History Before The X-Men
By Time And Life 21
"Damnit Azazel, if you have your swords on you, why didn't you pick up my guns?" Blaze said sternly as he crossed his arms, as if Azazel wasn't under stasis for 13 years.
Azazel gave Blaze an unconcerned look, his spade tail flicking here and there. He was currently wearing a blue and red wetsuit and his hair was still slightly damp from getting out of the container of black water he was in.
"I didn't think about it, comrade." Azazel said as he rolled his neck around, getting the kinks out of it.
"I was more worried about the fact that, 'Oh, there are Ghouls out there.' And I wanted to take care of problem." Azazel said.
Blaze tried very hard not to roll his eyes at the demon like mutant.
"Fine. At least you are alive and well old friend." Blaze smiled slightly.
Azazel nodded. "Well, when I saw you, I thought I was in Hell itself." Azazel chuckled.
Then he turned to the group that had accumulated. He noticed the white haired woman and walked over to her.
"Storm… Моя маленькая ведьма погоду. It has been a long time. You grew!" Azazel said as he took her hand and shook it.
"Azazel, it's been too long." Storm said smiling, glad to see the Russian back.
Azazel nodded.
"Now …mind telling me what is going on?" He asked as he gestured to the group of X-Men.
When Azazel was busy fighting off the Ghouls, he only saw snips and quick looks at the people that were here. Now that the ghouls were taken care of, he looked over at them with a cool eye. The only thing that sent his mind reeling was a young boy who looked like him when he was just his age. Azazel may not show it, but his tail was jerking in annoyance and possibly fear.
"These are my students and X-Men." Storm introduced.
Azazel froze as he looked over the group. "
They are children. Младенцы." Azazel said to her.
"At least someone agrees with me." Blaze said. Azazel scoffed.
"Oh please, Избавь меня. When I joined this little group, you, Renegade, and Spade, were younger than I am." Azazel chuckled.
"You are not that much older Azazel. Only 4 years older." Spade said as she grabbed his tail and pulled.
A look of annoyance was on his face as he slipped out his tail out of Spade's hand.
"I didn't realize that you are comedian, Scarlett." Azazel sneered.
Spade just smiled brightly. He noticed the stiches on her eyes.
"Essex sewed your eyes shut, Крошечная девочка." He frowned.
"I'll be fine. We need to find Renegade and get the hell out of here before more Ghouls show up." Spade said as she waved off the Russian nickname he gave her.
Azazel shook his head and looked back at Storm and then the group of X-Men. They were looking at him as if they saw a ghost.
The girl he saved spoke up first.
"You look like Kurt." She blurted out.
"Kitty! You don't just say that!" The young man spoke with shock and horror.
"Nyet. It's the truth." Azazel said as he walked up to the boy.
He had an indifferent face on. But on the inside he was conflicted. The blue skin and yellow eyes were defiantly familiar. Something like…
"Sorry Azazel." The woman said as she lifted her gun to his chest.
Her yellow eyes flashed with regret, pain, and heartbreak.
"Why?" Azazel said as he stepped back.
He almost fell over the cliff if it weren't for his balance.
"How could you do this to me?" Azazel said with an unknown sadness flickering across his face.
The woman's blue skin shimmered in the sunset.
"I'm sorry. But you and I know that SHIELD will do anything to keep its tabs on mutants like us." She said as she started to tear up.
"So in other words…you are a double agent." Azazel said as he gritted his teeth.
She let a tear fall.
"I…I'm sorry, Azazel. In this world, only the strong survive." She said as she readied her gun.
'So last night…was nothing? I gave my heart to her and she thrashed it?' He thought.
The mission was done and she pulled the trigger. He didn't teleport out of the way fast enough. The dart hit his chest hard enough that he fell off the cliff.
He didn't hear her say the words, "I love you."
He blinked his eyes as the boy looked up at him. Storm was worried. She never even noticed the fact that Kurt and Azazel were similar in more ways than one. In fact, if she compared similarities…she would have guessed Azazel and Kurt were related. He lifted his hand and placed it onto Kurt's head and ruffled it.
"Explanations later. We find Renegade. Now." He said as he turned and walked to Blaze and Renegade.
"Renegade is in back room. Essex had something, 'special' he called it." Azazel said as he pointed to a door that was left ajar.
"Renegade is there?" Storm asked.
Blaze had a look of contempt.
"If I ever see Essex again, I'm frying him to a crisp." He muttered darkly.
Azazel looked at Blaze. "I'll teleport him to the Savage land. Eaten by T-Rex, No?" Azazel smiled wickedly.
"Oh no, I'm blowing up that bǎtard sadique. He'll be scattered everywhere." Spade said as she caught up with the two men.
Back with the group following the three, confusion was spread amongst the X-men, save for Wolverine and Storm.
"Kurt!" Kitty said as she walked beside him.
He had a look of confusion and he looked a bit lost.
"Are you okay?" She asked her friend.
"I don't know Kitty. That man…He looks like me." He said as he looked ahead at the red skinned man.
Kurt was feeling lost. He knew his mother was Mystique. He hadn't seen the blue skinned woman for a while. But he knew he had a father somewhere. What if it was the man who was in front of him? He teleports. He has a tail. He has pointed ears. His skin is a different color. But he didn't have the courage to ask the question.
"I'm sure Storm and them will answer your questions when we get back. I want to get out of this place soon." Kitty shivered.
"What I'm interested in is why they were captured here." Cyclops said.
Jean nodded. Even she thought something was off about the three mutants they have rescued. She couldn't enter Blaze's mind for fear of getting bombarded by the voices again, she couldn't enter Spade's mind as it was seemingly covered by static. She could try looking in Azazel's mind. She decided to poke around a little until Azazel turned around and walked towards her with a cold look. He towered over her and sneered.
"If you good telepath, you would have managed to find information without me knowing." He said as he bared his fangs.
"Jean!" Storm said with disappointment.
"I'm sorry, I was just…" She stuttered out.
"NYET! Last time I encountered telepath, coma for 2 week. Last warning." He growled out.
Jean tried giving the red skinned mutant a sorry smile, but that didn't deter him.
"Does 'curiosity kill cat' mean anything to you?" He huffed and turned back around and left the red-headed girl in shock.
She didn't mean to make him mad…but how did he know that she was in his mind?
"Jean, please don't do that again. Azazel has a bit of prejudice against telepaths. The only one he can trust is Xavier." Storm said to Jean.
"I was just wondering why they are acting strange. They are not telling us anything." Jean said trying to defend herself.
She knew using her powers like that was wrong, but she felt a bit justified for trying. "They have a lot of experience under their belt, Jean. The rest of you should know this." Storm as they groups followed the Elite through a door.
"They have seen the real world and it was a hardship for them. Trying to find a place in a family, surviving on the streets, hiding away from the world, and trying to change whatever horrendous future may come. They won't speak of anything until we return home. They cannot afford to stick around and chat." Storm said as she looked at the three mutants that she would meet when they came back to the institute.
"But we don't trust them Storm." Rouge piped up.
"They are hiding something." She said trying to get Storm to see what was the problem.
"You may not trust them now, but I assure you, they have our best interests right now." Storm said calmly.
"Trust us, kids, you'll be glad that the Elite is on our side rather than against us." Wolverine growled.
Spade could hear the words that the kids were saying. She may be blind at the moment, but that didn't mean that she couldn't hear them. She took hold of Azazel's arm as they walked.
"Ne, Azazel. Can't you metamorph back into a normal human?" Spade asked.
Azazel looked down at the small woman and shook his head.
"Nyet. Essex did something to me. Remember when hit with dart all those years back?" Azazel winced at the mention.
"I recall that night. What was her name? Darkhölme. Didn't she betray SHIELD on that mission you went on with them?" Blaze said as he looked back at Azazel. He nodded.
"Since Darkhölme shot me with particular dart, it has hindered ability to…hold human form." Azazel said as his tail jerked at the mention.
"Essex thought it 'manificent' that mutant of my standards could have such unique genetics. Took more than fair share of my blood." Azazel frowned.
"Isn't your mutation the product of Neyaphem?" Spade asked.
"In Russia, was born to Gypsy woman." Azazel said.
"I was lucky to be born in the gypsy camps." Azazel smirked.
Spade smiled at the crimson skinned man.
"True. If any mutant is looking for a place to stay, it's a gypsy camp." She smiled.
Blaze scoffed.
"So in other words, you mother doesn't know who your father is." He stated.
Azazel nodded at the blond man with a small smile.
"Is difficult to know and understand mutations. Renegade knows more of it than anything else. If I recall, she was majoring in Genetics before 'Elite' formed." Azazel noted.
"That is true." Blaze agreed.
The group of mutants entered another room, albeit smaller than the room that they were last in. It was more organized and blood samples were in vials. Chemicals were organized from large beakers to small beakers. Papers were everywhere, but they were in small neat piles.
There were strange things in the room. Small golden balls of light the size of a golf ball were floating idly in the air.
Rouge lifted a hand to one of them, until Blaze grabbed her hand, 'Where the hell did he come from?' resonated in her mind.
"Don't touch them. Understood?" He said as he raised an eyebrow.
She frowned at him and nodded stiffly.
"Why can't we touch them?" Kitty asked.
"We are getting close to Renegade. These small balls of light are a small side effect of her mutation. Don't touch them." Blaze said as he walked briskly around trying to find out where Essex put her.
Kurt was near a small golden light and he felt compelled to touch it but Azazel was right beside him.
"Don't, malchik." He spoke.
Kurt froze and looked up at the man.
"Why?" He asked.
"Unless you want to see what future has in store for you, don't touch." He said as his tail flicked back and forth.
Kurt's did the same but in a more submissive way. Azazel turned and kept walking, avoiding the balls of light. Kurt followed unconsciously.
Spade could feel the kinetic charges the balls of light were giving, so she was able to dodge them quite fluently. Gambit and Rogue were right behind her.
"How are you able to miss these things?" Rouge asked.
"When you are trained from birth to be a thief, you learn a lot of things. I was often blindfolded at a young age. Three years old in fact, when my father decided to blindfold me. For three straight years until I was six, I learned the art of walking and fighting blind." Spade smiled.
"What guild are y' in?" Gambit asked the short woman.
"The LaChance Guild." She said as she dodged another ball of light. Gambit paused in his steps.
The LaChance Guild?
He recognized the name. He has been in France quite a lot, but the thieves there were in separate guilds answering to the top guild in the country. Much like the New Orleans Thieves Guild, the surrounding guilds would answer to them. This woman was at the top of the food chain of the Thieves' guilds.
"Civilian name?" He asked. The woman turned around and smiled.
"Scarlett LaChance." She said.
Defiantly at 'de top o' the food chain. Gambit thought with surprise.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rouge asked.
"Cherié, 'dis woman is practically royalty. Remember dat I told y' dat I was adopted into the LeBeau Family?" Gambit told Rouge.
Gambit didn't notice Spade freeze in her spot.
LeBeau? It can't be. She thought with surprise.
"Technically, cherié, since I'm part of 'de LeBeau family, I hold de title of 'Prince of Thieves.' De LeBeau family settled themselves in Louisiana trois centuries ago. Dey founded the New Orleans Guild just as they had settle there. They have been ruling de 'American' Thieves' guild since then." Gambit explained.
Rouge understood what he was talking about.
"Then…The LaChance Guild…" Rouge trailed off.
"The LaChance guild has been around for a very long time. But we are what you Americans' say, 'Top Secret.'" Spade said as she nearly missed a ball of light.
She was still in slight shock. Rouge wanted to ask more questions but something caught her eye. It was a wall. It was cracked. Rouge walked over to it, keeping away from the golden lights that surrounded her, and examined it. She placed her hand on it and it started to crumble. She backed up into a chest as the wall fell down.
"Y' alright cherié?" Gambit asked as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Rouge rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the stomach to let her go.
She felt satisfied hearing an 'oof' from him. Spade walked up and kicked the rubble in front of her.
She shouted. "
BLAZE!"
The other X-Men heard the shout and came running to where Spade, Gambit, and Rouge were at.
"You find anything?" Blaze said as he walked up to Spade. He noticed the crumbled wall. He chuckled.
"Looks like Renegade knew what she was doing." He smiled.
"What do you mean? It's only, like, and abandoned hallway." Kitty pointed out.
Blaze shook his head.
"No, it means we are getting close." Blaze said as he stepped into the dark hall. The rest followed. Blaze lifted his hand and a ball of fire ignited.
"Renegade is a strong mutant. She has a main mutation, and a secondary mutation. Her secondary mutation is Umbrakinesis. Controlling the shadows. And if you haven't noticed the shadows on the walls are moving not from the light I'm producing." Blaze said as he took notice of the shadows on the wall.
Storm was intently interested of the shadows that are on the walls. They took shapes of animals, people, and other shapes. She knew that Renegade would bend and control the shadows at will, but with her in range, could the shadows be of it's own will?
There was a blue glow from up ahead and the X-Men walked into a room with tubes of blue water. But the tubes were cracked and were even leaking. Papers and glass were everywhere, as if something angry had decided to destroy everything in here. A voice recording sounded in the air.
"It would appear that Renegade is a hard woman to crack. I have only managed to set off emotional and physical triggers to access her precognitions and shadow manipulations. Unfortunately, adrenaline shots have lost its effect over 2 weeks." A strange and cruel voice sounded in the air.
Screaming was heard in the background.
The cruel voice sighed.
"I'm afraid it won't be easy it gain her precognitive abilities; too many constants and changes. That and the samples that I took from her seemed to change every time. But her Shadow manipulation… controlling dark energies has its appeal. Shame that I had to put her under today. Such a lovely specimen."
The tape kept repeating itself.
"That is creepy." Kitty said as she huddled to her boyfriend.
The X-men noticed that many of the tubes that they have passed were more cracked and/or broken. They were close. So very close. Storm kept an eye out for anything unusual, when she found Renegade. Or rather…Renagade in a water container that looked more like a coffin rather than a tube.
"I have found her!" She said as she ran over to the container. It was hooked up to an ancient computer and a few other machines. The woman in the coffin was laying on her back, a breathing apparatus connected to her nose and mouth. She was wearing a white and green wetsuit. Her dark brown and white-striped hair floated in the water. Storm wanted to cry. She had finally found her mentor that had disappeared so many years ago.
"That's her? That's Renegade? Cyclops asked.
Blaze smiled and went over to he tank where Storm was.
"That's her." He said softly.
"Hanna…I promise that this will never happen again." Blaze promised himself.
At this point, Kitty walked over to the computer and looked at what it had on it.
"The computer is connected to the container. There are sensors on there that if she tried to escape, it would shock her. A few other precautions are put on her as well." Kitty said as she hacked into the system.
"Of course Essex would put sensors on her. She's practically an escape artist." Spade said as she crossed her arms.
"Sedatives, electrical shocks, chemical tests, this guy put everything on her." Kitty said appalled.
"Can you try and wake her up?" Blaze asked.
"I'll try, but it won't be easy. This computer is ancient. Like 2000s ancient. If the system crashes…" Kitty said as she tries a few codes and got into the mechanics of the system.
"Gotcha!" She said victoriously.
She managed to turn off the electric shock and sedative protocols. Now to wake her up. She found a small program that would inject adrenaline into her blood stream that would effectively turn her body on and wake her up. Sounds simple right?
What Kitty didn't know is that she had unknowingly turned on the countdown; the countdown for the base to self-destruct.
TAL21: I'm going to bed! But thank you guys for being patient with me and waiting for this chapter. Yes, it bounces everywhere a bit, yes, it was on purpose. Remember, NaNoWriMo! :D So we got to know bait about Azazel and Spade. Some conclusions are shocking to some of the X-Men. Such as Scarlet's place in the Thieves' Guild and Azazel looking like Kurt. It was tough to work on, but i did it! :D Some of you guys managed to crack what i'm doing so…COOKIES FOR ALL! :D NOW FOR THE SHOUT OUTS!:
Snickerdoodle22: You get a cookie! :D And yes, Parent fics are hard to come by so i figured, 'LET'S DO THIS!' To be honest i had the idea roll around in my head for quite sometime and then when NaNoWriMo came along, i figure to give it a shot. :)
snowflakesofdoom: Thank you for the compliment! I hope you keep on reading! :D
Jasmine: I wanted to try something different in this category, so i'm glad that it's original. :)
Zellastormz: Thank you for staying with this story! :D Sometimes it's the random stories that can seem unappealing, but surprises you in the end. :) Hope you keep on reading!
Scarletnightcrawler: Thank you for being Patient! :D I'm glad that the summary and the first paragraph grabbed your attention. I really try to make the first chapter AWESOME! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D
TAL21: Okay, that's it for shout outs! I hope you guys had enjoyed this chapter! It was really hard to work on and i was trying out different paragraphs to fit things in. The interactions with the characters is tricky, but it is fun! :D I hope you guys liked it! And I'll see you guys Sunday! Yes, Sunday! Tomorrow is my day off and i need a break. But trust me, you will get more words on Sunday and you get to meet Renegade! :D PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS AND OPINIONS! I would love to hear from you!
Question Time!:If you were were a mutant in the Marvel world, what powers would you have?
KEEP ON READING AND WRITING! :D