History Before The X-Men
by TimeAndLife21
The last thing that Blaze could remember before going under stasis from Essex's serum was his powers shutting down and being suppressed. Then came the numbing feeling and he fell into darkness. He was lucky that he had a bunch of psyches to back him up to keep his mind active. At least he managed to get his SOS out there. Now he felt cold and wet. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a container filled with liquid. His training kicked in.
"Do not panic. That is the first thing you have learned when you were a kid. NEVER panic." He told himself.
He did a few things first. He didn't know how long he had been under stasis. A month. A year. Five Years. Who knows how long he has been under there. He then started to move his body. His feet and legs first, making sure he could move them efficiently, then the torso twisting in the water and disturbing it, then his hands, arms, and neck. He could hear muffled voices outside the cylinder. The telepath must be out there. But he couldn't get out just yet. He needed to test his powers. He took a deep breath from the breathing apparatus and calmed his mind to the point of serenity. His trigger for his power was mental. He found the 'on' switch and he could feel the current of his power running through his body.
But something was off…instead of his original power running through his body, multiple powers ran through him. He felt ice cold, then he felt stronger than 100 men, then a burning sensation raced through his body, then his mind was assaulted by thoughts of the outside world.
"He's awake."
"Why isn't he trying to get out?"
"What wrong with him?"
He felt other powers run through him. His shoulder blades were becoming painful enough that he wanted the wings to burst through. Electrical currents ran though his body. This wasn't good. He had to get out of the water and reel in the powers he had accumulated over the years. He could feel the pull of the shadows, the want to manipulate them to his will. Then charging the water with kinetic energy, then feeling like he had to teleport out of the cylinder. He ripped off the breathing apparatus and banged his fists onto the surface of the glass, cracking it. He saw a blurred orange and black figure taking the other figures back away from the container he was in. This was good. He needed as much space as he could take. He felt his body trying to morph into something else but he held that need back, unfortunately his fingers started to grow out claws and in frustration, he banged against the glass surface again. Cracking it even further.
He felt the water shoot up his nose and mouth.
"Don't you DARE panic! Assassins NEVER panic!" He could hear the voice of his old teacher ringing in his mind.
In one final effort, he backed up in the water and pushed himself off a wall and crashed into the glass. The roaring of water accompanied him as he fell out of the container into the hard floor onto the glass. He could feel the shards digging into his skin, it momentarily derailed his mind from losing control for the moment, then the real challenge was bringing all those damned powers back into the proper places. He snarled in pain and frustration and held his head in anger. He howled and shook furiously. Managing to get up on two feet he looked up and saw the group of young mutants in attack position. He could tell that they were not there to fight him. Another wave of heat rolled over in his body and he hunched over. He screamed in agony, trying to put the powers back where they belonged. He saw flashes of the future, the past, and the present. But it flitted from his mind as he shoved it back into a mental box.
He opened his eyes again, only to find himself surrounded by blue and white fire. He straightened himself out and gave a primal roar. The fire was trying to disobey him. He quickly reined it in and commanded it to stay where it should be. He pushed in the ice-cold feeling into a box, the shadows into another. One by one the powers were pushed away and locked up, except the blue and white fire and his original power. He felt the fires lick at his bare skin on his face, but it didn't burn. He contained the beautiful blue and white inferno that surrounded him. Begging him not to extinguish it. He hadn't a choice. The pain of pushing the powers away, he stood up straight and tall and swept his arm over the fire around him the fire died down and he fell to his knees in exhaustion. Only now his original power ran through him. He took deep breaths and pulled in that power and flipped it to neutral, neither offensive nor defensive. He heard footsteps hesitantly walking toward him.
"Blaze." A voice spoke to him.
He looked up enough to see a brown skinned woman kneel down by him. Her white hair and familiar face filled his vision. He chuckled darkly.
"Ororo? Is that you?" He asked as he smirked.
The woman's face turned to and emotion one of relief. It was her, alright. She looked older. How long had he been under?
"How long?" He asked. Slightly afraid of the answer she would give him.
"Thirteen years." She said quietly.
His eyes widened and he leaned back onto his rear, sighing in relief, anger, and a little bit of sorrow. 13 years. He had been under stasis for 13 YEARS. He chuckled darkly. 13 years of his life had passed by and he spent most of it under a drugged coma-like state. But at least now the real world was more appealing than screaming in his mind. He shook his head and water droplets went everywhere. He looked up at the woman who was one the little tag along with his wife.
"Thirteen years? Thirteen years that I have been under stasis…last time I saw you Ororo, you were," He gestured to his waist in a slight joking manner, "this high. Now look at you. You are a grown young women. Renegade would be proud." He smiled.
Ororo gave a breathy chuckle and hugged the man. Never caring that he was wet.
"It's good to see you again. I'm glad to know that you are still alive." She said as tears formed in her eyes.
"Eh, enough of the sadness, 'Roro." He said as she let him go.
"Now help me up and introduce me to your X-Men. I know for a fact that you have not stuck around Xavier just to wait for us to come home." Blaze said as he stood up shakily. Storm grasped his arm to steady him.
"Montmorency. Nice to know you are still kicking, bub." He heard a familiar voice.
"Wolverine. Nice to see your face again. How's your amnesia? Still stuck in repeat?" He cracked.
Wolverine unsheathed a middle claw in a subtle gesture and Blaze laughed.
"Nice to know you care." He chuckled.
"Blaze, please." Storm said trying to hid her own smile.
Blaze chuckled before landing his eyes on the group around him. He was confused. He recognized the red headed telepath that pulled him out of the safety of his mind. She looked a lot younger than he though she was. He roved his eyes over the group.
"Storm…where are the X-Men?" He asked confused.
"This is the X-Men, bub." Wolverine said.
Blaze looked over at the gruff Canadian with a look on his face that showed disbelief.
"These are CHILDREN." He said incredulously.
"These are children." The blond man said as he looked over her group.
Rogue's face turned red. Well the youngest of the X-Men was Kitty and Kurt. But to call the rest of them children, she felt insulted.
"Hey, we are not kids." She said as she walked up to the man who leaned on Storm like a crutch.
She saw from the corner of her eye, Wolverine giving her a look, but she didn't care. The blond man looked at her with a calculating look.
"I'm sorry, should I call you an infant?" He said with a chilling voice.
She instantly disliked this man.
"We can handle ourselves. We are risking our lives to rescue you." Her southern accent turning stronger at every word. The man raised his eyebrow in mocking.
"Okay, step up from infant. Toddlers then." He said then her turned to Storm.
"You have them as your X-Men. What is Xavier thinking?" He asked.
"Things have changed, Thomas. Please accept it." Storm said with a edge of steel in her voice.
She refused to have Blaze insult her students. Blaze let it go. He wasn't up for arguing when he had three teammates and dear friends to rescue.
"Fine. Care to introduce me?" He said as he regained enough strength to stand on his own.
Storm introduced him to all the X-Men. When she got to Rogue, she crossed her arms in defiance.
"This is Rogue." Storm said. Rogue raised an eyebrow, mocking him from earlier.
"You have spunk, kid." He smirked.
"She does, non?" Gambit spoke smiling. Rogue noticed a strange look coming across his face. It was mixed between surprise and confusion.
Then, "Your eyes…are they hereditary?" He asked him. Gambit shrugged.
"Don't know homme. I was adopted." He said flippantly.
Blaze nodded his head in understanding. Rogue was wondering why he was asking that kind of question.
Then, "Did you run into any trouble coming here?" He said as he moved he looked around.
"Trouble? No. Why?" Scott asked.
"Because you should have run into…" His words were cut off and he stiffened up.
Growls echoed in the corridor. Wolverine unsheathed his claws.
"Ghouls. They were failed subjects of Essex's experimentations. Also know as 'Guard Dogs' here." Blaze said as he went into a defensive position. Everyone took a defensive position.
"They won't attack now. They are calculating but highly unpredictable. We need to find the others now." Blaze said coldly.
"I'm pretty sure Spade is here. Let's go and find her." He ordered.
"Wait, how do you know if…Spade is on this floor?" Kurt asked.
Blaze turned around and started to speak, but nothing came out as he looked upon Kurt that same way he looked at Gambit.
Rogue just though he was being rude. He shook his head.
"I know she's here. I don't need a telepath to know where she is." He said confidently.
"How would you know where she's at?" Jean asked.
Blaze smirked at the young X-Men.
"When you have powers like mine, you can pick out people easily in the crowd." He said as he looked around in the corridor.
"Lets move. I'd rather not run into ghouls at this point. I wish I had my guns." He mumbled.
"Let's go. Stay together X-Men." Storm said as they moved out.
Rogue looked around slightly before landing her eyes on a pair if evil white eyes hidden in the shadows. She blinked and they were gone. She shivered. She hoped this mission would be over soon enough.
The group walked quietly as much as they could through the corridors. Blaze was constantly on edge and muttering things under his breath, it was quiet enough that Wolverine couldn't hear him.
"Freaking eyes."
"Blue skin and tail"
"I'm not surprised." Rogue was a little bit behind him. She did not like that man. Something about him made her mad, and it wasn't that fact that he called her, 'Kid.'. Only Logan had the permission to call her that. One thing nagged at her mind though, and she was curious about it.
"What are your powers anyways? You had that freak out back there." Rogue asked harshly.
She was pretty sure that the others were also curious about the man's powers.
"The powers I have are unique in many ways." He said as he lifted a hand and a blue and white fireball was created in his palm, then he extinguished it by clenching his fist.
"Currently I'm trying to find Spade." He spoke calmly.
"You're telepathic too?" Rogue asked.
"No. Unlike, your red headed friend, I'm not telepathic. It's a side effect of my own power. I'm currently searching for any life force on this floor. So far, they are dead." He said blankly.
Rogue pushed aside the last comment he had.
"Life force?" she asked.
"My powers allow me to find life forces and pinpoint them." He said as he stopped suddenly. He looked to the right and walked briskly.
"This way. We are getting close to Spade." He said as he started to run.
He twisted and turned in the halls and stopped abruptly that Rogue ran into him.
"Tell me when you stop!" She glared up at him.
He didn't look down. She turned her head to the side to wonder what was so interesting but she held in a gasp. There was a woman in a large container. It wasn't the cylindrical ones that the other bodies had. It was a tank. The woman was floating in the water. A breathing apparatus was connected to her nose and mouth. But there were other things that were connected to her, wires and tubes. She wore the same kind of wetsuit that Blaze was wearing save for the different colored stripes. Her suit was black and red.
She looked small in the large tank. Her red brown hair was flowing everywhere in the water. But something was off about her. Rogue looked at her face and gasped. Her eyes. Her eyes were sewn shut. Thick thread kept them shut.
"The bastard…he sewed her eyes shut." Blaze said. His words were laced with poison.
Storm went up to the glass. "Who would do this to her?" Storm said as she touched the glass almost hesitantly.
"Essex, of course. He did say that she had lovely eyes." Blaze said as he clenched his fists.
Rogue wanted to throw up. It was unnatural to see someone who is in that water like a test subject.
"So, how do we get her out of there?" Kitty asked slightly pale.
"I can try and wake her up." Jean offered.
"No. You can't enter her mind. It's filled with static. Even the best of telepaths can't enter her mind without forcing themselves through. No. I will wake her up." Blaze said.
"How are you going to do that? You said yourself that you are not a telepath." Scott said as he crossed his arms.
Rogue would have to agree with him. How could a man like Blaze, wake up the woman without telepathy? It was beyond her.
"Oh don't worry." Blaze said as he flexed his hands and smiled wickedly.
He placed his hands on the tank and closed his eyes.
"I have just the thing to wake her up." He said smiling as if he was enjoying an inside joke.
Meanwhile, four pairs of glowing white eyes were hidden in the shadows, waiting for their time to strike.
TAL21: Here's chapter four! So, here is Blaze. He is basically charming and an a bit of an asshole at first, but he will be more polite in the future. Especially when Renegade will come into play, given the fact that she is his wife. And he will be waking up Spade. How will he wake her up you say? Well you will just have to find out now won't you? :D Now to the Shout outs!
ZellaStormz: I enjoy writing a lot. And NaNoWriMo is basically very challenging and it takes lots of effort and time to work out the words. It's easy to write a novel, but to make it GOOD, is the real challenge. As for Spade, she has an interesting history that i love very much. She is awesome in many ways. As for acting like certain people, don't worry, it will be slightly obvious sooner or later. :D
TAL21: And that's it for the shout outs! The Next chapter, we will be introducing Spade in all her fun and quirky glory, but she will quickly butt heads with Blaze given their different backgrounds. It's going to be fun! PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS AND OPINIONS PLEASE!
Question time!: Given the chance to work with the producers of X-Men: Evolution, what would you have changed in the series?
REMEMBER TO KEEP ON READING AND WRITING! :D