X-MEN #28

TRANSFORMING TOWNS PART 1

By: Bodhi Ouellette

"I have been given guidance, my child. The guidance that will bring this new dawn of the Mutant race into a new millennium. And these machines will be the key..."

New Utopia; Living Room:

The living room is currently packed with many of the X-Men members, huddled around the couch, watching a football game. Many of them start inching forward into their seats at what's going on on the screen.
Host: (V.O.) Brandon's got the ball! Francis is trying to chase him! He's getting close... Touchdown!
All of them jump up in excitement that their favorite teams won the game. Coming into the room is Logan.
Logan: Whoa, guys. Calm down, it's not like we've discovered a miracle or something. I'm going to take a huge guess and say that the Giants won?
Pietro: Da! And now they're heading to the Superbowl!
Logan: (beat, turns his head to Hank) Where did Chuck go?
Hank: He went out on a date.
Logan: Date? With who?
Hank: Remember that woman who interviewed Charles after you know what?
Logan: Her? He's going out with her?
Hank: Why are you so upset?
Logan: I'm not. I think it's just that I can't believe that old Chuck is dating again.
Hank: Indeed.

New York City:

Inside a fancy restaurant in Manhattan, a more finely dressed Charles Xavier sits opposite to Joyce Hollands, the news reporter from CBS news who they met during the funeral of Scott Summers and Emma Frost. Joyce dressed in a blue dress, with her hair tied up in the back.
Joyce: How have things been with you and the X-Men?
Professor X: Everything with my X-Men's been fine, Joyce. As the weeks go by, we discover more and more about the effects I've done to the mutant race has made.
Joyce: And what about Magneto? How are things going with trying to stop him?
Professor X: Progressing. We know that he's been buying parts illegally sent by the Hand to build machines, similar to the one we saw by the Savage. What they will be used for, I don't know, but I fear it will have devastating consequences.
Joyce: I'm sure you'll manage to figure it out.
Professor X notices a few people looking at him. They quickly look away. Xavier then reads the minds of many of the people in the restaurant. Most of them were thinking about him. And most of it was nothing but how he managed to bring the mutants back. In a sense, it was praise.
Professor X: Everyone's thinking about me.
Joyce: Everyone in this restaurant, you mean?
Professor X: Precisely.
Joyce: Well, I don't necessarily blame them. I mean, you did essentially bring back an endangered race back.
Professor X: You're suggesting something?
Joyce: I'm saying you shouldn't bother about what people think about you. In the end, you have managed to do an impossible thing.
Professor X: Except that's exactly the thing that bothers me. At first, I did it because I believed in Scott Summers. But now as I see what I've done, I wonder how it was even possible.
Joyce: (beat) I think the answers will come. Right now, let's enjoy our evening out, together.
Professor X: Very well. Let us enjoy the evening.

Town in West Virginia:

At this time, many elementary schools were just getting out from school. But across the school was a small park, however, it is usually empty, with not too many people using it in the day, except for when kids cross into it to get to the other side of the block. A strange man leaning next to one of Magneto's machine. The man lifts up his hand, and with the squeeze of his fist, the machine glows. The ground begins to shake. Trees began to fall down. Windows broke and car alarms began to go off. People started to panic now. Suddenly, the ground began to split, and the buildings, the cars and even the people began warping and transforming. The sound of destruction and reformation drained out the sounds of the people's cries.

"When activated, and connected to a mutant of geokinetic powers, it will expand and amplify their powers into making them, quite literally, lift worlds..."

The whole town was now proportioned like a deformed human figure. It begins to slowly stand up on the newly formed two feet of the colossal being. This walking piece of Earth then takes his first step. The foot dips into the huge pothole it created, and then with its other foot, forces himself back out. It continues going straight, heading east into Virginia.

"And once the mutant activates the machine, he will turn the very ground beneath him into something of colossal power. He would be the heart of a giant colossus..."

Hilltop:

Two friends are setting up a shot for their camera to take a picture of a beautiful view of the forest below them. One of them is balancing the camera on the tripod, while the other one is getting ready for the shoot.
Friend #1: Alright, man, you finally ready to take the shot?
Friend #2: Yeah, yeah.
The second friend stands in front of the camera, waving at the camera. The ground begins to shake a little bit. The second friend is oblivious as to what has just happened behind him, but the first friend saw the whole thing.
Friend #2: How'd it come out?
Friend #1: (hands him the camera) Take a look for yourself.
They both look at the picture and immediately, they notice the 400 foot walking city far off in the background.

New Utopia:

As the other X-Men were watching the post-game interviews on the sports players and such, the signal was abruptly cut by that channels news show, with a special "WARNING" broadcast coming up. Then we see footage of an aerial view of the sky in West Virginia.
Newscaster: We have breaking news! What looks like a giant rock monster, is traveling its way across West Virginia. From the direction its going, it looks like its making its way near the Virginia border. I see- are those people falling off it's body?! - Wait, it's stopped... oh crap, Phil, it's looking right at us! Oh god, flys us away, fly us away!-
The swipe of the colossal being blacks out the entire broadcast, turning back to the news reporters back at home.
Hank: Oh, my stars and garters.
Logan: No doubt, that buckethead is probably behind this.
Hank: Why do you suspect that?
Logan: I don't know, I'm just making a guess... but how about we find that out.

Cerebro:

Most of the X-Men members are now all in Cerebro, accompanied with the New Mutants as well. The walls of Cerebro glows its dark blue color, with the outside glowing a lighter color. It eventually dims down, and Kelly turns her chair over down to the X-Men.
Kelly: It's Magneto, alright. A mutant from his Brotherhood team is controlling the city.
Logan: So, we go there, take the walking piece of rock down, and then go back to the Savage Land and wreck things up again.
Hank: You can't seriously believe that all of us can manage to take that whole thing down, right?
Logan: Why not?
Hank: You can be quite insane, sometimes.
Kitty: Hank has a point. We don't stand a chance with that thing. We're gonna need some major backup.
Logan: So let's review who our other X-Men teams are... let's see. Hope's team is currently traveling through time...
Forge: What about that team that Howard the Duck operates?
Logan: I hate that damn duck, so I'm already botching that idea.
Kitty: Oh! What about Fantomex's team?!
Logan: (beat) Now I know you're trying to piss me off.
Kitty: It was totally worth it, though.
Logan: Wait a minute. Why didn't we think of this before. Let's just get Rogue's team to assist us.
Kitty: I'll call Rogue.
Kelly: No need.
Cerebro glows it's dark blue/light blue again, and up on the walls of Cerebro, is a profile picture of Rogue, with her cell number being called.
Rogue (V.O.): Hello?
Kitty: Rogue?
Rogue (V.O.): Kitty! How y'all doing?
Kitty: Great actually. Listen, I don't know if you saw, but we've got a giant walking rock monster trampling West Virginia, and we need your team to help out. You guys doing anything?
Rogue (V.O.): We ain't now.
Kitty: Good, now head over as fast as you can.
Rogue (V.O.): Will do.
The phone hangs up. Logan turns up to Kelly.
Logan: Call Xavier, inform him about what's going on.
Kelly: Got it.
Logan: All we can do now is just wait...

"For backup to arrive"

Whoa! This threat must be big for the X-Men to get some help from our second X-Men team the Unyielding X-Men! They're gonna need all the help they can get if they're gonna stop this Giant Walking town, thing... whatever it's called :P