left pant leg torn off to the point it looked like she was wearing shorts on one leg. Her sleeves were torn and her gloves shredded. The bottom of her shirt was shredded as well, exposing her midriff.
Her eyes were still puffy from crying earlier, but she didn't want to think about Logan now. It would only make this that much harder. She had to leave, to go before she lost it again. If she snapped again, then she'd say something else she might regret.
Why couldn't Logan see how she felt? Didn't yesterday mean anything to him?
She shook her head. She needed to find her uniform, if it wasn't destroyed by the blast that is.
Most of the lower levels had most likely collapsed already, but the central area was more fortified, including the main storage where their spare uniforms were kept.
She walked through the destroyed lower levels, looking for the storage locker.
She walked into the war room and saw that it was mainly intact, and luckily so were the computers.
"Perfect. Now to access the storage." She said and typed in the command code for the storage unit.
A compartment opened up on her right and she entered the closet-like area.
"Okay, here's one of Kitty's, one of Bobby's, four of Logan's," she said, sorting through the various uniforms.
'He goes through uniforms like I do gloves.' She thought and tried not to start crying again as she tried to sort through the uniforms, though a few tears did slip out.
"Got it." She said as she found one of her uniforms, which consisted of a green and yellow skin-tight spandex jumpsuit with plain yellow gloves to cover her hands.
She took off her torn clothes and put it on before looking inside and found some more. "Jackpot." The southern belle said and took a few more and a backpack from a nearby shelf and put them inside.
She also grabbed a short brown jacket and a cloak off one of the racks to cover herself. It wasn't a smart idea to walk around in just her uniform. She also found another set of her regular outfit.
She walked back to the war room and accessed her bank account. If she was going to run away, she'd need to be able to support herself. Luckily the professor had set up trust fund accounts for each of the x-men (except for Angel who had politely refused) for individual use.
She checked the account and saw that she had $88,500 inside it from her years as an x-man, which was still much less than most of the others had, (though she had more than Kitty or Bobby) but it was more than enough to live on while on the run for a while.
"Now to just load it all onto a new card…." She said and entered a few sequences. She needed a new card, because, you know, the old one got kinda vaporized. She also disabled the tracking chip inside so that she couldn't be tracked by anyone. She paused before hitting the last key to confirm the new card. If she did this now, there would be no going back from here. She wiped her still wet eyes and hit enter. "It's time to move on."
The new card popped out of a slot by the holographic display. She pulled it out. It had a simple barcode reader and had a large x-symbol on the front. With this she'd at least be able to access her account without any prying eyes watching her purchases.
She took one last look around the war room fondly. Some of her best memories had occurred right here. 'All the time that I spent as one of the x-men, with Logan it-.'
She cut her thoughts off there as she felt the tears come back. It was becoming too hard to stay here. She walked over to the exit and looked back at the room, picturing the others standing there.
"I'm sorry guys…." She said to herself and tears fell again as she ran out of the war room.
X-X-X
Emma groaned as she stood up, disoriented and her outfit torn. The Pheonix was even more incredible than she'd expected. It had sensed her attack coming
She gasped as she laid eyes on the school. There was almost nothing left. The Phoenix had destroyed it all, and it was all her fault. She'd destroyed a school. Saving the world didn't mean having to ruin it, did it?
What surprised her was the fact that both the Phoenix, Charles Xavier, as well as Ororo Monroe were missing from the yard. She'd have to worry about them later. Right now she had to wake her cuckoos and leave before anyone woke up.
She used her telepathy to wake up the five identical girls. "Let's go. It seems our task has been completed for us." She ordered. As she left, she took one last look at the wreckage.
'I didn't mean for this to happen.' She thought sadly and she stealthily departed from the destroyed premises.
X-X-X
Logan woke up and found himself on the ground, his ears ringing. He groaned and rubbed his face with his right hand, trying to gain his footing.
He looked around and saw something troubling: the whole mansion was gone!
It was all rubble and ash. The only thing standing was a few of the outer buildings. Everything else was scattered. He looked down at his clothes and saw that he didn't have much of his shirt left. His knees were bare as well, the skin poking out of his jeans. He had multiple scrapes along his arms and chest. In short, he looked bad; not as bad as Cyclops after that time he'd tried to drink him under the table, but still bad.
"Jean!" Logan heard a faint voice call out. He turned and saw that it was Scott. He looked frantic and was looking all over the place. His right sleeve was torn and so were his pants. The boy scout looked worse than usual. Luckily his glasses were intact. Gotta thank Chuck for that extra strength glass. "Jean! Where are you?"
Logan walked over to him. He could feel the ringing growing fainter. "Summers?" He called out. Scott didn't respond. The boy scout's hearing was most likely slightly damaged from the blast just like his. Logan grabbed Scott's shoulders tightly. "Summers! What happened?"
Scott turned to him and scoffed. "Figures you'd still be alive." He said, annoyed. Though he should have expected it. The guy had super healing, so why wouldn't he survive?
Logan's face gained a little of it's usual scowl at that remark and he growled lowly. Now wasn't the time for this. "Now's not the time, Summers. Now, you were closer to the explosion. Did you see what happened?" He asked.
Scott sighed. Logan was right, which was a scary thought, but he was right. Now wasn't the time for grudges. They'd settle all this later.
He looked back to the shorter man and took a breath. His hearing was finally coming back. Which was a plus, at least. "I don't know. Jean started having a headache and there was a flash of light." Scott said. He took a look around and saw the various students sprawled out on the lawn. Some were becoming conscious, but most were unconscious. "Next thing I know, I'm waking up out here and Jean's nowhere to be found."
Logan's heart fell at this. "We'll have to look for her later. Right now we have to take care of everyone else." He'd hate for something to have happened to Jean. However, there were others to consider here. "We'll find her Summers, count on it."
Scott perked up at that and nodded. Logan was right. Finding the rest of their family was the priority right now, not just Jean. "Ok, what do we do?"
Logan pointed to the side of the property where his motorcycle was. "Go find Hank. He was far enough away from the blast that he should be alright. Take him and check the house and lower levels." He ordered the leader of the x-men. He knew that it wasn't really his place, but Cyclops was obviously too shook up at the moment to make a rational decision. "I'll check the courtyard and we'll meet back here. Don't miss anyone, got it?"
Scott nodded and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Wolverine was right, this time anyway, but he wasn't about to openly acknowledge that. "Alright. Any idea who was in the house?"
Logan thought about it for a brief moment before nodding. "Yeah. Bobby and Angel were in the kitchen last time I checked, Forge was in the hanger and Kitty, Kurt and the russian were in the danger room." Scott's face became grim at that last part. If they were in the danger room then there was a chance that even one of them….
Logan quickly put a stop to those thoughts. "Relax. I programmed their session to end three minutes after I left. And with their powers they should be fine." He said.
Scott thought about it. Logan was right, which was a scary prospect in itself. Kitty and Kurt's powers could get them out of any tight spot and Peter was almost invulnerable.
This was definitely different from the usual obnoxious, hotheaded wolverine. To be honest, it was a welcome change. "Alright, just be careful. We don't know if anyone's lurking around here." He warned.
Logan nodded. "Same to you, now get to work." He said gruffly and walked off over to help some older students who were shifting through debris.
Scott chuckled and ran off in the direction of the cliffs. Wolverine giving him orders. That was a new one.
X-X-X
Kitty groaned. That blast had hit her like a freight train. "What happened?" She asked tiredly. She remembered the session ending and Peter catching her, then some kind of explosion.
She then noticed her surroundings. "And where the hell am I?"
She looked around and saw that she was in fact no longer in the danger room, but in the panic room below it. She noticed that her suit was ripped slightly on her right side and left sleeve.
"Fantastic." She said sarcastically. She'd have to get this repaired. She must've also phased through the floor out of panic when the explosion hit. "Guess I better go check on the boys."
She jumped up and phased through the ceiling above her head. Luckily it was only about a few feet above her head and she could get her hands phased through the ceiling first.
She phased through the ceiling into the danger room, but what she saw made her mouth drop in shock.
"What the hell?" She said slowly to no one in particular. The entire danger room was destroyed. Parts of the ceiling were impaled into the floor like spikes while large pieces of debris were scattered about everywhere. Wires were sparking along the floor and hanging loosely from the ceiling.
"Geez. Either wolverine had a field day or the explosion hit here." The phasing teenager said jokingly, trying to calm the nervous pounding in her chest. She hoped that the others were alright.
"Only one person has that kind of humor." Kitty heard a German voice say and her heart lifted a little. She looked to her right and saw Kurt crouched on one of the larger pieces of debris. His hair was still as messy as ever, but his costume was torn in several places, and he had numerous small cuts along his body.
"Kurt! You're okay!" She yelled out and let out a relieved smile. He was alive. He was okay. She told herself in her head. She then noticed his wounds and her smile fell a little. "You're hurt."
"I'll be fine. It's the others we need to worry about." He said and looked around the destroyed room. "I mean, think about it. If it's this bad down here, imagine ze shit show it must be up there."
Kitty shivered at that and thought about it. Kurt was right. That blast definitely hadn't come from inside the room, otherwise everything (and more importantly, everyone) would be in much worse condition. But then she realized the absence of one very large individual.
"Speaking of others, where's Peter?" She said looking amongst the rubble.
"I'm here." Said a muffled Russian voice. Kurt and Kitty shared a look of confusion before suddenly the rubble beneath Kurt's feet began to rise, causing the elfish mutant to stumble and fall by Kitty's feet.
"Having fun?" She asked him, smirking.
"Don't even start." Kurt said, defeated and slightly pouting.
Kitty giggled and then the rubble was pushed off the ground by the large arms of Colossus. He stood there, smirking at them both. "I'm good. Just a few scratches on the finish."
Kitty scowled at him. "You're not funny. You could have died if you weren't dressed like a tin can you know." She said, though the relief she felt was clearly expressed on her face.
Peter's smile dropped at this. "Sorry Kitty. I didn't mean to worry you." He should've known that Kitty would be worried about him. He could be so stupid sometimes.
Kitty stood there with her arms crossed and a stiff lip.
Kurt just looked up at them both expectantly, annoyed that he was being ignored. "Hello! a little help here?" He said.
At this both x-men looked down at him sheepishly. "Whoops, sorry Kurt. Forgot you were the injured one for a second there." Kitty said and lifted him up, draping one arm over his shoulder.
"No problem." Kurt said, blowing some of his hair out his face. He definitely needed a hot shower after this. He then looked at Kitty. "But vhile we're on this pity train, do you think you could grab me a comb? Maybe something from Logan's stash?"
At this Kitty gave him a sour look and dropped him.
"Ow." Kurt said and looked up to see Kitty giving him a smug smile. He really needed to get a hand on his, dare he say it, elfish side. He raised an eyebrow up at her and winced slightly. "That was a little much, don't you think?"
"Serves you right." Kitty said and walked away.
Peter walked up to his smaller friend. " She sure got you good." He said amusedly in his booming voice.
Kurt nodded and coughed. It was getting very dusty down here. "Yeah, I should have seen that coming. But in my defence I'm pretty sure I'm in shock, so…."
"Are you two coming or are you going to wait for Bobby to freeze us to death?" Kitty asked them incredulously.
Kurt sighed. "We better get going. You know how she gets when she's moody." He said to his large friend and they both shivered at the thought.
Kurt then tried to stand but fell back on his elbows. "Now if I could just get my dead legs to 'vurk." He said, frustrated.
"Don't worry, I've got you." Colossus said and lightly tossed Kurt over his shoulder as the three friends walked out of the danger room.
'How humiliating.' Kurt thought but was too weak to argue as he was carried around like a damsel.
"Awe, how cute. Little baby Kurt." Kitty said in a baby voice and walked to Peter's back. Kurt frowned annoyedly at her. She squished Kurt's cheek like a grandma would. "Who's a good little gremlin? You are. Yes you are."
Kurt groaned. He was so getting her back for this. He glared at his friend with about as much fake hate as he could muster.
Kitty giggled at this and walked ahead of the boys.
Her face then grew into a worried look. The weight of the situation was starting to weigh down her shoulders again.
'I'll find you, Logan, and the others. No one's dying on my watch. Nobody.' She thought as she led her friends through the underground.
X-X-X
Logan growled and slashed at some debris, revealing two kids that were unconscious on the ground.
He crouched and checked their pulses and found one for each of them. He breathed a sigh of relief at that. The last thing he wanted was for someone to have died in that explosion. He didn't feel like burying any of the few friends he did have anytime soon.
He waved over two of the older students. "Get these kids out of here while I keep searching." Logan ordered them. The teens nodded in response and picked up the kids, moving them to the backyard.
Logan sighed. That was two more injured kids. What would their parents say about this?
"Logan!" He looked up and saw Warren running towards him. His clothes were ripped, he had a few scratches like everyone else and his normally pristine hair was disheveled, but he seemed otherwise alright seeing as how the former lone wolf couldn't pick up the smell of blood on the winged man. "Glad to see you're alright."
Logan let out a genuine smile at that. "You too, flyboy. thought that you'd left us all behind for a second there." He said, smirking.
Warren laughed at that. "Only you could almost die and walk away a smug bastard." He said. Logan gave a grin in response.
Warren's face then grew sullen. "So what happened?"
"Don't know. All me and Summers remember is a large flash of light before the explosion." Logan replied, snarling lightly. He should've been able to smell or hear any intruders, so why didn't he? "How about you?"
Warren shrugged. "The same. A blinding flash of light followed by a huge explosion, but I didn't see the cause."
Logan nodded and groaned gruffly. He figured that was what most people had seen, nothing. "Find any of the others?"
"Yeah, I found Bobby and Betsy, as well as a few of the younger students. They're all fine for the most part, just some bruises and a few broken bones." Warren said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.
Logan nodded slightly and gave a small smile. "Good. Where are they now?
"Betsy's using her telepathy to search for anyone thrown by the blast, and Bobby's freezing up the lower levels so they won't collapse. The kids are in the backyard, what's left of it at least." Warren explained.
"Smart thinking." Logan complimented. He was definitely lucky to have people like this in his corner, especially given the circumstance.
Warren nodded but he frowned a little. Logan knew what his friend was about to ask him.
"Have you seen Ororo?" Angel asked. Once again hit the nail right on the head.
Logan shook his head. "Not yet. We're still searching the grounds, but we'll find her." He said and Warren lowered his head slightly at this. Logan laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't lose hope kid. We don't need another one of me around here, so don't start growing chops now."
Warren perked up a little. Logan did have a way of making people feel alive. It was something special about him. No matter how pissed off he made people most of the time, those who knew him wouldn't trade him for anything.
"Okay. I'll do that." He said. He then looked around at the destroyed grounds. "This place is gonna require some major TLC."
"We'll just leave that to Forge." Logan responded making Warren laugh again. "You're doing good, kid."
"Thanks. Anything else I can do?" Warren offered. He wanted to make sure his family was safe. He was slightly tired from lifting rubble, but his wings were fresh and ready.
Logan caught the look in his friend's eye and saw his wings twitch. "Sure. Look from above. Look for stragglers, but more importantly, see if you can spot any clues as to who or what pulled this off."
Warren nodded and slipped off his torn shirt, revealing his wings. "Back soon."
"Angel wait." Logan said quickly. Warren paused and looked back. "Keep an eye out for Rogue for me, will ya? Some heavy things were said before the explosion and knowing her she might've run off."
Warren noted the sad and guilty look on Wolverine's face and nodded understandingly.
"Ok, I'll keep an eye out for her." He said and took off into the sky.
Logan watched him from below as he flew off.
Now he had to find Storm and the professor, but first he had to make sure all of his students were safe.
'Chuck would want it that way.' He thought to himself and kept looking through the wreckage, trying to help anyone he could.
X-X-X
Storm woke up and found herself lying on her stomach. She stood up and looked at her blouse. It was covered in dust and torn in several places, as were her pants. These were her favorite pair. She groaned as she looked around and found herself alone.
Her blood chilled as realization hit her. She was alone.
"Professor?" She called out. No response. She was getting frantic by this point. "Jean! Logan?! Anyone!"
She stopped for a moment and sighed. She was alone. The others had probably been thrown back by the blast like she had. Except, she wasn't at the mansion. By the looks of it she was deep in the forest north of the property(The trees weren't a clue at all.).
She took a moment to gather her thoughts. She'd been walking the professor and she saw Logan coming over (most likely to say his goodbyes) and the professor suddenly starting to hold his head in pain and everything went blank.
She heard the faint sound of wheels turning and she turned her head towards a large pit. She walked over and was shocked by what she saw. Dark clouds formed in the sky, a light rain falling over the area.
"No, it cannot be. Please no." She said and tears stained down her beautiful cheeks as she fell to her knees, Rain drops falling around her body.
"Why him?" She said sorrowfully as she looked inside the crater….
X-X-X
"Hank!" Scott called out. He was trying to find his friend. He was looking where Logan had told him to, but he was having trouble finding the fuzzy doctor. "Hank, where are you?!"
"Over here." Scott heard a dizzy voice say. He looked over to his left to see Beast sitting up on the ground rubbing the side of his head with his large palm. He was still disoriented from that blast. Whatever caused it, it packed a real punch. "What happened?"
"Some kind of explosion. We don't know what caused it." Scott said. Beast nodded but still didn't attempt to stand up. Scott frowned at this. He wondered if Hank was more injured than he appeared to be. "You alright?"
Hank shrugged him off. "Don't worry about me, just some dizziness and a few bruised ribs at most." Hank explained and Scott nodded before offering a hand to his friend. Hank took it and pulled himself to his feet. "Thanks, now tell me. Did you find any of the others?"
"Yeah. Logan found me and told me to find you. I found a few students but I couldn't find any of the others." Scott said. Hank raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. "Yeah, I know. It surprised me too."
Hank nodded. It was definitely unlike Logan to be the voice of reason around here. It was usually someone else having to talk him down. "What else did he tell you?"
"He told me that we should search the lower levels while he takes care of the grounds. He figured that I'll need you to help salvage whatever's down there."
Hank chuckled. "Look at Logan, making a rational decision for once."
"Yeah, well there's a first time for everything." Scott said, chuckling.
"Is there anyone unaccounted for?" Hank asked. Cyclops frowned slightly at that and looked away. "I take it, that's a yes?"
Scott nodded stiffly. "Yeah, we haven't found most of the team yet, and Storm, Jean and the professor are unaccounted for."
Hank nearly fell down again at this news. "That's unfortunate. I can only hope that we find them."
Scott nodded. "We will. Logan's on it right now. But right now we have to make sure the others are okay. You think that you can get us inside the underground?"
Beast nodded and smirked slyly. "My dear boy, all you had to do was ask." He said and walked over to the side of the house. Scott followed him.
Beast walked over and punched the grass, digging it up. He pulled open an old steel trap door and gestured to the inside with his hand. "After you."
"Nice." Scott said and hopped into the hole. Beast followed quickly after and closed the hatch. Not long after they entered the tunnel, rain drops fell from the sky, surprising most of the students, who hadn't been expecting rain today.
Scott took a look around. They appeared to be in some kind of escape tunnel. It had dim lights going through it and seemed to lead to both the underground levels of the mansion and into the forest on the back of the property. The walls were slightly rusted and in obvious need of maintenance.
"Are you coming or are you going to admire the scenery all day?" Hank said. Scott looked to his left and saw the hairy man staring back at him, already walking down the tunnel. "Let's go."
"How long has this been here?" Cyclops asked and unbuttoned the top two buttons on his shirt. It was hot in this tunnel and he could feel some sweat forming on his forehead. "I don't remember ever seeing this before."
"I'm not surprised. These tunnels were built back when Charles' father first built the mansion. Of course, since then it's been remodeled, but the professor keeps these tunnels open just in case." Beast said as he led them down the tunnel.
Scott nodded. "Good thinking. Though I gotta say that a dusting or maybe a fresh coat of paint every few years would be nice." He said.
Hank chuckled. "I'll check to see if it's in the budget. But first we have to check out our lower levels."
Scott nodded. "Lead the way."
That's part 2 of the prelude. Im posting this and part three at the same time. Just to show you that i wasn't messin with y'all about it being different from the show.
Please review. Even those of y'all that don't like the show, just read the story, or watch it again. It's a story with an incredible premise for a great fanfic if you look at it close enough.
That's probably it for me this week. Peace.
Heroverse out